Apologies for being quiet for a while. I've had the unenviable task of completing my dissertation while rehabbing and recovering from the operation and virus etc.
My dissertation was for the end of my diagnostic radiography course. When I left teaching, I needed a challenge but with a bit more flexibility and time. So I decided to retrain (oops). I started my course in Sept 2016 and met some amazing individuals (you know who you are!), some of whom will be friends for life and some of whom will become work colleagues in Oct if everything goes to plan.
Diagnostic Radiography is so much more than people realise! I have been so lucky to see amazing and ground breaking operations, interventions and treatments. Training in a large teaching hospital that is also a major trauma centre has been eye opening and has meant I have trained with up-to-date and innovative procedures and techniques.
You can work in a range of hospital departments, including the operating theatre, accident and emergency, cath labs (where we visualize the arteries of the heart), angiography (used to visualize the inside blood vessels and organs of the body), outpatients and on wards. The job can be physically strenuous as we use manual handling skills (move/lift patients and equipment) and there is lots of standing and I love it.
Working with patients and their families reminds me of the skills I picked up from over a decade working in education. But it hasn't been easy, when we are on placement we work 30hour weeks in 4 days and then on the 5th we complete revision, assignments and dissertations. In addition I have had to do a small amount of tutoring to keep me afloat. But as of Oct, those 10,000 words a lot of which written while on hardcore pain killers when my back went and again when I picked up the virus (a week before my due date!!!)
But I did it, I never gave up, lots did because it is tough. From day one you are working with real patients with real needs, pain and distress. It is not the profession for everyone. It takes a lot of empathy, emotional intelligence and social awareness to get through each day. Some days are heart breaking, some are exhilarating and some are just hard but rewarding.
But I cannot wait. I cannot wait to keep learning and developing my technique, to see where this new career can take me, to see how I can incorporate my education background. There is so much scope and diversity in radiography, teaching, CT, angios, MRI, US etc.
