Tales of the Table (Finale)

Internship Stories

In order to qualify to take licensing tests student technologists go through months of unpaid full-time work at clinics and hospitals.  The exams they perform are real, but there’s always a licensed tech with them who retains responsibility in case anything goes wrong.  Nothing went wrong at any place I worked that could harm a patient.  However, there were unexpected events that occurred.  Students need to experience these kinds of things so they will know how to react.  Sometimes a patient’s condition will change rapidly, and you must react properly in crises.

Tales of the Table III

Dances With Atoms

This is Dr. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, and an x-ray of his wife’s hand from 1895.  The “bump” on one finger is a ring she was wearing.

In the beginning it was impossible for doctors to see with their own eyes what was going wrong inside a patient without cutting them open to look.

Tales of the Table II

Sticks & Stones, Broken Bones

When I graduated from Medical Assisting school I took a job near the school at the clinical practice of three Orthopedic Surgeons.  The youngest of the doctors was 65.  The best surgeon, who was also the crankiest, was in his late seventies.  They were as “old school” as it gets, but they knew their profession.  The word Orthopedics comes from two Greek words

Tales of the Table I

Vampires in Training

I’m going to put myself way out there.  Several of you have encouraged me to take risks and be more revealing.  It’s kind of VISIBLE, so it makes me nervous, but perhaps it is interesting for patients to see health care work from the inside.  So I’m going to write some of the stories about training and working in clinics and hospitals.

Los Rayos Equis

This is a picture of my cute little ray-gun, with which I made bone pictures today.  It’s a basic machine, and unlike most x-ray machines in current use it’s set up to shoot films.

Dragon Bones

As I have hinted in some comments and previous posts, we are moving.  I’ve been making boxes and packing them while the house upgrades have been underway.  During our 15 years of marriage, our combined incomes rose and then fell.  A decade ago, we were pulling in a robust six figures.  Now we make an amount in the middle of the five figures.