What's Your Superpower?

I feel like it's been forever since I have gotten the chance to sit down and blog. It's been over a month. School has kept me quite busy. I have been sleeping and breathing ultrasound. But that's okay with me. I am really loving all that I am learning.  Clinicals started three weeks ago. I am doing a rotation at a bigger hospital in the area. They are affiliated with a local college which makes them a teaching hospital and an ideal setting to learn in. I have seen so much already! It really is amazing to finally take everything I have only ever seen/read about in a textbook and apply it to real life. Being out in the real world and working with patients has definitely made me more passionate about this career choice. I am so glad I choose vascular sonography, especially over cardiac or general/ob. I think this will be a challenging career for me. It will never be boring. The cool thing is that you never quite know what you will see what you put the transducer down on a patient's skin. We may all have the same vessels, but the way they lie in the body is always slightly different. I am like a detective searching for missing pieces of a puzzle. I can see with sound! What's your superpower? ;)

Here is an ultrasound image, pulled from Google, of a carotid artery bifurcation. Cool!

Happy Spring!

This early spring weather couldn't have come at a better time, being that my Spring Break from school is this week!  We are expecting highs of 60's and even 70's this week. Hello Keen sandals! It's time to break out the  bikes and the gardening tools.  Last weekend we did some yard work to get ready for the garden. This will be our first attempt at a real garden in our backyard. Too bad all the rain we have gotten this season has left big puddles in our yard. I hope the sun is able to dry it out in time! Here's what we are planting this season:
tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, carrots, watermelon, pumpkin, squash and some kale or other kind of lettuce.
Are you planting a garden this year? Any tips/advice are welcome!

Wordless Wednesday: A Peek Inside My House

Back in January, on a bright sunny day, I took some photos of my house. Things were finally coming together and the place was starting to feel like our home. I am finally getting around to posting them now! Take a look inside:

The living room w the new rug.

Dining room.

The french doors through the mirror. 

Sun porch. 

Life.

Kitchen windowsill. 

The other half of the living room. 

A kitchen is not complete without a bag of Stumptown!

The Vein Of It All

This week begins week two of my fifteen week semester. Venous anatomy, physiology, hemodynamics and pathology will be the focus of the first half of this semester. Then it will be onto abdmoninal vasculature. Last semester was spent on the arteries and all their parameters. I learn the material in lecture and then apply the knowledge and learn the scanning skills in lab.

That's the idea anyhow. And the only way to become a better scanner is through practice, practice and more practice. I go into open lab on the weekends. I stay after class to practice. I practice in between classes. It's how I learn. Now I need to get into the habit of bringing all kinds of different "patients" into the lab. The more variety of body types I scan, the better. And if there is one thing I have learned, it's that everyone is different. Everyone has different anatomy, different vessel sizes and shapes. There is never a dull moment. This is both exciting, challenging and a bit overwhelming all at once. Especially when it comes to scanning veins, no two people are exactly the same. It's similar to figuring out a puzzle, or finding the missing link in an unsolved case. I feel like a vascular detective sometimes. Just where does that vein lead and what does it connect to? What approach have I not tried yet? It's up to me to figure it out. And I'm definitely up for the challenge!

Is that mickey mouse or just a few arteries?