Giving Thanks--Day 21

 Today, I am thankful for my education and the knowledge I have to be an ultrasound technologist.I was accepted to a 22 student program at Montgomery College for Diagnostic Medical Sonography in 2004. It was hard to get into, I was actually not accepted and put on a waiting list until they got a copy of my transcripts {I was in tears, convinced i wouldn't have a chance to get in} But luckily, someone backed out or didn't fullfill another requirement and I found out I was IN!!! SO freaking excited!School began and I felt like I knew what I was doing. I was blessed that I had a great understanding of the topics taught and that I picked up the techniques quite quickly.I loved to help out my classmates and "tutor" them in a way.In 2006, after tons of classes, many hours driving to and from clinicals {beltway traffic isn't so fun!}, and hundreds of hours logged in for scanning I graduated with an Associates of Applied Science--with honors!yeah, that's legit!I love being an ultrasound tech!I love finding things that are wrong with someone--not that I like that there is something wrong--just that I found an answer for them, I helped, I might have helped to save a life {indirectly, but still}You might think it's just taking pictures....it's not. you have to know what you are taking a picture of, at the right spots, you have to tell a story with your pictures. Then, you have to be able to know/see if there is something wrong and evaluate that....take more pictures, measurements and check for things such as blood flow. Seeing a baby's heartbeat and watching them move, blink, suck a thumb, or even give you the finger is pretty amazing.It's not all glitter an rainbows though.It involves blood, needles, condoms, unpleasant smells, painful positioning, and grim findings. This comes up today because I got a message from an old coworker, there was an article in the paper where we used to live in MD on a family who found out after their 20 week ultrasound that their baby had a very small chin {micrognathia or sometimes called mandibular hypoplasia.} It is usually involved with a syndrome and they found out after her birth that it was cerebro-costo-mandibular syndrome, a rare condition most often results in infant death. Today, Abby, just turned a year old and you can read her story here.**I did her ultrasound**In 2010 the office I used to work at recieved a very nice thank you letter to the tech taking the images. It is often a hard diagnosis to make and I am so happy that I found it {it always would terrify me that I could miss something.} When you can help someone in such a big way....it really makes me so happy. I am so glad that they are doing so well, and I get to now follow their story {I usually wonder what happens to patients that I see--i'm nosy like that :)}It's a hard job, and I am thankful that I can do it!
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