Radiologist selfie

Quick blog post!

We are super excited to go back to Michigan this Friday to welcome home Jacob from his mission and to go on a boating trip in northern Michigan.  James is hoping to clear the wake on the wakeboard (ambitious of him).  I am also excited to take him to Mackinac Island, which is one of my fav places.

Since we'll be missing the next two Sundays, we will miss the last day of one of our primary kids, Carson. His family is moving and we'll miss him. So, we took class photos. Don't we have the cutest class?

James thought a silly photo was also required...

I've been enjoying radiology a lot still.  We finished our two weeks of pediatric radiology and just did a week of GI radiology (gastrointestinal), or fluoroscopy.  I spent the week making people drink barium or omnipaque to get images like this... (which I stole off google images so I wouldn't violate HIPAA or anything). This is an image of someone standing or laying sideways (aka "lateral view") with contrast going down their esophagus (white vertical ribbon-y thing). The thing below that is the stomach, which is faintly outlined by contrast, and then the duodenum is to the left of that, and crossing over to the right and then down. How's that for an intro to fluoro, eh?

This is a fluoro machine. The patient lays on the table and we can rotate the table so they're laying at an angle or even standing up. I get to wear a leaded apron and thyroid shield to protect myself, which is at least 15 lbs, I bet. In pediatric radiology, I also did a fair amount of fluoro but the studies were simpler and quicker most of the time, and a lot of them were VCUGs (contrast put in the bladder to check for urine refluxing backwards into the kidneys).  

I always think this is a funny image, but I'd never take extra radiation to my brain and so wouldn't copy this idea.

We went to an orioles game in the picnic section with my co-residents, which was fun. One of the residents had to cancel so I got the extra tickets and Nichole/Zane came too.  The Orioles lost, but it was fun and we ate lots of free junk food. This is more of my style of radiology selfie, I have to say.

Life is otherwise good!  James likes his internship, we enjoy playing racquetball, and we can never seem to go to bed early enough for me to work out in the morning/James to beat the traffic. Later gators!