'Just Another Mobiles Monday'...

"Have you seen what this examination here is called? A 'proctogram'... it sounds disgusting!"

Stardate: 92023.29

This week I'm placed in Mobiles and Theatre, and today was actually quite eventful for a Monday. I didn't do any portable x-rays, as none were requested, but I did get to assist in a urology theatre case in the afternoon.

In the morning, I had to give myself a celebratory clap. I was processing one of my x-rays, when I noticed the trabecular pattern was off on the AP (anterior-posterior) projection (the projection that shows the "front"), so once the lateral (the "side-on" view) had gone through, I saw a definite break on the radiograph. So, I grabbed my supervising radiographer to let them look, and pointed it out. We then tracked down a radiologist to see what they thought. Luckily, I was right. Turns out it was a 3-week old fracture that hadn't been seen to! Seems that commenting does come in handy sometimes...

Following that, I did some other general x-rays, as our morning urology case had been cancelled. I also produced an absolutely beautiful lateral horizontal beam knee (according to my supervisor; it's something to be proud of and show off all day on the screens) at some point during the day before lunch. I was also told to look up about 'proctogram' examinations... I'll leave Google to explain that one! 

When I got back from lunch, I filled out some commenting forms to pass the time until we were called to theatre. I managed to spot osteoarthritis, a comminuted fracture, and a lung abscess on the radiographs I'd chosen (don't worry, I checked against the radiologist reports, too! I did manage to completely miss a rib fracture on one.). Not bad for me, especially on a Monday! 

After eventually getting changed into scrubs, a hat and leads, I realised that I had picked the one pair of clogs that made me sound like a horse. Not only that, my scrub trousers kept falling down, as I apparently can't tie them up properly... Never mind!

Our case in theatre was a Bilateral Retrograde Stents Pyelogram. This is a urologic procedure where contrast is injected into the ureter to visualise the ureter and kidney. It requires cystoscopy, and a small tube (ureteral stent) being placed into the lower ureter. The 'retrograde' is due to the contrast flowing in the opposite direction to the usual flow of urine.

I watched my supervisor use the C-arm first (as it was a little different to the ones I'm used to), and then once I felt confident enough, I took over, and managed to get a good view of the guide wire and kidney slap bang in the middle of the image... just how they like it! To be honest, I was a little sketchy at first, but after a little while I'd gotten the hang of it.

So all in all, it wasn't so bad a day! I spotted a fracture, took a nice lateral knee, got to wear scrubs, and assisted in a case! I even had a nice lie in this morning for once, and got to watch Doctor Who!

Now to carry on it that same vein and enjoy some jelly babies...

LLAP guys!