Time for a change.

These past two weeks have been very freeing for me. I've gotten rid of a bit of baggage that I've been holding on to for the past year, graduated from my online school that's taken me 2 and a half years to complete, and the kids are out of school. I felt a physical change was needed, so what do I do? Chop off my hair of course! I didn't mean to go as short as i did, and now that it IS this short, it's taking a little while to get used to. But that's okay, change isn't supposed to be accepted right away is it? The really awesome news is my hair salon has partnered with other salons across the country to send their cut hair to the gulf to help plug the leak. Apparently, the hair will be put in nylons to form more of a blockade. Sounds weird to me, but if it's helping then hey, I feel like I did my part!

I did it.

After 2 and a half years of spelling words like duodenojejunostomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in my sleep and editing the local newspaper instead of actually reading it, I can proudly say I graduated, and I am officially a medical transcriptionist!!! I know that may not sound monumental, but to me it's one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

This course was HARD. It's true I slacked a bit...but I mean, it's an online self-paced school and I'm a stay at home mom. It's bound to happen, but for the most part I really put a lot of myself into this. I've learned so much, worked so hard, and I feel so good about myself. Truthfully, at one point the in the course, I was unsure if I could ever pick it up. Doctors just ran their words together, one medication would sound exactly like another to me, and the speed-talkers made my brain turn to mush. There were countless days of frustration, of wanting to pull my hair out or reach through the screen and slap some of those doctors for being so damn inconsiderate. I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw my headphones across the room and give up.
I went through months of this frustration thinking I was wasting my time - I'd never learn this crap, never.

One day, in advanced transcription, it all just clicked. It was like my ears opened up and a light switch was flipped. Everything (mostly) became crystal clear. I decided to go back to my beginning reports to get through the rough ones that were so hard months ago. I laughed. What was so hard? Suddenly I could understand EVERYTHING the docs were saying. My biggest hurdle was simply keeping up.

Now, here I am. I know I'm still just beginning, but I'm hoping to land a job where someone will take a chance on a newbie (graduated, yay!!) transcriptionist.

So the dermatologist....

After all the embarrassment of the see-through undies, something good came out of it. The mole that was biopsied was, indeed, atypical. It's precancerous with abnormal cell growth. So, back to the dermatologist I go for excision of the root and surrounding tissue. That's going to suck. But I will definitely remember to wear my plain ol' white cottons, and maybe do a few leg raises and squats the day before. (You can never be too cautious, especially since the young intern will likely not enjoy untanned cellulite)