Blog 67: Starting A Permanent and Final Job

(Can you dig it?)

As I stated in an earlier blog, I said that Albemarle, North Carolina was my favorite hospital to help. Well, I want to start by a back story.

My nephew, Anthony (aka Del), had become a Radiology Technologist with multi-modalities. Before closing my company, I had flown Anthony to an out-of-state job. I suddenly got a job for an x-ray tech IN Albemarle that started the week after his duty he was on. It was going to be a long job and his car was with me.

My sister, Mary, and I needed to get Anthony his car to him while he flew into Atlanta, Georgia. After picking him up from the airport, we drove with him to North Carolina where he would take Mary and me to Raleigh for our flight home. Unbeknownst to us, the Carolinas were under a heavy snow advisory. As we crossed the state line, the snow began. (Raleigh was past Albemarle, but we could only get flight tickets there.) The further we went into North Carolina the snow got worse. This was delaying us.

By the time we got very near Raleigh, the snow was so bad that Mary and I insisted to get a hotel and Anthony could head back to Albemarle. He left us when we got to the hotel. But the manager said he closed because the snowfall was only getting worse and he only had one guest, and no shuttles would come out this far to pick up customers. Since Anthony had left we had no car, so he let us stay the night, anyway.

When Mary and I woke the next morning, the snow was in the twenty inches mark. We called around for a taxi and finally got a driver IF we paid him double. We had no choice. However, Raleigh was hit the hardest by the storm and all flights were cancelled. We drove around until we found a hotel with available rooms. It was near the airport, was their best hotel and only had suites opened. (We could not afford it, but had nowhere to go.) To our surprise, the clerk offered the normal price for a room. It was a beautiful two bedroom suite. We were in heaven!

The snow kept falling and the airport remained closed. We were told that it was the second highest snowfall on record. All the restaurants were closed and the store across the road was , literally, bare of food. This hotel made the decision that they would feed everyone all day for three days for free. They stopped charging for the rooms, as well. Mary and I had a blast of luxury the entire time. The hotel shuttled us to the airport when it opened. Though flights were delayed, we finally came home. Anthony made it to Albemarle on time and all was well. The next story explains why I wrote this first.

(The reality of getting older)

When I was ready to go back to work full-time, I was 42 years old. I had never been turned down for a job before. I called Albemarle first and was told that they had just hired a Nuclear Technologist two weeks before. So, I applied for eight positions around the country. I was rejected because of my asking price, (including that I could, also, do Ultrasounds when needed), one actually told me I had too much experience compared to the other techs, and they felt I would not be comfortable working under a younger supervisor.

I finally was accepted for a job in a northeastern state. I accepted the position. The week before I was to move, my mother got an infection in her leg and it had to be amputated immediately. Mom begged me to stay and help with her recovery. I could not say no to her, so I lost the job. But, God was leading me.

About two weeks later, the Albemarle Memorial Hospital supervisor called to ask me if I was still available. (The person doing the job was dismissed.) I told him that I was available and would love to work there. They let me choose my pay, and there was no hesitation when he said yes! Life was going well again! Now comes the connection to my first story.

(Moving to North Carolina)

The day I left for my new job, it was snowing in Dallas, Texas, (about four inches.) Again, the Carolinas were under a heavy snow warning. I went as fast as I could to beat the snow. But, when I arrived, the Carolinas were having their THIRD highest snowfall on record. The hospital put me up in a nice house that they keep available for new doctors. It was directly across the street from the hospital. And, again, I made my arrival time. ( the connection is that here I was a Texan, but I was in North Carolina’s 2nd and 3rd highest snowstorm.) Here in this town I will be a part of other weird timing.

I arrived to my new job on February 4, 2004. I learned that they built more and also changed a lot of the inside of the hospital. They changed the name of the hospital as a community hospital. My clinic was rearranged with a different, but still older model, camera. I knew it very well, but I knew it only had, at most, ten years left in its effectiveness if we used it for everything. I mentioned this to the manager and they said it would be two years before they could fund a new camera.

The only bad part of the job was how many patients they were trying to do in an eight hour day. I realized that the previous technologist was cutting corners and turning in very bad work. I was allowed to write a new procedure manual so that we, at least, had very good studies to turn in. ( By traveling to many hospitals, I learned many ways to do tests, so I used the best ones in the manual.) Still, I was working long hours and the machine would break down about every third month. I needed help.

(What to do for fun)

I believe that I have already mentioned that I have been to every state except Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Rhode Island. While in North Carolina, I made vacation trips to many of the greatest sight-seeing known on the Eastern Borders. We made trips into the Smoky Mountains, renting cabins to stay in while there. I took family members up to the Indian reservation casino, Dollywood, Grandfather Mountain, three other mountain points, and even driving the Blue Ridge Parkway.

One trips took us to Washington D.C., Atlantic City, New York, Philadelphia, Hershey Park, the Atlantic Ocean. Another, we went to Virginia Beach, and a tour of Williamsburg and other centennial cities. Then we went all the way up to Maine and the Northeastern States. I got as close as six miles to the Rhode Island border, but I could not persuade Bill Fish to go across the border so I could say I was in that state. ( the only eastern state I never had been.)

Most memorable was the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was very hard to see, cyclists would ride in your lane and the Parkway had many sharp turns. After a while, I needed to go to the bathroom. It was so bad that I made Bill stop so I could void over the mountain side. I no sooner got back in the car that within two miles was a rest stop. Well too bad for me. (tee hee)

(on to Blog 68)