BLOG 59 My Big Break And The Beginning of My Own Company

. Not all contracts were good and I had a few more like that over a fourteen year spell of contracting.

For about a year, I contracted my services out all around the lower states. One, in particular, was in Bullhead City, Arizona. The town literally was across a river from Laughlin, Nevada. They were considered “Little Vegas”.

The only hotels for me to stay in were the casinos. The only parking was across the river on the Arizona side. Everyday, I would have to park my car on the Arizona side and take a trolley boat across the river to the Nevada side. This was not really good for me since I liked to gamble. In the morning, I would get back on the trolley boat, get my car, and drive about ten blocks to the Arizona Hospital. I was suppose to be there for a month.

I was hired to do Ultrasound for them, but I fiddled in the Nuclear Medicine Department when I got bored. The hospital had the computer and machine that I learned to use in the Navy. The first two weeks, I worked for a male Radiologist that was extremely nice to work with. When I would finish, I would head to the casino and play a percentage of the day’s wages. Life was good and I was enjoying myself.

The fun came to an abrupt stop on the third week when a female Radiologist took over. In my opinion, she knew nothing about Ultrasound or Nuclear Medicine. In those years, the technologist had to fill a form detailing what we saw on the sonogram. The doctor was still suppose to come in and verify the things written on the form. It only took one time to realize this Radiologist did not like Ultrasound and that she did not know what she was looking at in the pictures. she told me that she never followed up and just read what we wrote.

Two things happened that week that caused me concern. First, a patient with an intestinal bleed and the Nuclear Medicine tech told the Radiologist that his camera was unable to do that kind of test. She was fine with that. But, I opened my big mouth and said,”That camera was capable of doing that test and I would be glad to do it.” The technologist was adamant that it could not be done. So, the Radiologist asked me was I there to do Nuclear Medicine or Ultrasound. Of course I said ultrasound, but I was also a licensed Nuclear Technologist. She turned to me and said, “You need to stay in Ultrasound and not to correct her Nuclear Technologist again!”

Within that week, I did an Ultrasound on a critical patient that I did an Abdominal search. On my form, I wrote that the patient had “inhomogeneous spots throughout the liver.” (This usually indicated possible cancer.) I insisted that the doctor come in and take a look to back me up on such a critical call. She was furious!

When she came into the room, I stepped to the opposite side of the patient. After taking the probe and starting to move it all around the patient’s abdomen, she THREW the probe across the patient at me and said, “You show me where these INHOMOGENEOUS SPOTS were on the liver.” So, I walked back around the patient, placed the probe back on them and said,” Ma’m, please take in a breath and hold it.” She did and I calmly pointed on the screen and said,” There, there, there, and there.”

The Radiologist said, “Oh my God”! She told me to take measurements of them all and bring them to her, then she left. When I brought them to her, she told me to never put her in that situation again. I gave her the form then called my agency and told them that I was leaving immediately because I did not want to lose my license just because the doctor could not read the scan. He gave me permission to leave and I left. I enjoyed the rest of the day in the casino winning over thirteen hundred dollars. (this amount was more than what I was going to lose from not finishing the contract.)

I was allowed to stay at the casino hotel for two more days, so I convinced my parents and Robert to drive there and we would go to Las Vegas. They arrived and we played KENO before we left and all four of us went to Vegas with winning of over two thousand dollars combined. Vegas was only forty-five minutes away and we spent my last week in Vegas. It was a great week for winning and we all were winners.

I was scheduled to fly from Vegas and go to Albemarle, North Carolina, while my parents and Robert drove back to Dallas. This hospital became one of my favorites to contract. This was where I got the idea to contract myself, rather than go through the agency. At that time, I had one more contract to fulfill before I could start on my own. I deliberately undercut what the agencies charged and still made much more money for myself.

(Blog 60– An accidental growth of a company)