Skip to main content

To quote Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead... "What a long strange trip it's been"
The summer of 2018 I started college,to say it was a huge ordeal in an understatement.
53 years old and out of any school in 30 + years, I had to be crazy to step foot on a college campus as a student!
! BUT...I DID!!! Today.....today that journey comes to an end! Phewwwwww..... LOL
after 2 and a half years, I am officially A college graduate!! Kind of...
I don't walk the walk until Spring.But today is the last day of my last quarter for my course..
Hemodialysis Technician. When I signed up for the class in late winter, I had no idea what a crazy ride it would be.
I counted the days to the start of the first quarter. And than it happened!!!
The coronavirus shut everything down. Suddenly my classes were sent to on line zoom meetings and hours
of frustration because of the no face to face help....no walking to the tutor room to get help with this or that.
No walking to class on campus!! No real person interaction with other students at all. Was I in hell???
Yep.... But I managed ...and very well so it would seem. I passed first quarter on the schools vice presidents
list with a GPA of 3.94!! Second quarter, we weren't sure what was going to happen with us.
We were looking at a quarter of lab work, but we weren't allowed on campus, so how do we do labs?
Which also included a new class... phlebotomy!! With all the restrictions in place,
we couldnt very well stick a needle in eachothers veins to draw blood from 6 feet away!!
I've seen big needles... but that would have been huge!! LOL but...the college made a decision and
deemed us essential... which granted us Access to our lab. I passed phlebotomy with a B+ and ended
up tied for first with another student with only 3 missed blood sticks. Part of class ,
we had to stick 30 people and we could only miss getting blood a total of 5 times, if you missed 6 you failed!
The other part of lab , was we got hands on with dialysis machines for the very first time.
So I passed phlebotomy class with a B+ and over all passed the quarter with a 3.4 GPA.
I missed reaching the Vice Presidents list this quarter by .1 ! Fall quarter.... the last quarter was clinicals.
Now that everything was opened up, we could start...well...simi start our careers as Hemodialysis Technicians.
Or atleast get a feel of the real thing. We needed 300 hours in 2 1/2 months! Which I reached the tuesday
before Thanksgiving. My last week of clinicals I interviewed for an actual job,
but I didn't get hired!! WOW.... REALLY??!!? I can't prove it. But I know it was due to the 10 lb restriction
I have placed on my bad wrist. They proved that to me during my clinicals when they would stop me
from doing any thing that would exceed that limit and pretty much just made me their cleaning boy slave
the entire time I was there! Regardless.... I reached my 300 hours and walked away.Done with clinicals now,
I was now back to sitting around home doing nothing and questioning my worth!
But regardless of the clinic hiring me or not, I reached the set goal for the final quarter
and will pass with a 4.0 GPA . Which will put me on the Deans list for the quarter and an over
all GPA of 3.8 for the entire course. Which will put me on the schools Vice Presidents list for the course.
I don't know what that means as far as graduation goes. But It's done wonders for my self esteem.
Today may not be the day of graduation, but I graduate from college today since its the last day
of the last quarter.... Hey mom, look at me.... YOUR BOY IS A COLLEGE GRADUATE!!!
if any of you read this far.... you belong on the deans list as well.
LOL So....and... To quote the great Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead....
WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT'S BEEN!!
but I did it. Now I'm just waiting patiently for the State of Washington to send me my phlebotomy license,
so I can go get a job in that field at least. It's only been 4 months!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" 

 

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

@Oats posted:

Very nice and I always thought you were all thumbs.



Shhhhhh... I am!

With my wrist all jacked up it's going to be an adventure, to say the least. But we will see. Actually, the thumb part is right on the money. My wrist is in a inward bent position, making up strumming very difficult. My thumb pad keeps hitting the bottom E string.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" 

 

Congratulations!!  Hemodialysis technician is a great and noble profession providing life-sustaining care to patients.  These patients are in great need of caring individuals who are not only technically skilled -=- but understanding (as we Bruce fans here at SPL are) to assist them in undergoing this critical treatment several times a week.  I wish you good luck in landing a great job, and urge you not to be disappointed by your first rejection!!  Sadly (for our national health status), there are many companies and locations to explore - -and I believe a number of different work-flows where you will find a great home.

Ed

And of course -- great graduation guitar!!

@Hey_Eddie posted:

Congratulations!!  Hemodialysis technician is a great and noble profession providing life-sustaining care to patients.  These patients are in great need of caring individuals who are not only technically skilled -=- but understanding (as we Bruce fans here at SPL are) to assist them in undergoing this critical treatment several times a week.  I wish you good luck in landing a great job, and urge you not to be disappointed by your first rejection!!  Sadly (for our national health status), there are many companies and locations to explore - -and I believe a number of different work-flows where you will find a great home.

Ed

And of course -- great graduation guitar!!

This reads as if you are one, are you?

Thanks Ed, much appreciated. And I am bummed about how I was treated where I did my clinicals, but also so glad they didn't hire me. Because than I'd still be treated that way.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" 

 

@DMR posted:

Awesome job Todd.  I know the feeling.  I waited until I was 46 before I finally finished with my college degree.

That's awesome D!! Congratulations to you also...

and Thanks bud.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" 

 

Todd,

I am not a dialysis technician, but became exposed to that patient population and their challenges during a project I was involved with for design of medical device approaches to make the situation better.

Not sure if you saw this section from John Oliver back in 2017 -- but it is worth watching to get a sense of some of the problems within the industry -- at least with some of the biggest providers here in the US (focus on DaVita).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...D5Z6_A&index=203

Watch it even just so you know what the heck this picture means, along with all the other colorful comments from John Oliver:

Perhaps searching out some of the smaller or newer providers might be fruitful in your job search.

Ed

Attachments

Images (1)
  • mceclip0
@Hey_Eddie posted:

Todd,

problems within the industry -- at least with some of the biggest providers here in the US (focus on DaVita).

Perhaps searching out some of the smaller or newer providers might be fruitful in your job search.

Ed



Davita is my biggest problem in the industry! LOL

Thanks for that link, I'll look at it after Christmas. Davita is whre 90% of my class (including myself) did our clinicals. Out of 10 of us, they hired 2! But while I was at my clinic, they hired a walk in off the street and gave her more attention training her than they did me!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" 

 

@ESTRTBNDFAN posted:


Davita is my biggest problem in the industry! LOL

Thanks for that link, I'll look at it after Christmas. Davita is whre 90% of my class (including myself) did our clinicals. Out of 10 of us, they hired 2! But while I was at my clinic, they hired a walk in off the street and gave her more attention training her than they did me!

Obviously... she was a more skilled worker than you.

____________________________________

The SPL Rocks!

Prego che tu stia danzando con San Pietro alle porte perlacee del cielo





Pulled up to my house today
Came and took my little girl away!
Giants Stadium 8/28/03



Oats

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×