MY ULTRASOUND CAREER
I knew that I wanted to work in healthcare for most of my high school years. I initially chose Radiologic Technology and completed my 2 year degree. I continued right into Ultrasound because I felt that I wanted more of a connection with my patients and more interaction with the Physicians that I was working for. My career as a Sonographer has been a great fit.
After spending a couple of years at a rural hospital, taking call for x-ray and ultrasound, we had our first son and moved to the Fox Valley. It was time for me to look into a private practice and give up full-time and call work to be more available to our growing family.
22 years later, I am still working for Women’s Health Specialists. We have 2 grown sons and I have a busy husband who is still serving in the Army while working a full time job as an engineer. The flexibility of this practice has made a few deployments and raising our sons go as smoothly as possible. I am grateful to work with a team of 8 other sonographers who understand the work/home balance that we all desire, and we support each other in and out of the workplace.
Some challenges in our profession; some days can be demanding with the need to take care of our scheduled patients along with urgent add-ons. The family dinner may be later than expected, or we may miss the beginning of the sporting event once in a while. There are sad and hard times in our exam rooms, where outcomes are not always what is planned or expected, it helps me to remember that we are always helping take care of the patient. Sometimes tears of joy are shared and other times tears of sorrow or concern for the unknown.
Why I still like my career choice; ultrasound in gynecology and obstetrics has a lot of variety. Every patient is a different size and shape and a pregnancy provides for new challenges from week to week until delivery. We are able to form connections with many of our patients, throughout many phases of their lives. The support from fellow sonographers, nurses, schedulers, management and physicians is greatly appreciated.