November 21, 2024 • 54 mins
Welcome back to A Couple of Rad Techs Podcast! Zulema Solis RT (R)(M) is a Mammography Technologist for 9 years and is about to start my 10th year. I knew I wanted to be an X-ray tech since the 10th grade and actively pursued this career since then. About a year ago I started my Etsy store to help other mammogram techs with badge buddy cards and also started a TikTok page to create more interest in mammography. Zulema's high school placed a significant emphasis on students taking community college classes, which were almost mandatory throughout their education. Although Zulema had a strong interest in pursuing a career in X-ray technology, her counselors lacked knowledge about the field. Despite this, she strategically focused on completing transferable community college courses, particularly in general education and science. This foresight ensured that her credits would be recognized by any future college or university she attended. Understanding that most X-ray programs require applicants to be at least 18 years old, Zulema concentrated on gathering the necessary prerequisites during high school. By the time she graduated, she was well-prepared to focus exclusively on her X-ray studies, poised to achieve her career aspirations.
Mammography is a vital yet often overlooked specialty in the field of radiology, and in this lively discussion, host Chaundria and guest Zulema dive deep into the ins and outs of pursuing a career in this area. With Zulema's ten years of experience, they explore the numerous opportunities available for radiologic technologists looking to transition into mammography, emphasizing the importance of gaining additional certifications right after X-ray school. They share personal stories and practical tips on navigating the challenges of the profession, from patient interactions to the unique skills required for mammography. Zulema highlights the significance of fostering a supportive environment within the workplace and the benefits of sharing knowledge among colleagues. This episode is packed with valuable insights, humor, and encouragement for anyone considering a career in mammography or looking to enrich their current practice.
Wrapping up their enlightening conversation, Chaundria and Zulema tackle the logistical aspects of working as a mammography technologist, such as scheduling, work-life balance, and the potential for travel opportunities. They highlight the flexibility that can come with mammography roles, contrasting them with other imaging specialties that may require more demanding hours or on-call duties. Zulema discusses her own work arrangements, illustrating how she has managed to carve out a fulfilling career while balancing personal commitments, including motherhood. This episode serves as a practical guide for aspiring mammographers, addressing how to approach job searches, negotiate work conditions, and seek out professional development opportunities. With a blend of humor and candidness, Shandria and Zulema empower listeners to pursue their passions in radiology, reinforcing the idea that a career in mammography can be both rewarding and sustainable. Their shared experiences and insights create a rich tapestry of advice and encouragement that will resonate with both seasoned professionals and newcomers alike.
Takeaways:
- Mammography is an essential yet underappreciated field in radiology, offering many career opportunities.
- Starting a mammography career immediately after X-ray school provides a smoother transition and less stress.
- Mammography technologists can enjoy flexible schedules, often avoiding weekend and holiday shifts.
- Building relationships and sharing knowledge among mammography techs creates a supportive work environment.
- Engaging with patients compassionately is key to successful mammography practices and personal job satisfaction.
- Social media is a powerful tool for aspiring radiology...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:28):
Welcome to A Couple of RadTech's podcast where we bring you
an inside look at the world ofradiology from the unique perspective
of a married couple ofradiologic technologists.
Together, we have over 30years of experience in the field
and are here to demystify thescience of medical imaging.
Radiology is the unsung heroof the medical field, providing doctors
with crucial images andinformation that help diagnose and
(00:51):
treat illnesses.
Join us as we explore thelatest techniques, technologies and
innovations in radiology anddiscovery the vital role we play
in the healthcare industry.
So come along for the ride aswe share our passion for radiology
as a married couple.
Hello, welcome to anotherepisode of A Couple of Rad Techs.
I am Shandria, your host fortoday's episode and we are talking
(01:14):
again all things mammography.
You guys love to hear aboutmammography and I love to talk about
it.
You know that it is a passionof mine to talk about radiologic
technology and all thespecialties that we have in our field.
And again, I've brought youanother amazing guest.
We have Zelema.
She is a mammographytechnologist for the last 10 years.
(01:35):
And get this, you guys, she'sbetter than a lot of us.
She knew she wanted to be inthe radiology field since the 10th
grade.
I knew nothing about it inhigh school.
So I am just so excited tomeet someone who knew early on about
this amazing field.
And she is doing so much toadvocate and to help everyone learn
about mammography and themedical imaging profession.
(01:59):
So check out our TikTok.
You can find that in the description.
Description and also her Etsy shop.
She has an Etsy shop that hasbadge buddy cards and her tick tock
page.
Everything's going to be in there.
So let's get into theconversation today.
Welcome.
Hello.
Thank you for having me.
You are welcome.
So glad to be here.
So we're going to get rightinto the conversation because mammography
(02:19):
is a really hot topic and youtalk a lot about it on.
I mean, you go in depth, youtalk about all kind of things like
the positioning, why you wantto be a technologist, why you want
to transfer over into mammography.
Because I think it's reallyimportant because when I search mammography
technologists, I don't find alot on social media.
So to see you and see you soarticulate about so many variety
(02:42):
of pathways in the field, Ithink sometimes we as technologists,
even us in the field, I'm notjust talking about people coming
through school.
But those of us that are inthe field, we say, I'm burnt out,
I'm only doing X ray.
I don't want to do CT is toohigh paced.
I don't want to go intoeducation, but I want something a
little calmer.
(03:03):
I want something that's not so physical.
And I think memo just goesright over people's heads.
So let's even talk about thoseof us in the profession who maybe
can have a fresh look at mammography.
So that, that, that's what Iwant to touch on today.
So welcome.
Thank you.
And I agree with that.
How did you know you wanted todo radiology since the 10th grade.
(03:25):
I need to know.
So my parents always push themedical field onto me.
They didn't.
They're not from the medicalfield whatsoever.
They came from Mexico, sofirst generation kind of a thing.
They said, stick to somethingin the medical field.
So doctor was out of thequestion because my family has no
money.
Nursing was an option, but Idon't know, there was just something
(03:45):
about nursing, how you reallyhave to take care of your patient,
like their entire life is inyour hands kind of a thing that really
scared me.
And then we had some very farrelative that was doing the X ray.
I spoke briefly to her, shedidn't really provide me with too
much details.
But then in high school, inthe 10th grade, my school was providing
(04:07):
a internship at a hospital.
So very, very small, supersmall hospital.
And when I went in, everyonewas assigned to different departments
and I specifically asked if beplaced an X ray.
So they gave me permission.
And the very first day that Iwent in, they rolled me into the
or.
They had me strapped on, leadshield, everything.
(04:27):
I saw them open up the spine,I saw them use a C arm.
And I was like, yep, this,this is what I'm gonna do.
This is exactly what I'm gonna do.
I still remember the smell oflike the skin being burned.
And I remember beingfascinated by it.
And the tech was just like,don't vape.
Whatever you do, don't vape.
And I was like, no, no, no,I'm not gonna think so.
That was really cool.
(04:48):
So from there on core, if thatdidn't scare you, they took you straight
to the or.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
That's a really nice memorythat I have.
And then from there, like Iwould go into OR cases and just help
them.
And by help I mean, like, Iwould just stand to the side next
to the C arm.
I had no idea what Anythingwas going on.
The only other thing that theydid let me do was clean the machines,
(05:10):
stock the supplies in the Xray rooms.
I did get to see mammographyonce when I was there, and it was
through film.
Mammography did not catch my attention.
No, none whatsoever.
I was like, nope, I want to bein the.
Or I want to be in the.
Me too.
I'm not gonna.
I'm not gonna tell a fib here.
I'm the same way.
Mammography just.
I was like, nope, nope, nope, nope.
(05:31):
Didn't really have a basis for that.
No.
But I just was like, no, no, no.
So you're not alone on that.
But we've all.
We've all kind of.
You never say never.
What we've learned, right?
Yeah.
No, I specifically said, I'mnever doing mammography like that.
But to be fair, the chick thatI was with, she had never had a student
with her or, like, anyonethere, so she was super quiet.
(05:53):
Nothing was explained to me,so I had no idea what was going on.
Versus an X ray.
They were like, okay, we'regonna do an X ray of this elbow.
We're gonna do an X ray of this.
This is how you position and everything.
So that definitely plays afactor into it.
It's a huge factor.
I'm glad you mentioned that because.
So we're gonna remember thatbecause we're gonna get into.
To talk about that.
When you're talking aboutgoing over into mammography as a
(06:16):
technologist, someone new, weknow how it is to go into new modalities.
It.
It.
It's scary.
Even if you're not a student, you're.
You're a technologist for years.
It's a little.
Because you know how peopleare when you're trying to transition
over to their job.
Some people are, like, not welcome.
And some people are like, comeon over.
We love to have you.
I'm going to show you everything.
And then you got some peoplethat's just like, I'm in the middle.
I'm neutral.
(06:36):
I don't care.
Yes.
Essentially, I want to behelpful to the students in high school,
because I think that is awonderful thing that you knew in
high school that you wanted todo radiology.
So if someone is looking intothe medical field or into radiology,
particularly a parent, achild, what can they do?
(06:57):
What steps can they do?
And I know each state is goingto be different, you guys, but just
kind of listen to what Zulimais saying about how she navigated
high school, and it led her tothe radiology profession.
Maybe you could take somethings and then reach out in your
state and see what is comparable.
So my high school was very bigon having all their students take
(07:17):
community college classeswhile we were in high school.
It was kind of mandatorythrough our schooling.
But that played a big factorbecause even though I really wanted
to do X ray and none of mycounselors knew anything about X
ray or even anything remotely,I simply focus on being able to take
community college classes.
I could transfer to anothercommunity college once I graduated
(07:40):
and or university and I focuson science classes and then gesture
general ed.
So by doing that, I knew thatby the time that I graduated, no
matter where I went to school,it would completely transfer over
and then I could just focus onthe X ray only portion of classes.
Because most programs, again,every state is different.
(08:01):
But most programs at leastnear me, you have to be at least
18 years or older to be ableto even apply to the program.
And I was nowhere near that.
So I just focused on what Icould do, which was general ed and
then your science classes.
So that's what I did.
Beginning 10th grade, everysingle semester, I would take at
least one college class duringthe summer, two during the winter,
(08:22):
two classes until I graduated soon.
Did you start preparing forthe 10th grade to do that?
Was that something you did inthe 8th and 9th grade or.
No.
Beginning of 10th grade.
Beginning of 10th grade.
So 10th grade.
I started taking collegeclasses in the spring, so I learned
about it in the fall.
And then fall and winter semester.
(08:43):
I was trying to figure things out.
My counselor helped me.
And then by the spring Istarted to be enrolled in these classes
and it was just one class at a time.
I didn't do more than that.
Only during the summer and thewinter I would take on two college
classes.
That's it.
Did you go to a special highschool or was this just a normal
high school?
Normal high school, Normalhigh school.
(09:03):
But they were very big oneducation and university, so they
really pushed that onto us.
But I knew what I wanted todo, so I knew that didn't matter
how much university theypushed on me.
None of the universitiesaround me have X rays, so it was
not going to work out for me.
So I simply focus on what Icould do.
Well, that's very good thatyour counselors.
(09:24):
And I thought that wasinteresting that you said the counselors,
when you told them aboutradiology, they were like, what?
What, what is that?
So obviously there's work weneed to do in the school system because
it's still the same.
When I was growing up, mostcounselors, you, oh, you want to
work in medical, be a nurse,be a doctor.
And there are so many professions.
My mom's best friend, her andher husband were both respiratory
(09:46):
therapists growing up, Iassumed they were nurses.
My cousin, he's.
He was a director in radiologywhen I was going to school for radiology,
I'm like, you are what.
I just.
Knew you had on scrubs.
Whenever I see someone thatscrubs, either doctor or nurse, that's,
that's no idea of anything,anything else related to medical.
So how are young people inhigh school supposed to have all
(10:08):
the options available to, tothem if even in high school the counselors
don't know what's out there?
So I love that you talkedabout this.
So let me ask you this question.
Because high school, when Iwas in high school, which is a while
ago, they had differentpathways you could go.
So if your mind was more of anengineer pathway, that's the type
of direction.
From the seventh or eighthgrade, I was directed.
(10:30):
I had more of a science, math.
So all of my courses were morescience directed because I tested
and it showed that I was amore science directed person.
That's the kind of directionall of my courses went towards those.
So when I did go to college, Iwould have enough for that particular
direction that I was going.
So by the seventh grade, mycounselors kind of helped me to decide,
(10:51):
you want to go in more of ahealth science direction.
Because that's what I like.
That's what I tested well on.
That's what led me.
We didn't have a program likethat until after I graduated.
In the state of Georgia, whereyou can get, at one time it was unlimited
college credits for free whileyou were still in high school.
You didn't even have to waittill the summer.
So we have that now, but nowthey've cut it to, I think, 32.
(11:12):
Only you can get in your lasttwo years of high school, which is
still great.
That's still great.
But it was no cap before.
So if you were really smartand focused like you were, I mean,
you can knock out a lot ofstuff, you know, especially if you
got a lot of your high school things.
So what it takes is parentsand children communicating and being
able to shadow and learn aboutthese different professions like
(11:33):
radiology and then workingtowards it in high school and finding
out what programs your schoolsystem and your high school have
available to you.
Right?
Absolutely.
And so after you.
Oh, go ahead.
And in my high School.
It was a brand new high schoolthat I went to.
So like I was the thirdgraduating class from that high school.
(11:55):
So it was brand new.
So everything was barely beingfigured out.
We didn't have any type ofpathways like how you mentioned that
you had health science, engineering.
We had none of that.
We were all kind of just, justtrying to figure things out.
So even the hospital programwas brand spanking you.
They were still trying tofigure things out.
There was nothing really toguide us again.
It was kind of just figure itout as you go along the way type
(12:17):
of thing.
But it was nice.
And if parents are involved, Ithink that's great.
But the wonderful thing isthat we have social media now and
everyone's on social media.
So at least I feel like a lotmore high school students can an
effort into not justscrolling, but maybe finding different
careers and at least getting alittle bit of insight of what X ray
is and how I can help them and everything.
(12:38):
And how to start early.
Start early.
Don't wait till your senioryear if these things are available.
And then also they can havetools to go to their college counsel.
High school counselors go totheir teachers with and say, hey,
I heard about this radiology program.
And it's at universities, it'sat colleges because some parents
want their children to have auniversity degree.
(13:00):
Some parents are like,whatever, but we know to go to school
for what we do in radiology,you must have a two year degree.
You graduate with at least anassociate's and there are other pathways
to go.
We have 11 specialties and youhave mammography.
So how can someone.
You talk a lot about pursuingmammography straight out of X ray
school?
I'm a big proponent of makingsure you have at least one extra
(13:23):
specialty outside ofdiagnostic radiology.
And the reason I say that isbecause when I was going to school
22 years ago this month makesmy 22nd anniversary.
Wow.
I want to do something.
I guess I need to like getsome balloons or something.
Yeah, you're a little 22 inthe back with a cake.
Yes, absolutely.
It's been a long 22 years andI still got some years to go.
(13:47):
And you still love it.
And I still love it.
It has been a blessing to my family.
My husband does it as well.
And it.
I was telling my hair stylistthis morning how amazing this profession
is in my opinion.
But I love how you advocatethat going for mammography right
after X ray school is important.
(14:07):
While I was in school my firstyear, I finished everything in the
first year, all my clinicalsgave us two years to do it.
I did it in the first yearbecause I knew I did not.
And I kept my mouth closedbecause I didn't.
It wasn't wrong.
But there was nothing in writing.
I said I couldn't do it, butthere was nothing in writing said
I could, like throw it andjust stay focused and do your thing.
I didn't let anybody see.
(14:28):
I just get them to sign offwhere I need them to sign off and
I close my.
I knew once I got into theprofession, oh, wait, I can do this,
I could do that, I could do that.
That's a lot of stuff I could do.
I had plans to get everyspecialty because back then you didn't
have to take the comps.
You just paid the 150 andpassed the test.
(14:48):
Oh, wow.
Yeah, that's how you see somemen with mammography registries.
They've never done a mammogramin their life.
When I love it.
And they have the M behindtheir name.
Like initials.
They like initials.
But now you have to actuallydo the comps to pay for the exam
and take it.
But that was my plan to getevery letter behind my name too.
But they changed the rules bythe time I graduated.
(15:09):
But I tell people, get atleast one.
Whether you do it or not,whether you want to do it or not,
give yourself another optionwhile your brain is still in a study
mode.
What is your take on that?
Why straight after X ray school?
I agree with that mentalitybecause that's the only reason why
I got mammography, because myschool offered mammography and they
made it clear that if you werea female, you could graduate with
(15:32):
your X ray and mammo at thesame time.
Even though I did not likemammography, I was like, just, just
get it.
Just have it just in case.
And again, in my head, I justsaw it as like an older generation
type of thing.
Like, this is not a field thatI'm going to be touching anytime
soon.
I'm going to be doing thiswhen I'm close to retirement type
of thing.
But I was like, let me atleast have it.
(15:53):
Let me just have it.
Very glad I did that because Idid not expect it to be the way it
did.
But.
Yes, but mammography comparedto other fields is just a lot easier
to get versus ct, mri.
Because I believe even theprograms around me, they take about
a year.
Because to get all the studiesand everything, it takes time, right?
It's not.
It's not easy.
(16:14):
But mammography, it's just boobs.
You know, we're prettystraightforward, everyone.
And you know that withmammography you can, you know, you
can get your exams at leastthe amount of exams needed to get
your license a lot quickerversus other fields.
So that's the only reason why.
And I'll say this too, I feellike CT and mammography are easier
(16:36):
to get because you're alreadycoming from a radiologic technology,
ionizing radiation, mind frameand study.
So while your brain is on thatpathway and all that stuff is fresh
in your mind, it's the sameprinciples that you're learning from
X ray school, radiologyschool, over to mammography school,
same principles.
It's just you did.
You're just focusing on onebody part and a lot of qa.
(17:00):
That's the only difference to me.
So your brain has alreadylearned a lot of that stuff.
That's why it's easier for me.
When I went from X ray to ct,it was not my plan, but I'm so glad
I did X ray to ct, because mybrain already knew about all of that
radiation biology and howradiation worked.
That stuff was still fresh inmy head.
I just went over to ct.
(17:21):
Boom.
Oh, this is good.
It was just cross sectional.
What's the difference?
We don't learn cross sectionalX ray.
So that was different.
And the machine process andthe protocols was different in the
calcium score and that kind of stuff.
Mri, when I went to school formri, that's, that's nothing to do
with what we learned.
No, that's completely physics.
Completely different from that.
Yeah, it's like really likeI'm, I don't, I, I try to, and I
(17:43):
try to tell people, if you gofrom X ray to MRI and go back to
ct, you going back to school again.
Just go X ray, Connecticut, doall the radiation stuff first and
then jump over to nuclearmedicine or radiation therapy or
mri.
Because those are justdifferent principles.
They're not the same science principles.
So with mammography, I thinkthat's why it makes sense to go right
(18:05):
after X ray school from, tomemo ct, X ray.
Those three are like littleclose family members.
They're first cousins, I call them.
Mammography is great.
And I really do think it'sjust depending on where you live
and how easily you can getinto a clinic that you can get your
exam.
It's just a lot easier.
In my brain also, it justunderstood it a lot better.
(18:26):
I just understood it.
There's only so much as Far asbreast is concerned, that you can
learn.
So it was a lot easier to grasp.
But again, it was not in my plan.
My plan was to graduate X ray,have the memo license, and then go
back to school for ct.
But I wanted to give myself atleast a year of being in the field
practicing before I did that,never did that, went straight for
(18:47):
mammography, and I ended upjust sticking there.
What do you think it was thatmade you stick with mammography?
I realized that it wassomething that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I enjoyed my interactions withthe patients.
I didn't fully understand itwhen I first started it and everything
that goes into it, but I wasstill very, very curious about it.
(19:09):
So I figured, well, why not?
Why not pursue this foranother year and see how it goes?
So that's what I did.
I told myself, give yourself ayear, fully commit to mammography,
and if after the year youdon't like it, then that's fine.
You know, it's not.
It's not the end of the world.
And here we are ten years later.
So.
And I think that's importantbecause you did not force yourself
(19:31):
to feel rushed, but you keptyourself focused that I'm already
in the school, get somethingthat's being offered to me.
Why would you not takeadvantage of something?
It just made total sense, thetime period of you being able to
get another certifications,because certifications mean more
money.
One thing I think people don'tknow about mammography, because I
(19:53):
know a lot of mammographytakes longer than me.
And I'm gonna tell you, theymake more money than me.
Yes.
I'm like, I was gonna mentionthat too.
It's a specialty.
So you get paid more.
You get paid more.
And what people don'tunderstand is the specialties that
people sleep on are the onesthat usually make more money.
Because people.
(20:14):
I think it takes special people.
Not I think I know it takesspecial people to do mammography.
I'm gonna say that it doestake special people.
I do breast MRIs, and I've hadmy own mammogram since age of 24
because of lumps and issues inmy life.
So I know how stressed I amwhen I go get mine.
And when I've had memo techswho have not been so nice, I'm like,
(20:37):
hey, look, I'm a patientfirst, but I'm also a technologist.
Let's wrap that on up.
Because I'm stressed out.
I know, patience, give me patience.
I'm really stressed because Igot a lump sitting in me, and I don't
know this time if it'scancerous or not.
Every time I got the gut back,I don't know it's cancerous or not.
Every time I come, they find something.
So I'm already stressed.
(20:57):
I do appreciate thetechnologists and what they do.
I know what it means to be a technologist.
I know what it means to be apatient as well, and to have technologists
like yourself in the memofield who care about the patients.
So you do have to have a level.
Because when my patients cometo me for MRI of the breast, it's
usually because they do have areally bad tumor.
(21:19):
Yeah.
Sometimes it's just genetictesting that they've had and they
want to monitor it.
But majority of the time,whenever I do breast MRIs, it is
really bad.
It's like really bad.
When they come for the MRIbreast, those are some of the worst.
And I worked in a cancercenter in ct my first nine years
of my career.
And, yeah, breast MRIs kind oftook me back for, you know, to reality
(21:40):
of what women go through andwhat mammography techs have to see.
So I feel, you know, it doestake a lot of patience, kindness,
empathy for this job, and youguys are compensated.
And it's a lot of work.
Because when I went to getcertified in it, that's the other
thing I want to talk about.
I don't want to hear anybodysay, oh, all they do is grab breast
and put no honey with a small breast.
(22:03):
Trying to get them inside there.
I was like, oh, my goodness,can we talk about that?
Because I want to reallyhighlight memo in a positive light.
After doing MRI breast, Ichose to go get nationally certified
in memo because I felt like Iwasn't understanding why I was doing
what I was doing.
And I don't like to be thetechnology that push buttons and
the radiologist just says, doX do sagittals and that's it.
(22:25):
I just want two sagittal.
But why?
And I get all this paperworkfrom memo on this person.
I don't understand why we waittill after this.
Men seize to do this.
Why we.
What is a bracket is and abrca that.
But when I went and gotnationally certified and actually
was sitting there maneuveringthe breast in there and getting all
that tissue in there, Istarted doing my mri.
Breast much better.
(22:46):
I mean, it was clicking.
It was clicking.
I was feeling like a little pro.
I was in there just the patient.
And I made the patients morecomfortable for the mri, the breast,
everything just Worked much better.
And for me, I felt like everyMRI technologist should go get nationally
certified in mammography.
It does play a big factor,especially if you are the MRI tech
(23:10):
that's for.
That's helping the doctorperform the biopsy.
As far as understanding goes,like, it just.
It helps so much.
The MRI techs that I haveworked with that have done mammography
or that at least are certifiedin it, even if they're not actively
in it, they perform so muchmore better versus an MRI tech who
has no background inmammography whatsoever.
(23:30):
And it's understandable.
It's understandable.
But if you have it like, it just.
It helps so much to fullyunderstand what's really going on
in the breast and why certainthings are happening.
So.
So let's.
Let's put this in a positivelight, because after I did that,
the reason I said that wasbecause when people think I'm burnout,
I get this all the time.
I'm burnout in radiology.
(23:50):
And I get it.
You can be as in places that will.
We talked ahead of time beforegetting on here.
I contract, and I still gettired of some places I go to.
You, it's work.
When I was working, drivingtrucks at FedEx, you got drama everywhere
you go, y'all.
I don't care if you got to work.
Even at home.
I hear housewives complainingand stay at home moms complaining.
(24:10):
It's just called life, y'all.
But we got to figure it out.
But our profession andmammography, I want it to really
be highlighted in a positiveway, because I feel like it's one
of those professions thatpeople are really sleeping on and
not realizing, like you saidat the beginning, it's an easy way
to trans within the medicalimaging profession without having
(24:31):
to feel like, I gotta go backto school.
Exactly.
Highlight to us what a day inthe life of a mammography tech would
look like, because all peoplethink about is this.
Oh, papers.
I'm drowning in papers.
Oh, papers.
Qa.
I gotta test this.
Oh, I gotta grab on boobs, andI gotta work inside of a department
full of miserable women.
Oh, my goodness.
(24:52):
I'm not saying some of that'snot true, but that's just life.
No, I agree.
And that's also the reason whyI didn't want to do mammography,
because I was in a departmentthat was like that, so.
Especially as a student.
So.
Yes, yes.
However, once you're certifiedand you're out by yourself and you're
going into the field, youreally get to experience mammography
in a new light.
(25:12):
Because as long as you focuson educating yourself and fully understanding
what is going on with yourpatient, I think that's when it becomes
enjoyable.
So not just doing XYZ like yousaid, because the radiologist is
telling this to, but fully understanding.
So your patient comes in, youhave to make that connection with
that patient the moment theycome in into your room because it's
(25:32):
a very sensitive exam, right?
So you never want to, younever want to offend them in any
way.
But you also need the patientto fully cooperate with you, especially
if they're there for adiagnostic finding, especially if
it's a Birads 5 that you'realready aware of, but the patient
has no idea.
So you really need to be ontop of your stuff.
But once you have thatknowledge, I feel that's when it
(25:55):
really starts to becomeenjoyable because then you really
know and you know how to workaround patients.
You know how to work with theemotions and everything that comes
with it.
And you as a tech, you startto feel good too because you, you
understand now you know whatthe radiologist is talking about.
Now you can read the reportand you're like, oh, okay, this is
what I have to do.
Like this, this makes 100% sense.
(26:16):
I definitely think that's thebest thing about mammography.
That's what I love.
I love that every patient isdifferent, every case is different.
There's not one single patientthat comes in with the exact same
problem.
It's going to have a verydifferent outcome.
So that's what I like.
That's what I think is niceabout mammography.
Every patient is different,every situation is different.
It's never like the exact samesteps for everyone.
(26:38):
I do think sometimes peoplethink that, but they do, they do.
It's not.
(28:11):
I did until I went to schoolfor a memo and I was like, wait,
I had to take a breather and Iwas out in Vegas.
So I'm going to tell you, thisis, it was a good teaching place
that I went to because ifyou're just thinking breasts, you
get implants.
You.
Every implant is different.
(28:32):
Every implant is different.
And then how long have theyhad their implants for?
Have they gotten them placed?
You know, are they encapsulated?
Do you have silicone in thelymph nodes?
What is going on with the implants?
Like is it a patient that hasa full on mastectomy and then has
implants and they're trying tolike reimage?
Like what?
Yeah, It's a whole thing.
It's a whole.
So when you say not every.
(28:52):
In my mind when I first started.
It'S like, okay, bloop.
Just bloop, bloop, bloop.
Done.
No, that wasn't it.
And once I got it, I got it.
But you.
Every patient was different.
Literally.
Literally.
If you physically weredifferent, emotionally, they're different.
Like, their history is super different.
(29:12):
You can't treat everyone theexact same way.
You have to spend more timewith some patients versus others.
There's some patients, you goin, they're ready to go.
Very little communication.
Cool.
We're done.
There's other patients.
You have to really, like, talkthem through the entire thing, you
know?
So, again, I think it's finebecause it's always a challenge.
That's how I always say it.
It's always a challenge.
Any patient that comes in, andit's always a fun challenge.
(29:34):
Like, what am I gonna dealwith today and not deal with in a
negative way, but, like, howam I gonna, like, overcome this and
make sure we can get the bestpicture possible for this patient?
Yeah.
You know, and then you throwin those patients that are in the
wheelchairs or in the canes ora kyphotic or.
And that's.
That scared me in the beginning.
That scared me.
But the facility that I wasin, my manager was very, very persistent
(29:58):
that I did not receive anyhelp that I had to figure it out.
Did I figure it out?
No, absolutely.
I did not.
In the beginning.
The first five patients that Ihad that were in wheelchair or kyphotic
or they just had some othertype of thing going on.
No idea.
So I had to observe.
It was just a lot ofobserving, watching what everyone
else was doing.
And then, okay, next patient.
I'm going to do it completelyby myself and give me 20 minutes.
(30:21):
But this patient, figure this out.
But then slowly but surely,your confidence goes up, and then
you're like, oh, patientslooking this way.
Okay, well, let me just anglethe machine a little bit more or
let me have them this.
So it's.
It's fun.
I like it.
That's why I like it.
It's.
It's fun.
So do you work?
I.
And this is the other thingpeople don't know about mammography
is I did it.
(30:42):
I did a TikTok, and, you know,I try to be funny but entertaining
at the same time.
And I did the TikTok, where Ihave this little series that I do
where people go to school for10 years and they come out and with
a master's degree and theymake $30,000 a year.
And then they see their cousinover there is making six figures,
doing radiation therapy andthey're like, what?
(31:04):
Or radiologic technologistsmaking close to six figures and they
got a four year degree andthey make $50,000 so.
And full of school debt.
I did one of them at mygroupie about how people are sitting
there following social media.
And that's the one thing Ilike to really say.
You know, you can't believeeverything on social media and that's
just.
Everybody knows that.
(31:24):
But I don't think every people.
Everybody believes that.
And that's why I like your content.
Because it's not for thegimmicks, it's not for the, for the
fake.
You give the real of mammography.
This is how you become one.
This, these are some tools andyou give a very positive spin on
it.
And you've shown, there areplaces you've worked where it's like,
no, I'm getting out of there.
But it didn't change your viewof the profession.
(31:47):
And I think that's importantbecause we've all had our own experiences,
right?
I mean, good and bad, but itdoesn't change our view of what the
profession has been able toprovide for us in our families.
And we're grateful to be ableto take care of ourselves and our
bodies are still in shape.
I mean, you're working throughyour pregnancy like that is.
Girl, I'm doing wheelchairpatients through my pregnancy without
(32:08):
a problem.
Okay.
That's a big deal.
Okay.
Because for some MAML texts,they're like, you need to have help.
And I'm like, no, I don't.
Once you know how to positionlike you, you really don't.
Really don't.
Really don't.
But yeah, it's, it, it's beena lot of fun.
I love my profession.
I, I don't see myself leavinganytime soon.
Maybe in the future just tolike do something else.
(32:29):
I would.
But right now it's, it's perfect.
So.
And if you start.
So one thing I want to talkabout is a schedule for you guys.
What does a normal schedulelook like?
Because I did the thing onMonday through you don't have to
work call holidays.
And I got some people in thecomments saying they work weekends
in memo and they take call.
Like I can never get anappointment on a weekend.
(32:50):
I live in a huge metropolitan city.
Okay.
I have yet to meet anyonepersonally that takes on call for
Mamo because even when I wasworking at My breast center, the
only one who was on call wasmy manager because she had to schedule
patients and everything.
But it was still online work.
You never have to go in person.
(33:11):
So I personally have no ideawhat those people are talking about.
But I've never, I've, I'venever done that.
I really, I don't know.
And as far as I'm aware, asfar as everything that's been taught
to me, there's no such thingas a breast emergency.
It can wait till Monday.
It can wait till Monday.
That is what the radiologists,the breast surgeons.
Because again, I've worked inone of the biggest breast centers
(33:33):
here in la and that's hasalways been the mentality.
So hey, maybe somewhere else.
It's very different for me personally.
I've never had to be on call.
I've never met anyone that'shad to be on call for mammography
weekends.
Yes, I do know some mhmhs thatwork weekends, but they tend to be
more of outpatient centers,not hospital centers.
(33:54):
Hospital centers, youtypically don't.
There's one big hospital in myarea that does.
That's why you don't workthere you go, don't work there.
That's, that's kind of how Ialways see it.
Like yes, people do say like,oh, you might have to work weekends,
you might have to work holidays.
I'm like, again, don't work there.
Like I've never had to workholidays, I've never had to work
(34:17):
weekends.
I live in a huge metropolitancity and it is one of the where I
get my breast ultrasounds andmemos done.
I'm gonna tell you, I havenever ever been offered.
Now they'll work late to 7,but I've never been in since I was
24, offered me a weekend placeto get my memo done because it would
(34:37):
have helped out working full time.
I had to take off one to getmy memos.
I did work at an outpatientcenter last year and they did have
Saturdays open and they weretrying to get Sundays open.
And I did work like maybethree weekends the entire year that
I was with them.
And by the third one I waslike, yeah, it's not going to work
for me.
I'm like, yeah, no, no, I'm a mom.
(34:59):
Can't, can't do this.
They were very nice to me,they respected it and they ended
up just closing the daybecause once I said no, all the other
mama texted no.
Right, right.
So.
And that's the thing, I thinkthat's a little off topic.
But that's one thing that Iappreciate is that when everyone
in the department, they'regoing to try stuff, especially outpatient
centers, they're going to tryto extend hours.
(35:20):
I remember working at oneplace, they were like, we're going
to stay open to 11:00 at night.
And I was like, 7:00 was whenI got.
I'm leaving 7:00am to 11:00 at night.
I don't care how much moneyyou offer me.
And they were like, well,those are hours.
I said, oh, you must go.
Have somebody else work it.
And they came to me first.
The other two texts, waitingto see what I said.
(35:41):
I was like, I wasn't waitingto see what y'all said because I
knew I was not working till 10or 11 o'clock and 7 o'clock was the
latest.
Now they.
So they got some other guys tocome in and do it.
It didn't last but a fewbecause nobody was coming out at
10 o'clock at night to get an MRI.
And that's where us as techs,sticking together on the jobs and
saying, okay, if you say nonow, if you say, yeah, you gonna
(36:02):
work it?
Because I'm not.
And being willing to walk awayis a big thing as well.
Some people can't.
I know, but if you're gonna bemiserable working something, go somewhere
else and find another job thatfits your time schedule exactly.
And there's that.
One of the bigger hospitals,they have tried to reach out to try
and recruit me, but all thenew contracts that they are having,
(36:25):
because they are a union,because it's a hospital, it unfortunately
does revolve aroundalternating weekends, which maybe
in the future I'll be up for it.
But right now, and they reallywill, they're one of the.
They're one of the hospitalshere in LA that pay the most for,
like, text, just period.
But yeah, weekends.
(36:45):
No, it's just.
It's not going to happen for me.
I tell people it's not alwaysabout the money.
Money is not always yournegotiating factor, because just
because you make a lot ofmoney does not mean that's the right
job.
When you're negotiating,negotiate your call, your time off,
whether you work weekends,whether you work, you know, like
whether you work at three 12sor four 10s, whether you work five
(37:06):
eights, you should benegotiating all of those things.
What, How.
How do y'all work holidays?
Some people have put in theircontract, I don't want to work New
Year's because that's myanniversary or I Don't want to work
Labor Day.
That's my anniversary.
That's my kid's birthday, orwhatever it is that's special to
you.
You can negotiate those things.
Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
(37:26):
It's not always about money.
Yeah, you could get money anywhere.
I'm gonna tell you.
Places to pay you, places willpay you.
Registry will pay you.
You can work overtime ahundred hours.
You're gonna get the money regardless.
If you really want that,you're gonna get it.
But not for my mental health.
My mental health in mammography.
Yeah, we're sticking to jobsMonday through Friday, no weekends,
(37:48):
no calls, no holidays.
And even then, I still don'twork full time for that same reason.
I'm like, no, my mental healthis a little bit better than that.
I'm going to spend more timewith my family.
Let me ask you about that too,because sometimes people think mammography.
There are no PRN jobs in mammography.
There's no way I could travelas a mammography tech.
Tell us what the opportunitiesare with that.
(38:10):
You can actually travel with mammography.
There's a lot of jobs that youcan find online that will provide
you 13 week contracts.
That's one way to go about it.
You can also do local travel,which is what I'm currently doing.
And I simply inform them whatdays I am available.
I'm very flexible with myschedule, so I'll say Monday through
Friday, three days out ofthose weeks, I'm yours, wherever
(38:32):
you need me type of thing.
From there, you do have tohave an interview with the manager
of the facility that they wantto place you at.
And that's when you can reallyfine tune your schedule and your
hours and so forth.
So for one facility, for theoutpatient center, I was there only
two days a week, but I wasdoing 10 hour shifts, which I've
always wanted to do a 10 hour shift.
(38:52):
So I was all for it.
I was all for it.
Two days a week.
Absolutely.
Yes, I'll be there.
And I don't have to doanything else for the rest of the
week.
Absolutely.
Now I'm doing three days aweek, eight hour shifts again, works
perfectly.
Now for my schedule.
One second, baby comes.
Who knows?
Maybe we'll try and do a 12hour shift here.
Maybe three 12 hours.
I don't know yet.
(39:13):
Still looking.
But there's so manyopportunities in mammography.
You can do full time, you cando overtime, you can do part time.
And mammography right now,just as a whole there's so much need
for MAML text.
So whoever you go with, theywill work with you on your schedule,
period.
Because that's how desperatethey are right now.
(39:35):
That's how much we need Mamotex.
Because not a lot of Mamotexout there.
Yeah, a lot of them retiredafter the pandemic.
Things change.
That's the good thing abouttechnology and the advancement of
the profession.
Since I've been in it, PETcame about, you know, different modalities
are coming up.
And now you have AI, theremote scanning, things like that
for mri.
There are a lot of thingsthat's coming in, opportunities for
(39:57):
a lot of people.
And you talk about theimportance of sharing your memo knowledge
with other technologieswithout competition, and which is
important, you know, in everyjob you have that.
But why do you say it'simportant to share the knowledge
that you have.
As a memography technologist,Again, me personally, I work with
(40:18):
a lot of older women who havebeen in the field for quite a while.
So they're not always superforward with face with sharing the
knowledge.
I was very, very lucky that towork in a facility in a breast center
where that's not the mentality.
The mentality is everyoneneeds to know everything, period.
Everyone needs to know how todo mammograms, screening, diagnostics,
(40:40):
biopsies, and then you stillneed to know how to perform breast
ultrasounds, biopsies, and itdoesn't matter that you're the brand
new person, you're going tolearn all of this within the next
year kind of a thing.
So coming from a facilitywhere they were very much, well,
you're new, you're only goingto stick to screening.
Maybe every so often I'll letyou watch me do a diagnostic to going
to a breast center where youlearn everything.
(41:02):
You really get to see, likehow amazing it is.
And when you get new texts andit was my turn to train them, it
was like, let me show you whymammography is amazing because this
is everything that you can do.
Um, and these mammoths that Itrain, again, you can literally see
like the little light bulb intheir eyes and everything.
And they end up falling inlove with mammography because of
(41:23):
it.
Because you, you're not stuckjust doing screening, diagnostics.
Um, you're, you can learn howto do biopsies, you can learn how
to scan, and once you know howto do it, it's again going back to
the MRI text.
When you have a background inmammography, everything clicks.
When you're performing breastultrasounds or breast biopsies.
Again, it clicks.
If you know how to domammography, if you're the one tech
(41:44):
that, like, does everything.
So I think it's beautiful.
I think it's great.
And I think the more knowledgewe can spread and help each other,
like, it's just going to makemammography as a field a lot nicer
and a lot more welcomingenvironment for everyone.
Because, again, I do feel likesometimes it is painted not in the
best way, but if you.
(42:07):
If you're in a facility thatit's not like that, then you'll be
the first person.
You'd be the first person todo that.
So.
And then wherever you go next,you make sure you continue being
that person, because thenyou're going to help everyone.
And everyone in mammographyknows everyone.
So, you know, mammography is avery small field.
So radiology, the wholemedical imaging island.
(42:27):
Medical imaging is.
I had someone on my podcastand he was like, we work together.
And I was like, we did, but weworked in the same hospital for years,
but he was in nuclearmedicine, and I was in Mr.
And I was in CT before that.
So I worked closely with thenuke man test.
And when he started talking, Iwas like, he kind of looks familiar.
But I never could reallyremember that we worked there together.
(42:49):
But he was totally.
He remembered everything.
And I was like, obviously wework together, but that is such a
small world in the medical imaging.
Even just in the United States.
We all kind of know each other.
You're going to cross pathswith everyone.
And I love that you said thateven if you find yourself at a facility
where sharing the knowledge isnot the norm, that I was in that
(43:12):
situation when I went overleft and went to MAP, I was not welcome.
Literally gave me 30 days tolearn a whole different profession.
MRI had never done anythingbut radiation.
Giving somebody 30 days to learn.
It was obviously for me tofail, but.
And there was nobody for me to help.
For nobody there to help me.
(43:32):
And it took literally everyday going in there for 30 days straight
and just sitting therestanding over people watching because
nobody was showing me.
They clicked so fast so Icouldn't see stuff.
I mean, and I had.
I didn't know what an MRImachine even looked like.
I didn't know what a five gossline was like.
It was.
I was thrown into the fire to fail.
And I feel like,unfortunately, many of us have had
(43:55):
that experience.
But this is why social mediais so important.
This is why this podcast isimportant to us.
Talking about you can riseabove all of that.
I mean, you can go intosituations like that, but if you
keep your focus and you knowwhy you're going into the profession
and remembering that memo is afield that is highly paid.
(44:15):
I just want to say that youguys are not like getting paid pennies.
You guys are paid well.
Your job is not sitting down,just doing easy stuff.
And it's not a lot of busy paperwork.
You are highly skilled.
It takes focus, empathy,kindness and professionalism to do
what you do.
You see a variety of exams,you can work in different types of
(44:37):
mammography lines, you can doleadership, you can do screenings,
you can, you have differentpatients each time.
You can do diagnostics, youcould do biopsies.
There is work in a breastcenter, outpatient center in a hospital.
There are so many teach.
There are so many things youcan do with mammography that I think
(44:58):
are not really highlighted.
And yes, in every profession,you have people that are miserable
and not happy.
I mean, everybody doesn't workwake up on the right side of the
bed.
But as you show, you can stillexcel in the profession and inspire
other people who come in notto have the experience you have.
And that's been my goal too.
When people work with me, Iwant to make sure unless you just
(45:18):
woke up on the wrong side ofthe bed and you just want to be miserable,
you work with me, I'm going totry to show you what I know.
If you want to know it, I tryto show you, but going to make sure
you have a positive experience.
When you look back on mri, ifyou worked with me, and the same
with you for a mammography.
And the reality is withmammography, like, I don't think
people really realize how manydoors open to you, even as far as
(45:42):
like jobs are concerned.
Because if you have a reallygood relationship with the other
mamotex and you're open, youare willing to learn, you're willing
to share your knowledge andeverything that translates to everything
that you do.
So the radiologists take noteof that, the breast surgeons take
note of that.
And guess what?
When they go to a newfacility, because they got a better
offer, they're bringing youwith you.
(46:04):
Like, that's kind of the waythat it works.
It's amazing because if youare tired of working at a specific
place or you just wantsomething new, like so many doors
will open to you because theyalready know your personality.
If you want to be inmanagement, if you want to be a manager,
the fact that you're willingto Share your knowledge with others,
that you can communicate wellwith others, have a positive relationship
with everyone.
(46:25):
Again, those qualities arewhat's needed if you want to be in
management.
In mammography, not thebachelor degree, that's just an extra,
but it's the personality andeverything that goes into it and
how you like present yourself.
So so many doors open.
And I can definitely say thathas happened in my case and that's
(46:46):
something that I'm supergrateful for.
Um, but I also want to makesure that the new generation of mamotex
that are coming in, at leastthe ones that I've met, like, you
want to be that person.
Don't, don't hold anything back.
Like that does not benefit youin any way.
And as a department as awhole, your department is not going
to thrive unless everyone ison the same page.
So.
(47:07):
And again, I've seen that Iwent from a breast center facility
to an outpatient facilitywhere it was not like that.
Within six months it becamelike that because so again, the personalities
and our everything.
Sometimes you just use thatone person to, you know.
Yeah.
So my thing is like, you bethat one person.
You be that one person to makeeverything a lot better.
(47:27):
It'll be better for thepatients, better for management.
Everyone will be happier andyou will love your job in the process
and so many doors will open upfor you.
So you just summarized all thereasons, whether you are going straight
out of X ray school andgraduating to pursue mammography
is one of the.
The easier professions totransition over into.
From X ray, not the easiest profession.
(47:49):
Let me make sure you guunderstand that.
Correct.
There is no easy in medical imaging.
Everything takes skill andhard work.
So mammography is not like,oh, it's just an easy job, but it
is easier to transition from Xray school and being an X ray technologist
over to mammography.
And it's also a good place tobe able to gain more skills as far
(48:13):
as patient care.
You're able to have a moreflexible schedule.
You're able to have weekendsoff at most places, unless you work
at that one place in LA wedon't talk about.
But they're great.
They're great.
You got to decide what you want.
Do you want to or do you wantthe weekends off?
So everything's about choices.
Not.
And neither one is bad.
It's not a bad thing.
I work two weekends, but theypaid me like $10 extra to work on
(48:36):
the weekends.
I took those weekends, Iworked those four hours because for
me, I can make more money inthose four hours with that $10 extra
on top of it and wouldn't haveto go in there during the weekend.
Deal with the personal thatwere there during the week.
There you go.
No, as as long as it makessense and as long as it works for
your family, just do it.
So it doesn't work for yourfamily, go somewhere else.
Mammography has options aswell and that's what I want people
(48:59):
to understand, that whetheryou're a technologist is burnout.
Don't let mammography justpass you by.
Look into it.
You've heard the opportunitiesand a positive spin on it.
Someone that enjoys theprofession has had opportunities
within it.
And what last motivatingcomments or would you recommend to
technologists who are outthere saying I'm thinking about MAMO
(49:23):
or I'm not thinking about it.
How would you sway them overto looking at a profession that you
don't have to cut into yourfull time job by going back to learn
about it?
You can do it in a courseonline, get your exams at work, or
go get a course that offersthe exams.
You know some of the pluses I.
(49:44):
Would just say to try and beas open minded as you possibly can.
Give yourself a year if youcan, even if it's only six months,
that's fine.
But give yourself those sixmonths to a year to really dive into
mammography and just reallyget to know it and understand it.
And I personally think theenjoyment is just going to come out
(50:04):
of it.
But to each their own.
But if you do need help withmamo, you know they can always, they
can always send me a dm.
I'll answer any of theirquestions or the cards that I sell
that that always helps.
That has helped a lot of MAMO tags.
I think you said a lot andyour positivity about the profession
says a lot as well.
So you're very genuine talkingabout your profession.
(50:26):
You made some really goodpoints for high school students to
really take steps while you'rein high school and parents to work
with your kids to help them to see.
And also those of youcounselors out there in high school,
look over at radiology and letyour students know about this profession.
We are the third largestmedical profession in the nation
and we have over 11 modalitiesin our profession.
(50:47):
People have options when theygo to school for radiologic technology
and become registered by the arrt.
We are licensed credentialedmedical professionals and we take
care of you.
Helping doctors to diagnoseand care for our patients so, Zelima,
it's been a pleasure, pleasurehaving you on and I look forward
to continuing to engage withyour tiktoks.
(51:11):
And you guys be sure to checkZulima out over on TikTok.
What's your TikTok name?
Breast Friend Boutique.
Oh, that's so cute.
How did you come up with that name?
Well, I don't know.
Breast.
I'm your breast friend.
That's what I always tell my colleagues.
I'm like, I'm your breast friend.
Just come to me and I'll helpyou in any way.
So it kind of just started offas a joke and then developed into
(51:34):
that.
And here we are.
You have an essay shop calledbest friend boutique.etsy.com and
you have a tick tock page fora breast friend boutique.
So very smart.
And thank you for your 10years of being a mammography technologist.
And you all.
Thank you for listening to acouple of rad techs.
You can find all of the linksto reach out to Zelima at Best Friend
(51:56):
Boutique for her Etsy shop,her TikTok.
Be sure to give her a follow.
Hit her up in a DM so you canlearn more about mammography.
If you're a technologiststruggling to stay afloat in the
radiology world because youwant to do something else, but you
don't have the time, theenergy to go back to school, stay
tuned to A couple of RadTech's podcasts.
I've got some amazing thingscoming up all on mammography because
(52:18):
guess what month is coming up soon?
October.
That's our best month ever.
That was funny.
It was the last minute.
Anyway, you guys check Zulemaout and stay tuned to a couple of
Rad techs.
We've got some amazing thingscoming up for technologists and patients
as well.
Talking about breast health,you know how I do it in October?
(52:39):
We're going to be doing it bigleading up to October, so stay tuned.
Got some good giveaways andsome really good information.
Until the next time, thank youfor listening.
Be sure to leave us a reviewat A Couple of Rad Tech.
See ya.
And that's a wrap for thisepisode of A Couple of Rad Tech's
Podcasts.
We hope you enjoyed ourdiscussion of the fascinating world
of radiology and learnedsomething new about the role we play
(53:01):
in the healthcare industry.
If you have any questions ortopics that you love for us to cover,
feel free to reach out and letus know what they are.
And you guys, please, if youenjoyed this podcast or any of the
other episodes.
We want to hear what you thought.
Leave us a review.
Mama's got to Pay Our bills.
It helps.
And until next time, staytuned for more insightful and informative
episodes of a couple of RadTech's podcast.
Welcome to A Couple of RadTech's podcast where we bring you
an inside look at the world ofradiology from the unique perspective
of a married couple ofradiologic technologists.
Together, we have over 30years of experience in the field
and are here to demystify thescience of medical imaging.
Radiology is the unsung heroof the medical field, providing doctors
with crucial images andinformation that help diagnose and
(00:51):
treat illnesses.
Join us as we explore thelatest techniques, technologies and
innovations in radiology anddiscovery the vital role we play
in the healthcare industry.
So come along for the ride aswe share our passion for radiology
as a married couple.
Hello, welcome to anotherepisode of A Couple of Rad Techs.
I am Shandria, your host fortoday's episode and we are talking
(01:14):
again all things mammography.
You guys love to hear aboutmammography and I love to talk about
it.
You know that it is a passionof mine to talk about radiologic
technology and all thespecialties that we have in our field.
And again, I've brought youanother amazing guest.
We have Zelema.
She is a mammographytechnologist for the last 10 years.
(01:35):
And get this, you guys, she'sbetter than a lot of us.
She knew she wanted to be inthe radiology field since the 10th
grade.
I knew nothing about it inhigh school.
So I am just so excited tomeet someone who knew early on about
this amazing field.
And she is doing so much toadvocate and to help everyone learn
about mammography and themedical imaging profession.
(01:59):
So check out our TikTok.
You can find that in the description.
Description and also her Etsy shop.
She has an Etsy shop that hasbadge buddy cards and her tick tock
page.
Everything's going to be in there.
So let's get into theconversation today.
Welcome.
Hello.
Thank you for having me.
You are welcome.
So glad to be here.
So we're going to get rightinto the conversation because mammography
(02:19):
is a really hot topic and youtalk a lot about it on.
I mean, you go in depth, youtalk about all kind of things like
the positioning, why you wantto be a technologist, why you want
to transfer over into mammography.
Because I think it's reallyimportant because when I search mammography
technologists, I don't find alot on social media.
So to see you and see you soarticulate about so many variety
(02:42):
of pathways in the field, Ithink sometimes we as technologists,
even us in the field, I'm notjust talking about people coming
through school.
But those of us that are inthe field, we say, I'm burnt out,
I'm only doing X ray.
I don't want to do CT is toohigh paced.
I don't want to go intoeducation, but I want something a
little calmer.
(03:03):
I want something that's not so physical.
And I think memo just goesright over people's heads.
So let's even talk about thoseof us in the profession who maybe
can have a fresh look at mammography.
So that, that, that's what Iwant to touch on today.
So welcome.
Thank you.
And I agree with that.
How did you know you wanted todo radiology since the 10th grade.
(03:25):
I need to know.
So my parents always push themedical field onto me.
They didn't.
They're not from the medicalfield whatsoever.
They came from Mexico, sofirst generation kind of a thing.
They said, stick to somethingin the medical field.
So doctor was out of thequestion because my family has no
money.
Nursing was an option, but Idon't know, there was just something
(03:45):
about nursing, how you reallyhave to take care of your patient,
like their entire life is inyour hands kind of a thing that really
scared me.
And then we had some very farrelative that was doing the X ray.
I spoke briefly to her, shedidn't really provide me with too
much details.
But then in high school, inthe 10th grade, my school was providing
(04:07):
a internship at a hospital.
So very, very small, supersmall hospital.
And when I went in, everyonewas assigned to different departments
and I specifically asked if beplaced an X ray.
So they gave me permission.
And the very first day that Iwent in, they rolled me into the
or.
They had me strapped on, leadshield, everything.
(04:27):
I saw them open up the spine,I saw them use a C arm.
And I was like, yep, this,this is what I'm gonna do.
This is exactly what I'm gonna do.
I still remember the smell oflike the skin being burned.
And I remember beingfascinated by it.
And the tech was just like,don't vape.
Whatever you do, don't vape.
And I was like, no, no, no,I'm not gonna think so.
That was really cool.
(04:48):
So from there on core, if thatdidn't scare you, they took you straight
to the or.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
That's a really nice memorythat I have.
And then from there, like Iwould go into OR cases and just help
them.
And by help I mean, like, Iwould just stand to the side next
to the C arm.
I had no idea what Anythingwas going on.
The only other thing that theydid let me do was clean the machines,
(05:10):
stock the supplies in the Xray rooms.
I did get to see mammographyonce when I was there, and it was
through film.
Mammography did not catch my attention.
No, none whatsoever.
I was like, nope, I want to bein the.
Or I want to be in the.
Me too.
I'm not gonna.
I'm not gonna tell a fib here.
I'm the same way.
Mammography just.
I was like, nope, nope, nope, nope.
(05:31):
Didn't really have a basis for that.
No.
But I just was like, no, no, no.
So you're not alone on that.
But we've all.
We've all kind of.
You never say never.
What we've learned, right?
Yeah.
No, I specifically said, I'mnever doing mammography like that.
But to be fair, the chick thatI was with, she had never had a student
with her or, like, anyonethere, so she was super quiet.
(05:53):
Nothing was explained to me,so I had no idea what was going on.
Versus an X ray.
They were like, okay, we'regonna do an X ray of this elbow.
We're gonna do an X ray of this.
This is how you position and everything.
So that definitely plays afactor into it.
It's a huge factor.
I'm glad you mentioned that because.
So we're gonna remember thatbecause we're gonna get into.
To talk about that.
When you're talking aboutgoing over into mammography as a
(06:16):
technologist, someone new, weknow how it is to go into new modalities.
It.
It.
It's scary.
Even if you're not a student, you're.
You're a technologist for years.
It's a little.
Because you know how peopleare when you're trying to transition
over to their job.
Some people are, like, not welcome.
And some people are like, comeon over.
We love to have you.
I'm going to show you everything.
And then you got some peoplethat's just like, I'm in the middle.
I'm neutral.
(06:36):
I don't care.
Yes.
Essentially, I want to behelpful to the students in high school,
because I think that is awonderful thing that you knew in
high school that you wanted todo radiology.
So if someone is looking intothe medical field or into radiology,
particularly a parent, achild, what can they do?
(06:57):
What steps can they do?
And I know each state is goingto be different, you guys, but just
kind of listen to what Zulimais saying about how she navigated
high school, and it led her tothe radiology profession.
Maybe you could take somethings and then reach out in your
state and see what is comparable.
So my high school was very bigon having all their students take
(07:17):
community college classeswhile we were in high school.
It was kind of mandatorythrough our schooling.
But that played a big factorbecause even though I really wanted
to do X ray and none of mycounselors knew anything about X
ray or even anything remotely,I simply focus on being able to take
community college classes.
I could transfer to anothercommunity college once I graduated
(07:40):
and or university and I focuson science classes and then gesture
general ed.
So by doing that, I knew thatby the time that I graduated, no
matter where I went to school,it would completely transfer over
and then I could just focus onthe X ray only portion of classes.
Because most programs, again,every state is different.
(08:01):
But most programs at leastnear me, you have to be at least
18 years or older to be ableto even apply to the program.
And I was nowhere near that.
So I just focused on what Icould do, which was general ed and
then your science classes.
So that's what I did.
Beginning 10th grade, everysingle semester, I would take at
least one college class duringthe summer, two during the winter,
(08:22):
two classes until I graduated soon.
Did you start preparing forthe 10th grade to do that?
Was that something you did inthe 8th and 9th grade or.
No.
Beginning of 10th grade.
Beginning of 10th grade.
So 10th grade.
I started taking collegeclasses in the spring, so I learned
about it in the fall.
And then fall and winter semester.
(08:43):
I was trying to figure things out.
My counselor helped me.
And then by the spring Istarted to be enrolled in these classes
and it was just one class at a time.
I didn't do more than that.
Only during the summer and thewinter I would take on two college
classes.
That's it.
Did you go to a special highschool or was this just a normal
high school?
Normal high school, Normalhigh school.
(09:03):
But they were very big oneducation and university, so they
really pushed that onto us.
But I knew what I wanted todo, so I knew that didn't matter
how much university theypushed on me.
None of the universitiesaround me have X rays, so it was
not going to work out for me.
So I simply focus on what Icould do.
Well, that's very good thatyour counselors.
(09:24):
And I thought that wasinteresting that you said the counselors,
when you told them aboutradiology, they were like, what?
What, what is that?
So obviously there's work weneed to do in the school system because
it's still the same.
When I was growing up, mostcounselors, you, oh, you want to
work in medical, be a nurse,be a doctor.
And there are so many professions.
My mom's best friend, her andher husband were both respiratory
(09:46):
therapists growing up, Iassumed they were nurses.
My cousin, he's.
He was a director in radiologywhen I was going to school for radiology,
I'm like, you are what.
I just.
Knew you had on scrubs.
Whenever I see someone thatscrubs, either doctor or nurse, that's,
that's no idea of anything,anything else related to medical.
So how are young people inhigh school supposed to have all
(10:08):
the options available to, tothem if even in high school the counselors
don't know what's out there?
So I love that you talkedabout this.
So let me ask you this question.
Because high school, when Iwas in high school, which is a while
ago, they had differentpathways you could go.
So if your mind was more of anengineer pathway, that's the type
of direction.
From the seventh or eighthgrade, I was directed.
(10:30):
I had more of a science, math.
So all of my courses were morescience directed because I tested
and it showed that I was amore science directed person.
That's the kind of directionall of my courses went towards those.
So when I did go to college, Iwould have enough for that particular
direction that I was going.
So by the seventh grade, mycounselors kind of helped me to decide,
(10:51):
you want to go in more of ahealth science direction.
Because that's what I like.
That's what I tested well on.
That's what led me.
We didn't have a program likethat until after I graduated.
In the state of Georgia, whereyou can get, at one time it was unlimited
college credits for free whileyou were still in high school.
You didn't even have to waittill the summer.
So we have that now, but nowthey've cut it to, I think, 32.
(11:12):
Only you can get in your lasttwo years of high school, which is
still great.
That's still great.
But it was no cap before.
So if you were really smartand focused like you were, I mean,
you can knock out a lot ofstuff, you know, especially if you
got a lot of your high school things.
So what it takes is parentsand children communicating and being
able to shadow and learn aboutthese different professions like
(11:33):
radiology and then workingtowards it in high school and finding
out what programs your schoolsystem and your high school have
available to you.
Right?
Absolutely.
And so after you.
Oh, go ahead.
And in my high School.
It was a brand new high schoolthat I went to.
So like I was the thirdgraduating class from that high school.
(11:55):
So it was brand new.
So everything was barely beingfigured out.
We didn't have any type ofpathways like how you mentioned that
you had health science, engineering.
We had none of that.
We were all kind of just, justtrying to figure things out.
So even the hospital programwas brand spanking you.
They were still trying tofigure things out.
There was nothing really toguide us again.
It was kind of just figure itout as you go along the way type
(12:17):
of thing.
But it was nice.
And if parents are involved, Ithink that's great.
But the wonderful thing isthat we have social media now and
everyone's on social media.
So at least I feel like a lotmore high school students can an
effort into not justscrolling, but maybe finding different
careers and at least getting alittle bit of insight of what X ray
is and how I can help them and everything.
(12:38):
And how to start early.
Start early.
Don't wait till your senioryear if these things are available.
And then also they can havetools to go to their college counsel.
High school counselors go totheir teachers with and say, hey,
I heard about this radiology program.
And it's at universities, it'sat colleges because some parents
want their children to have auniversity degree.
(13:00):
Some parents are like,whatever, but we know to go to school
for what we do in radiology,you must have a two year degree.
You graduate with at least anassociate's and there are other pathways
to go.
We have 11 specialties and youhave mammography.
So how can someone.
You talk a lot about pursuingmammography straight out of X ray
school?
I'm a big proponent of makingsure you have at least one extra
(13:23):
specialty outside ofdiagnostic radiology.
And the reason I say that isbecause when I was going to school
22 years ago this month makesmy 22nd anniversary.
Wow.
I want to do something.
I guess I need to like getsome balloons or something.
Yeah, you're a little 22 inthe back with a cake.
Yes, absolutely.
It's been a long 22 years andI still got some years to go.
(13:47):
And you still love it.
And I still love it.
It has been a blessing to my family.
My husband does it as well.
And it.
I was telling my hair stylistthis morning how amazing this profession
is in my opinion.
But I love how you advocatethat going for mammography right
after X ray school is important.
(14:07):
While I was in school my firstyear, I finished everything in the
first year, all my clinicalsgave us two years to do it.
I did it in the first yearbecause I knew I did not.
And I kept my mouth closedbecause I didn't.
It wasn't wrong.
But there was nothing in writing.
I said I couldn't do it, butthere was nothing in writing said
I could, like throw it andjust stay focused and do your thing.
I didn't let anybody see.
(14:28):
I just get them to sign offwhere I need them to sign off and
I close my.
I knew once I got into theprofession, oh, wait, I can do this,
I could do that, I could do that.
That's a lot of stuff I could do.
I had plans to get everyspecialty because back then you didn't
have to take the comps.
You just paid the 150 andpassed the test.
(14:48):
Oh, wow.
Yeah, that's how you see somemen with mammography registries.
They've never done a mammogramin their life.
When I love it.
And they have the M behindtheir name.
Like initials.
They like initials.
But now you have to actuallydo the comps to pay for the exam
and take it.
But that was my plan to getevery letter behind my name too.
But they changed the rules bythe time I graduated.
(15:09):
But I tell people, get atleast one.
Whether you do it or not,whether you want to do it or not,
give yourself another optionwhile your brain is still in a study
mode.
What is your take on that?
Why straight after X ray school?
I agree with that mentalitybecause that's the only reason why
I got mammography, because myschool offered mammography and they
made it clear that if you werea female, you could graduate with
(15:32):
your X ray and mammo at thesame time.
Even though I did not likemammography, I was like, just, just
get it.
Just have it just in case.
And again, in my head, I justsaw it as like an older generation
type of thing.
Like, this is not a field thatI'm going to be touching anytime
soon.
I'm going to be doing thiswhen I'm close to retirement type
of thing.
But I was like, let me atleast have it.
(15:53):
Let me just have it.
Very glad I did that because Idid not expect it to be the way it
did.
But.
Yes, but mammography comparedto other fields is just a lot easier
to get versus ct, mri.
Because I believe even theprograms around me, they take about
a year.
Because to get all the studiesand everything, it takes time, right?
It's not.
It's not easy.
(16:14):
But mammography, it's just boobs.
You know, we're prettystraightforward, everyone.
And you know that withmammography you can, you know, you
can get your exams at leastthe amount of exams needed to get
your license a lot quickerversus other fields.
So that's the only reason why.
And I'll say this too, I feellike CT and mammography are easier
(16:36):
to get because you're alreadycoming from a radiologic technology,
ionizing radiation, mind frameand study.
So while your brain is on thatpathway and all that stuff is fresh
in your mind, it's the sameprinciples that you're learning from
X ray school, radiologyschool, over to mammography school,
same principles.
It's just you did.
You're just focusing on onebody part and a lot of qa.
(17:00):
That's the only difference to me.
So your brain has alreadylearned a lot of that stuff.
That's why it's easier for me.
When I went from X ray to ct,it was not my plan, but I'm so glad
I did X ray to ct, because mybrain already knew about all of that
radiation biology and howradiation worked.
That stuff was still fresh inmy head.
I just went over to ct.
(17:21):
Boom.
Oh, this is good.
It was just cross sectional.
What's the difference?
We don't learn cross sectionalX ray.
So that was different.
And the machine process andthe protocols was different in the
calcium score and that kind of stuff.
Mri, when I went to school formri, that's, that's nothing to do
with what we learned.
No, that's completely physics.
Completely different from that.
Yeah, it's like really likeI'm, I don't, I, I try to, and I
(17:43):
try to tell people, if you gofrom X ray to MRI and go back to
ct, you going back to school again.
Just go X ray, Connecticut, doall the radiation stuff first and
then jump over to nuclearmedicine or radiation therapy or
mri.
Because those are justdifferent principles.
They're not the same science principles.
So with mammography, I thinkthat's why it makes sense to go right
(18:05):
after X ray school from, tomemo ct, X ray.
Those three are like littleclose family members.
They're first cousins, I call them.
Mammography is great.
And I really do think it'sjust depending on where you live
and how easily you can getinto a clinic that you can get your
exam.
It's just a lot easier.
In my brain also, it justunderstood it a lot better.
(18:26):
I just understood it.
There's only so much as Far asbreast is concerned, that you can
learn.
So it was a lot easier to grasp.
But again, it was not in my plan.
My plan was to graduate X ray,have the memo license, and then go
back to school for ct.
But I wanted to give myself atleast a year of being in the field
practicing before I did that,never did that, went straight for
(18:47):
mammography, and I ended upjust sticking there.
What do you think it was thatmade you stick with mammography?
I realized that it wassomething that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I enjoyed my interactions withthe patients.
I didn't fully understand itwhen I first started it and everything
that goes into it, but I wasstill very, very curious about it.
(19:09):
So I figured, well, why not?
Why not pursue this foranother year and see how it goes?
So that's what I did.
I told myself, give yourself ayear, fully commit to mammography,
and if after the year youdon't like it, then that's fine.
You know, it's not.
It's not the end of the world.
And here we are ten years later.
So.
And I think that's importantbecause you did not force yourself
(19:31):
to feel rushed, but you keptyourself focused that I'm already
in the school, get somethingthat's being offered to me.
Why would you not takeadvantage of something?
It just made total sense, thetime period of you being able to
get another certifications,because certifications mean more
money.
One thing I think people don'tknow about mammography, because I
(19:53):
know a lot of mammographytakes longer than me.
And I'm gonna tell you, theymake more money than me.
Yes.
I'm like, I was gonna mentionthat too.
It's a specialty.
So you get paid more.
You get paid more.
And what people don'tunderstand is the specialties that
people sleep on are the onesthat usually make more money.
Because people.
(20:14):
I think it takes special people.
Not I think I know it takesspecial people to do mammography.
I'm gonna say that it doestake special people.
I do breast MRIs, and I've hadmy own mammogram since age of 24
because of lumps and issues inmy life.
So I know how stressed I amwhen I go get mine.
And when I've had memo techswho have not been so nice, I'm like,
(20:37):
hey, look, I'm a patientfirst, but I'm also a technologist.
Let's wrap that on up.
Because I'm stressed out.
I know, patience, give me patience.
I'm really stressed because Igot a lump sitting in me, and I don't
know this time if it'scancerous or not.
Every time I got the gut back,I don't know it's cancerous or not.
Every time I come, they find something.
So I'm already stressed.
(20:57):
I do appreciate thetechnologists and what they do.
I know what it means to be a technologist.
I know what it means to be apatient as well, and to have technologists
like yourself in the memofield who care about the patients.
So you do have to have a level.
Because when my patients cometo me for MRI of the breast, it's
usually because they do have areally bad tumor.
(21:19):
Yeah.
Sometimes it's just genetictesting that they've had and they
want to monitor it.
But majority of the time,whenever I do breast MRIs, it is
really bad.
It's like really bad.
When they come for the MRIbreast, those are some of the worst.
And I worked in a cancercenter in ct my first nine years
of my career.
And, yeah, breast MRIs kind oftook me back for, you know, to reality
(21:40):
of what women go through andwhat mammography techs have to see.
So I feel, you know, it doestake a lot of patience, kindness,
empathy for this job, and youguys are compensated.
And it's a lot of work.
Because when I went to getcertified in it, that's the other
thing I want to talk about.
I don't want to hear anybodysay, oh, all they do is grab breast
and put no honey with a small breast.
(22:03):
Trying to get them inside there.
I was like, oh, my goodness,can we talk about that?
Because I want to reallyhighlight memo in a positive light.
After doing MRI breast, Ichose to go get nationally certified
in memo because I felt like Iwasn't understanding why I was doing
what I was doing.
And I don't like to be thetechnology that push buttons and
the radiologist just says, doX do sagittals and that's it.
(22:25):
I just want two sagittal.
But why?
And I get all this paperworkfrom memo on this person.
I don't understand why we waittill after this.
Men seize to do this.
Why we.
What is a bracket is and abrca that.
But when I went and gotnationally certified and actually
was sitting there maneuveringthe breast in there and getting all
that tissue in there, Istarted doing my mri.
Breast much better.
(22:46):
I mean, it was clicking.
It was clicking.
I was feeling like a little pro.
I was in there just the patient.
And I made the patients morecomfortable for the mri, the breast,
everything just Worked much better.
And for me, I felt like everyMRI technologist should go get nationally
certified in mammography.
It does play a big factor,especially if you are the MRI tech
(23:10):
that's for.
That's helping the doctorperform the biopsy.
As far as understanding goes,like, it just.
It helps so much.
The MRI techs that I haveworked with that have done mammography
or that at least are certifiedin it, even if they're not actively
in it, they perform so muchmore better versus an MRI tech who
has no background inmammography whatsoever.
(23:30):
And it's understandable.
It's understandable.
But if you have it like, it just.
It helps so much to fullyunderstand what's really going on
in the breast and why certainthings are happening.
So.
So let's.
Let's put this in a positivelight, because after I did that,
the reason I said that wasbecause when people think I'm burnout,
I get this all the time.
I'm burnout in radiology.
(23:50):
And I get it.
You can be as in places that will.
We talked ahead of time beforegetting on here.
I contract, and I still gettired of some places I go to.
You, it's work.
When I was working, drivingtrucks at FedEx, you got drama everywhere
you go, y'all.
I don't care if you got to work.
Even at home.
I hear housewives complainingand stay at home moms complaining.
(24:10):
It's just called life, y'all.
But we got to figure it out.
But our profession andmammography, I want it to really
be highlighted in a positiveway, because I feel like it's one
of those professions thatpeople are really sleeping on and
not realizing, like you saidat the beginning, it's an easy way
to trans within the medicalimaging profession without having
(24:31):
to feel like, I gotta go backto school.
Exactly.
Highlight to us what a day inthe life of a mammography tech would
look like, because all peoplethink about is this.
Oh, papers.
I'm drowning in papers.
Oh, papers.
Qa.
I gotta test this.
Oh, I gotta grab on boobs, andI gotta work inside of a department
full of miserable women.
Oh, my goodness.
(24:52):
I'm not saying some of that'snot true, but that's just life.
No, I agree.
And that's also the reason whyI didn't want to do mammography,
because I was in a departmentthat was like that, so.
Especially as a student.
So.
Yes, yes.
However, once you're certifiedand you're out by yourself and you're
going into the field, youreally get to experience mammography
in a new light.
(25:12):
Because as long as you focuson educating yourself and fully understanding
what is going on with yourpatient, I think that's when it becomes
enjoyable.
So not just doing XYZ like yousaid, because the radiologist is
telling this to, but fully understanding.
So your patient comes in, youhave to make that connection with
that patient the moment theycome in into your room because it's
(25:32):
a very sensitive exam, right?
So you never want to, younever want to offend them in any
way.
But you also need the patientto fully cooperate with you, especially
if they're there for adiagnostic finding, especially if
it's a Birads 5 that you'realready aware of, but the patient
has no idea.
So you really need to be ontop of your stuff.
But once you have thatknowledge, I feel that's when it
(25:55):
really starts to becomeenjoyable because then you really
know and you know how to workaround patients.
You know how to work with theemotions and everything that comes
with it.
And you as a tech, you startto feel good too because you, you
understand now you know whatthe radiologist is talking about.
Now you can read the reportand you're like, oh, okay, this is
what I have to do.
Like this, this makes 100% sense.
(26:16):
I definitely think that's thebest thing about mammography.
That's what I love.
I love that every patient isdifferent, every case is different.
There's not one single patientthat comes in with the exact same
problem.
It's going to have a verydifferent outcome.
So that's what I like.
That's what I think is niceabout mammography.
Every patient is different,every situation is different.
It's never like the exact samesteps for everyone.
(26:38):
I do think sometimes peoplethink that, but they do, they do.
It's not.
(28:11):
I did until I went to schoolfor a memo and I was like, wait,
I had to take a breather and Iwas out in Vegas.
So I'm going to tell you, thisis, it was a good teaching place
that I went to because ifyou're just thinking breasts, you
get implants.
You.
Every implant is different.
(28:32):
Every implant is different.
And then how long have theyhad their implants for?
Have they gotten them placed?
You know, are they encapsulated?
Do you have silicone in thelymph nodes?
What is going on with the implants?
Like is it a patient that hasa full on mastectomy and then has
implants and they're trying tolike reimage?
Like what?
Yeah, It's a whole thing.
It's a whole.
So when you say not every.
(28:52):
In my mind when I first started.
It'S like, okay, bloop.
Just bloop, bloop, bloop.
Done.
No, that wasn't it.
And once I got it, I got it.
But you.
Every patient was different.
Literally.
Literally.
If you physically weredifferent, emotionally, they're different.
Like, their history is super different.
(29:12):
You can't treat everyone theexact same way.
You have to spend more timewith some patients versus others.
There's some patients, you goin, they're ready to go.
Very little communication.
Cool.
We're done.
There's other patients.
You have to really, like, talkthem through the entire thing, you
know?
So, again, I think it's finebecause it's always a challenge.
That's how I always say it.
It's always a challenge.
Any patient that comes in, andit's always a fun challenge.
(29:34):
Like, what am I gonna dealwith today and not deal with in a
negative way, but, like, howam I gonna, like, overcome this and
make sure we can get the bestpicture possible for this patient?
Yeah.
You know, and then you throwin those patients that are in the
wheelchairs or in the canes ora kyphotic or.
And that's.
That scared me in the beginning.
That scared me.
But the facility that I wasin, my manager was very, very persistent
(29:58):
that I did not receive anyhelp that I had to figure it out.
Did I figure it out?
No, absolutely.
I did not.
In the beginning.
The first five patients that Ihad that were in wheelchair or kyphotic
or they just had some othertype of thing going on.
No idea.
So I had to observe.
It was just a lot ofobserving, watching what everyone
else was doing.
And then, okay, next patient.
I'm going to do it completelyby myself and give me 20 minutes.
(30:21):
But this patient, figure this out.
But then slowly but surely,your confidence goes up, and then
you're like, oh, patientslooking this way.
Okay, well, let me just anglethe machine a little bit more or
let me have them this.
So it's.
It's fun.
I like it.
That's why I like it.
It's.
It's fun.
So do you work?
I.
And this is the other thingpeople don't know about mammography
is I did it.
(30:42):
I did a TikTok, and, you know,I try to be funny but entertaining
at the same time.
And I did the TikTok, where Ihave this little series that I do
where people go to school for10 years and they come out and with
a master's degree and theymake $30,000 a year.
And then they see their cousinover there is making six figures,
doing radiation therapy andthey're like, what?
(31:04):
Or radiologic technologistsmaking close to six figures and they
got a four year degree andthey make $50,000 so.
And full of school debt.
I did one of them at mygroupie about how people are sitting
there following social media.
And that's the one thing Ilike to really say.
You know, you can't believeeverything on social media and that's
just.
Everybody knows that.
(31:24):
But I don't think every people.
Everybody believes that.
And that's why I like your content.
Because it's not for thegimmicks, it's not for the, for the
fake.
You give the real of mammography.
This is how you become one.
This, these are some tools andyou give a very positive spin on
it.
And you've shown, there areplaces you've worked where it's like,
no, I'm getting out of there.
But it didn't change your viewof the profession.
(31:47):
And I think that's importantbecause we've all had our own experiences,
right?
I mean, good and bad, but itdoesn't change our view of what the
profession has been able toprovide for us in our families.
And we're grateful to be ableto take care of ourselves and our
bodies are still in shape.
I mean, you're working throughyour pregnancy like that is.
Girl, I'm doing wheelchairpatients through my pregnancy without
(32:08):
a problem.
Okay.
That's a big deal.
Okay.
Because for some MAML texts,they're like, you need to have help.
And I'm like, no, I don't.
Once you know how to positionlike you, you really don't.
Really don't.
Really don't.
But yeah, it's, it, it's beena lot of fun.
I love my profession.
I, I don't see myself leavinganytime soon.
Maybe in the future just tolike do something else.
(32:29):
I would.
But right now it's, it's perfect.
So.
And if you start.
So one thing I want to talkabout is a schedule for you guys.
What does a normal schedulelook like?
Because I did the thing onMonday through you don't have to
work call holidays.
And I got some people in thecomments saying they work weekends
in memo and they take call.
Like I can never get anappointment on a weekend.
(32:50):
I live in a huge metropolitan city.
Okay.
I have yet to meet anyonepersonally that takes on call for
Mamo because even when I wasworking at My breast center, the
only one who was on call wasmy manager because she had to schedule
patients and everything.
But it was still online work.
You never have to go in person.
(33:11):
So I personally have no ideawhat those people are talking about.
But I've never, I've, I'venever done that.
I really, I don't know.
And as far as I'm aware, asfar as everything that's been taught
to me, there's no such thingas a breast emergency.
It can wait till Monday.
It can wait till Monday.
That is what the radiologists,the breast surgeons.
Because again, I've worked inone of the biggest breast centers
(33:33):
here in la and that's hasalways been the mentality.
So hey, maybe somewhere else.
It's very different for me personally.
I've never had to be on call.
I've never met anyone that'shad to be on call for mammography
weekends.
Yes, I do know some mhmhs thatwork weekends, but they tend to be
more of outpatient centers,not hospital centers.
(33:54):
Hospital centers, youtypically don't.
There's one big hospital in myarea that does.
That's why you don't workthere you go, don't work there.
That's, that's kind of how Ialways see it.
Like yes, people do say like,oh, you might have to work weekends,
you might have to work holidays.
I'm like, again, don't work there.
Like I've never had to workholidays, I've never had to work
(34:17):
weekends.
I live in a huge metropolitancity and it is one of the where I
get my breast ultrasounds andmemos done.
I'm gonna tell you, I havenever ever been offered.
Now they'll work late to 7,but I've never been in since I was
24, offered me a weekend placeto get my memo done because it would
(34:37):
have helped out working full time.
I had to take off one to getmy memos.
I did work at an outpatientcenter last year and they did have
Saturdays open and they weretrying to get Sundays open.
And I did work like maybethree weekends the entire year that
I was with them.
And by the third one I waslike, yeah, it's not going to work
for me.
I'm like, yeah, no, no, I'm a mom.
(34:59):
Can't, can't do this.
They were very nice to me,they respected it and they ended
up just closing the daybecause once I said no, all the other
mama texted no.
Right, right.
So.
And that's the thing, I thinkthat's a little off topic.
But that's one thing that Iappreciate is that when everyone
in the department, they'regoing to try stuff, especially outpatient
centers, they're going to tryto extend hours.
(35:20):
I remember working at oneplace, they were like, we're going
to stay open to 11:00 at night.
And I was like, 7:00 was whenI got.
I'm leaving 7:00am to 11:00 at night.
I don't care how much moneyyou offer me.
And they were like, well,those are hours.
I said, oh, you must go.
Have somebody else work it.
And they came to me first.
The other two texts, waitingto see what I said.
(35:41):
I was like, I wasn't waitingto see what y'all said because I
knew I was not working till 10or 11 o'clock and 7 o'clock was the
latest.
Now they.
So they got some other guys tocome in and do it.
It didn't last but a fewbecause nobody was coming out at
10 o'clock at night to get an MRI.
And that's where us as techs,sticking together on the jobs and
saying, okay, if you say nonow, if you say, yeah, you gonna
(36:02):
work it?
Because I'm not.
And being willing to walk awayis a big thing as well.
Some people can't.
I know, but if you're gonna bemiserable working something, go somewhere
else and find another job thatfits your time schedule exactly.
And there's that.
One of the bigger hospitals,they have tried to reach out to try
and recruit me, but all thenew contracts that they are having,
(36:25):
because they are a union,because it's a hospital, it unfortunately
does revolve aroundalternating weekends, which maybe
in the future I'll be up for it.
But right now, and they reallywill, they're one of the.
They're one of the hospitalshere in LA that pay the most for,
like, text, just period.
But yeah, weekends.
(36:45):
No, it's just.
It's not going to happen for me.
I tell people it's not alwaysabout the money.
Money is not always yournegotiating factor, because just
because you make a lot ofmoney does not mean that's the right
job.
When you're negotiating,negotiate your call, your time off,
whether you work weekends,whether you work, you know, like
whether you work at three 12sor four 10s, whether you work five
(37:06):
eights, you should benegotiating all of those things.
What, How.
How do y'all work holidays?
Some people have put in theircontract, I don't want to work New
Year's because that's myanniversary or I Don't want to work
Labor Day.
That's my anniversary.
That's my kid's birthday, orwhatever it is that's special to
you.
You can negotiate those things.
Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
(37:26):
It's not always about money.
Yeah, you could get money anywhere.
I'm gonna tell you.
Places to pay you, places willpay you.
Registry will pay you.
You can work overtime ahundred hours.
You're gonna get the money regardless.
If you really want that,you're gonna get it.
But not for my mental health.
My mental health in mammography.
Yeah, we're sticking to jobsMonday through Friday, no weekends,
(37:48):
no calls, no holidays.
And even then, I still don'twork full time for that same reason.
I'm like, no, my mental healthis a little bit better than that.
I'm going to spend more timewith my family.
Let me ask you about that too,because sometimes people think mammography.
There are no PRN jobs in mammography.
There's no way I could travelas a mammography tech.
Tell us what the opportunitiesare with that.
(38:10):
You can actually travel with mammography.
There's a lot of jobs that youcan find online that will provide
you 13 week contracts.
That's one way to go about it.
You can also do local travel,which is what I'm currently doing.
And I simply inform them whatdays I am available.
I'm very flexible with myschedule, so I'll say Monday through
Friday, three days out ofthose weeks, I'm yours, wherever
(38:32):
you need me type of thing.
From there, you do have tohave an interview with the manager
of the facility that they wantto place you at.
And that's when you can reallyfine tune your schedule and your
hours and so forth.
So for one facility, for theoutpatient center, I was there only
two days a week, but I wasdoing 10 hour shifts, which I've
always wanted to do a 10 hour shift.
(38:52):
So I was all for it.
I was all for it.
Two days a week.
Absolutely.
Yes, I'll be there.
And I don't have to doanything else for the rest of the
week.
Absolutely.
Now I'm doing three days aweek, eight hour shifts again, works
perfectly.
Now for my schedule.
One second, baby comes.
Who knows?
Maybe we'll try and do a 12hour shift here.
Maybe three 12 hours.
I don't know yet.
(39:13):
Still looking.
But there's so manyopportunities in mammography.
You can do full time, you cando overtime, you can do part time.
And mammography right now,just as a whole there's so much need
for MAML text.
So whoever you go with, theywill work with you on your schedule,
period.
Because that's how desperatethey are right now.
(39:35):
That's how much we need Mamotex.
Because not a lot of Mamotexout there.
Yeah, a lot of them retiredafter the pandemic.
Things change.
That's the good thing abouttechnology and the advancement of
the profession.
Since I've been in it, PETcame about, you know, different modalities
are coming up.
And now you have AI, theremote scanning, things like that
for mri.
There are a lot of thingsthat's coming in, opportunities for
(39:57):
a lot of people.
And you talk about theimportance of sharing your memo knowledge
with other technologieswithout competition, and which is
important, you know, in everyjob you have that.
But why do you say it'simportant to share the knowledge
that you have.
As a memography technologist,Again, me personally, I work with
(40:18):
a lot of older women who havebeen in the field for quite a while.
So they're not always superforward with face with sharing the
knowledge.
I was very, very lucky that towork in a facility in a breast center
where that's not the mentality.
The mentality is everyoneneeds to know everything, period.
Everyone needs to know how todo mammograms, screening, diagnostics,
(40:40):
biopsies, and then you stillneed to know how to perform breast
ultrasounds, biopsies, and itdoesn't matter that you're the brand
new person, you're going tolearn all of this within the next
year kind of a thing.
So coming from a facilitywhere they were very much, well,
you're new, you're only goingto stick to screening.
Maybe every so often I'll letyou watch me do a diagnostic to going
to a breast center where youlearn everything.
(41:02):
You really get to see, likehow amazing it is.
And when you get new texts andit was my turn to train them, it
was like, let me show you whymammography is amazing because this
is everything that you can do.
Um, and these mammoths that Itrain, again, you can literally see
like the little light bulb intheir eyes and everything.
And they end up falling inlove with mammography because of
(41:23):
it.
Because you, you're not stuckjust doing screening, diagnostics.
Um, you're, you can learn howto do biopsies, you can learn how
to scan, and once you know howto do it, it's again going back to
the MRI text.
When you have a background inmammography, everything clicks.
When you're performing breastultrasounds or breast biopsies.
Again, it clicks.
If you know how to domammography, if you're the one tech
(41:44):
that, like, does everything.
So I think it's beautiful.
I think it's great.
And I think the more knowledgewe can spread and help each other,
like, it's just going to makemammography as a field a lot nicer
and a lot more welcomingenvironment for everyone.
Because, again, I do feel likesometimes it is painted not in the
best way, but if you.
(42:07):
If you're in a facility thatit's not like that, then you'll be
the first person.
You'd be the first person todo that.
So.
And then wherever you go next,you make sure you continue being
that person, because thenyou're going to help everyone.
And everyone in mammographyknows everyone.
So, you know, mammography is avery small field.
So radiology, the wholemedical imaging island.
(42:27):
Medical imaging is.
I had someone on my podcastand he was like, we work together.
And I was like, we did, but weworked in the same hospital for years,
but he was in nuclearmedicine, and I was in Mr.
And I was in CT before that.
So I worked closely with thenuke man test.
And when he started talking, Iwas like, he kind of looks familiar.
But I never could reallyremember that we worked there together.
(42:49):
But he was totally.
He remembered everything.
And I was like, obviously wework together, but that is such a
small world in the medical imaging.
Even just in the United States.
We all kind of know each other.
You're going to cross pathswith everyone.
And I love that you said thateven if you find yourself at a facility
where sharing the knowledge isnot the norm, that I was in that
(43:12):
situation when I went overleft and went to MAP, I was not welcome.
Literally gave me 30 days tolearn a whole different profession.
MRI had never done anythingbut radiation.
Giving somebody 30 days to learn.
It was obviously for me tofail, but.
And there was nobody for me to help.
For nobody there to help me.
(43:32):
And it took literally everyday going in there for 30 days straight
and just sitting therestanding over people watching because
nobody was showing me.
They clicked so fast so Icouldn't see stuff.
I mean, and I had.
I didn't know what an MRImachine even looked like.
I didn't know what a five gossline was like.
It was.
I was thrown into the fire to fail.
And I feel like,unfortunately, many of us have had
(43:55):
that experience.
But this is why social mediais so important.
This is why this podcast isimportant to us.
Talking about you can riseabove all of that.
I mean, you can go intosituations like that, but if you
keep your focus and you knowwhy you're going into the profession
and remembering that memo is afield that is highly paid.
(44:15):
I just want to say that youguys are not like getting paid pennies.
You guys are paid well.
Your job is not sitting down,just doing easy stuff.
And it's not a lot of busy paperwork.
You are highly skilled.
It takes focus, empathy,kindness and professionalism to do
what you do.
You see a variety of exams,you can work in different types of
(44:37):
mammography lines, you can doleadership, you can do screenings,
you can, you have differentpatients each time.
You can do diagnostics, youcould do biopsies.
There is work in a breastcenter, outpatient center in a hospital.
There are so many teach.
There are so many things youcan do with mammography that I think
(44:58):
are not really highlighted.
And yes, in every profession,you have people that are miserable
and not happy.
I mean, everybody doesn't workwake up on the right side of the
bed.
But as you show, you can stillexcel in the profession and inspire
other people who come in notto have the experience you have.
And that's been my goal too.
When people work with me, Iwant to make sure unless you just
(45:18):
woke up on the wrong side ofthe bed and you just want to be miserable,
you work with me, I'm going totry to show you what I know.
If you want to know it, I tryto show you, but going to make sure
you have a positive experience.
When you look back on mri, ifyou worked with me, and the same
with you for a mammography.
And the reality is withmammography, like, I don't think
people really realize how manydoors open to you, even as far as
(45:42):
like jobs are concerned.
Because if you have a reallygood relationship with the other
mamotex and you're open, youare willing to learn, you're willing
to share your knowledge andeverything that translates to everything
that you do.
So the radiologists take noteof that, the breast surgeons take
note of that.
And guess what?
When they go to a newfacility, because they got a better
offer, they're bringing youwith you.
(46:04):
Like, that's kind of the waythat it works.
It's amazing because if youare tired of working at a specific
place or you just wantsomething new, like so many doors
will open to you because theyalready know your personality.
If you want to be inmanagement, if you want to be a manager,
the fact that you're willingto Share your knowledge with others,
that you can communicate wellwith others, have a positive relationship
with everyone.
(46:25):
Again, those qualities arewhat's needed if you want to be in
management.
In mammography, not thebachelor degree, that's just an extra,
but it's the personality andeverything that goes into it and
how you like present yourself.
So so many doors open.
And I can definitely say thathas happened in my case and that's
(46:46):
something that I'm supergrateful for.
Um, but I also want to makesure that the new generation of mamotex
that are coming in, at leastthe ones that I've met, like, you
want to be that person.
Don't, don't hold anything back.
Like that does not benefit youin any way.
And as a department as awhole, your department is not going
to thrive unless everyone ison the same page.
So.
(47:07):
And again, I've seen that Iwent from a breast center facility
to an outpatient facilitywhere it was not like that.
Within six months it becamelike that because so again, the personalities
and our everything.
Sometimes you just use thatone person to, you know.
Yeah.
So my thing is like, you bethat one person.
You be that one person to makeeverything a lot better.
(47:27):
It'll be better for thepatients, better for management.
Everyone will be happier andyou will love your job in the process
and so many doors will open upfor you.
So you just summarized all thereasons, whether you are going straight
out of X ray school andgraduating to pursue mammography
is one of the.
The easier professions totransition over into.
From X ray, not the easiest profession.
(47:49):
Let me make sure you guunderstand that.
Correct.
There is no easy in medical imaging.
Everything takes skill andhard work.
So mammography is not like,oh, it's just an easy job, but it
is easier to transition from Xray school and being an X ray technologist
over to mammography.
And it's also a good place tobe able to gain more skills as far
(48:13):
as patient care.
You're able to have a moreflexible schedule.
You're able to have weekendsoff at most places, unless you work
at that one place in LA wedon't talk about.
But they're great.
They're great.
You got to decide what you want.
Do you want to or do you wantthe weekends off?
So everything's about choices.
Not.
And neither one is bad.
It's not a bad thing.
I work two weekends, but theypaid me like $10 extra to work on
(48:36):
the weekends.
I took those weekends, Iworked those four hours because for
me, I can make more money inthose four hours with that $10 extra
on top of it and wouldn't haveto go in there during the weekend.
Deal with the personal thatwere there during the week.
There you go.
No, as as long as it makessense and as long as it works for
your family, just do it.
So it doesn't work for yourfamily, go somewhere else.
Mammography has options aswell and that's what I want people
(48:59):
to understand, that whetheryou're a technologist is burnout.
Don't let mammography justpass you by.
Look into it.
You've heard the opportunitiesand a positive spin on it.
Someone that enjoys theprofession has had opportunities
within it.
And what last motivatingcomments or would you recommend to
technologists who are outthere saying I'm thinking about MAMO
(49:23):
or I'm not thinking about it.
How would you sway them overto looking at a profession that you
don't have to cut into yourfull time job by going back to learn
about it?
You can do it in a courseonline, get your exams at work, or
go get a course that offersthe exams.
You know some of the pluses I.
(49:44):
Would just say to try and beas open minded as you possibly can.
Give yourself a year if youcan, even if it's only six months,
that's fine.
But give yourself those sixmonths to a year to really dive into
mammography and just reallyget to know it and understand it.
And I personally think theenjoyment is just going to come out
(50:04):
of it.
But to each their own.
But if you do need help withmamo, you know they can always, they
can always send me a dm.
I'll answer any of theirquestions or the cards that I sell
that that always helps.
That has helped a lot of MAMO tags.
I think you said a lot andyour positivity about the profession
says a lot as well.
So you're very genuine talkingabout your profession.
(50:26):
You made some really goodpoints for high school students to
really take steps while you'rein high school and parents to work
with your kids to help them to see.
And also those of youcounselors out there in high school,
look over at radiology and letyour students know about this profession.
We are the third largestmedical profession in the nation
and we have over 11 modalitiesin our profession.
(50:47):
People have options when theygo to school for radiologic technology
and become registered by the arrt.
We are licensed credentialedmedical professionals and we take
care of you.
Helping doctors to diagnoseand care for our patients so, Zelima,
it's been a pleasure, pleasurehaving you on and I look forward
to continuing to engage withyour tiktoks.
(51:11):
And you guys be sure to checkZulima out over on TikTok.
What's your TikTok name?
Breast Friend Boutique.
Oh, that's so cute.
How did you come up with that name?
Well, I don't know.
Breast.
I'm your breast friend.
That's what I always tell my colleagues.
I'm like, I'm your breast friend.
Just come to me and I'll helpyou in any way.
So it kind of just started offas a joke and then developed into
(51:34):
that.
And here we are.
You have an essay shop calledbest friend boutique.etsy.com and
you have a tick tock page fora breast friend boutique.
So very smart.
And thank you for your 10years of being a mammography technologist.
And you all.
Thank you for listening to acouple of rad techs.
You can find all of the linksto reach out to Zelima at Best Friend
(51:56):
Boutique for her Etsy shop,her TikTok.
Be sure to give her a follow.
Hit her up in a DM so you canlearn more about mammography.
If you're a technologiststruggling to stay afloat in the
radiology world because youwant to do something else, but you
don't have the time, theenergy to go back to school, stay
tuned to A couple of RadTech's podcasts.
I've got some amazing thingscoming up all on mammography because
(52:18):
guess what month is coming up soon?
October.
That's our best month ever.
That was funny.
It was the last minute.
Anyway, you guys check Zulemaout and stay tuned to a couple of
Rad techs.
We've got some amazing thingscoming up for technologists and patients
as well.
Talking about breast health,you know how I do it in October?
(52:39):
We're going to be doing it bigleading up to October, so stay tuned.
Got some good giveaways andsome really good information.
Until the next time, thank youfor listening.
Be sure to leave us a reviewat A Couple of Rad Tech.
See ya.
And that's a wrap for thisepisode of A Couple of Rad Tech's
Podcasts.
We hope you enjoyed ourdiscussion of the fascinating world
of radiology and learnedsomething new about the role we play
(53:01):
in the healthcare industry.
If you have any questions ortopics that you love for us to cover,
feel free to reach out and letus know what they are.
And you guys, please, if youenjoyed this podcast or any of the
other episodes.
We want to hear what you thought.
Leave us a review.
Mama's got to Pay Our bills.
It helps.
And until next time, staytuned for more insightful and informative
episodes of a couple of RadTech's podcast.
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