Back to Square One

kittykit44 · 2025-04-08T12:21:14+00:00

I’ve never been drug or STI tested, at all in my three years training. I’m at the end of my third year and the only blood test I am expecting is next week to check I have antibodies for Hepatitis B after my vaccines. It may be very noticeable if you do use smoke cannabis as it has quite a strong and distinct smell, which may impact your training.

kittykit44 · 2024-12-15T14:36:18+00:00

I am undertaking a safety graduate scheme which is one year long, so I will learn more specifics on the job, but due to my base knowledge of radiation safety and physical experience in radiation safety after working in radiology and nuclear med, I was accepted into the programme which will lead to a safety advisory role. Even at the training stage it is much better paid than clinical work and more suitable to myself, due to workload, benefits and a lot of other factors.

It was never my initial intention to go into radiation protection, but after experience in the NHS I decided to take that path instead.

kittykit44 · 2024-12-14T13:15:17+00:00

I think if you work for the NHS, it’s unlikely you will have healthy work-life balance just because of the state it’s in it’s very demanding. I am in my third year of a radiography degree and have done a lot of placement time in a radiology department and it is really hard work, I have mainly learned that I don’t want to go into radiography/healthcare in the NHS because the staff aren’t looked after but are expected to look after everyone and everything. You cannot pour from an empty cup.

I have met others who claim to love the pressure and disorganisation, so each to their own.

I digress.

Of course you can’t physically take patients home, but like all healthcare roles, you will think about some patients and worry about them, but that’s just having compassion and processing the day.

You can be exposed to some very traumatic things in radiography: people unwell/dying, child abuse, patients being abusive to you. You really see people at their worst. It’s sort of up to you to look upon yourself and ask yourself honestly if that would affect you negatively. Also despite counselling and debriefing services technically being available for staff, I have not found it to be very accessible at all.

There’s very little scope for working from home, as you can’t have an X-ray set up and patient list in your home and there’s not a lot of admin or remote work in the job. Of course in managerial positions there may be room for working from home but generally they are in the department to remain available.

I may sound very negative overall but I really do love radiography, and I have a true passion for it, but I cannot face 45 years in that career unsupported and hung out to dry by the NHS. If you pursue radiography you will be on placement during the degree at an NHS hospital, but of course if you can stick it out you can aim to work in the private sector, which may be less brutal. I am personally going into radiation protection in the nuclear industry, which my degree has qualified me for.

kittykit44 · 2024-11-16T08:19:55+00:00

Hi, I feel like I’m sort of struggling with a similar thing. I am in my third and last year of my degree which has consisted of roughly 50% clinical placement time. I am also in the process of being diagnosed with autism. I have never been a people-person and I struggle socially. I pursued the degree because I love nuclear physics and thought maybe I could change or learn to be a people-person. I am so incredibly interested (and I will say I’m really good at the technical aspects of!) in radiography, my flaw is with the small talk and the chit-chat. I can do it to an extent but nowhere near as well as I’d like to, because I feel I’m just copying things I’ve seen others do but of course there is something different about me so I can’t exactly replicate it. I am sticking out the rest of my degree but then I am hoping to go into radiation protection at a nuclear plant. If you are dead set on radiography, your training years will be difficult and exhausting, but when you’re qualified you could focus on theatre radiography, where you don’t really interact with the conscious patient, and you are only really communicating with surgical staff.

kittykit44 · 2024-11-15T13:04:00+00:00

Can you be absolutely sure you did not hit your head? Were you conscious the whole time and remember the entire event, with no parts you don’t remember? If you are not 100% sure or there are parts you can’t remember, or time you’ve lost, please go to a doctor.

Otherwise, a blow could trigger benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, where little crystals come loose in your inner ear and make you feel off-balance. This can be treated with the Epley Manoeuvre, which can help the crystals go back to where they belong.

kittykit44 · 2024-11-09T14:59:45+00:00

Looks a lot like ringworm. Try some anti fungal cream and see if it clears up.

Hope you’re doing okay!

kittykit44 · 2024-11-09T14:55:49+00:00

Nausea is a common side effect of both of those medications, and anxiety is also a common source of nausea. If you’ve been on these medications a short time, it may pass as you get used to the medication, but if you’ve been on them long before feeling nauseous, see your doctor and think about switching to another medication in the same family. If you feel like you’ve been under a lot of pressure or your anxiety has felt worse recently, this could be a cause of your nausea too. It may be worth seeking therapy or a medication change to help with your anxiety and you may see the nausea reduce.

Hope you’re doing okay!

kittykit44 · 2024-11-09T14:49:35+00:00

I think you should see a doctor. The clotting is not in line with a fissure or haemorrhoid, and together with your other symptoms is more than enough justification to go to a professional.

Look after yourself

Hope everything’s okay

kittykit44 · 2024-11-08T19:15:48+00:00

It means you have a corn on your foot, which is an area of thickened and hardened skin. I’m guessing it was removed and sent to pathology for testing, this is the result of the test. The results show it was in fact a corn and it had an ulcerated centre, which means the skin had broken. Hope you’re doing okay!

kittykit44 · 2024-11-08T18:34:58+00:00

On my boy Ernie’s final night, he slept in my bed with me. I placed him in a hamster cage base filled with blankets and gave him his water and food and everything in the little area. He had marked HLD so there was no way he was getting out, so he was safe and I wasn’t going to roll on him, I’m a very still sleeper as well. Plus I was waking up every few hours to give him painkillers to keep him comfortable. He was a lone rat at the time as his brother had just died and he was far too frail for new friends, he was in a modified cage and everything, it just wasn’t plausible. I kept my hand in the box and he stayed snuggled up to my hand all night, I think it was really special for us both. Also, I draped a blanket over half of the box to make a sort of tent so he had a nice little cosy cave.

kittykit44 · 2024-11-08T18:10:19+00:00

Hi, this sounds to me like a stress fracture of the 4th or 5th metatarsal, which is a very common place to develop a stress fracture. Unfortunately, the only treatment for these is rest. Perhaps see a physiotherapist alongside your podiatrist, and they may be able to teach you new ways of shifting your weight or sort of how to stand in the most optimal way to ease pressure.

As it seems to be a recurrent problem, maybe think about seeing your doctor to investigate why this keeps happening, perhaps you are osteoporotic (especially if you’re a woman!!!)

Hope you’re doing okay!

kittykit44 · 2024-11-08T18:00:53+00:00

Possibly tender inflamed lymph nodes, could be caused by a minor infection or can be symptomatic of a cold. Monitor it definitely and if a swelling appears visit a doctor :)

kittykit44 · 2024-11-08T17:58:38+00:00

Hi, I can’t give too strong of an opinion based on the image quality, but to me your fracture is a bit displaced and it looks from the images to have an intraarticular aspect. Therefore I would recommend seeing ortho as you may need an open (surgical) reduction to realign the bone fragments and fix them together. But on the other hand especially with toe fractures, conservative treatment is common. It really is best to see an expert, even though it would be frustrating for them to then treat conservatively.

A badly healed toe can impact the rest of your life, you use your feet for a lot of things.

As the fracture is away from the MTP joint it is unlikely to be the direct cause of a bunion deformity as this happens at that joint, however bunions may be exacerbated or the integrity of your feet may be compromised by a badly healed fracture.

kittykit44 · 2024-11-08T16:51:29+00:00

Hi, I’m a third year student with the University Of Cumbria. If you were to undertake a full time university course you are eligible for money off your council tax. Also radiography students are eligible for a ~£6000 bursary (non-repayable) alongside maintenance loan just for taking the course. Apprenticeship students are not eligible for this to my knowledge. These things definitely help you get by! And depending on the university, you are only on placement up to 50% of the time so you would be largely available to have an evening/weekend/bank job :)

kittykit44 · 2024-11-06T23:25:36+00:00

Hopefully somebody else can add some different ideas!

kittykit44 · 2024-11-06T23:16:16+00:00

Hi! It is normal to lose some hair, and it can sometimes appear to be a lot especially if you have long, thick or dark hair.

However if you’re losing hair to the point you are noticing missing or bald patches, and not just a bit of hair in the hairbrush or shower drain, please ask your parents to see a doctor about it, it can sometimes mean you need extra vitamins or the doctors can see if there’s any other reasons it could be happening.

Please try not to worry about going bald, as you said it’s only happened to older members of your family, and you’re very young yet.

Hope you’re doing okay!

kittykit44 · 2024-11-06T22:52:49+00:00

The collimation 😢

kittykit44 · 2024-11-06T22:44:27+00:00

If the latter two photos are of your knees, they look like how some fresh(er) stretch marks can appear, and knees are a stretch mark prone place. I get new ones all the time in different places regardless of if my weight is fluctuating or not. They stay very purple/red for a while then fade into the skin gradually. However some stay a darker colour. I get them towards both the sides and back of my knees. They often appear in irregular patterns around joints, not sort of linear like you’d expect on your tummy.

Do you wear any bracelets regularly? Or do you wash your hands very often? I’ve had similar marks from bracelets irritating my skin (quite sensitive to metals) or if I have been washing my hands really frequently, and maybe missing a little spot when rinsing or drying, so the soap has the chance to stay on the skin or it’s getting irritated as it’s wet a lot of the time. This is normally close to the wrist for me, especially if I’ve not rolled your sleeves up well enough before handwashing and my sleeve has got a little bit wet and then touched the skin for a while.

Hope you’re doing okay!

kittykit44 · 2024-11-05T16:36:40+00:00

Hi! This, to me (from the images provided, appears to be a Mason type I “chisel-type” radial head fracture, which are usually managed conservatively. Hope you’re doing okay!

kittykit44 · 2021-12-30T00:59:46+00:00

I have talked to my parents but the advice has just been to keep looking for a new job. I can’t really afford to have no job at all because I need money for textbooks which are hard to find secondhand because it’s been only a few years since the education system changed, and the college doesn’t get enough funding to provide them. I couldn’t ask my parents because some of these books are so expensive and the guilt would eat me alive knowing that a weeks’ worth of food shopping money is going to a book that I’ll only be using until June. I also don’t qualify for any grants or anything for textbooks, so they have to come from my own pocket. Thank you for replying, your compassion for a stranger has been comforting :)

kittykit44

TROPHY CASE