Starting Over

I fell in love with the West when I was very young and traveled across Canada on a train with my sister, her husband and their 2 little boys.  I was the babysitter and loved every minute of taking care of my 2 little nephews, who are now grown with families of their own who are also almost grown, but yet somehow I remain so young.  One trip was to the Seattle area, and the other was a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana.  There is nothing quite like walking across a glacier and hearing it crack beneath your feet.  That and having a little chipmunk eat peanut butter out of your hand.  I then had the opportunity to travel to the Colorado Rockies with my best friend at the time, and then again came West to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone with my husband.  On our second trip out West, we traveled to a little town in Idaho called Stanley, camped on a lake, then drove through Sun Valley and spent the night there, and on our way to Yellowstone, we stopped in Twin Falls and took a picture of the Perrine Bridge that crosses over the Snake River Canyon.  I find it quite fascinating that 17 years later, Joe and I would be living just 3 miles from that same bridge!   The path you follow in life can sometimes take some pretty interesting turns. 

As much as I was looking forward to taking about 6 months off from working to get settled and make Idaho feel like home, I was secretly happy to have found work so quickly.  I have been working since I was 17, and it felt very foreign to me to not be working.  On top of that, when you do something you love, it is hard to stay away.  I really had the best of both worlds, because I had some work, but I also still had some time to get a feel for my new surroundings.  It turned out to go on to be a blessing in disguise to have this account, because in January of the following year, I lost my mom.  It was very unexpected and sudden, and to lose her before I even had the chance to bring her out to my new home was beyond devastating to me.  She was very supportive of this move, despite the fact that Joe and I lived just a few miles from her. She was a very independent woman and rarely asked for our help, but I know it was still a comfort for her to know we were right around the corner. 

I am a believer in that God does not give us more than we can handle, but I also believe He does like to push that old envelope from time to time.  As a side note, if you think that is referring to the envelope you use for the mail, it’s not.  Get out your researching skills and check out the meaning of that phrase.  I’ve been pushed more than once in my life, but getting through 1995 felt more like getting shoved to the edge of a cliff and fighting hard not to fall off.  If you have lost a parent or any loved one, you know what I mean, especially very suddenly and without warning.  So having my work was truly a huge help for me.  

In the spring of that year, I decided it was time to start growing my service.  I got out the yellow pages and first targeted specialties that I liked.   I included a letter of introduction, my resume, and a self-addressed, stamped postcard that had a form on the back where all the office had to do was check off interested, please call; not interested, take us off your mailing list; not interested at this time, but keep us on your mailing list.  I got 3 interested responses, 2 of which did not pan out.  On the third response, I spoke with the office manager on the phone, but the physician changed his mind.  Then in June, that same office called me back and wanted to know if I was still available.  The physician was a nice guy, a podiatrist, but he just could not seem to make up his mind.  He was looking at software, still using his current MT, and I just assumed nothing would come of it.  Then in August, he called me yet again, and this time I went in to speak with him personally.  I have to admit I was nervous because it had been a while since I had an onsite interview for a potential client. 

The first thing he says to me is that he strongly felt his current MT was cheating him.  WOW, nice way to start out a conversation!  So I went into detail about myself, my career, how I charge, turn-around time, and tried to make myself sound like the best thing to come along since sliced cheese.  I convinced him to give me a try, and on August 15, 1995, I had my second client.  He turned out to be a client I kept for about 10 years, and we had a wonderful working relationship.  So by the end of 1995, I was very busy with 2 clients, both of whom also had surgery centers, so I was transcribing office progress notes, initial evaluations, letters, operative reports, and CT scans. 

I know I made mention of a second heart attack incident that occurred, which affected both my service and Joe’s career path, but I think I will hold that for another day.  A lot actually happened with both of my clients that I will eventually get into in more detail.  I will tell you, when you have your own service, it can get pretty crazy at times. 

In the meantime, thanks for patiently waiting for this post.  It has been quite the culture shock moving from Jerome, Idaho, population less than 10,000, to Las Vegas, where it feels more like 10 million!  Enjoy your day.

Going West & Confrontations

We go through many life-changing events throughout our lives.  It does not matter if you live in the same family home your entire life or move over and over again.  Up until my husband, Joe, and I moved to Idaho in 1994, I had lived in only 2 homes.  Well, 3 if you count the apartment we lived in when I was a baby and apparently sat in the backyard in a lawn chair in the middle of winter with nothing on but my boots, with my sister and brother arguing over who should go and get me, but since I don’t remember that incident, it does not count! I did move into the house that Joe grew up in when we got married, so that was the only home for him.  Then in 1994, all of that changed.  He accepted a job with a large ENT clinic in Twin Falls, Idaho.  I think it took our families about 2 years to figure out where we lived—Utah? Iowa? Oregon? Finally, Joe just told them we were just left of Montana. 

Joe left for Idaho in June of that year.  I stayed behind to sell our house.  I continued with my service, since I would have nothing else to do while waiting for the sale.  I got up every morning and dusted the house, made sure the dogs did nothing in the basement, then would head off to pick up my work.  Around the beginning of July, we got an offer.  He was a single guy in his 50s and wanted to buy the house for his fiancee because he traveled a lot, and I believe they were tired of apartment living.  During this time, I also had to get estimates from 3 different moving companies, get the house inspected, and take care of a sick puppy who wound up having cancer and had to be put down (she was 13 and would not have tolerated major surgery).  I was very happy to have my service still up and running, because it definitely helped me to take my mind off of all the difficulties of this move across the country, especially losing Barley. 

Once the house passed the inspection, and I received the good faith money from the buyer, I decided it was time to close down my service.  I wanted my 2 full-time clients to have plenty of time to find a replacement, so I gave them about a month’s notice. 

The day before closing, I got a call from my realtor.  He said this had never happened to him before, but the buyer had dropped dead of a heart attack.  I think I almost did the same!   There was nothing that could be done except to start all over again.  So, I started all over again.  My business officially ceased operation at the end of July.  By sometime in August, I did get a second offer on the house, and this time everything went smoothly.  Joe came back to get me the end of September, and on October 1, 1994, I started my new life with Joe in Idaho.  He actually bought me a house that I did not see until we drove into the driveway and walked into that house.  He probably looked at 100 houses over the summer, and I had absolutely no doubt I would love this house that would be our home for the next 18 years, and I did.  Even our dog, Buckwheat, loved the place, although I think she liked it best when there was no furniture in it. 

So I had decided I was going to take about 6 months off before I started looking for clients.  I wanted to get to know my new surroundings, the people, the stores, and mostly just adjust to living so far away from home and try to change my home concept from Ohio to just left of Montana.  I had no car, no TV, and no phone for 2 weeks, so I took that time to unpack and figure out where to put things.  I love, love, love to organize, so those 2 weeks were really a blast.  Just about the time I got everything put away in their proper place, Joe comes home and tells me his office is in desperate need of MT help.  They had one MT, 5 physicians who also did surgery at the same facility, and on top of that, they had satellite clinics.  It was way more than one MT could handle, and since they knew I was an MT (thanks a lot, Joe!), how could I say no?  So my 6-month hiatus turned into 2 weeks. 

The fun began when the physician I had to deal with wanted to pay me $6 an hour and felt that was very fair compensation.  I can tell you there are 2 things I can’t stand—oysters and confrontations!  To make matters even more complicated, this was Joe’s boss, and even though anything I said or did would not affect Joe’s position there, obviously it could make things a tad awkward if I did not handle this in the most professional manner I could muster up!  I explained as an IC (independent contractor) I charge a certain fee, and I went on to explain what that fee included, that mostly being my expertise. 

I don’t want to go into long details here, but I did explain to him about my CMT status and what I had to do to maintain my credential. I told him about my AHDI activities.  I let him know about my extensive medical reference library and what I typically spend to keep all of my references up-to-date.  It took some time to convince him what a medical transcriptionist truly is, but I knew my persistence paid off when he gave me the “I’m not worthy” bow when I showed him an article I had written and published in an MT journal.   That was one of my most proudest moments of my MT career. 

If you are tired of reading at this point, let me share with you why this story is important.  I have read more times than I can count, “No one ever asked me if I was certified.”  That is very often the reason I hear why an MT chooses not to become credentialed.  I can make that same statement.  There is no client, no physician, no office manager who ever asked me if I was a CMT.  I TOLD them about my certification and what I have to do to maintain it. I did not wait for them to ask.  If you have been reading my story, you know I have had my difficulties with being certified.  Working in a profession that is not particularly well known to other healthcare professionals, there is no question it can be hard to make others understand how vital we are to patient healthcare documentation.  You won’t win every battle. You won’t get paid a higher wage with every job. That saying that anything worth having is worth fighting for holds very true for our field of work.  I could have so easily accepted $6 an hour and never said a word to Joe’s boss, but I decided to stand up for myself and my profession.  No, there won’t be a positive outcome every time, but if you do nothing, there will never be progress.

I will end by saying heart attacks thankfully don’t run in my family, but they do seem to run in our lives, because we had another incident of a heart attack victim that ultimately resulted in another move, this time to Las Vegas, which is just left of the planet!  The saga continues, next time.  Enjoy your day.