I'm two months into the Career Step Medical Transcription Editor course. I've added about 10,000 words to my word list and a couple hundred expansions to my word expander.
The first part of the course is all background information, bookwork, and going through every body system you can imagine. There are a lot of systems in the body and a million things that can go wrong with them. There are a lot areas that just taking notes and reviewing extensively made it possible to go through very quickly. I did manage to get 100% on my exercises and tests. Usually the first time, but sometimes I had to go back through the questions two or three times.
I started going through reports in mid-July. I've only gone through 3 of the blocks of reports so far. I still have a lot of red on the reports the first time through. Fortunately, the red marks are mostly getting to be style, format, and acceptable variations. These don't get marked as incorrect. Even so, the areas I have the most trouble with is hearing the dictators as they mumble through sections of reports.
It's frustrating sometimes. I think I'm doing well and then the mumbling and speed talking gets out of control. How am I supposed to figure out what they're saying when there doesn't seem to be anything to go on? Grrr.
It's not all study, study, study. I am actively involved in the Career Step forum. It is an extremely supportive group of people who are students, graduates, and staff of the school. It's amazing how much information these people happily share with everyone. I'm extremely grateful for their support while going through the personal issues that have continued to plague me.
My activity in the forum and support of other students also brought me to the notice of the school in an unexpected way. I was asked to contribute my biography to the Career Step newletter. "Stepping Up," has a section labeled the "Student Spotlight" and they asked me to be the next student to be in it.
This is what I wrote:
Hi all! My name is Renae Savage. Renae71 to all those in the forums! I’m 39 and one half years old. Can’t forget the half. I’m not afraid of my 40s! It has got to be better than my 20s and 30s! I’ve got 2 children, aged 17 and 14, two dogs, and an ailing mother, all living in a single-wide trailer in Lewiston, Idaho. My family is what keeps me going each day. My goal is to teach my children that no matter how many boulders rain down on you, keep trying, striving, and do your very best in everything you do.
I grew up in Lewiston. I love my town. It’s not too big, not too small. Sometimes, I get the feeling that Goldylocks would be right at home here. It’s a beautiful area with lots of opportunities for outdoor fun. Swimming, boating, camping, hiking, rafting, along with a lot of other activities, are very common here. Every summer saw me with scorched skin, wrinkly fingers, and calloused feet. What kid could ask for more?
I was in a car accident when I was 16. Every day of the last umpteen years I have dealt with mild, and sometimes severe, pain. A couple of years ago, an MRI showed 3 herniated discs. No wonder I hurt all the time!
I moved to Moses Lake, Washington when I was 17. I married right out of high school, and spent the next 7 years wondering what the heck I’d gotten myself into. I always believed marriage should be a partnership. Mine wasn’t. I did get a beautiful little girl out of the deal. Another bad relationship, much shorter than the first, provided me with an adorable little boy and a nervous breakdown. Oh, Joy!
I moved back to Lewiston when my son was 2 months old. We lived with my mother and grandfather for about a year. During that time, depression and alcohol became really close friends of mine. Emotions and bad choices, of course, lead to the decision to marry for the second time. The relationship lasted for a year and I finally grew up and was the recipient of my second divorce. I was also diagnosed with major chronic depression, and was put on Social Security Disability.
I worked constantly, from the time I was 17, even with depression, because I felt like I was contributing to the world. There were a lot of job changes, but I gained friendships, experience, and really loved the jobs I had. My jobs ranged from baking, frying, and decorating in several bakeries over the years, production operator making airbags, x-ray technician and chiropractic assistant, gas station cashier, nail technician, customer service manager for a major entertainment business, bio-aide for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (outdoor, travelling janitor), and most recently as a housekeeper. I met so many wonderful people in my various incarnations. I’ve really felt fortunate. Most people I have encountered were kind, helpful, considerate, and caring.
I loved working as a housekeeper. My clients were usually people that either didn’t have the time to do it themselves or they were physically unable to keep their homes clean. I felt a lot of satisfaction doing things that were helping others.
My mother called me and needed help, so she moved in with me last year. I have not regretted a second of having her with me. She has a lot of physical and emotional problems and no income. It’s difficult trying to keep up with her needs, but I’m giving back to the wonderful person who taught me to be independent and to keep fighting, even when life throws a couple huge boulders at your head. Duck and Cover!
This last spring, I helped my older brother load a recreational vehicle onto his truck. I managed to get my feet tangled up in the rungs of the ramp and tore a tendon in my left shoulder. Months later, I still have a lot of pain and rapidly diminishing range of motion.
This injury put a halt to my working outside the home. I went to my local Vocational Rehabilitation office and explained my situation. I told them I needed to be home to take care of my mother, couldn’t work standing anymore, and anything that required wide motions of the arms was out of my range of possibilities. They threw Career Step into the ring. It was the ONLY school that they would even consider.
I spent the next 2 months immersing myself in everything about the school, the career, and trying to build up my typing skills. Every day, I learned more and grew more and more excited. I wanted to be in it already! Finally, the day came when I got the go-ahead and I was off like a shot!
This course has been incredibly challenging. It has taken time, dedication, and patience to make it through each day. What’s great about feeling like my brain is going to come pouring out of my ears from information and detail overload? I WILL BE PREPARED to start a brand new chapter in working with the very best training and the very best support system behind me. It’s hard to beat the combination of great training and an ever-present community that is there for you in good times and bad.
Every question I have had about the course or the career has been answered. Some questions are answered way before I can think to ask them by people who are willing to give of their time and their experience to help, encourage, and support. I’ve look at other MT forums and looked into other schools. There aren’t any I’ve seen that unfailingly supports and encourages students before, during, and after their training.
I’m grateful that I ended up having an ill parent and an injury that finally set me on a path into Medical Transcription Editing. I just hope and pray that I can live up to the quality of the education, and the quality of the people I have met through Career Step!
Oh, BTW can you please ask whoever has the boulders to stop throwing them? I want my 40s to be glorious!
