The googley monsters have banished me :(

I am really hard to find on Google all of a sudden! It is making me mad! Grrr!

Speaking of which, voting stops Wednesday, so if you are an AOTA student member, PLEASE check out my sidebar and go vote for me and Brooke, we promise we'll represent your socks off.

More later…

Taking Play seriously – relates to OT

My friend Arnie sent me this link, it is a NY Times Article called “Taking Play Seriously”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17play.html?ex=1203915600&en=6871f50fa00bce08&ei=5070&emc=eta1

A lot of people look at OTs working with children and say “Why are we paying for this?”. Well, for one thing, play is a major occupation for children, and it is almost always true that children learn about themselves and their environments through play. OTs are trained to assess the child in many different ways and to specifically tailor the play to challenge the child's abilities (the “just right” challenge).

Can y'all tell I'm cleaning out my e-mail box finally? LOL

Smaller keyboards for smaller people…

http://www.datadesktech.com/desktop_lf_start.html

I am on a listserv for Little People so I can get a better idea of some of the barriers they face, while working on our wellness project for this population. Somebody posted the link above, which is for smaller keyboards for smaller hands – it is intended for K-6th grade (cool idea) but it would obviously benefit LPs as well. Cool.

Murderball and Rory O'Shea….OT movie night

 

The other movie didn't get the same attention, but it's equally good. “Rory O'Shea Was Here” is about a young guy with M.D. who gets placed in a nursing home. He's the youngest person there and a rebel.  He and a guy with C.P. eventually move into an apartment. It touches on themes of attendant care, accessibility, and most important, consumer control. Rory is sometimes a jerk, but it shows that people with disabilities are like everyone else.

 

Both films are cool because they don't sugar coat people with disabilities or use “cutesy” language. They explore real world issues that much of society never considers.

Rheumatoid arthritis and occupational therapy plus PS's

We recently had three women come in to teach us about rheumatoid arthritis. They were actually part of a program called “Patients as teachers”, as all three had rheumatoid arthritis themselves. Two of them barely had hands left it was so severe.

The first thing they had us do is wrap a rubber band around our knuckles/thumb for resistance so that it required a lot of strength to move just a little bit, and range of motion was extremely limited. They also had us put three hard chickpeas in our shoes and stand on them. It was painful. I can't imagine being in severe chronic pain.

They taught us that we should start with inspection, then palpation, range of motion, and then function. I won't go into a ton of details, but basically an OT can help a patient with R.A. by recommending assistive devices, helping modify the home & environment, and teaching joint conservation/energy conservation techniques, pain reduction, etc. Lots of other things too I am sure.

We then divided into groups and each got to do hands-on work with the patients. They spoke like doctors and knew all the correct terms regarding movements/muscles/inflammation etc.

They pay around $18,000 a year for meds. Wow. Ouch.

PS1: I'm busily working like a bee on homework so I tried to utilize my very damaged brevity gene.
PS2: Tai Chi assessments start tomorrow so I'll be extra busy for a while.
PS3: Thanks for all the kind comments – on days I am discouraged and think I will be the worst OT in the world, I always seem to get a great comment that re-inspires me. 🙂

PS: OT is not catty

My friend asked if OT is internally catty, due to all the women in the profession. I've rarely met an OT I didn't like. They are all awesome, sweet, funny, cool, people. So nyah nyah, just because we're a bunch of girls doesn't mean we fight all the time. We're more Sally Jessy than Jerry Springer.

I'm not narcissistic, I just love myself an awful lot…lol just kidding

So, as I sat on a mat today, holding a baby for two hours (asleep the last hour), I had a lot of time to ponder, as all my extremities slowly went numb. I was thinking about the e-mail I just got from a friend, who, among other things, said “I like the blog but don't you think the narcissim is a bit much :-)?”  and….”You sounded so serious at the beginning but your recent posts sound more and more narcisstic like OT is a jumping off point to launch like a branding karen dobyns takes over the world project lol.” He also asked if internally, OT is really catty, seeing as how it is predominantly women. While he wasn't trying to hurt me, it did sting, and so I thought about it for a while.

My thoughts are this:

1) I am running for a national officer position. I can't be like “Hi…I'm Karen. I'm kinda self-deprecating. Vote for me anyway please?”…I have to be like OMG OMG I AM THE MOST AMAZING OT STUDENT IN THE WORLD I WILL BRING GLORY TO YOUR LIFE AND MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE VOTE FOR ME!!” So yeah, that then comes across as a little narcissistic, but I honestly think narcissism, fake or not, is a necessary campaign strategy. The problem is that voting lasts a MONTH (it ends in 4 days), so I've had a lot of that I AM AMAZING kinda stuff up. On the 21st I plan to resort back to my typical less self-congratulatory self. 🙂

2) The online world is an exaggeration, a caricature of our real selves. I don't seriously run around in circles screaming YAY OT all the time. I am passionate about OT and it makes me happy, but I'm not jumping in my chair or anything. It's a lot easier to say YAY I LOVE OT WOOT WOOT online then it is to go stand on a street corner waving OT signs.

3) I wouldn't mind having my own brand if it were like the most awesome OT products ever, kinda like Martha Stewart. Hmm. Is that narcissistic?

4) I am sure it has gotten a little to my head, having a blog and knowing more than just my best friend reads this. (I don't even think my mom reads it regularly). But I doubt you could find ANYONE in real life who would tell you I have an arrogant personality. So THERE!!!!!!

I'm going to go work on some homework before I head to some friends. More later, as always. I love blog therapy. 🙂

OT narcissism?

Off to go volunteer…just got some painful criticism about narcissism/OT & me… Ouch!! Gotta ponder this….

Have a good day, back later post-ponderance!!

Holding babies…ruining puppies…random rambles

Today we had three hours of article presentations on the elderly and we still have a

bunch more to go! Topics included exercise, yoga, sexuality, suicide…interesting

conversations.

Then OTS Brooke and OTS Meg and I went for a yummy lunch, then I hurried home for a

management meeting and we divvied up our Little People Wellness project, then I went

to the local pediatric hospital and held babies for hours.

I've talked about this before, but I'm thinking about it again and this is my

therapy, so bear with me. The babies I want to work with are medically fragile.

Their chances of dying are somewhat high. I say I distance them from myself and it's

somewhat true – I soak them in and love them, but at the same time I keep them

separated from the rest of my heart. To make a REALLY REALLY REALLY bad analogy that

will make people cry it's so bad, it's like having “contained” tuberculosis in your

lungs – it's there but inactive.

Anyway. I held this one baby whose cheeks were covered with scratches because she

rubbed her face so much. She had a NG tube and an IV and all her other typical

tubes. I eventually put her down and held another baby for a while. Then went back

to the first baby because she was screaming hysterically. I picked her up and held

her vertically against my chest, her head resting on my neck. Within about two

minutes, I'm not exaggerating (for once), she was asleep. She had one arm wrapped

around my right arm, one arm clutching my grown, my head resting on her head, and

holding her across her diaper. It was really sweet. I just held on her and loved on

her and I was happy she was sleeping so well.

When you think about the environment these babies are in – lots of noise, lots of

light, lots of pain, lots of chaos, very little pleasurable human contact, and

almost no opportunity for tummy time or movement or exploration. I know nurses,

doctors, students, pharmacology, specialists, blah blah blah, all have their job to

do. But it seems like people could be quieter, and that they could make the machines

not beep so harshly (almost always false alarms), and that, MOST OF ALL, they could

streamline their jobs in such a way that a baby sleeping soundly does not have to be

disturbed. Most of these babies don't sleep well anyway due to the issues I listed

above, so when a baby is finally deeply asleep, it seems cruel to wake them.

I had that sleeping baby in my arms and she was finally, finally, resting well, and

then some employee came to check on her. She did the stethoscope on her back with no

problem of course since her back was exposed. But then she wanted me to turn her

around so she could have access to listen to the front. I did so with no hesitance,

but I was upset. I know it's important to get their vitals, but she was stable,

hooked up to monitors, and sound asleep. I felt like that is the kind of thing that

hinders babies getting better – unnecessary intrusions. I'm sure someone will tell

me I just don't understand, and maybe I don't – but I was not pleased. I look at

these babies lying on their back, with so many overwhelming problems, and it DOES

make me hurt for them. I do feel the unfairness and the sadness. Especially when

there could possibly be a way to keep the babies safe AND promote their well-being.

The hospital I am at is very well-recognized and has a great reputation, so I can't

imagine what other hospitals would be like. The nurses are kind and good to their

babies, but it seems like so much is missing. (What's up with this weird formatting?)

I'm not an emotionless monster being able to handle dying babies without being upset  – I just contain my sadness and unfairness and try not to let it get the best of me, because I need to give these babies my positive vibes and energy. When I hold them. I call them my babies and I mean it. I soak them into me, I look into their eyes, I caress them, I sing to them, I stroke their heads, I try to let them lie in ways that lets them hear my heartbeat and feel my breathing…it's an experience. I wasn't even on schedule to volunteer today – I just called and asked if I could because I had a need to hold babies. I AM scheduled for tomorrow morning so I'm going again.

I then went home to play with my landlord's new puppy, before OTS Kerri came over and I went out to eat with OTS Kerri/Brent, and then OTS Virginia came over a while to study, and then I started work at 9pm. Fun day.

Two bizarre things:

1. Kerri told me about how a good friend of hers called her while she was assisting in anatomy lab, and since this was unusual, she picked up. Her friend said, What are you doing? And Kerri said “Dissecting a face. What about you?” LOL….that made me laugh.

2. I managed to ruin my landlord's puppy's training. Now when you say SIT, he rolls over. 🙁 He had learned “Sit” and “Down” and I was trying to teach him roll over. Yesterday I did the roll over sequence with him (Sit. Down. Roll Over.) like a thousand times in a row – I'd stuff the biscuit in his mouth while upside down on his back. I thought I was being helpful and I was proud of myself. Well, the doggie decided to just shortcut the whole sequence, so whenever I would say Sit, it would sit, lie down, then half-way roll over. It took me a while to realize I had officially ruined the basic command of Sit. My landlord was like DOH!!!!

Oopsie doopsie.

Medicare makes me want to vomit…

I'm sorry, was that inappropriate?

Sorry, I sometimes lack a social filter (but you should still vote for me!)…:)

We had the MOST BORING LECTURE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD OMG on Medicare. The therapist who gave the lecture is very nice and competent and great, but insurance details, ESPECIALLY of Medicare, is so boring I could cry. I was not sure I'd survive the two hours of it.

I guess my feeling on it at this point is that we know the very basics – multiple parts, extraordinarily complicated (and often bizarre), elderly/disabled, yah yah…the DETAILS mean nothing to me at this time and won't start mattering to me until I start getting my feet wet in fieldwork. I know they just want us to have some exposure, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to take a Xanax if I have to hear more about Medicare in the next few months. Ugh. That will be the part about occupational therapy that will not be any fun – dealing with insurance and things like Medicare regulations. Ouch.

At least the morning started with a surprise by our superhero tech guy Neal, who arranged for a Sweet Adeline quartet (?) to sing us some V-day songs before the lecture started.

I had some OTS friends over for Valentine's Day and it was so much fun. They helped me clean out my closet – I'm not cool by nature but slowly I'm becoming cool….I guess saying I'm becoming cool is a dorky thing to say and therefore uncool, but let's just move on, shall we? Most of my clothes are going to Union University in Jackson, TN, that was hit hard by the tornado. Of course the students will probably be like um, are these clothes from like the 1970s? I guess maybe the dorkier fashionless students will appreciate them.

Tomorrow we have 3 hours of article presentations by fellow students, like on elderly suicide and the like…I went last week, and did mine on transcendental meditation and its possible use in the elderly!

I still haven't meet my blog goals and especially want to do my rheumatoid arthritis one, but for now I'm going to sleep. Good night.

PS: Google has rejected me yet again. I went from being in the top pages of searches for ot student, ot student blog, to being nonexistent? Conspiracy theory by AOTA and Google? Hmm. LOL.