25
Sep
2008
Chicken butts are the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE
EVERY SINGLE TIME SOMEONE SAYS “Guess what” to me, I want to say Chicken Butt.
Well you know what, you can’t say that in professional settings, to your pediatric clients.
Kid: Guess WHAT!
Me: Ch…::gags:: Um, what?!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
24
Sep
2008
Pray for my twin sister having ACL reconstruction surgery tomorrow morning
Keep my twin sister Kristina in your prayers!!! She is having ACL reconstruction surgery tomorrow! She lives in San Francisco and she is amazingly creative…her big love is DANCE and so this is a very difficult injury to endure since it means no dance for a long time!!
I chatted with my best friend Paloma today for a while (she is going into the foreign service, she just got her master's from georgetown) and she said about the surgery “you'll have to help her get better” and I said “Its physical therapists that do rehab on knees” and she said “Oh, then you can help her dance”….which I thought was a very interesting comment since that's a typical OT catchphrase – Physical therapists teach you how to walk again, occupational therapists teach you how to dance again. ANYWAY…Kristina sent the following …send good knee vibes her way.
“Tomorrow morning (Wednesday morning) I will be going under the knife for ACL reconstruction. On August 26th I tore my right ACL and medial meniscus. A devastating injury for an athlete. As the ACL and meniscus cannot repair themselves, surgery is a must. At Stanford tomorrow I will undergo an achilles allograft and have my meniscus stitched. If they see that the meniscus cannot be stitched, they will remove the section instead. Recovery is pretty intense but I guess after tomorrow in a way the hard part is over. Now, I have no ACL and I can never get better as is. By tomorrow, I will have a new ACL that I need to strengthen and it will only be progress from there on. 🙂
So that is what is going on with me.”
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
24
Sep
2008
I AM SO SCARED OF MY UPCOMING PHYSICAL DYSFUNCTION LEVEL II FIELDWORK ::CRIES::
I’m very nervous about this upcoming rotation. I’m easily flustered, have a very weak core/back, and um, I dunno. I’m just scared. Scared of hurting people, scared of saying inappropriate things, scared of hurting my back doing transfers, scared of sounding or being really stupid, etc. I have days where I am like – oh man – I’m going to be a good OT, I’m cool, I’m all that and a bag of chips (to go like all 1990s for a brief minute, forgive me)….but then days like today I talk to Virginia and Brooke and they both just had their physical dysfunction rotations and they are so smart and knowledgeable and awesome and I feel puny in their majestic presences.
I guess it’s a matter of comfort – I feel very comfortable in pediatrics working with developmental delay – but physical dysfunction is a whole nother (whole nuther? what in the world??? why do we say this? it makes no sense grammatically??) ballpark. I have very little interest in phys dys and so I don’t retain it well – Functional Independence Measures, mod/max/min assists, manual muscle testing, neuro-IFRAH, hip precautions, BLAH BLAH BLAH!! Scares me!
Ok moving on to the rest of the day that does not involve massive drama (but does involve getting massively lost)
Virginia is amazing and went over documentation with me from the hospital system I’ll be at that she just finished at – stuff like abbreviations in medical charts such as EOB (edge of bed), BSS (Bed side sitting), tf (transfers), LOB (loss of balance), plus she showed me/let me practice on her, getting a client with stroke out of bed, reviewing some Neuro-IFRAH stuff like how to facilitate scapular mobility while shrugging shoulders, retracting the scapula, etc. And Brooke came over too and we all had fun visiting with each other. 🙂
———–
This morning I joined Curves gym – Kerri’s aunt owns the one at Exeter & Farmington and Forrest Hill Irene area – and had a CurvesSmart orientation – it is an AWESOME program – for women only – you have a circular circuit you do of machines (it takes about 35 minutes and you do the circuit twice) and the smart microchip keeps track of speed, range of motion, reps, etc, and it flashes different lights at you so that you know how you’re doing – you want to always work consistently in the green light – if it turns orange you are not working hard enough. So it pushes you like a personal trainer! The instantaneous feedback is exactly what I need and I highly recommend the Curves program – and those two locations – to any female looking for a fun easy way to do some strength training. Join. Tell them I sent you.
Let’s not talk about how I got completely lost getting there and had Kerri guide me over the phone, then got UTTERLY and futilely lost on the way home (both times I was going for adventurous short-cuts and failed miserably). I ended up in COLLIERVILLE when I was trying to get to Midtown. That’s like going to Hawaii on your way to Maine. Poor Brooke was waiting on me but she was amused at how lost I got and that apparently took away some of the sting, because yeah, that’s pretty bad. We had lunch at Soul Fish Cafe – yum – and walked around Midtown..including petting a cat through the mailbox slot at the closed House of Mews- then I ran some errands – including throwing a Fedex box in a Fedex thingie that probably wasn’t intended for boxes of that size so I’m curious to see what happens – ahahahaha – and met up with Virginia and Brooke…which I already talked about above. Fun day, better get to bed – tomorrow I observe/volunteer at one pediatric hospital in morning, then stop at UT to drop off some things, then have a very-very-very-very late orientation at the other pediatric hospital – I’ve been volunteering there for um, oh, I don’t know, many many many months now – so it’s pretty funny to me. Seems kinda silly. Maybe I’ll learn something new tomorrow though. Then I’m meeting up with some friends.
PS: My computer is acting up – I’ve done disk clean up and I’m running a virus scan and next I’m going to defrag – but pray for its poor electronic soul, for I am nothing without my laptop!!
24
Sep
2008
LASER TONGS! MINI PORCUPINE BALL GUYS! DOES IT GET ANY BETTER? I think not.
These laser-tongs came today. A friend of mine had some sitting around at her toy-filled house (two kids) that she let me have…and then I found some mini “porcupine ball guys” – literally their title – at a dollar store – and they were immensely popular at my pediatric clinic (good for fine motor, visual stuff, etc) . So as presents for the peds OT at my former clinic, plus a few other peds OTs that have been sweet to me, I bought a multi-pack off E-bay of these tongs – which came today and are oddly addicting, as the guy in the link below describes – but now I need more of the porcupine ball guys…so asked Brooke, who lives in that area, to pick me up some in exchange for reimbursement/lunch.
http://sixuntilme.com/blog2/2007/07/magic_tongs_included.html
The things we do for kids!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
22
Sep
2008
100% Off-topic: I love Lester the Lion Kitty
………..So…I better get started on my day. But it’s so hard to want to get up when you have a kitty all sprawled out in your lap. This morning the kitty decided to wrap himself around my head with his paws and face resting on it. It was so cute. Here he is just like, pushed against my head, not curled up though. He used to just sleep NEAR me when I first got him a month ago, now he is all “up in my ish”, as my sister would say. I don’t exactly know what that means.
Earlier this morning I got up and he stayed in bed, when the alarm went off I went to go get him…with my camera of course……
Now I’m in my giant bean bag and he is holding me down!! So of course I can’t start my day!! But I really need to. So I’m going to break his little heart, and mine, and get up.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
22
Sep
2008
Ok good night….oh yeah labcoats
Virginia and Brooke just finished their phys dys (physical dysfunction, like acute care hospitals/rehab hospitals) rotations and they gave me some great resources to look at this week..so nice of them….plus someone posted this link on a listserv, to a glossary of medical abbreviations…
http://www.jdmd.com/glossary/medabbr.pdf
….so this week I am going to be volunteering and/or observing at at least five different places, plus a ton of errands…plus preparing for this next fieldwork…gotta figure out where my white labcoat went….oh yes…all you foreign OTs who mock the scrubs/medical model…you all will die to know I not only have to wear scrubs BUT A FRIKKEN WHITE LABCOAT on my next rotation. Even I, scrubs lover, think a labcoat is going too far. Ugh.
Anyway…good night.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
22
Sep
2008
Holding babies today…
Held two adorable babies today….
Babygirl was only 3 weeks old and crying. Went in and saw she had a Rapoogl (spelling?) which means some careful maneuvering, but then I realized that um, it appeared she had completely pulled the line out of herself, as all the tape around her face was messed up and the line was sitting in the crib when I’m pretty sure it is supposed to be down her nose. …
So I help hold baby’s hands down while a nurse comes in (not her normal nurse since her normal one was at lunch) and re-inserts the thing through her nose all the way down into her stomach. Held her for a while but was a little uneasy as it didn’t appear the thing was working quite right. A pediatric surgeon doing his rounds came in and checked on her though and I mentioned it didn’t seem to be suctioning well but he said the stuff was just really thick and it was okay.
Next child, baby boy, was 3 and a half months old and cute as can be. He was getting a G-tube feeding so couldn’t be held, but he was wide awake and curious/active so I entertained him a long time. The nurse was telling me how the other day he started smiling and cooing at her and she was like Stop it! Stop smiling at me! I have to go! And it suddenly occurred to me that in some ways, a smiley engaging baby can be a hardship for nurses, because they are almost always in a hurry – so a baby that really wants attention/sweetness kinda tugs at their heart because they don’t have the time. Passive babies are easier because they don’t demand anything from you besides the basic care. You don’t feel guilty running in and out jsut doing procedures/medication/feeding because the child doesn’t engage/seem to care. It seems like a lot of babies stuck in the care units tend to become passive over time- they learn they have no control over anything, as they are often subjected to painful medical procedures they can do nothing about, and just don’t really even try anymore. These babies have to be taught to care, kinda. Like to show them a little ball near them is something they can reach for and have control over, not just watch passively. I mourn for children who are born with conditions like gastroschisis – with intestines outside of body – because the baby ends up in the hospital for at least a month if not much longer…if I were to have a baby that had to stay long-term in hospital, I’d do anything in my power to ensure someone was with him at all times because I have seen how hospitals run – even the best nurses are over-stressed, over-tired, over-run, over-scheduled, and it’s just easy to make mistakes or to miss things. I know most of the parents do not have the resources to afford this luxury and I’m sure I wouldn’t either, but it would kill me to know my baby was in the hands of others.
Anyway, I sang and massaged the little baby for a loong time and finally he fell asleep. I love these babies.
22
Sep
2008
OTS Brooke is back in town…
This weekend was nice…Friday night after work went to a friend’s house for dinner, and saw some friends afte rthat. Saturday I mostly rested, went briefly to the park with landlords, and met up with some coworkers from my last rotation, to watch the LSU game. Sunday (today) I held babies at the hospital, went for an hour-long walk on the track with my mp3 player, cleaned my house thoroughly, went to landlords for dinner, went to Kerri’s house, then went to Huey’s to see Dempsey’s and BROOKE!
My classmate Brooke is back in Memphis…..there was some fieldwork drama and I feel like she got kinda screwed and I’m unhappy for her, but it’s a long story with multiple sides I guess. She is going to work full-time at a local bookstore instead of doing a rotation this time around, and then when everyone else is done with fieldwork she’ll be on her last rotation. Anyway, Kerri and I met up with her around 10pm at Huey’s (yummy restaurant) to see the Dempseys (famous Memphis band, they were in Walk the Line) play. It was fun. She showed us a picture on her iPhone of the guinea pig that the recreational therapist had at her setting, his name is Elvis, and during their 70s week, he was in costume. Apparently Brooke loved Elvis the guinea pig and tried to incorporate him into therapy any way she could. She was like “My patient can’t move? Time to try to pet Elvis.” I begged her to send me the picture. So here it is.
Brooke also ended up with a lot of toothpicks and straws in her hair, because that’s what happens late at night. See attached dark and blurry and sideways picture.
Ok, gonna write one more post about holding the babies and randomness, then going to bed!!
20
Sep
2008
MY FIRST LEVEL II FIELDWORK ROTATION IS COMPLETE
Friday was my final day at my first rotation. 6 more months to go (Most programs require two 3-month rotations, ours requires three). I thankfully passed with flying colors.
Because Thursday was so crazy, Friday I didn’t go along on home visits but instead went to the clinic to finish up all the paperwork I was supposed to have been able to finish Thursday.
Between 930am and 2pmish, I transferred all photos to a clinic computer, tried to do Medicaid plans of cares/addendums for three kids (but did not finalize, wanted her feedback), made an autism brochure in Microsoft Publisher (have never used it before, pretty cool), prepped a mileage chart/directions chart so that it can be a future project for someone else, filled out Thursday’s billing sheets, and a bunch of other stuff. Since I could work uninterrupted (the clinic is pretty much closed on Fridays because it’s a home visit day) and I’m a fast worker, I got a ton done.
My OT got back sometime after 2pm and did my evals. She wrote a lot of feedback which was really nice. Also, the clinic director called to let me know there was a big water vase of plant clippings on top of the fridge that were for me. They are clippings from plants she had way back in the late 1990s when she was just growing her business, and she wanted me to have them so I could have a similar experience of growth…very sweet. I ended up seat-belting the vase so it wouldn’t spill, ahahahaa. Got to leave around 330pm when OT was done with my fieldwork eval….and then had a fun night socializing.
It’s shocking to think I’ve completed 1/3rd of my rotations now…next is an acute care hospital. I have one week off so I don’t start next rotation until September 29th, but it’s a cram-packed week because I am going to go volunteer and/or observe at 4 places I volunteer at, although for the first time in 3 months because my hours have been so busy. Plus have lots of appointments scheduled, so I’m going to be running around busy. Will try to get in some rest though! Plus I need to do a lot of review of ortho/neuro/deconditioning/adult goals/documentation/FIM scores/manual muscle testing/transfers….etc…after 3 months of peds, I’m rusty!
It’s Saturday and I’m exhausted…been on the go go go so long. Going to do NOTHING but sit around and rest alone for a few hours. Catch up on some reading and decompress. Going with some friends tonight to see the LSU football game, at the speech aide, Haley’s, house.
I have a lot of blogging goals to catch up on FINALLY, this week!
19
Sep
2008
Very stressful day…
Soo…today was one of the most stressful days I’ve had at the clinic. Let’s just say it involved 2 OTs (my supervisor plus the new hire who started this week but has like thirty years of OT experience), 1 OT student (me), and 1 COTA, being pretty highly stressed, with the new OT on the verge of tears and ready to walk out!
Day started out with friend taking me to car place for brakes (a re-fix, long story blah blah). Did some paperwork, went to Target, wrote thank you notes for the sweet gifts and kindness of my co-workers…got to work right on time at 130pm but was already stressed because was running a little behind on things, I hadn’t yet had lunch even. Turns out everyone was stressed for various reasons – the new OT had been way overscheduled and was stressed to not have had paperwork time, and to have had two evals in the morning with no other OTs around and didn’t know where stuff was, blah blah. Was at her wits end, none of us blamed her. We all did some rearranging, and I took a few kids for her to give her some time, the COTA took an extra kid and co-treated, etc. Plus my supervisor had to do some last-minute stuff with the clinic director so I had some of her kids, etc. Plus I had a ton of paper-work to do and had been hoping to not have ANY kids, let alone hours of kids, plus we had toys EVERYWHERE because we were trying to divvy up the toy bags since we’re out of the clinic so much, etc etc. So from 130 to 630 it was a frenzy, at one point we had a child with Aspergers, child with Autism, two children with Down syndrome, and um I forget who else, all in the ball bath, plus four therapists and a ABA-trained therapist, in the one room. Pretty crazy. Especially when you factor in that none of those kids that had good safety awareness lol. Actually it all went okay though. Just all of us were stressed. Plus the COTA got some bad news about one of the test results of her mom, medically. That didn’t help. 🙁 Poor lady.
ANYWAY….very very crazy day. Final kid was done 630ish, I left around 650 and went to straight to babysit….and had never gotten to eat my lunch, so I ate my lunch around 730pm at her house, lol. Had a good time though, love the kids/family.
Got home around 1130pmish! I got my mom some psuedospheres (math things) Christmas ornaments from etsy.com and so called her and we chatted…
Gonna do one more quick blog on 3 interesting things, then going to bed…just had to do some therapeutic blogging to chill out.
TOMORROW IS MY LAST DAY!!!!!!!!! It’s just a paperwork day in the morning (was going to go on home visits with my OT but after getting hardly any paperwork done today, had to switch things around since the paperwork is important!) …dunno about afternoon. Oh yeah, me and my OT will do my evals tomorrow too, I hope we are both in better moods! LOL