26 Aug 2010

hmm

overwhelmed by packing, shipping, logistics of what is to come! thanks for the helpful comments/e-mails. I've had two recent challenges, one a patient with multiple sclerosis and one a patient with a burned hand. I hope to write more about them ASAP but for now I just wanted to tease you and reach out and say hello. And goodbye. It's 630pm but I'm TOTALLY about to take a nap so that I can get back up and do 4-5 hours of productive packing….if I'm tired I won't do a single thing the entire night. Instead I can sleep now, be productive, then sleep horribly tonight and feel badly tomorrow and thus perpetuate my current cycle that at least is productive….hahahaha

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

16 Aug 2010

Big news….needing a job in California as an occupational therapist! :)

My big news has arrived. I can finally share as I have given notice to my work. My last day of work here in Warm Springs, and LaGrange, Georgia, is September 17th. Shortly after I am moving back to where my family is – Southern California. More specifically, La Jolla in San Diego County. ๐Ÿ™‚ I'll be staying with my mom there a while as I get re-adjusted to life in Cally after TEN YEARS in the South.

My plan is to head to Bogota, Colombia pretty soon to do a Spanishย  program of some sort with emphasis on healthcare, and also hopefully volunteer at this landmine foundation that has rehab, with apparently a lot of amputees. Should be very interesting. I plan to be there 6 weeks, staying with a friend who lives there. ANYWAY – that should help me brush up my rusty Spanish enough that I can treat Spanish-speaking patients easier ๐Ÿ™‚ A lot of those in CA.

ANYWAY – I don't exactly have a job yet. My dream job would be at the children's hospital, specifically in Special Care (step down neonatal ICU essentially), but I know that's extraordinarily unlikely. Barring that, I'm looking at pediatric settings. I don't think I'm really cut out for adult phys dys, (physical dysfunction) like what I've been doing, unless I could be working underneath the near guidance of a mentor (a la Jan Davis or Linda Roccio or um, I dunno, awesome people like that).

Sooo….I'm HOPING that works out. I've met a lot of really nice people through this blog and I'm hoping someone might recommend me or tell me about a job in the San Diego area (ideally La Jolla!) as an occupational therapist, preferably pediatrics, and preferably with a lot of mentorship!!

I'm hoping sometime in the next year, with all these life changes in the works, I'll be ready to write another article for OT Practice about some of those adventures….(would be my 3rd published piece with them)…

I'm about to hit my one year anniversary as an OT practitioner – September 1st – and it's been quite a year with a lot of interesting experiences, with some agonizing days and other amazing days. I feel VERY confident that I do a good job of making my patients feel loved/cared for/therapeutized (lol) – they all feel like I'm helping them. I don't feel nearly as confident in my actual hands-on skills but I do feel confident I'm improving and doing my best to provide high quality of care.

Anyway, time for bed. Lots of work to do in the next month to prepare for the big move. Any thoughts, suggestions, insights, recommendations, blah blah, on doing a cross-country road trip via I-40, finding a job in San Diego, and going to South America, would all be very much appreciated. I could definitely use the support that your comments provide!! I love you guys!! ๐Ÿ™‚ My little bloggitos!!

Looove
Karen

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 4

9 Aug 2010

Back from Alaska, now back to OT world…

Hey guys,

Sorry for the huge lack of posting – I was in Norway almost 2 weeks and I was in Alaska on a cruise with my family for a week and just got home Friday, at which time I promptly spent the next two nights up until 4-5 am with my mind racing. : I have some HUGE changes in the works, all coming up in the next few months, that I can't talk about for a few more days/weeks as things get finalized/shared with real world peeps. My mind is frantic trying to deal with all these things.

Plus I'm kind of hitting a low point mentally – right about now is the one year anniversary of me NOT getting my dream job for a variety of sad reasons, some my fault and some not, and the one year anniversary of my life changing dramatically as I transitioned to Georgia, etc. I've now been a occupational therapy practitioner almost one year – September 1st is the anniversary. I know everyone says the first year is the hardest but I get the feeling it will be that way a lot longer, for me, with all my low self-esteem/insecurity issues. I know I know a LOT more than I did a year ago……but still so much to go! I want to be like someone with twenty years of experience, only, tomorrow, lol. AHAHAHAHA.

Alaska was fun just as Norway was fun – now onto the life-changing events about to occur. My emotional energy is pretty tied up right now so my blogging is even less than before, although surprisingly I still get pretty regular comments/questions. Need to answer them soon!

Okay time to get back to unpacking more and preparing for tomorrow. I'm thinking dinner should be an egg white omelet with zucchini, mushroom, squash, and onion, with strawberries and peach for dessert…..what do y'all think? We won't mention my excessive consumption of chocolate earlier in the day. ๐Ÿ˜ก

YAY OT!!!!!!!!!! Time to get creative/prepared for my upcoming week back to work!….let's hope I can go to bed before 5am tonight seeing as how I need to be up around 6am. I think I see sleepy-time medication in my future…

PS: the picture, if it comes through, is me on the L, my dad, and my twin sister on the R, on the cruise ship in Glacier Bay, with a glacier behind us.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1