Occupational Therapy
5
Aug
2009
OT Connections, New and improved. :)
OTConnections.AOTA.ORG is now new and improved! They've changed the format/layout some so that it's more intuitive and easier to find things. They have forums, galleries, blogs, news, etc.
I was talking to a non-traditional student today and we discussed how she would not have much time to blog. I recommended to her that she join OT Connections (I think you have to be an AOTA member to write stuff though…wish she should join as soon as she starts OT school next month! :)). That way she can blog when she feels like it and it will get posted visibly…not get lost way down in search engine rankings because of inactivity.
And I think now that OTConnections has gotten easier, I am going to go that route too with practitioner blogging. I'll leave this student blog up as it has years of material (some of it better than other, cough, lol, I ramble too much, cough), but by next month I will probably have stopped adding new content to it, and will be over at OT Connections? Not positive. At the very least I'm going to try and use OTConnections more.
I recommend AOTA members (and if you are in OT and not AOTA members, you need to self-flagellate in penance and then sign up immediately)…join OT Connections!! We can have one big giant party!!! And AOTA didn't even pay me to write this promote-ory post….even though they should…hahaha. Seriously though, it's a great site and it needs support! Rah rah sis boom bah. The End.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
4
Aug
2009
this is sooo not worth reading, I promise my next post will be more worthy
Today was a busy day. I feel like blabbering (typing relaxes me) so I'm hitting every excruciating detail…with specific names for once!! If you get annoyed by rambles, don't read this.
I spoke to vet/People's Pharmacy and they called in chloropirenanemamamenenane… maleate (antihistamine) for my cat in tuna flavored treats! I'm skeptical it will work as Lester has kind of figured out pill pockets, but we'll see. People's Pharmacy is awesome – it kind of specializes with bizarre orders and then also does a lot of vet stuff too – they can turn drugs into ear gels to be absorbed, or treats, or probably other things too.
Also called a few other places, called Georgia State Board of OT repeatedly (never an answer, not evening answering machine…must research this), got forms ready, went to Total Body Conditioning at the UT gym and almost DIED but it was a good workout. I get severe neck/jaw/ear pain when I exercise at high intensity, so bad I have to stop and wait for my heart rate to go down (it can get to 200+ in just a few minutes) as it hurts so much….I came home glad I worked out but discouraged & remembering why I tend not to exercise hard! Googled it again and stuff for TMJ popped up! My twin sister had to have TMJ surgery in her teens, where they took bone out of her hip. Then she had a wired shut mouth for a while. I remember one time Dad made her a meat (dinner) milkshake and I laughed and she cried. Oh the memories. I digress. Anyway,
I was like, dude. It fits, all the chronic headaches and how my jaw locks sometimes, and the pain…so decide I need a cheap-o massage from MassageEnvy, a TMJ massage…so I call them and get a TMJ massage set up for a while later.
Go to post office with letters to send out – police reports for identity theft, plus letters + checks to NBCOT and Tennessee State Board of OT, to send stuff to Georgia. Realize I forgot wallet at home, very unlike me and very annoying!!. Had stamps with me though. I put $1.21 on one of them instead of $1.22, by accident – I was trying to figure out 94 cents + 27 cents and was flustered by a homeless guy asking me for money. [I doubt he believed I forgot my wallet!!] I wonder if they'll send it back to me because of that one penny. Hmm.
Go home for wallet. Go to MassageEnvy. Get TMJ massage. Massage lady tells me that health professionals make up most of her clientele, especially nurses, and that she sees 3 OTs. I was surprised at that.
Go to notary place #1 [drug store Ike's, get passport photo too. Helpful]. Notary gone. Go to #2 [drug store Super D, lady very helpful]. Notary gone for two days. Go to Notary #3 [Wiles-Smith drug store]. Dude says he requires TWO forms of government ID and I only had one. I don't like carry my passport around with me and its unsafe to carry your SS card!! He was unsmiling, I didn't like him! Finally went to Notary #4, Mail Center on Madison, and they were very nice and signed my Georgia licensure form. FINALLY. [Note: Fedex-Kinkos in Midtown doesn't have a notary anymore, and I don't have a local bank, so those weren't options!]
Also pick up a very late lunch at Sean's Cafe [yum meditterean], and a drawing book at the Art Center. I'm going to learn depth perspectives so I can make my poppy field painting!!! And now I am home and worn out but have a lot more to do soon! At least Georgia licensure stuff is well on its way to being completed, paperwork wise…it may still take 6 weeks plus before all is intact…but I can work as a tech until licensure comes through.
I paid approximately $100ish? for Tennessee OT licensure which I have never used…now I am having to start over with GA licensure…it cost me $25 to get my TN license verification sent to GA, $55 to get NBCOT score to GA, $5 notary, $8.00 passport photo, and then a few other random expenses. It adds up!
I've got one professional reference and one personal reference figured out…and have one more professional reference to beg for. It's easy, all they have to do is sign a premade form attesting to my moral character, but the downside is that it has to be notarized, which is a pain for my references!
Lester is pretending to be Monorail Cat on top of my chair…I reinforce all his bad behaviors. At this point he has learned to sit by his food bowl and cry piteously until I make him up some catfood broth. (He ignores the hard kibble sitting next to him of course). I always give in when he gets loud. That's so wrong of me from a conditioning standpoint!
I've been researching art stuff…I just made my first knotted lariat and I am very proud. I was looking at ways to make cheap beads out of recyclables, and I made a few test beads out of paper….where you basically just roll little strips of paper very tight and secure with glue. Can be very interesting looking. Potentially a good OT project or maybe even sheltered workshop kinda thing…
Also a way to make neat plastic beads using old water bottle strips, using a heat gun…gotta experiment with that too. All of this gets filed somewhere in my mental OT toolbox to be graded up/down…
Well, I'm more relaxed after a busy day since I was able to type it all out and get it out of my brain…if anyone actually read this entire thing, I applaud your bravery. I typically try not to make such long rambly posts but sometimes you just have to make an exception. My brain was so jumbled up and now it's empty.
Ok…off to do a combination of boring chores/important errands/random artwork/Lester adoring/blog catch-up…
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
2
Aug
2009
Random OT/life babble
This weekend I've gotten to see friends & exercise & paint (poorly) & watch movies & pack up some more! I rarely watch movies and these days I very rarely pull out my art supplies, so those were both nice bonuses. My living room continues to look disastrous but it is coming along…and Lester is starting to feel better!
Tommorow my goals are to see some friends, exercise, paint (I'm trying to learn how to do a landscape with two point perspective, ack), watch a movie, and continue working on packing up. My mainest (lol) goal tomorrow is to get some important paperwork ready to go out Monday morning. That includes preparation for vital Georgia OT licensure documents!
This upcoming week I just need to continue getting ducks in a row in preparation for the move, while trying to remain healthy about it all and not get too stressed. About 3 weeks left in Memphis. Wow. It doesn't feel real to be moving. It just feels like I'm going on a trip somehow.
I need to go ahead and set up a few shadow sessions while I'm in Memphis to kind of refresh my OT brain. I do a lot of OT reading and all, but in terms of being in a clinic, I haven't set foot in one since late March!
It's almost 1am so I guess I'm going to head to bed. Lester is mewing like a plantain. Haha, that cracked me up way more than it should. Anyway. Good night from an OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST!!!! Not a student anymore!!! Sooo weird.
PS: Blog wise, I might transition to OT Connections…it's getting more user friendly!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2
31
Jul
2009
Functional Therapy instead of Occupational Therapy? :)
I got this interesting letter! I’m an Ora Ruggles-ite so I don’t think I’d do it myself, but it is definitely intriguing. Basically, my understanding from my quick perusal of the website, is that they are also lobbying for “occupational” to be replaced with “functional” as it is more intuitive for the average person. Come to your own conclusions!
Hi Karen;
I just found your Blog and we’re in a networking way ourselves. I am with the American League of Functional Therapists. Check us out at www.functionaltherapist.org, we are an organization for Licensed OTs and COTAs to add a designation of Registered Functional Therapist RFTTM (or Registered Functional Therapy Associate RFTATM ) to their credentials.
We have been thinking about a student level membership which would allow the initial RFT membership at renewal rates. ::edited for brevity:::
Thanks for checking us out,
Ed Kaine
President of the American League of Functional Therapists
“Functional Therapy, OT for the 21st Century and Beyond.”
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 3
31
Jul
2009
Pediatric arthrogryposis…any ideas?
I have a classmate treating a toddler with arthrogryposis…anybody experienced in some of the issues and some good ways to treat? Or some good resources? http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/941917-overview in case anybody wants to look it up out of curiousity…it has to do with joint contractures!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 5
31
Jul
2009
Matthew Sanford – Adapting Yoga
E-mail from a prospective OT student: I’ve started volunteering and I LOVE it. I spend time at Courage Center a rehab center in Minneapolis, at a yoga class taught by Matthew Sanford for people with disablities. Matthew is a paraplegic himself, so the work he does is amazing. He is trying to get the medical community to help people connect their mind and bodies. I think OT is very much on that path….When you get some time, do see this videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpmbzAwL5ws. It describes his work.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
31
Jul
2009
Megan's "Rate My Fieldwork" site
This has been up for a while! Add to it! Great idea, Megan
I am a fellow student and follower of your blog. I just got done going through the fieldwork selction process—so many choices and such a hard decision! I thought it would be really cool and useful for upcoming students to get information about facilities online. I just started this websitehttp://ratemyfieldwork.com and I am trying to get a few reviews to help it get going. I was hoping that you could help me out by posting about it or making it a link on your blog! Tell me what you think! Thanks for blogging about our amazing profession 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
30
Jul
2009
Oh noooooes
Dorks, we're dorks.
One of my former classmates/now awesome OTR/L sent me this note about herself in response to the news I'm moving to Georgia.
Patient has lived independently for six years since she moved to Memphis for college. She reports having a good support system of friends from OT school. Patient presented with depressed mood with inappropriate affect stating, “I can't believe my friend is deserting me and moving to Georgia.” Patient reports having cried for three days after initially finding out about friend's potential move. Patient was unable to identify any leisure activities she will participate in once friend has left Memphis. Patient was unable to identify appropriate OT goals secondary to sudden onset of psychomotor retardation. Patient will require maximum support during friend's transition. Occupational therapy services are recommended to increase functional independence.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
30
Jul
2009
Neuro-IFRAH questions anyone?
This kind soul can hopefully help…he left a comment on some Neuro-IFRAH posts. 🙂
Hello,
I have viewed your blog several times. I think I caught it way late. Nevertheless, I can be reached at amer@sanfrancisconeurorehabilitation.com if you have any other question(s).
I may be able to assist with regards to Neuro-IFRAH(R) questions.
Sincerely,
Amer de Juan,OTD(C),OTR/L,HTC,PAM
Certified Neuro-IFRAH Instructor(R)
sanfrancisconeurorehabilitation.com
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2