Low Vision, OT Interventions in Home: SURVEY

I got a $1,000 scholarship!!

I got a $1,000 AOTF-derived scholarship! I applied for it quite a while ago. I just found out! YAY!

http://www.aotf.org/html/Awardees2009.shtml

Volunteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeering…it all helps with OT indirectly!

But wait! I realized I forgot to mention my 2 hours at the Alzheimer's center, chillin' with my elderly peeps!

Two of my favorites had died 🙁

But a surprising number of them – and staff – were still around, which was great.

Various scenarios:

1) Lady showing me her fake dog that she carries around with her at all times, she can press a button to make it bark and walk. Adorable. But it was clear the way she talked about it that she thought it was real, just “really easy to take care of”….awww. Glad she had the little doggie though.  We were folding cloth aprons/bibs together and I put one of the aprons around her dog's head to make it a babushka and she liked that, lol.

2) Lady, talking to a staff member about when her daughter was coming:
Lady to staff member: “If she isn't here soon I'm going to cut your throat!”
Me, standing next to lady: “Yikes, is my throat safe?”
Lady, looking at me, considering. “Yes, your throat is safe.”

3) Two ladies (one black, one white) sitting on either side of me, hanging out. Black lady asks me if I'm married and I say no. Handsome black man (activities director) walks by and I say, “Ooh, how about him? Can I marry him?” Black lady grins, white lady pats my hand and says politely “He needs to be your own color, dear.”
Luckily the black lady didn't hear her, so I just nodded and let it go because elderly ladies with dementia won't gain anything from a lecture on racism, I don't think!

I think that's it for specific stories. I just hung out with various people, distracting them away from the door or reassuring them their loved one was coming soon, or just sitting and holding hands. Sometimes people do random things and you are like huh? And then if you know their history it all makes sense.

Like one lady is always smoothing down my sleeves, feeling my fabrics, looking distressed at any loose threads…..turns out she was a seamstress. Another lady is always writing down notes (but it's more like her signature), and she used to be a doctor's secretary.

Today I went to the pediatric cancer hospital to do some shadowing for about four hours. Very fun. Seems like they all have huge scars running down the back of their heads. I've been volunteering there over 4 years now, and you really do learn the lingo. Osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, gliomas, medulloblastomas, you just get used to it. The kids are so cute. I love it there. I need to read up/practice on the Peabody, the Batelle, the Oregon Project, the VMI, HELP, and a few other assessments!!

Anyway. Tomorrow I'm going to another pediatric hospital to hold babies (I might go on easter too, I like to hold the babies on holidays), and hopefully next week I'll hit the Assisted Living facility to chill with my elderly peeps there too. So within 7 days I will have hit all four of my volunteer haunts for the first time in a long time because of fieldwork, so that makes me happy to get to be with my babies and my old people! Two pediatric hospitals, an AL facility, and an Alzheimer's facility. No middle ground….lol I guess I'm not too big of a fan of teens/adults!!

So random even a random word generator would explode

I watched “Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo” tonight, again, randomly, on TV, about a dude who tries to be a gigolo (in their terms, “man whore”) but ends up finding his niche in befriending some of the clientele that were otherwise shunned. He did this by finding ways to help them fit in or be accepted. For example, he took the girl with Tourettes with a propensity for swearing, to a baseball game, where her shouting horrible curses on the opposing team were loved by all the fans. I know the movie is incredibly silly, but I like it because it has an element of OT philosophy in it, even if he didn't realize it. He looked at the client's personality characteristics and abilities and then found ways to work with them to improve their quality of life.

Because this is a random post, I included two random pictures.

One is a picture of an art thingie me and my mom did in La Jolla, CA, this past summer. She loves to collect rocks and she has kept a blue M&M in a hole in a rock in the house for years (it's gone now). So I decided it would be fun to get a bag of M&Ms, collect holey rocks at the beach, and make impromptu art.

Weird as hell, but mom was totally willing to go along with it…

Second picture is the masterpiece of a girl named Michelle who is in love with Lester. The mentioned “Patti” is my good friend who is an OT student in New Jersey, where, oddly enough, small world as it is, one of my professors has transferred.

ANYWAY. Enough weirdness for one day.

Sooo tired.

Going to the Alzheimer's Adult Day Care Center today…I did a Level I (Two week) fieldwork there about a year ago. Gonna chill with my elderly homies for a few hours.

I had HORRIBLE nightmares one after the other last night. I kept waking up terrified. I'm having a LOT LOT LOT LOT of nightmares lately, every single night, multiple nightmares. Funnnnn. I wake up exhausted!

Just worked out with Virginia…gonna do some errands before I go to the Alzheimer's place. Then meeting a friend for dinner that I haven't seen in a long time. And then lots more errands, studying, and chores, interspersed (sp) between those events. But mostly I just want to sleep after all those nightmares…

Doot doot doot…work application, graduation, exams….the real world beckons. GO AWAY REAL WORLD I AM SCARED OF YOU…

Oh come on. Nobody thought my jail cover letter was amusing? Apparently I'm only funny to myself. No real surprise there….

I am in contact with an OT student named Kuma & some of his classmates. We collaborated on an article on diversity (including people with disabilities being a form of diversity often overlooked and how we need to recruit more ppl with disabilities as OTs) a long time ago, and it's finally ready for submission to OT Practice. Kuma offered to have me submit it as I am used to it by now so I know what to do (3 times now) but I told him I wanted him to do it because it's a thrill to submit your own manuscript and I wanted him to have that bragging right. I sent him the link and gave him some basic tips and told him I'd do it if he gets overwhelmed. But I hope he does it for that great feeling of accomplishment!!

I went working out with my OT classmate Virginia this morning…have been talking about the OT practice article with Kuma, and now it's time to work on my updated resume, my hospital application, perhaps my taxes, and some graduation stuff. Borrrrrring. But somewhat exciting too.

Yesterday I took my friend Sarah out for a birthday dinner – we had Muddy's cupcakes for dessert and I threatened her bodily harm if anything happened to the cupcakes. Before that I hung out with Virginia – we had lunch, talked about geriatric mental health & specifically proper assessments, evaluation tools, and group topics, in preparation for her upcoming job, and played Frisbee!! And studied a tiny tiny bit for the NBCOT exam. We will probably take it at the end of May. I also hung out with classmate Kerri & her husband some too. So yesterday was a pretty good day.

Okay I'm procrastinating because I don't want to work on all my errands. I better start.

OMG, I am INSANE

So I am updating my resume while applying to a job. I went back to find the resume/cover letter we wrote for a professor, and I had written this awesome paragraph at the bottom of my fake cover letter (applying for a fake job as a student writer to OT Practice magazine) AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  I don't even remember doing this. I crack me up.

” Please let me know if you have any questions regarding my resume. A few of the chronological gaps may be explained by brief prison stays, although I’m sure you’ll understand once I explain. That’s another way I may be able to help student readers, since I now have a firm grasp of the difference between a felony and misdemeanor and can provide valuable tips for students with a criminal background, trying to take the NBCOT exam. I will look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you very much for your time.”

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

AHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHA

Okay back to work 🙁

Hmmmm…waiting to graduate.

I haven't blogged in a while because I haven't really had anything specific to blog about.

I miss my fieldwork but am glad to not be working for a while. I'm studying for the exam. I keep hearing about people failing the new format, but I'm a great test-taker, so I'll remain optimistic. I'll probably take the boards in May.

Graduation is May 29th. My mom, dad, and grandma are flying in from CA I think, plus a few other friends from this area may come.

A lot of my classmates already have jobs lined up or are interviewing. I haven't even started that process. I've been offered several jobs but do not feel they are the right fit for me at this time.

My first choice is a pediatric cancer hospital in Memphis which may have an opening in a few months. If that doesn't work (fierce competition), I want to consider spending a year living in Asheville NC. I've decided not to try CA for a job until I've had at least a year's experience around here – it's easier to get a job if I'm not a new grad, and I'll have more money by then.

It's fun but scary to be job hunting, starting a career. I need to update my resume…

I don't think I'll be blogging much daily for a while, since I don't probably have daily OT-related experiences. I do have a lot of catch-up blogging to do on stuff from comments, emails, stories, etc, though. I'll try to keep up and not neglect this blog!!

Thanks all for comments, e-mails, I appreciate them. I'm behind still…as always…but slowly catching up.

CELIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The end of fieldwork…

Well, I've finished my last rotation EVER…and turned in all my projects and PDEs….so while graduation isn't until May, I pretty much have my master's. Pretty exciting, a little scary too.

My last day had some great ups because of the staff although overall, it otherwise would have been a pretty crappy day. There were around 10 on the unit but only 3 of them were really mine…would be 4 but one was on hold for agressive behaviors. Of those three, only one was REALLY okay for OT…the other two were both obsessed with going home and so anxious about that that they weren't much for OT. Of course I don't blame them, but it makes it hard to be productive when you've only got one patient willing to cooperate.

The day started out with me getting to watch my OT do a craniosacral session on a lady with bad TMJ, pretty interesting. Also so relaxing I had trouble staying awake.
Then I went up to the unit and I could hear the screams before I even walked in. It was one of those days – like Thursday – where you really felt like you were in an insane asylum because several of the patients were nonstop screamers/yellers/criers. And any time you have a paranoid schizophrenic on the unit, you know it. Groups were a struggles since like I said, I only had one high-functioning patient. Also, I watched yet another patient throw her cup of ice water into the face/clothes of a staff member, this time a housekeeper. Poor lady. So two days in a row I watched this happen. Nothing you can do but shrug it off.

The rehab director (?) and my OT took me to a Thai restaurant for lunch which was so kind of them. They blocked off two sessions so we could do so. I enjoyed it a lot. I also got a card from the director, and the OT's husband (I've enjoyed getting to chat with him, a very nice guy!). Came back for a while longer on the unit. One of my favorite nurses walked in with cupcakes she had baked herself, for my departure!! A nurse and tech that weren't on my unit came down to say goodbye and the nurse gave me a card with several peoples writing in it. I also got a card from other nurses with signatures from nurses, the social worker, and even a case worker I didn't even know knew who I was, praising me. One of the phlebotomists and the housekeeper also came and hugged me and said goodbye, so I felt really loved to have gotten four cards, a lunch, and cupcakes, and tons of hugs and kind words. My OT said that the director had never taken any other student out for lunch and that the nurses/techs had never done something for an OT student before, so that made me really happy. She commented that I have a way of connecting with people. And yep, I have a LOT LOT LOT LOT LOT of flaws and I may not be so hot at OT, but my gift is (sometimes) connecting with people, which makes up for  a lot of my flaws. If my OT classmates read this most of them would probably laugh since I'm not alway so great at connecting with my own age group, they'll be like wha-wha-WHAT.

Oh! And the husband of one of the ladies with severe dementia, who I've spent some time with daily for the last few days during visiting hours, giving him handouts and stuff on caregiver stress, tips, etc, and even just sitting with him. He almost cried saying goodbye today, saying that even though he hadn't known me long I had made a big difference to him and that while he may not see me on this Earth again (he knows I'm maybe moving away), he knows he'll see me in Heaven. It sounds so GOOEY and DRAMATIC when I write it here, but it was sincere and sweet.

ANYWAY……….I was really pleased with how kind everyone was on my last day, and I was glad I didn't have to worry about units so much, I spent over an hour just chillin' with my highest functioning patient, she and I have become quite close over the last 3 weeks (most don't stay that long).

I got a comment recently from “BuckEyeBrit” that pointed out something I hadn't thought about. I had written about how a lot of patients see me as a granddaughter and hug me, are affectionate, etc, in ways they aren't with other staff. She pointed out that is a good use of therapeutic use of self – while a lot of times older patients see younger therapists as not possibly having a lot to offer due to lack of experience, coming across as a granddaughter fills them with some love and patience, lol.  Woo!

I really came to love my rotation…even when things were tough or stressful or a wee-bit scary…it turned into a wonderful experience. I learned a lot about mental health OT, a lot of assessments/evaluations, a lot about myself, a lot about interacting with all sorts of different people, etc. I stayed really late yesterday on my final day because I had procrastinated so much I still needed to finish a few things. I got there at 745am and left around 610pm. I got home with kind of an achey feeling. Glad to be done with school and fieldwork as it is a rite of passage, but sad to leave that place with all its wonderful people. I told them I have abandonment issues and would stay in touch, though, LOL.

I didn't end up going out dancing last night because I was so tired.. .it was my friend's ten year anniversary of her husband dying, and her current husband had a really hard day at work, so all 3 of us were sort of in a funk…a blah night. Oh well.

I'm just chillin' today…slept in late of course, did a tiny bit of errands…hanging on the sofa with my kitty now. I definitely feel like doing SOMETHING tonight, so maybe depending on their plans I'll go dancing tonight instead, or who knows what.

I need to get some stuff in preparation for going to a wedding Saturday of an OT classmate (congrats Kim) and also for being a bridesmaid in an upcoming OT classmates wedding (yay Allison)…and prep for some upcoming mini trips, looking at where I may end up…..who knows.

This got long so quickly, oops. Oh well. Anyway……….school as I know it is over….time to face boards, interviews, a real job, etc.

THE REAL WORLD BECKONS!!!