Grumpy to Golden. Well kinda.

Wow. Insanely busy weekend. Involved roller derby, a wonderful dinner with friends, a DELICIOUS special brunch with friends, swimming, and a ton of errands/chores/organizing/cleaning. I did get some important things done, but was REALLY stressed last night and this morning about all the stuff due in the next two weeks – including 3 tests, a huge group presentation, another huge different group presentation, a carnival we are somewhat responsible for adaptation wise, and a few other things. I still want to write in depth about NDT, but realistically, it probably won't happen. I'll just say it was a fascinating lab and I took a lot of pictures and learned a lot about the importance of putting your hands directly on key points of control, guiding and cuing patients, making them work to the best of their ability to regain function instead of immediately going the adaptation route. Simple things, like having a hemiplegic adult go from sit to stand, gets a lot more complicated using the NDT approach. You have to put one foot on their affected food, one leg behind their legs, one hand firmly pressing down on their knee, and one hand across their shoulders. Then as you ask them to stand you have to use your thigh and push up on the back of their thighs to assist in the movement. Etc. Complicated. But really doable.

(Patti, I didn't get a chance to ask about IFRAH! It was really fast-paced and plus, I am pretty sure my classmates would have thrown things at me had I brought it up! I'm sorry!! You rock!!!)

Ok so back to the present. I was definitely grumpy this morning. I also had a bunch of stuff I needed to print out, two packages to ship, and needed to ask a teacher some questions. I walked out this morning with a gym bag, a lunch bag, a backpack bursting at the seams with binders/books, and a bag of packages. Not a good way to start the day. But it all got taken care of and the day improved.  It turned out our morning Neuro class, which I assumed was a lecture, was actually a lab on Parkinsons. We got to do a videotape protocol with an actual Parkinsons patient (he and his wife were so sweet and great), and it was really interesting to see his tremors and dyskinesia in general. My part of it was to stand behind him and pull on his shoulders as one of the final steps in the protocol, but that scared the crap out of me. I was scared of him falling on me, both for his sake and mine, especially since it was all taped!

During the afternoon, my fellow group members Brooke & Allison and I had a meeting on our frames of reference presentation (cognitive-behavioral), and we came up with some great (funny) ideas and that, I think, cheered us all up to have a game plan. Plus, our professor who is normally teaching us on TV from across the state, was actually here today and taught us in person for the first time, and that was a lot of fun as well. It was on mood disorders – the different types as well as how OTs can treat them.

After class, Allison & I went to Yoga. I can definitely feel I'm improving, even though I'm still not very strong. She threw a rubber block at me halfway through (subtly, nobody else saw) and continued with her normal silly antics. I got her back by taking a picture of her in a weird yoga pose with my camera phone. It's now my wallpaper. It was a good experience and helped me destress. Now I'm home and am about to jump in the shower but wanted to write here first. I also have 7 birthday cards to write for the month of August and I'm going to try and send my grandma a funny postcard each week this August as well, since it is the first anniversary of my grandfather's death in a few weeks.

Tonight my goals are to study for a big Group exam on Wednesday, and well, uh, yeah, that's pretty much all I'm going to do tonight – I hear the professor's tests are REALLY hard, so I want to be prepared. Oh, and I need to measure some furniture and my closet dimensions for our home adaptation project. That's reasonable, considering it's only 720pm! Once I shower/eat, it will be 8ish, and that gives me several hours to get stuff done. Yay. Today may have started out crappy but it's ending pretty well. Now if only I had a Fudgesicle, life would be perfect.

Tomorrow I have an eye appt in the morning, which is good since my eyes have been hurting me lately. I'm gonna get funky new frames! Then we have class on schitzophrenia in the afternoon. THEN I'm meeting my Home Adaptation partners, Camiell and Anna, to get a bunch done on that. THEN I'm going swimming for an hour workout. THEN perhaps Allison & Brooke will come over to study for the Wednesday exam, and I work 9 to midnight. Hmm. Long day. Shouldn't be too hideous though. Will probably blog next on Wednesday.

HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE, if you're still awake!!! HmmI can already tell what my group role will be when we start groups this week: Self-Deprecator.

Jul 31, 2007 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2