Another week in GA

After this Friday, I have only 3 more weeks left of fieldwork! Yay! I am very ready to start practicing on my own and earning a paycheck- I know Ben is ready for that too :o) This week so far, I have gotten to make my own splint and am continuing to grown with independence during evaluation and treatment sessions. I just hope that these last 3 weeks go quickly and without any major issues.

Just today Ben and I have changed the date of our wedding! It was originally scheduled for Sunday October 9th, 2011 (the Sunday before Columbus Day), but is now changed to Saturday October 15th, 2011. We thought that everyone would have Monday off for Columbus Day, but found out that we were wrong. October 15th, 2011 is the weekend after. This will hopefully allow for a greater change in color of the leaves and also allow people to party as long as they want. Unfortunately, it is the same day as a PSU game, hopefully the die-hard Penn State fans won't be too disappointed (not to worry it isn't a big game or anything). I also found a pastor for our wedding this past week! I have lost touch with the church of my childhood and youth, but wanted that pastor to marry Ben and I. He graciously said that he would marry us at Felicita Garden Resort and Spa and make it the unique ceremony that we would like. I am thrilled to know that my childhood pastor will be leading our special day! Needless to say, the wedding plans are underway.

Lauren and Jeff are in Canada spending 10 days in Perth, where Jeff's family has a cottage. I am incredibly jealous and wish that I could have gone with them, I have visited in the past and loved it. Next week, the Smith family is vacationing at Stone Harbor, NJ (where I have vacationed since I was born- Ben's family vacations ther as well, and where Ben proposed only a few months ago). I am also sad that Ben and I cannot vacation at our favorite place with his family. I guess I will just have to imagine that I am in Canada and Stone Harbor, NJ when I have a moment to relax.... Enjoy the vacations everyone and soak up some sun for me! :o)

Total Hip Replacement

Needless to say I got to spend an afternoon in the operating room watching a total hip replacement surgery! It was very neat to see. I was overwhelmed at first and wasn't sure where to stand, but once all 11 people were in the room and in their places, I found a spot to stand, that ended up being by the feet of the patient. Everyone was very welcoming and offered to answer any questions that I had. They laid the patient on her side and marked her with a sharpie. Within 5 minutes of carterizing and using a scalpel, the three surgeons were down to the bone. I was surprised when music started playing over the loudspeaker and chuckled when the head surgeon started singing along while cutting open his patient. I won't get into the blood and gore this time ,but it was (at the least) gruesome. It was interesting to watch it all unfold and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it went how I thought it would. Overall, it took about 2 and 1/2 hours from the time that they wheeled her in, to the time that they took her off the operating table. I am grateful that I got to experience a surgery in the operating room and realize that this might be the only opportunity that I ever get to watch operations such as this. My supervisor is hoping to get me into see a hand surgery with a plastic surgeon within the next 4 weeks.

Overall, I have my own 4 patients that I see everyday, along with about 8 other patients of my supervisor's. I see patients that have suffered gun shot wounds, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, strokes, joint replacements, and much more. I have come in contact with patients that have MRSA and require contact precautions (putting on a gown and gloves before entering the room), many of my patients have trachs and are on vents as well as heart monitoring systems. Many patients are overwhelmed by their diagnosis and their present condition, and become emotional during our treatment sessions. I have come in contact with prisoners and murderers, I have heard patients say the darnedest things... Everyday I learn something new and am pushed to my limits to see what I can do on my own. I get along well with my supervisor, Tanya, and am grateful that I have a supervisor that pushes my comfort level- that is how I will learn the most! Yay for only having 4 more weeks of working for free! :o)

Miss and love you all.

What a day at AMC!

OK so this is an official WARNING: *if you do NOT like to read about blood and guts and everything else, you may NOT want to read this!*

So today started out with a patient passing out on my supervisor and me while we were transferring him from a bedside commode to a wheelchair. We knew that he had a past history of passing out when sitting up so we were prepared and 1/2 expecting it. But it all happened very quickly, I ended up running up and down the hallways yelling for a nurse (that never came) and everyone looking at me like I lost my mind. Only to return to my supervisor empty handed as she continued to yell for help from the room. Another therapist ended up coming and helping us (to keep him from falling out of the chair) and the patient returning to consciousness... All ended well... no worries. THEN I got to see a trach. be inserted. I saw them cut open the skin around the trachea and cut a hole, then insert many different sized tubes to create a larger hole for the trach. Next on the list for that patient was a gastrointestinal tube (GI tube). They put a scope w/ a light on it down his mouth, and into his stomach (it was neat to see his insides!) then they actually tried to push the light up against the stomach wall and spot it from the outside of his body (this meant that there was no obstruction in between the outer stomach wall and the stomach itself and could puncture his abdomen to place the GI tube)! They could not see the light (which meant there was an obstruction of some sort) so they aborted the GI tube.

Next on the list of experiences was the ER to see 2 traumas come in. The first guy passed out while driving (NO SEAT BELT) and hit a cop car then another car, cutting the back of his head open. He was bleeding profusely and ended up vomiting in the ER (very abruptly) and needing staples in his scalp (I actually saw his skull!). The second trauma was a construction worker who shot himself with a staple gun. A 2inch staple was in his right side and slightly puncturing his gall bladder. He ended up needing to go to the OR so nothing too exciting happened w/ him... Other than the fact that he actually stapled his shirt to himself and was flown in by helicopter.

So in summary, I had a very exciting day and got to see many new things. I actually surprised myself that I didn't get nauseous or anything! :o) Also, on Monday I got to see a chest tube put in. They cut him open in between his ribs and punctured his lungs and stuck a tube in (lots of fluid/air= gurgling once they punctured the lungs). Tuesday I am tentatively scheduled to see a total hip replacement in the OR... wish me luck!

(I did not include all the details... give me a call if you would like to hear more!)

1/2 way done with Fieldwork!

This week marked week 6 of my fieldwork experience. On Monday I move upstairs to a different unit in the hospital and will be working with a different supervisor. My new placement will be in the acute care unit/ICU and I'll be working with Tanya for 4 days of the week and Melissa for 1 day a week. After leaving my old floor on Friday, I realized that I became very comfortable in that working environment. I became confident in my ability as a practitioner and my clinical reasoning skills. I realized that if I stayed there for another six weeks I most likely would have become bored with it, but it was nice to finally feel confident in my ability as an entry-level occupational therapist. The new placement will broaden my skills as a therapist and only give me more "tools in my tool box" to use when I practice on my own. I am very excited to see more trauma cases and hopefully sit in on a few surgeries as well!

On Friday, Ben and I treated ourselves to The Wallflowers concert! It was a very unique venue, The Botanical Gardens. The Wallflowers put on a great show and I am very glad that we went, we needed to just relax and spend some time together. The venue attracted a crowd that was a little older than us and had the option of ordering dinner ahead of time... basically they catered your dinner and you could buy wine and beer if you wanted. Ben and I did not take advantage of this option, but thought it was a lovely idea. Instead of having assigned seats, this venue was one open, grassy area, and people brought blankets or beach chairs to sit on. It was a different experience but very relaxing. We couldn't have asked for better weather, it reminded me of a beautiful spring evening in PA. Now, it's back to the grind for another week...

Miss and love you all.

July 4th @ Centenial Olympic Park

This is what fireworks that stretch a city block look like! Ben and I got to enjoy the spectacular fireworks show at Centenial Olympic Park with 75,000 other people. The fireworks not only stretched a city block, but they two buildings to the left and right also had fireworks shooting off of them. Needless to say, we were literally surrounded by beautiful colors and shapes in the sky!

Our day started with arriving at the park in the early afternoon... since it was our first time we didn't know how early to arrive. There weren't too many people there so we scoped it out and then headed to Tacomac for a bite to eat. They had an entire wall filled with nothing but beer on tap, it was pretty impressive (Ben enjoyed their selection). After our yummy lunch we headed back and enjoyed some time at the park. Then we set up our camping chairs and blanket and relaxed until the music started. There were two opening bands (the first one sucked, the second one rocked) and then Vertical Herizon came on. They sounded great and we both enjoyed the show. Then the fireworks started, they shot up in the sky to patriotic songs for about 20 min. After that, it was a race to the car. Overall, it was a wonderful fourth of July with my fiance!

I am at the half way mark of my fieldwork at Atlanta Medical Center and I can't wait to just be done and start making money! :o) I know it will come in time but I'm so anxious. I'm still getting use to the city life, traffic is very stressfull for me and the 75,000 people at the park wore me down by the end of the day. I guess im adjusting, but nothing is better than my quiet hometown in PA.

Miss and love you all!