Calvert Week 1 (Rach)

Sooooooooo, as Liz and Nicole know, last time I was updating my grandpa laptop died on me. I'm hoping that doesn't happen with my new comp, which I love so far :) Who knew you could have multiple applications open and still have your comp be fast?!?! Def a bonus with watchin the World Cup online....which has been really interesting if you haven't been following. A lot of the dominant teams are losing games, which I kind of love, I have to admit.

ANYWAYYY, to the clinic aspect....I like it a lot (think Dumb and Dumber). I can't tell y'all how much my mood has improved not sitting in a classroom all day, ha; I was gettin to be miss grumpy-pants last 2 semesters! Soooooooooooooo much better to be hands on and interacting with patients. My CI, Christie, is pretty cool but has a massively dirty mouth and mind. She gets 80-something y.o. grandmas and grandpas talkin and jokin 'bout their sex life. It's pretty entertaining; I'm laughing most of the day. It's a pretty weird atmosphere bc it has a small-town feel, but it's not that far from 495....it's interesting. Everybody knows everybody and it seems to be a family affair and hang-out spot. Previous pts can come in, pay $2, and workout for as long as they want so we get some ppl that just hang around all day and crack jokes at everyone. They do a lot of hands-on work with pts, but what I don't like is that they pass off all the ther ex to the PTAs and techs. I talked to Christie about it bc it's definitely an area where I'm lacking, and she said she'd make me prescribe some exercise this week. It'll be good. After a couple evals last week when I was tryin to find some decent exercises out of the giant box of cards they have, one of the PTs (Tai...pronounced like "tie") came up to me and was like - you're over-thinking it! You know, you gotta have the perfect exercises for each pt.....ha. As far as manual therapy, I'm learning that we really didn't learn a lot at all. I've learned like 3 muscle energy techniques for the pelvis that we never went over, and some myofascial stuff that's pretty interesting. I was iffy at first about Christie....she does this thing where she'll ask me a question, I'll answer, and then she'll be like "are you sure it's not this?" or "what about this? does it do this too?" and when I answer again I get a "hmm, ok." Apparently it's what one of her profs used to do to her, so she does it to me in a very non-threatening, but second-guess yourself kind of way....if that makes sense. It's annoying, but good at the same time bc I'll go back and look up the answer, and then I don't forget. I come back and am like "HA, I was partially right." Haha.

As far as interesting patients.....hmmm....I see lots of grandpas that just stare blankly at me when I ask what their goals for therapy are (my grandma would kill me for ending a sentence with a preposition like that...sorry, A.D.D.). One interesting guy was 87 and came in for general strength and conditioning. He was pretty hunched over and walked w/a cane that was way too high for him, but he sort of had a shuffling gait like P.D. but w/o the festination. He shook a little, too, but it was inconsistent and barely noticeable. Apparently he's bein treated for seizures so I'm wondering if that's what's giving him the P.D.-like sxs. He was super sweet, though. He always answered my questions with "yes ma'am" or "no ma'am." Cute lil guy :) I'm still tryin to figure out how hard to push pts. I've already made 2 cry (although Tai says they're criers in general) and I didn't even feel an end feel when I was moving them. One lady had B ankle sprains and I was workin on her bad one and I made her jump 'bout 2 inches off the mat. Ha. She was nice about it and raggin on me a bit, but then I just kept workin and made her sweat, haha. Sounds mean, but you'd have to meet the lady; she has a good sense of humor and just messes with people. Next time I saw her she was like - stay away from my ankles (in a kidding way). Ha. I guess the only other interesting pt I can remember is a lady w/fibromyalgia and came to PT bc she's been falling. She also has B knee flexion contractures (dunno how bc she's in her 40s and ambulatory), but she CANNOT sit still. I was mobing one knee and my CI the other, and the lady was still wiggling her leg back and forth. It was interesting trying to mob a moving leg.

Oh yeah, my 2nd eval last week (2nd day) was w/a lady who's deaf, hypoglycemic, has IBS, and is on a ton of other meds. She came in for neck pain and when I was doin sustained positioning, we didn't know if her nausea was from the test or bc she hadn't eaten in a couple of hours. And when I was doing PAs, upglides, downglides, and palpating her neck, EVERYTHING hurt. I had no idea what to do w/this lady. Tai was like, "well, she's one of those where I just treat what I find." I was like "sooooooooo, her whole neck in every direction?" She shrugged. Ha. The killer is that she's already been doin postural stuff bc she came in for her shoulder last year and they started her on that stuff then. No idea. Suggestions? I don't even know if my goals were realistic for her....guess we'll find out. Felt bad for her, though, bc she hadn't been sleeping well at all. Every position was uncomfortable, pretty much. Oh well...

OK, I'm gonna stop writing bc I know I get tired reading long posts and this is long. Ha, I'm such a hypocrite....but y'all love me anyway, right? :) EVERYONE WATCH THE US VS ALGERIA GAME ON WEDNESDAY!!!! We have to win to advance to single elimination.....come onnnnn defense! OK, seriously done writing now. Good luck to everyone for week 2!! (Nicole, you need to add Ame as a contributor so she can write and not just comment....please)

Peace,
Rach