Comps...

Alright alright...I know I disappeared for a while, but let me tell you...I've been busy! So I will attempt to catch you up on everything. Let's see...

So "break" ended when I came back to school and began seriously studying for comps. And I mean seriously...12-14 hours per day of studying, practicing, quizzing, etc. You know it's bad when you realize it's 10 o'clock at night and you never ate dinner and didn't even notice. Lots of trying to remember information, laughing (nervously) when we came across something we never even remembered learning in the first place, and praying for the best outcome.

Monday was Neuro. They hired actors to be our patients, which I guess was a good idea. I had the unfortunate blessing of going in the first group, so my actor didn't completely have her story down yet and threw me for a little loop, but I just focused on what I knew and what I had figured out and tried to treat it as best I could. I was so nervous because I hate going first that I dropped my stuff on her when I went to introduce myself. Poor thing! The look on her (and my tester's) face was priceless. Oh yes, and Melissa...guess what the diagnosis was...MS! I thought of you! Anyway, I treated a Neuro patient with mostly Ortho techniques but completely justified it and proved that I was 75% competent. You should note that a 75% was considered passing throughout the week, so we kept saying that we only need to be 3/4 competent.

Tuesday was Cardio Pulm. We got to work with a partner for part of it, and although we're not sure if this was how it was technically supposed to be done, my partner (Heidi) and I didn't really let our professor direct questions to one of us specifically and helped each other out by finishing the other person's sentences. We treated our post-heart attack patient brilliantly and panicked when we got a "Do you think there's anything else you should do?". That's usually is a sign that you've forgotten something major and you better think quick. Turns out that what we did was too conservative, even though we followed it directly from the book, but it's always better to error on the conservative and safe side than to push the patient too far, so another passed test.

Wednesday was the written, which really is on a computer, but was a practice board exam. I ended up getting a 70% on it, which I'm quite content with since a 75% is what is required to pass the real board exam and I'm not even finished with school yet! Not to mention that with an exhausted brain, I know I made stupid mistakes, and really should have gotten a higher score. Plus they told us we should aim to get above a 60%...done and done.

Thursday was Ortho, which should have been my moment of glory. It was set up that you had to go through a bunch of different stations, and then eventually treat a patient which was your "partner" that you had to differentially diagnose and set up with a exercise program, etc. I got a patellar femoral syndrome patient, which probably means nothing to most of you. Should have been a cake walk, but then my tester decided to make me focus on the most random things and wouldn't let me do the standard treatment protocols. I made a slight error on one of the tests, merely a wrong hand placement, lost my confidence here and there and had to make pauses to think things out. At the end our tester asked my partner and I if we had anything to say for ourselves. Another panic attack...I told him that it was the end of a really long week and apologized for anything I had done wrong. Basically he told us that he understood how tired we were, but all in all was very impressed with our clinical knowledge and reasoning. So, in pure exhaustion, I passed the last one. Hooray!

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that they "accidentally" scheduled class with a lymphedema specialist during all this (I thought of you, Becky), so we went to class on Tuesday and Thursday from 2-6. We were not happy campers. She was a nice lady, and we learned about the massage techniques and wrapping to do with these patients, but it was still the last thing we wanted to be doing.

Then I ran off to SLO on Thursday night to get in some more time with Jeff since it had been cut short during our "break". Ashley happened to be down there again so we had lunch, got a pedicure, and caught up on our girl time while Jeff was at work on Friday. And she also popped some terrific news...she's going to be moving back to SLO! She plans on attending Cal Poly's teaching credential program starting in January, and I cannot wait to have her back again! I missed that girl. Jeff may not be too thrilled, but I sure am! Jeff and I didn't do much all weekend. A whole lot of bumming around. We went to see Transformers, watched the USA vs. Brazil soccer game, and I tried to just let my poor brain recover. On my way back down I stopped and spent some time with my dad to try to make up for Father's Day. Had a good chat and dinner, and then was back on the road to school.

I think that about catches everything up. I will post my schedule once everything is finalized. Comps were definitely not fun, and I definitely made mistakes that I shouldn't have, but am overall pleased with how I did and am feeling confident to go out into the clinics. I will leave you with this sad note...It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that one of Jeff's family's dog, Molly, had to be put down during my comps week. She was an absolute sweetheart, full of snuggles and kisses, and she will be greatly missed. It was hard to maintain my focus knowing what was going on and trying to keep Jeff happy during comps. It's so hard to lose a pet. Miss you Molly-moo! *sigh* Anyway, hope all is well with everyone, and stay out of the heat!