Onto week 4...

I didn't realize how long it had been since I had written on here...my apologies! Although, strangely I find that I have less to talk about now that I'm not in class. Weird. Maybe it's the whole patient confidentiality thing.

Things have been going relatively well during my rotation thus far. I think I am starting to adjust to the fast pace of the hospital and getting more comfortable with working hands-on with patients. There have definitely been ups and downs, and every day is completely different. My CI and I have slight personality conflicts that I'm trying to work out. Things are getting better, but there are still some issues that have yet to be resolved. Thank goodness for the perma-grin! I've been most amazed by the fact that I am a minority at this hospital. 75-80% of the patients I see do not speak English. The majority speak Armenian, followed by Spanish. Yes, I am learning Armenian. I'm also quickly refreshing my Spanish from high school. The patients seem to find it funny that I'm even attempting to speak their language and laugh at me, but somehow I have to get through to them...no matter how terrible I sound!

Most memorable moments thus far (good and bad):
-Projectile neon green vomit (think exorcism)
-Wiping patients' butts because nursing is too busy (it's no fun for either party involved)
-Getting peed on
-VIP patient...sorry, I can't tell you who it was!
-Having lunch with the CEO of the hospital

Things I like:
-There's never a dull moment
-Every day is different
-I see a wide variety of patients...ortho, neuro, cardiac, you name it!
-Some of the other PT's there are awesome and have taken me under their wing
-Getting gifts from patients (baked goods, lotions, etc.)
-Being out of the classroom and putting my hard-earned (and expensive) knowledge to good use
-FREE TIME! I actually get to come home and do nothing, and I couldn't be happier. Plus, I have a weekend now that is actually a weekend and not non-stop studying. This means shopping, movie-going, wedding planning, baking...things that make me happy! :)

Things I'm not so fond of:
-The commute! I can think of a lot of things I would rather do with those 2 hours each day I spend in the car
-I only see patients for a few days and then they're gone
-The stress of having every thing I do being graded
-The constant feeling of being behind and having to play catch-up all day
-Being on my feet, climbing up and down flights of stairs, lifting 300+ pound patients...I am exhausted by the end of the week!
-Bodily fluids...enough said.

So other than working like the rest of the normal population, I've been enjoying my free time. It's been bloody hot and smoky from all the fires. It's really gross at the hospital. You can't even see the hills anymore. Hope everyone is doing ok and haven't melted yet. I'm going to go back downstairs where it's cooler. Can't believe I'm almost half-way through this rotation already! Then I'll be moving up to SLO...WOOHOO!

My middle name is chaos...

...or so it seems! The past few weeks have been a bit hectic to say the least. The end of the term was busy with projects, packing, and more. Finals week came and went. It wasn't a huge deal, except that we still had class and the finals kept getting switched around so we never got a lot of notice before we took them. We also had to say good-bye to each other, which was very surreal. After spending the past year and a half together, all day every day, it was weird to say good-bye for 7 months. None of us could really wrap our heads around not being in class for 13 hours a day or studying on what some people call "the weekend" or seeing different people every day. Well now that's just crazy talk! But we all said our awkward good-byes and wished each other well, and just like that we all left the nest of our insanely structured program. Then I had to pack up all my things and deep clean the house.

This past weekend, that wonderful Jeff of mine came down to help me move back in with my parents. We rented a Uhaul trailer and hooked it up to his truck. After several hours of heaving all my junk and then schlepping it up and down stairs, I was moved out. I was sad to move this time. Brian and Anthony (the boys next door) came over one last time and ran around our empty house. Brian looked in the door and shouted "What happened to your house?!?!" I told him that we were moving, and I'm not sure he really understood since they just danced around our empty living room like it was any other day. I hope whoever moves in there plays with them or has kids of their own that will play with them. They deserve it! And I will miss them...

Then Jeff and I went with my mom to the Ventura County Fair on Sunday because we were too pooped to go on Saturday night like originally planned. It was way more crowded than normal because it was Family Day and there was some popular Mexican band that was attracting even more people. But we ate yummy fair food...corn dogs, funnel cakes, cotton candy, kettle corn, cinnamon rolls...yep, there went the diet! But it was worth it!

Today was my first day of my first 8-week rotation. I'll be at Glendale Memorial Hospital working in an acute in-patient setting. After waking up way earlier than I wanted to in order to avoid traffic and getting lost in downtown Glendale, I finally made it. I'm not sure anything could have prepared me for this. The best way to describe it is pure and utter chaos. If the patient isn't there or hasn't gotten their medication or whatever random reason you would like to insert, you just move on to the next patient and so on until you find a patient on your list that you can do therapy with. I had one lady screaming at me, yelling "GET HER OUT OF HERE!" at the top of her lungs. Nothing like a warm welcome! One patient screaming out of pain unnecessarily loud...I know she was in pain, but she had already received a double dose of pain killers and my ear drums thought she was being a bit of a drama queen. One patient said I was cute. One patient said I was nuts if I thought I was getting him out of bed. The list goes on...basically a lot of running around, trying to find charts and nurses, running up and down the stairs while carrying around equipment, trying to decipher doctor's hand-writing (no wonder things get interpreted incorrectly!). The worst part of the day was a patient on our list died in the ICU while we were there today. It wasn't while we were treating him, but it was not exactly something I wanted to have happen while I was on this rotation, let alone on the first day. Oh well...it can only go up from here, right?! Only 39 more days to go!

I hope everyone is enjoying the ends of their summers. I will be busy running around the hospital and purging all my excess stuff that I've moved home and refuse to move again. Miss you all!