All Moved In

I am all moved in to my new apartment! Still waiting on tv, internet, and phone service, but I at least have heat, electricity and water for now! I'll write a longer post after I get the internet of my own, which who knows when that will be...Stop on by if you want to see my new place! Just call my cell first so I can unlock the door.

Last post for a while

Well, yet again, this will probably be one of my last posts for a while. If all goes as planned, I'll be moving into my new apartment on Thursday and again, no internet for a while....Blah. I still have not called and cancelled what I have here. I'm scared to, because I don't even want to know what they're going to charge me to cancel it.

I still don't have a key to get into my new apartment, but I'm supposed to be getting one tomorrow (if they drop it off at the dr's office for my mom). With any luck (and I could REALLY use some), I should be able to start moving some smaller stuff Tuesday evening and the plan is to get all moved in officially on Thursday afternoon. Hectic craziness...that's all I can say. I've spent all morning this morning packing things up and getting everything organized and talking to people on the phone to get everything ready.

I am SUPER jealous of all of the people in my class who have both Thursday and Friday off this week, which is pretty much everyone except me. My CI tried telling me that we were going to be working on Thursday, and I told him that I was supposed to have that day off as a school holiday and he was like, "well this isn't school anymore." I was pretty much ready to flip out and tell him that even if that clinic was for some ridiculous reason open on Thursday when no patients would even want to schedule appointments anyway, there was no way on earth that I was going to be coming in and I was pretty much ready to notify my clinical coordinator that it was NOT GONNA HAPPEN. But then my CI checked the schedule and was "surprised" to see that we are in fact closed on Thursday. Well duh...what kind of outpatient clinic would even want to pay its employees to be there on a day when it's pretty much guaranteed that no patients would even show up. Ugh. But I do have to go in on Friday. I'm not thrilled at all, but at least I get the actual holiday off.

So tomorrow is going to be another stressful day. I have to call in the morning to verify that they're turning my electricity on, work all day, come home and keep packing, and call to cancel my current internet/tv/phone service. After I get moved, I'll be going to my mom's to use the internet, but I probably won't take the time to update everyone on all the excitement in my life until I actually get the internet of my own, which will be.....who knows when because Time Warner SUCKS.

Welcome to the real world honey..

This week's lesson: Trying to stop complaining.

If there was ever a time that I felt everything was going wrong, this would be it. I have to keep telling myself that there are plenty of people out there who have it much worse than I do and that I need to calm down and just relax. I don't know if I have ever been so stressed in my entire life!

I do feel very fortunate to be able to get an apartment set up so soon after finding out that I need to move out of here. I also feel very fortunate that I have a family member with a truck and a trailer who is willing to help me move all of my stuff. So don't get me wrong, I know I could have it a lot more stressful than I do. I am lucky that I will not be homeless in a couple of weeks.

On the stressful side, I found out last night at approximately 9pm that they were coming this morning to do the house inspection at the house I'm currently living in at 9am. I was told to "have the house as clean as possible" because the realitor has seen many sales fall through because of an "unkempt" house during the inspection. So, with less than 12 hours notice, I was frantically trying to scrub every inch of this house to get it spic and span.

I also had to call this morning to set up my gas and electricity at my new apartment. There is nothing more stressful than being put on hold for 25 minutes while trying to get everything set up while getting ready to leave for work while having a home inspector and home buyer asking you 1 million questions all at the same time. Luckily, my mom was able to go to the village today and get my water set up and thank goodness, because that is one less thing that is off my plate. I did get my gas set up and electricity, but apparently First Energy does this deal where you can go ahead and set up your cable and internet and phone while you are setting up your electricity. So I decided to go ahead and do that. They set me up with the package I wanted from Time Warner and set my installation date for next Saturday between 8:30 and 12pm. Well, I go to check my confirmation email tonight and they had the address completely wrong (of course), so I call the number and they said that I have to call Time Warner directly. So I call Time Warner the automated thing tells me that my installation is going to be a week from MONDAY from 8:15 to 12pm and the real live lady tells me that they apparently do not service N. Fayette St. I told her that was interesting because I know several people who live on that street who have Time Warner for their cable. Ugh.....So then she tells me that since my address is not in their system, they have to send a technician out to check the outside and make sure that it would be serviceable and then they will call me back SOMETIME and let me know. She said she "unfortunately" had no idea when this would occur, when I would be getting a phone call about it, and when I would even be able to have my service installed. I wanted to punch someone through the phone. I kept trying to explain my situation to her and she kept telling me how "unfortunately" it would have to wait and "unfortunately" someone would "eventually" call me back. If Time Warner didn't have such a freaking monopoly on cable in Fayette, I would have told her to just cancel the whole freaking thing. I have already arranged to have someone at the apartment next Saturday to wait for the installer to come and now they're not even coming and who knows when they even will.

Needless to day, that whole situation was a bit stressful. My clinical/internship situation is still a little stressful. I know Monday next week is ridiculously busy because none of our patients wanted to come on Friday since it's the day after Thanksgiving. Apparently my last clinical site (March-April) ended up cancelling so now me and my clinical coordinator have no idea where I am going to get sent, so I have no way of knowing if I am making the right decision about where to live or not (at least for those 2 months). The reality company called me today to tell me that they're sending someone over twice next week to put some sort of radon detector in the basement when I am not here and that is always stressful knowing that there are people coming in your house when your not even there. I still have not cancelled my current cable and internet service (they don't service Fayette) and who knows how much that is going to cost me to cancel.

Blah to all this craziness! I just want a magic fairy to come down and take care of EVERYTHING for me. Or I just want to be 5 years old again and not have any of these worries or stresses. Oh well. It's definitely time to put on my big girl pants and take it in stride. Welcome to the real world. It's not all peachy keen.

Stress!

You want to talk about stress? I just found out a couple of hours ago that my brother's house (that I am living in) has been sold (approximately 3 weeks after I moved into it). Not only did it sell, but I have to be out by December 10. Yep, that's a little stressful. I am so happy for him that it sold, don't get me wrong. I know he has had it for sale for a long time now and has put a lot of money into it in an attempt to get it sold. But now I just moved in and have to turn around and move back out in a couple of weeks! It's a little stressful to have to find a place in that short amount of time. Luckily I am pretty much over the flu and can somewhat think clearly, because I am going to have to be making decisions FAST.

My plan right now is to just go ahead and move back to Fayette. I know it will be a longer drive to and from my clinicals, but my plan all along was to move back there after graduation and find a job close to home. I am getting pretty sick of moving, so I just want to do one final last move and be done with it. Plus, I have a pretty good lead on a nice apartment in Fayette that I think I could get for a pretty decent price and it sounds like I could move into it fairly quickly. I really don't have the time to tour around apartments in Toledo and find a new place. I have already seen this apartment in Fayette and pretty much know what I would be getting into. I should find out tomorrow if that one is going to work out and if I can get a decent price for rent on it.

Now I'm left with the totally awkward situation of asking people to help me move again. I feel horrible doing that. I know it's the last thing anybody wants to do with their day off / weekends. I feel like crap saying, "oh can you bring your truck and trailer and help me get all my crap moved all over again?" especially since my couch and bed have to be totally taken apart in order to be moved.

I am also left with the stress of canceling my tv and internet service less than a month after I had it installed. My brother has been nice enough to tell me that he will help me cover the cost of canceling it, but it's just stressful to try to figure out how I can get that all taken care of in such a short amount of time.

At this point, I just have to step back and tell myself that there are people in the world who have it worse than I do and I should just stop complaining. I can only pray that my family members are willing to help me out YET AGAIN to get my stuff moved out of here and into another new place. I hate being a burden to them. It makes me feel so worthless. Ugh.

But, on the plus side, my brother sold his house and he doesn't have to worry about making two mortgage payments at once, along with all the other bills he has had to pay to try to get this place sold. It will be nice for him to at least be rid of the stress of this place.

Sickness Saga

This cold/flu is really kicking my butt! Thank goodness for TamiFlu, because I'm pretty sure I would be feeling miserable without it. I did tough it out and go to work yesterday, since the syllabus for this internship clearly states that we are only allowed to miss one day of the clinical and after that, we have to make it up "in succession," meaning that I would have to make it up over Christmas. No thanks. I still had some body aches and cough, but I was pretty sure I didn't have a fever, so I went to work. I pretty much had to anyway because we were double booked with patients all afternoon and since my CI is the only PT in the clinic, he had no one else to cover the double-booked patients unless I came in.

About 15 minutes after I got there, the phone rang and it was my clinical coordinator calling my CI about some forms that he still needs to fill out for my midterm review. She apparently mentioned to him over the phone that I was supposed to be fever-free for 24 hours before coming back to work (I had emailed her that I was sick and missed Thursday because we are required to let her know). It would have been nice if she had told me that I was supposed to be fever-free for 24 hours, because I never knew that. But my CI just laughed about it and said not to worry about it.

We had a meeting at the hospital yesterday afternoon, so while we were on the way, I noticed that I had a voicemail. I checked it and it was from my clinical coordinator. She was calling to tell me that I should not have gone into work yesterday because I should have been fever-free without any medicine for 24 hours. I'm not sure where these rules are coming from, but I've never heard any of them! And here's the kicker - she goes on to say that she would have been lenient with me for the days that I missed and that I probably wouldn't have had to make them up if I had stayed home an extra day. UGH! I definitely would have stayed home if I had known all of this! I love how she waited until I was already at work to call me and let me know this! So frustrating. So then I felt like crap for even going in to work, because apparently that was the wrong decision. So I tell my CI what the voicemail said and he just laughed and said not to worry about it and that he would just let me leave an hour early after we were done seeing the double-booked patients and all my charting was done.

So we get to the meeting at the hospital and I start feeling miserable. I'm getting stomach aches and nausea again throughout the entire thing. Bleh. After it was over, the rehab director came over and asked me if I was going to this seminar thing that they are putting on this weekend (today and tomorrow from 8-5). I told her that I was not going because I was still feeling a little sick and felt it would be better to just stay home and rest. She agreed and told me to "stay away" from the seminar.

We get back to the clinic after the meeting and my CI asks me if I am going to the seminar. I tell him that I am not because I am still not feeling that great and I think I should just stay home and rest. He starts giving me a guilt trip - BIG TIME. Telling me, "well...if you really don't think you need to be there..But I really think it's good to expose yourself to as much new information as possible so that you keep an open mind about new techniques." and "remember, this is a $300 course that you get to go to for free." um...HELLO?! Did I happen to mention that I feel like absolute crap and that I could quite possibly have H1N1?! Yeah, let me just spend my entire weekend at some seminar where I will not earn any CEUs and waste my time with muscle energy techniques that I will not even remember in the long run while I get everyone at the seminar sick with whatever I have. Ugh. Well, guess what? I didn't go today. And I'm not going tomorrow either.

So about an hour into seeing patients yesterday afternoon, my CI starts coughing and hacking. He begins to realize that he is getting whatever sickness that I have (and maybe he will finally realize that it wasn't just all in my head and thinking positive isn't going to cure it). He starts blaming me for getting him sick and going on and on and on about how he caught whatever I have. Well guess what? That's why I called off yesterday. And he's the one that told me to stay yesterday after my clinical coordinator told me to go home, so I refuse to feel sorry for him. He spent the whole afternoon holding his head and talking about how miserable he felt. Welcome to the club! I tried not to whine about it because I knew he would get annoyed, but all I did yesterday afternoon was listen to him go on and on about it. Well, I still left about 45 minutes early after I got my charting done. There was only one patient left for the day anyway and that patient hadn't even shown up, so I'm assuming he was a "no-show" and my CI got to go home early also.

Last night I went to bed about 10pm and woke up this morning at 9:45. That's the way it's been going lately. I either go to bed around 8pm and wake up at 8am or somewhere around there. It would be nice if I could get to the point where I don't need to sleep 12 hours/night because I feel that's all I do. Today I actually felt good enough to go to Kroger and get some much needed groceries. Although I am still hacking and coughing and occasionally feeling crappy and need to lay down.

I'm not sure if this flu is changing the way I taste food or if it's just giving me weird cravings, but I have been wanting to eat the weirdest foods lately (weird for me anyway). The week before I got this flu, all the sounded good to me was BLTs (with the T), and I used to hate tomatoes, but now I want to put them on every sandwich I eat. Crazy. After I got sick, I couldn't eat anything at all for a couple days (except for one peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie...weird I know) and then last night I finally felt ready to eat my first meal. There was only one thing in the world that sounded like it was even worth eating and that was a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese and fries. Now, that doesn't sound so weird, but I HATE American cheese on my hamburgers and the quarter pounder comes with 2 slices. And it tasted soo good. Today, the only thing that has sounded good was vanilla ice cream topped with some homemade peaches that my cousin Paula canned for me, and some whipped cream. So, I went to Kroger for the ice cream and whipped cream and that's what I had for lunch. Crazy! Although, it did make my sore throat feel much better.

One bright spot to my day was the fact that when I returned from Kroger, my neighbor came over and introduced himself and his daughter. He lives in the condo that is attached to mine and we haven't really had a chance to meet since I moved in because I haven't had time to get out and about with my weird clinical hours. He is a super nice guy. He told me that if I ever need anything to just let him or his wife know. He said they'd be willing to take care of anything that I need and if I ever go away for a few days and need someone to take care of Ramona, they would do that also. It was so reassuring to know that I have nice neighbors who are willing to help me out. It made me feel better to know that there's someone kind of "looking out" for me next door.

So my plan for the rest of the weekend is to just sit back and relax. I wish I had some chairs to sit outside, since it's such a beautiful day out, but I just opened a window and I'll have to enjoy it that way for now. I do have clinical homework to get done, but it's technically not due until Wednesday and I just might have to procrastinate on it and do it Tuesday night, because I really do need a couple days of just rest and relaxation.

Sicky Sicky

Why am I posting in the middle of the day when I should be at work? Because I am sick...ugh. I really thought I could make it through this clinical without catching whatever it is that's going around, but no such luck. It started with body aches on Tuesday, which I attributed to lack of sleep the night before. Yesterday I was hacking and coughing all day, but the body aches weren't too bad. Today I woke up feeling horrible. The body aches are back, I'm literally tasting my lungs every time I cough, and I'm pretty sure I have a fever off and on, but I wouldn't know since I don't have a thermometer. Needless to say, I ended up having to call in sick. I called this morning and left my CI a voicemail that I would not be able to make it in. I feel horrible for calling off, especially when my CI thinks that every sickness and ache and pain is "psychological" and if you just stop thinking about it, you'll feel better. I agree with this to an extent, but when you're truly sick, you're truly sick. And I didn't want him trying to convince me that I needed to come in when I can barely hold my head up (I am currently laying on my stretched out futon watching Food Network and getting nauseous every now and then when they make something nasty - for example, Emeril just made clams).

I'm pretty sure I don't have the H1N1, but luckily I was able to start taking TamiFlu this morning and some prescription cough syrup, so keep your fingers crossed that I will feel 100% better by tomorrow, because we're only allowed to miss one day of our clinical rotation and this is my one day (lame, I know). But, instead of complaining further, I think I will sign off and attempt to sleep away this crap.

Another week, another dollar (spent)

Is another weekend almost already over? It's tough to see the weekend end when it's 70 and sunny outside! It's also tough not knowing if I am going to be required to go to a seminar next weekend that St. Luke's is having on Saturday and Sunday from 8-5 both days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I do not have to go, but if my CI thinks that I need to be there, then I will have to go, meaning that I will end up working Monday thru Friday, sitting at an all day seminar on Saturday and Sunday, and then working the next Monday thru Friday. Boo that...especially knowing that we are double-booked all day tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I like being busy and having the day go by super-fast, but I am not a big fan of busting my butt all week only to have to sit at a seminar all weekend long.

In other news, I'm contemplating going to a seminar in Orlando from January 7-10. The seminar is actually on January 8 and 9, but I would probably go on the 7th and come home on the 10th, if I go. It's at the Hilton Orlando and it's for continuing credits for my CSCS. I could use the credits, and the price is reduced drastically for student members of the NSCA (which I am currently a student member and obviously won't be a student member after May 2010). I only have until 2011 to get all my CEUs in and since I'm on "Christmas break" until January 11, I'm thinking of going to the seminar, especially after I went on expedia.com and saw that roundtrip flights from Detroit to Orlando are only $120 for that time. I haven't decided for sure yet, but I might sign up. I have until Nov. 14th to decide and get the discounted rate, so I need to make up my mind soon.

Not much else is going on, I spent the day today laying around with all the windows open enjoying the warm weather! I even went outside and went for a short run! It was nice. It's too bad these sunny days aren't going to continue. It looks like tomorrow is going to be nice like today, and then the highs are only in the 50s for the rest of the week. Oh well...you can't ask for much better in the middle of November! Speaking of the middle of November, I am just about ready to put up my Christmas tree and decorations! I'm telling myself that I will at least wait until next weekend to start, but it's going to be tough. I'm ready for the radio stations to start playing Christmas music!

A Great Week

I still can't believe what a turn-around it's been with my internship. The first week was crazy and intimidating and frustrating, while this week it was the exact opposite. Don't get me wrong, it was still a bit intimidating at times, but not at all like it was that first week. I'm so glad my CI has realized that I am not ready to learn all of the specialized techniques that he have taken him 4 years to learn (after PT school) and that I just need to refine the skills that I have already practiced. This week, I have started seeing "my own" patients and I am beginning to build up a caseload of my own. I've also started doing the evals on my own, but just the history taking. Next week I get to start actually doing the assessments and treatments on my own from the start. It's a little scary, sure, but my CI has been really understanding about that and he's made it clear that he will be available for me to ask questions or go to him with any concerns I may have before I start a specific treatment. That is so reassuring. I'm grateful to have a clinical/internship where I can build up my confidence with treating patients on my own, while knowing that there is someone there to guide me and give me feedback, but who's willing to let me take the lead.

The only downside now is that I have been seeing another patient who tries to flirt with me (I had one at my last clinical in Bryan also). I hate situations like this. I am one of those people who hates awkward silences, so I really try to make conversation with my patients because I hate just sitting there staring at them the entire time. So, I usually bring the people in and start asking them all kinds of questions to get them talking. Most patients seem to like this because it makes therapy a little less boring and takes their mind off of any pain that they might be having that day. Well, some patients take that attempt to make conversation as a way to flirt with me and "give me the eye." I have one now who is well into his 40s or maybe in 50, married, and still tries to flirt with me. He comes in for all of his appointments drenched in cologne and sits there smiling at me and staring at me the entire time. I still try to make conversation with him, but now I feel like I need to think of even more things to talk about because whenever there is an awkward silence, he tries to catch my eye and stare into them. I am beginning to dread seeing his name on the schedule and hoping that he will cancel, and I hate feeling that way about a patient! I can only keep my fingers crossed that he will realize over the weekend that he needs to knock it off. This is literally the only part of my day today that I dreaded.

Other than my internship, I really don't have much of a life. I'm cleaning all night tonight because they're showing my brother's house in the morning. Go figure, they would decide to show it on a Saturday morning when all I really want to do is just sleep in. But I do have some errands to run in Maumee, so I guess I'll just stop being lazy and get off my butt and get that done in the morning. No excuses. I have come to realize that, in the real world, when you work Monday through Friday, some things just have to be taken care of on Saturday mornings. Boo that...

:)

Things are still going good this week at my clinical/internship. I am extremely grateful that my CI "saw the light" over the weekend. I am now able to work with most of the patients on my own to an extent. I pretty much work with the ones who I can treat with techniques I learned in school and then my CI steps in if they need any type of advanced manual therapy. It's been a pretty good arrangement so far this week. We're also starting to really pick up with patients and the days are getting booked solid so we are super busy, which is great. I am learning a ton from the variety of cases we're getting and the days are going by so fast. I didn't even have time to look at the clock at all today.

I have to say that I was a bit intimidated by my first patient from East-side Toledo today. My first clinical was in Sylvania and the other was in Bryan. Although I experienced "interesting" patients at each, I never had a patient from east Toledo before. I hate to stereotype East Toledoans, because I'm sure they're not all the same, but....my patient today did absolutely nothing to convince me that my stereotype is unwarranted. She was 46 years old and had no teeth. She smelled like stale smoke. The very first thing she said was, "Before you even say anything, this is my husband to be, not my son. He's 24 and I'm 46. You got a problem with that?" She spent the entire eval giving one-word answers and acting like anything we did was causing her excruciating pain. She can not lay on her back or her stomach, yet she expects us to treat her neck pain, in addition to her shoulder pain. For those of you who know the biomechanics of the neck, it would be pretty obvious that there is really no way to treat a patient for neck pain if the patient can not tolerate laying supine or prone. So....this patient will be interesting.

Despite this exception, most of the patients I've met so far have been very nice, fun to work with, and easy to get along with. It's kind of funny how you develop relationships with them differently than the acute care setting. In acute care, you only see them for 15 to 20 minutes at a time plus they're only there for a few days and then gone, so you don't get attached to them. In outpatient, you see them for 45 to 60 minutes at a time and for 2-3 days / week for 2-3 weeks. I am already going to miss some of my patients when they get discharged.

In other news, yesterday I went back to Fayette to vote, since my cousin was running for township trustee. He ended up winning by plenty of votes. It was pretty cool to see this morning online that he not only won, but beat everyone in the category. I'm glad that I live close enough and got out of work early enough yesterday to be able to go back home and vote, but the drive made me realize how glad I am to have a shorter commute every day. Although I am really enjoying my clinical/internship right now, I don't know how I would survive it if I had to drive an hour and a half to get there every morning and then an hour and a half home.

Can't complain

After all that craziness last week and worrying about my clinical, today went really well. My CI came in this morning and told me that he realized that he was overwhelming me with tons of information at once and that I should just focus on what I already know. He said he is going to let me get more involved with treating the patients with techniques I already know and then he is going to just show me some of his techniques that I don't already know. He is going to let me do evals by myself and pretty much let me do my own thing and then he's going to step in when necessary to help out and do added manual therapy techniques that I haven't learned. It was such a huge relief. Today went extremely well and I felt so much better about the clinical as a whole. He told me today that I was "for sure going to pass" and not to worry about it, so I won't. I am a little bummed that I have to go in early Wednesday morning for a meeting, but I got to leave 15 minutes early today, so I won't complain too much. In all honestly, as much as I complained about my clinical in the last post, I can already tell that outpatient orthopedics is definitely what I want to do. I don't dread my work-day every morning and I love being there and getting to know the patients. Most of them are super friendly and nice. Now that I am on the same page with my CI, I think this clinical is going to go by super fast.