Week 1...done!

I have officially made it through week one of working as a licensed physical therapist. We started to get busier toward the end of the week and it looks like this upcoming week will be busy. I'm looking forward to busier days, but I'm not quite ready for hectic jam packed days just yet! I'm also looking forward to my first paycheck, because spending 6 weeks studying without any income and paying for all of the licensure exams pretty much depleted my bank account.

Of course this weekend flew by super fast. Don't they all? I feel like I didn't even do anything, and here it is already Sunday afternoon. I suppose I should enjoy this time right now to just relax and take it easy. My goal for this afternoon was to clean my apartment, but I'm really feeling like being lazy sounds like a lot more fun!

Low Census

Day 3 complete and there are still no new admissions! Those that were supposed to come, did not end up coming, so I have yet to evaluate a patient! It's been very slow. I think we are supposed to get a couple of new patients tomorrow, so maybe I will finally luck out and have a patient or two of my own! I have about 4 right now, but I'm sharing them with another PT, so he's still technically the PT in charge of them. I would like to start following my own now!

On the plus side, I've found that I have much more energy now than I had when I was doing my clinical. It's probably because either a) we are really low census right now or b) I'm not coming home to tons of books to study. Either way, I'm really enjoying myself right now because I can actually accomplish things after work and stay awake.

With that said, I think it's time for me to go watch a movie!

Day 1 - done!

I survived Day 1 of work as a licensed PT. It was so nice to see everyone again and get back in the swing of things, but it was actually a pretty slow day. It started off with about an hour of orientation, then just following my "mentor" around all day. I was going to do some evals later in the day to start up my own case load, but it ended up that the people who were supposed to be evaluated did not get admitted, so I had no evals. I did, however, get to go with one of the patients on a Recreational Outing for lunch to the 4 Seasons, which was great. We got to eat good food and leave the hospital for about an hour and a half. It's too bad I can't recommend Rec Outings for all my patients. I'd be going out for lunch every day if I could!

I see on tomorrow's schedule I don't have any patients of my own yet either. So it'll likely be another slow day unless we can get some patients admitted and I get to evaluate them. I'm actually really looking forward to that, because all of this "following people around" is making me feel like a student again. But, maybe I should enjoy it while it lasts, because I'm getting paid regardless! I'm thinking I will probably frame my first paycheck. We just get pay stubs because the money is direct deposited, so I might just have to frame my stub just because I have worked so hard and waited so long for it!

Tomorrow is the first day of big girl work.

Tomorrow is my first day of work! Well, going back to work, only this time getting paid and not having someone with me at all times guiding me and telling me what to do! It's a little intimidating to be "on my own" now, but I feel so much better about the fact that I'm going to work at a place where I am already pretty well trained. It makes it a little less nerve wracking. It's not near as stressful as trying to get through a full-time clinical while tacking on an additional 4-5 hours of studying per night. Well, at least I don't think it will be as stressful! I'm excited about the fact that I'll finally be making money and can save up for all of the things I want!

Today I'm just relaxing, doing some laundry, watching some tv, maybe reading a book, and working on some knitting. It's a day like today that I really really wish I owned a house with a pool....I absolutely can not wait until I have saved up enough for that!

Time keeps on slipping

Ahh this week is going by much too fast. As excited as I am to start working (and make some money), I know this is the last "vacation" I will have for a while. My vacation time doesn't kick in until mid-September, and even then, it has to build up. I'm thinking that this year, I will just let it build up and not use it, so that next year I can have 3 weeks of vacation time. At least that's the way the person in HR explained it to me when I went yesterday to get all of my paperwork done. Sounds good to me!

I have really enjoyed doing pretty much nothing all week this week. I've watched enough of the World Cup to almost actually understand Soccer. I read a book and I'm working on a 2nd one. I started knitting again...yes knitting. I attempted to crochet, but it was too hard, so I'm just sticking with knitting for now until someone can explain to me how to crochet in person. Besides, the only type of knitting I really knew how to do was just knit every row until I had a long scarf. Now I am teaching myself how to purl (it took 2 days...sigh) and mix other colors into my work! I'm currently working on another scarf, but this one is going to be purple and lime green and it will even have fringe. We'll see if I end up actually doing a decent job or just throwing it away when I'm done. I'm very excited about this hobby because it is inexpensive. I'm trying to save up money, because another thing I've been doing is watching too much HGTV and it's making me want to buy a house really bad. Maybe in another year if I can actually be disciplined enough to save. It's really difficult when I want all these other things like a new car and new furniture. Guess I'll have to just make do for a while until I get the house I want to put it all in.

Nothing else is new with me. I have a softball tournament on Saturday. I put this team together myself and I'm pretty sure we are not going to win, haha...but it'll be fun. I guess if we are the worst team out there, we can still laugh at ourselves and have a good time. It's for a good cause anyway. The proceeds go to help pay for the funeral expenses for a guy in town who passed away suddenly about a month ago.

My diet and exercise plan is still ongoing...the past couple of days haven't been the greatest, but I think I'm still doing good. I don't have my Insanity DVDs yet, but I've gone out on a few runs with my new running shoes and they feel great. No knee pain at all! Now I just need to figure out how to keep eating healthy and find time to work out after I start back to work. I'm pretty sure that's going to be a lot more challenging than it is now when I have nothing better to do.

I am a licensed physical therapist :)

Today was one of the greatest days I have had in a long time. I woke up at 9am (late for me!), made some coffee, and got online to see that I officially have a license number! I am finally, officially a licensed physical therapist! Please note the change in my little blurb to the right! I can legally say, "I'm a physical therapist" now without getting into any trouble. ha!

I called into work and everything is all set for me to start on the 21st (a week from today). I'm excited! I'm going to the HR department on Wednesday to fill out all my paperwork and get my name badge (the one that will say "licensed physical therapist" on it!). It's going to be so great to not have to write "student PT" after my name anymore when I sign charts.

I also went to the library today and got 2 books and I'm already halfway through the first one. I layed around and watched some FIFA world cup soccer until the trumpets started to annoy me and then I went to Delta and got myself some new running shoes! I'm excited about these shoes. They feel so much more comfortable than the ones I had before. I wore them when I went for a walk tonight to get them broken in and they felt great. With a little luck, maybe these will finally be the shoes that I can go running in that don't cause any knee pain.

I am thoroughly enjoying this last week of freedom, especially now that I know that everything is really OFFICIAL and all set. Yay!

A fun list

Well, now that I am officially DONE studying, I have a lot of fun plans! Well..."fun" to me anyway. It's been such a huge relief. This weekend was actually kind of busy with Relay for Life on Friday and Saturday and then church out at the lake with a potluck today. I actually got to run some errands this afternoon and come home and relax! It was a great feeling. I even bought 2 magazines! Now that I have my life back, here are a few of the "fun" things I can return to doing. This is my "fun" to-do list!

• Tomorrow I'm going to go to the library and get some books to read that have nothing to do with anything educational.
• I'm going to learn to cook more healthy recipes. I've been on a diet/exercise program for a couple of weeks now and it's going great! I've lost 8 lbs. But my healthy cooking leaves something to be desired. I only know about 5 good healthy recipes and everything else I've just been making up as I go. Some of it turns out good and some of it doesn't. I'm going to read and try more recipes now that I have the time to actually cook! I'm excited about this. I just spent $200 on groceries, so I better get my butt in gear!
• I'm starting the Insanity workout program. It's going to kick my butt. It's even harder than p90x, but I'm looking forward to getting started. If I can actually follow this program, I should be totally transformed in 60 days. I'm also going to join the aerobics class that FCHC does in the fall/winter up at the high school.
• I'm going to join some sort of organization in town to finally get involved in something. I haven't decided yet which one, but I really want to do something positive to make a difference in my community and now I finally can.
• I'm going to keep my apartment clean! I cleaned it on Saturday for the first time in a couple of months and now it looks totally transformed! You would not believe how much dust accumulates up here..and how much food crumbs get stuck in the couch when you sit there and eat all the time! Now it's clean and I'm going to keep it that way because I finally have time to do it!
• I'm going to find a hobby that I enjoy and do it! I haven't decided what type of hobby I really want to pursue...knitting, painting, photography, etc. I really have no idea. Maybe I'll try them all! It's just for fun anyway.
• I started a free trial of Netflix, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to join it. It's going to feel great to come home and just relax and watch a movie at night.
• I am going to start shopping for nicer furniture! I probably won't buy anything too big until I have a house to move it into, but I could at least use a nicer chair to sit in that isn't broken!

And that's just the start! I'm sure I will think of more things to add to this list. I'm so glad it's finally a fun list!

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I PASSED my boards! Yay! I am soooooo excited! I don't have a license number yet, but as soon as they assign me one, I will be a licensed physical therapist! Ahhhhhhh so happy! What a relief! I have never studied so hard in my entire life. And now I can just relax and don't have to have a book in my hand 24/7! If I get a license number on Monday, I'm going to call to work and see if I can start a week from Monday. I need a bit of time to just relax and let my brain calm down. Then it's off to big girl work. Today I will be laying around watching TV and finally cleaning this apartment after months of neglect. yyyyaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uncoordinated fun

Tomorrow is the big day. Whatever happens, I can honestly say that I did my best. I studied as much as I could have possibly studied and I made the most effort as I could have. I'm torn between trying to cram in more information today or just relaxing and telling myself that I DO know this and letting my brain rest before it becomes frazzled for 5.5 hours tomorrow.

I do think I can do it. The problem is, I do not want to be over-confident in myself and then find out I screwed it up somehow. Yet, all the books tell you that you should have a positive attitude and be confident in yourself and that makes up 80% of your ability to pass.

Just to lighten the mood a bit, here are a few things that have happened this week due to my increased anxiety and basically just freaking out over this exam:

• Sunday night I decided to do one of the p90x workouts called "kenpo." It's basically like karate only it's more of a cardio workout where you throw a bunch of fast punch combinations into the air. You're supposed to do it with "intensity." Well, as you get more and more into the workout, it gets faster and faster. I was doing a combo that involved "hook uppercut" and trying to be "intense" when I proceeded to uppercut myself in the face. Luckily I didn't leave a bruise on myself or chip any of my teeth. lol
• Monday is garbage day here. And this past Monday I had a huge bag of garbage that needed to be taken out because it had food in it and when it's hot out, it stinks up the whole building if it's not taken out asap. So at about 12:45pm, I realized that I had forgotten to take my garbage out. I looked outside and saw that there was still someone else's bag there, so the garbage man hadn't come yet. I grabbed my garbage tags and started walking down the stairs with my garbage. Just then, I heard the garbage man pull up and drive away. I had JUST missed him. So instead of taking my smelly garbage back inside, I ran down the alley, yelling "hey! excuse me! hey! hello!" while the garbage man kept going from house to house. I ran about 2 blocks lugging my huge garbage bag along when I finally caught up to him and he finally saw me. He took my bag and told me to "keep the tags" apparently because he felt sorry for me. haha....and I'm sure I made a complete idiot out of myself to all my neighbors. But I got my garbage taken.
• I got back in the house after taking the garbage out and sat down to get back to studying. About 30 minutes later, I look down at my leg and realize that there's a huge gash in the side of it. I must have sliced it with something that was in the garbage. Luckily, it was not gushing blood, but it looked pretty disgusting. I put a bandaid on it and it's slowly healing and probably infected. Awesome.
• I was getting my electric bill ready to take to the post office when I walked over to my refrigerator to get a stamp (because everyone keeps their stamps on the refrigerator). As I was getting a stamp, I dropped the electric bill and it slid all the way under the refrigerator. I had to go get an old wire hangar to get it out. In the process of getting it out, my neck kinked up and I got a massive muscle spasm. On the plus side, with all this studying I've been doing lately, I knew exactly how to unlock it and relieved it instantly! I'm awesome. I also got my electric bill paid finally.
• Two nights ago, I had a dream that I was taking the NPTE. I woke up in the middle of it to the sound of my cat puking. Only it wasn't my cat. It was me! I was throwing up just by dreaming of this exam. Not fun.

Well, at least I can laugh at myself over the ridiculousness of everything that has happened this week. I may have done some pretty stupid things, but at least my incoordination lightened the mood a bit. Now it's back to worrying and freaking out for the next 27 hours.

Quick Update

Ok I'm finally done studying for the day, so I guess I'll give a quick update. I never really said when I officially scheduled my exam. It's on Friday, June 11. I'm so nervous! Every time I open either of the review books, I find something that I had completely forgotten and proceed to freak out about the fact that I don't know it! The sheer volume of information involved is just so overwhelming. I was feeling almost comfortable with it until 2 of the people in my class warned me that the last practice test is ridiculously difficult. Great! I'm taking that one tomorrow, and I was really wanting to get a good score on it so I could have a confidence boost for the rest of the week. Oh well. I guess they make it extra difficult to get you motivated to study harder. I'm just glad I scheduled it for Friday and not Monday. I'm also glad that I have a lot of other things going on on Friday to take my mind of the exam results. I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to find out whether I passed it or not. I'm taking it at 9am, it's a 5 and 1/2 hour exam, then I have to run errands in Wauseon, then it is Relay for Life at the fair grounds that night. Thank goodness for that. I know I will be really worried all afternoon about whether or not I passed the exam. I'd like to think that Relay for Life will be able to take my mind of my worries, especially when the focus of Relay for Life is something that is so much more important!

And as always, there is nothing else new with me. My new diet and exercise routine is going well. I think I could be doing a little bit better with the diet plan, but that's because I just don't have the right foods in stock, and I can't get those things here in town, so most of the recipes I want to make will have to wait until after Friday. So far, I've just been grilling a lot of chicken and eating eggs (mostly egg whites) with whole grains and lots of fruits and veggies. I've done some sort of workout every day, but some days I do more than others. For example, yesterday I exercised for a total of 2 hours. Today I only worked out for 45 minutes. I'm in the process of getting the Insanity program from beachbody.com. Once that arrives, I will be getting my butt kicked on a daily basis for sure. It's supposed to be even harder than p90x, but you aren't supposed to need any workout equipment to do it. We'll see. I probably won't start that until after Friday either because of the big exam. My plan is to put in 10 hour days of studying tomorrow through Wednesday. Thursday I am going to do a quick review of some of the "extras" like PNF patterns and postural drainage techniques (both of which I will hardly ever use in my entire career but will probably make up 15% of the exam). Wish me luck. I'm going to need it I think.

There's no turning back now

Well I just scheduled the big test. I'm still shaking...just from scheduling it. That's how nervous I am. I shouldn't be so nervous, because if I fail, all I have to do is just pay another fee and re-take it. But it's so nerve-racking. I just want to pass it on the first try and be done. I've never been this nervous to take a test before in my entire life. It's pretty safe to say that I will be absolutely freaking out constantly until it's over. I'm sure I won't be adding any more posts on here until after I take it. I'm going to spend every single waking moment preparing myself for this exam. Even if I am not studying, I'll be thinking about studying. I'm scared...really scared.