I'm a terrible blogger!

I ONLY WROTE ONE BLOG POST IN APRIL!!!!

I suck!

(Sorry, just feeling bad and ranting and brooding, wallowing in my own sorrow)

OT is evidence-based and we musn't forget it!

So, the other day I was reading my OT blogger idol's blog (another thing I don't have as much time to do anymore--read my idol's blog! Btw, Karen, how the heck did you do it in school????? Keep up with school, social life, read other people's blog AND write in your own blog???!!!! This is why you're my idol, you're amazing :-)

Ok, so I totally killed that sentence by digressing! Haha! So, I'll start over....

So, the other day I was reading my OT blogger idol's blog, Karen Dobyns, and, long story short, she wrote a post about "trying" an acupunture intervention on a patient. A commenter, Anita, commented that as OTs we don't just 'try' interventions on patients. Interventions should be well thought out and evidence based as patients are not are guinea pigs.

Anita commented that Karen's actions are a little scary. She also said, in a round about way, that as an occupational therapist blogger our responsibility while blogging is to present that we have "clear evidence for your practice decisions, and at worst it sounds like you could be 'simply giving things a shot' to see if they might work."

At first, I was terribly offended, because I love Karen so much and it's because of her that I made the final decision to jump in and go to OT school and because her thinking and blogging is often random like mine (in a good way!). Then I realized I was being biased and I would probably take Karen's side for most things, even if she stole something or didn't help a little old lady cross the street. So I had to step back a minute and reflect on what Anita was really saying.

When I really thought about it I understood and in some ways agreed with what Anita was saying (but I still get where Karen was coming from because our thinking patterns are very similar). AOTA's Centennial Vision emphasizes the importance of occupational therapy being an 'evidence-based' profession and as a result it's even more important for us as practitioners (and students!) to have clear rationale and reasoning for the interventions we choose, whether that rationale is based on written research or personal experience.

It's something for me to keep in mind as I transition from beginner OT student, to experienced OT student to practitioner. I think her comment will help make me a better OT. Also, blogging is hard work! Thinking of topics to discuss is certainly NOT difficult because in OT there is ALWAYS something to talk about, but accurately presenting the information and making it interesting can be a challenge. And when you're like me (and Karen), sometimes you post random things or type 'out loud', because that's just how you think. It doesn't mean what you type is always a reflection of how you feel, maybe you were just sorting things out at the time. But as a blogger I have to be careful of that, because although I know what my intentions are, someone else may interpret them differently. And God forbid that happens. I would be doing the public as huge disservice. Plus, I would just feel bad.

Karen wrote a blog post as a reflection/response to Anita's comment that I thought was really...open and honest. It only made me respect Karen even more as a blogger, student mentor and new practitioner. She could have easily responded defensively and started an all out blog words war. But she chose to address that she received the comment, and then, in her usual Karen way, she added some humor. I love Karen!

Later, Karen updated her blog with this SUPER LONG response to Anita's comment. I have never seen Karen write so much! But it was very well thought out and I thought it addressed the situation appropriately. Anita commented on that thread as well (just click on comments at the bottom of that thread).

So, anyway, this just only confirms that Karen is every bit as awesome as I originally thought.

I'm so so busy!

I always feel so badly about not posting any new content. Like I've called in sick for work or something. I was so excited about this blog in the beginning of my OT journey and although I'm still so very excited I HAVE NO TIME!

So for all those applying for OT school just be aware that your priorities will change. You may spend less time with your boyfriend, best friend(s) and family than you would like. Your social life will change and for a few semesters you just have to accept that.

If you're really serious about learning the content and really understanding it and doing well in school then some things will have to take a backseat for awhile. Your life becomes study, study, study, sleep, sleep, sleep. It's all worth it in the end...at least that's the way I see it.

I have to really plan to make time for my friends and family, whereas before I would just call and say 'hey let's do X." Now I have to make sure that I don't have an exam or paper coming up because if I do then I can't just kick it the way I would like. Sometimes I go places and I have to just show my face, (eat, haha), and leave. I find myself nodding off around 11pm! Maybe it's just age...I don't know...

Not quite OT related but still worth noting

I am extremely tired and it's 1.5 hours past my bedtime but here are two interesting things that happened over the last 24 hours. They're not really related to OT, other than that they are both very creative, and fun, just like OT.

First, a jokey-joke from my dad. He really cracked himself up with this one, and subsequently, cracked me up, too.

A little boy was riding in a car with his Mom and says, "Hey, Mom, look at that pack of cows."
The mom says, "Herd."
The little boy says, "Herd of what?"
The mom says, "Herd of cows."
The little boys says, "Sure, I've heard of cows!"

I thought this joke was very funny, especially in my Dad's amazing ability to tell incredibly interesting stories. Somehow, this joke doesn't come across quite the same in the written word...Oh well, I hope you laughed. It's a good joke for a kid to tell at school.

****************
Ok, on my way home from school today I saw a new billboard that read, in this exact setup:

Your wife is HOT!!!!
It's time to get a/c for your car.

I chucked to myself when I saw this...kudos to the designer for getting my attention while driving...


***********
The next time I write I'm going to post an update on my finger, which has healed quite nicely, and a critique someone had of my OT blogger idol Karen Dobyns (gasp!). I know, I know, I'm in shock myself. Hopefully I can get over it soon.

People with Down Syndrome are stupid...or something

Earlier this week I saw ABC's "What Would You Do?" on television. Don't worry, I wasn't trading studying for TV. I was cooking for the week while watching television. See? Multi-tasking!

Anyway, apparently in this show the producers create outrageous situations (that could probably happen) and sit back and watch what people would do. So this particular episode, that is very OT relevant, involved a person with Down Syndrome working as a bagger in a grocery store. While waiting for their items to be bagged, actors, acting as patrons of the store, would get irate and say all sorts of mean and terrible things to the bagger. Things like
'what are you stupid or something?'
'my dog could do this faster than you'
'I can't believe they hire idiots like you to do this, you're so slow'
"Oh my God, can't you move faster? I can't believe you're moving this slowly!'
and so on. You get the picture.

The purpose of this 'experiment' was to see if, and how, other people in line would respond.

There are two things about this that struck me. First, overwhelmingly, in all but one case, women came to the rescue (men just sat back in shock). The women scolded the irate patron by saying things like:
'why don't you just leave'
'this is someone's son. how can you say that?'
'how would you feel if someone spoke to you like that?'
'don't talk to him like that'
and on and on.

I was so touched that people took up for the bagger and they were so convicted about it. Some women started shouting and others were really stern and called the manager to have the irate patron kicked out! I noticed that most of the women that spoke up worked with people with special needs or knew someone with special needs. Interesting.

Second, I was so moved by the responses of these women that I felt ashamed. I was ashamed because I would not have so openly taken up for the bagger. I would have only been appalled but I would not have expressed this. And this is so UNLIKE my personality.

This is embarrassing because this is what OTs do. We're advocates for people who cannot or will not advocate for themselves. How can I be so selfish? After seeing this show I will definitely speak up if I were to see something this horrific. How awful.

I admit this to you because part of the purpose of this blog is for me to reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses and someday look back on this and see how much I've evolved. I also admit this to you to encourage you to do the same and speak up for this type of stupidity.

When you see someone acting stupidly, get involved and speak up.

I feel like a slacker!

I'm reading my comments and email and I want to cry. People are so kind in commenting on my blog and I've been such a SLACKER in writing over the last 2 months. I'm so sorry everyone. I feel badly about this.

I'm going to make the effort to do better starting now. I have so much to say...I just can't type fast enough.

I'll have to say it later because it's 10:04 pm! 4 minutes past my bedtime! Yikes!

recent pics!

Some recent pics!

We had a 'booth' outside of our library for the month of April. We used it to share the good news about Occupational Therapy month!


Here's the creative team behind the design...

Me and some classmates at an OT party.

A bloody leg sticking out of a van in the school parking lot...no biggie....

SORRY!!! AGAIN!!!

Ok, I suck! I know! I'm SOOOO SORRY! I don't know how my blogger idol Karen did it! How was she able to contribute to her blog so faithfully????

This semester is my most challenging semester yet. I have a full load, I'm applying for scholarships for next year, and I am a graduate assistant (yeah!!!) which is an AWESOME opportunity on SO many levels. I have to work about 15 hours or more a week. As a result I stay at the school until the evening hours, which wouldn't be so bad except that I live one hour away. So I get home pretty late. Which also wouldn't be so bad except that I get up at 5am every morning to work out. I could stop getting up so early to work out but that's NOT gonna happen.

Working out is true occupation for me. It's meaningful and enjoyable and I LOVE IT. When I'm working out that's MY time. I feel relaxed, strong and healthy. I feel youthful and energetic. I feel like I can do anything. It's awesome.

But I digress. Anyway, by the time I get home I have 1.5 hours to wash my face, brush teeth, check my mail and email, fix my breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the next day (hey, when you work out you have to eat a lot!) and lay out my clothes. By the time I finish all of that I'm POOPED!

But I'm committed to writing in this blog on a regular basis. So, having said all that rambling if you've emailed me and I haven't responded please forgive me. I am sooo sorry. I will have to catch up with everything over the next few weekends. Also, starting in June, my schedule will slow down a bit.

So, SORRY!

I'M STILL ALIVE, dear reader!

I AM still alive.

I hope you're still reading my blog.

The semester is ALMOST over, which accounts for my superbusiness.

I'm sorry I haven't been diligent this month in writing.

I have SO much to say....

I plan to catch up over the next two weeks as the semester ends.

SORRY!!!!

Occupational Therapist Joke

Here's a cute joke I found about Occupational Therapists. I like it because it really illustrates the power of Occupational Therapy:

Q: How many Occupational Therapists does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: None. We’d teach the lightbulb to change itself.

Don't tell me this is not funny!!!! It's soooo OT-ish.

YOU RETARD!!!

I knew that phrase would get your attention. Those are BAD, BAD, BAD words. They are hurtful.

Calling someone retarded is intended to insult them. Thankfully, I don't use those words but I know plenty of people who do. So, shame on me for not correcting them!

Language choices influence how we think about others. The 'R-word,' as it is called, is hurtful and derogatory and it's time that people stop using it as an insult.

Originally, retarded had a REAL meaning which meant disabled or handicapped. But now people use it as an insult for clumsy, stupid or silly people. They often mean it jokingly but there's nothing funny about it as some people really ARE 'retarded'.

It's a painful word that stereotypes a group of people, whether they have an intellectual disability or not.

So, I'm encouraging you to use more accepting language from this point forward--like 'intellectual disability'. Or if someone is acting silly or stupid, just say they're acting silly or stupid. There's no need to label them with a term deemed offensive and derogatory.

There's a campaign to 'Spread the Word to End the Word.' You can find more info here and submit a pledge. I submitted my pledge to use more accepting language.

Please make the effort to change your language to be more inclusive and respectful.

I climbed 94 flights in 28 minutes

Sunday I climbed the annual Hussle up the Hancock sponsored by the Respiratory Health Association. I remember writing about this back in November, I think. Anyway, I climbed 94 flights!

I did not act very wisely in that I did not train for this event, I had a glass of white wine and an awesome Mexican dinner the night before and I went to bed VERY late. If you ever want to do stair climb challenges, don't follow my lead! Thankfully I got up okay and I finished successfully...

I enjoyed the climb, it was a lot of fun and there were LOTS of people (more than 4000 participants). Two people behind me 9 & 11 year old brothers climbing the 94 flights for the second time! One of my classmates climbed twice--once at 8.45am with her Mom for the half-climb (47 flights) and then again at 11am for the full climb! Amazing! There were also quite a few senior there climbing as well. This was encouraging as I plan to continue to participate in races in like this as I enjoy them.

Anyway, my time to the top was about 28 minutes, which is pretty good for someone who didn't train at all and stayed out late the night before. Also, the average time to climb 47 flights is about 12 minutes but once you get to floor 70, especially when you don't train, it's all mental from there and you slow down a bit.

Once I got to the top the view was AMAZING. You could see all of Chicago! No joke. Plus the feeling of accomplishment is exaggerated by the people calling your name and cheering and the balloons and the medal you get and the crowd. It's overwhelming!

I climb again at the end of this month for the American Lung Assoc--95 flights! This time I'm training, going to bed early and eating at a reasonable hour.

Sexual innuendos & my lacerated DIP

Earlier today in Research class:

Classmate: Wow! What happened to your finger????

Me: I lacerated the DIP tendon playing Dodgeball yesterday. Wanna see a picture of what it looked like before the splint?

Classmate: Sure!
(I show her the picture)

Me: See here, my DIP still droops even though I was trying to extend it.

Classmate: Wow...you were trying and you just couldn't get it up.

(a moment of silence as her words sink in...)

She and I in unison: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

What is a splint?

By the way, in case you don't know what a splint is, here's an explanation:

Here's a picture of a lacerated DIP tendon (tendon that causes the latter part of the finger to extend and stay extended).
Here's my finger.


When the extensor tendon (or sometimes even the bone) tears the flexor tendons (the ones on the bottom) are still flexing the finger but there is no force on top to counteract this so the finger droops.

My finger doesn't function well. I can hardly pick things up, type, or properly hold a glass. Plus, it hurts a little to try to extend it and I don't like looking at it. And, unfortunately, I can't extend it at all!

This is called a mallet finger injury.

So the doctor gave me a splint--or a small, rigid object secured with tape, to keep the finger hyperextended and straight so it can heal properly. Here's my splint!

No, I'm not giving YOU the finger. lol


I have to go to a hand surgeon to confirm it's not a serious tear that requires surgery.

Well, at least my nails look good!

The enjoyment of occupation

I lacerated the DIP tendon of my left middle finger.


I'm in a Dodgeball league (don't laugh) and we play every Sunday. Today one of the guys threw the ball, I caught it and got the point for my team (yippee!).

But, this is not the dodgeball of your youth. The men are big and strong and throw HARD. They threw the ball so hard it lacerated the DIP tendon of my left third digit (the doc & I both agreed on this, haha!). As a result, I couldn't extend it.

I went to the emergency room, took some X-rays, had a friendly chat with the doctor (excited that we could talk medical terms), and got a pretty cool splint along with an appointment with a hand surgeon.

As I turned to leave I said to the doctor, "Well, I hope I don't see you next week because I'm going back out there to play again next Sunday!"

This, my friends, is occupation at its finest. I hurt my finger in such a way that will cause me discomfort for the next 6 weeks and yet I'm still committed to playing a game that is fun, competitive, challenging, social, and has meaning to me.

This is why occupation is so important. It makes life fun and interesting. As an occupational therapist, this is what I want to give back to my clients--the enjoyment of occupation.

How shoveling snow is occupational therapy

As an example of occupational therapy and how it truly is applicable to all walks of life, I have a personal example. Last Tuesday and Wednesday here in Chicago (there's no point in keeping my city a secret anymore) we had quite a bit of snow. So much snow, in fact, that my school called an official 'snow day.' Now normally, I HATE the snow and the cold, and as soon as I graduate from this program I'm high-tailing it right out of Chicago to a warmer climate, but this particular day, for whatever reason, I was okay with it.

So, anyway, I had been in the house most of the day studying and lightly cleaning. I knew that I should go to the gym but I just didn't feel like it and I had promised myself that I would do better about pushing myself to do things that are not quite obligations or when I'm really, really tired. This was one of those times.

So, I decided that I wasn't going to go the gym. The next best thing would have been to do my Pilates DVD but then I came up with a great idea: I could SHOVEL THE SNOW.

My condo building did not hire someone to shovel snow this winter and there was freshly fallen snow blocking us from safely leaving the building and walking to our cars so I thought, 'What the heck? Why not?' I could get a decent workout, enjoy some (minor) sun and lots of fresh air AND clean the walkways all at the same time. Plus, I hadn't shoveled or played in snow in ages. I am 30 years old, after all. :-)

So, I suited up and got my shovel from my car (when you live in a temperamental climate like this you keep a shovel in your car just in case the snow trucks bury you) and got to work. On top of being practical, it was so much fun! (which was surprising)

Ok, so how does this relate to occupational therapy? You should know by now, if you've been a faithful student/reader of my blog, that occupational therapy is about participating in occupation, otherwise known as activities and actions, that are meaningful to the client. In this case, movements that mimic a workout and getting out to enjoy the fresh air are very important to me. Because I was tired and because there was soooooo much snow I didn't feel like going to the gym. So, I found another activity in which I could participate that was meaningful and enjoyable (and in this case, also purposeful) to me.

I always try to include these small tidbits and stories so that the meaning, purpose and importance of occupational therapy is clear to you. It really bothers me that people don't know what occupational therapy is and I really want to work on adding to the online knowledge pool.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Message to Brad on posting the beach wheelchair

Ok, this post is specifically for Brad who sent me an email (thanks Brad!) via this blog about the beach wheelchair and asked if he could highlight it in one of his posts. The answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY!!! Any additional online content helps ALL OTs so I'm all for it.

I don't know how to reply to Brad directly, or if that's even possible..I'm still new to Google's blog. So, sorry Brad that I didn't respond directly, but now you have an entire post dedicated to you!

(Also, a message to Keith! Thanks for saying my blog is great. 10 brownie points to you!)

LOL

More Costa Rica pics!

me and some students going on a coffee tour, which was VERY interesting, by the way. Did you know the coffee bean is actually a fruit?? I tasted it...it's very good!

my third teacher and I

my second teacher, another student and I

the view from the school during class! Beautiful!

New Year's Eve...hanging out...

the common area in the school

my bedroom, it's messy I know!

my second teacher, another student and I

the common area in the school

As you can see, I'm posting pics a few at a time due to time constraints. It seems that my program has bumped it up a notch this semester and there is more to do than last semester. Or maybe I'm doing more to prepare for my classes so it seems like they bumped it up a notch. Either way, I'm often pressed for time! So enjoy these pics!

Occupational therapy on the beach in the Bahamas!

I went on a cruise 2 weeks ago with my classmates and while at the beach we saw this beach wheelchair:

I've never seen such a chair and neither have my clasmates. However, we saw the cruise line staff transporting guests with disabilities from the beach to the boat in these chairs. I thought it was interesting to take a picture of these chairs for two reasons:

1. I've never seen such a chair and I just had to put a picture of it on my blog.

2. How innovative!!! Transporting someone around the beach in a manual or power wheelchair would use a lot of energy. I touched the wheels and they are made of rubber, just like a balloon but thicker and more durable. I pushed the chair and it rolls over the beach sand quite easily, almost as if it were rolling on air. So a chair such as this would decrease the friction from the sand, thus making transport easier.

See! You can find OT everywhere! Even at the beach in the Bahamas!

How to vote for a County official

I voted today. However, this was my first time voting in an election during a non-presidential election year. I'm trying to do better about performing my civic duty. Anyway, because this is my first time I called a friend of mine and asked if there was anything 'extra' I had to do, like find my voter registration card and bring it with me to the polls. My friend works for the incumbent of our County, is naturally interested in keeping his job, and is facebook-ing everyone urging them to vote for the incumbent, however, no one really likes the incumbent.

Friend: Are you going to vote tomorrow?

Me: Yes, I'm definitely voting tomorrow.

Friend: Did you get my FB note about Incumbent X?

Me: Yes, I received it.

Friend: Are you going to vote for him?

Me: I'm not really sure yet. I'm not really pleased with what he has done so far and sometimes it seems like he doesn't know what he's doing. But then again, I've heard some not so good things about Challenger Y, but I'm reluctant to believe the source.

Friend: Well, you should vote for Incumbent X. He's the only one that can balance our County budget.

Me: Ok, I'll think about it. By the way, this is my first time voting in an election like this. Is this different from a presidential election year? Do I need my voter registration card or can I just show up?

Friend: If you're voting for Incumbent X you can just show up, otherwise, you need your voter registration card.