Wedding Week

I'm out of Richmond, but not quite home for the summer yet. This week I'll be in Lynchburg all week celebrating the upcoming marriage of my friends De and Doug. There is obviously a LOT that goes into planning a wedding, and when you're trying to plan it yourself to save money, you get your friends and family to help out! So this week I've been helping De with a bunch of little details for the wedding. We've gone shopping for picture frames, stuff to make bouquets, candles, and lingerie (ok, that last one's for their honeymoon). We've also printed out the wedding programs (which are so cute and ended up being really cheap!) and put together the gift bags for the bridesmaids. It's been a whirlwind of activities for sure. It makes me excited to think of planning for my wedding. Someday.

Tonight is the Bachelorette party! We're going to have a girls' night in, play games, have drinks, etc. I'm really excited for all the bridesmaids to get here so we can have some fun. I bought fun beads for all the bridesmaids and for De I bought a Bride-to-be sash along with a special martini glass. I even got a game called "Kiss the Hunk"-lol! We can also play Dirty Minds, some drinking games, and read some Girl Talk cards. I hope it's really fun! Pictures and details to come...

Flexible Friends

How time flies when you're having fun! This weekend was absolutely awesome, even though it didn't go as planned. This Saturday, Julia was supposed to come to Richmond and we were going to have a girls' day together. We invited De and Melissa (all the girls from the original sisterhood) to come too, but they weren't able to make it. Then, the day before, Julia called and said she couldn't make it. She had a good reason, but it was still a little disappointing. BUT, the good news is I have many fun and flexible friends who were able to change plans and make this a great weekend!



Mint choc chip- gluten free and delish!



My friend Bettina and I have been wanting to have a sleepover for a long time, but with busy schedules, it never happened during the semester. So we made it happen Friday night! Bettina really wanted to hang out before I left, so she drove all the way to Richmond Friday evening, even though she'd already driven there and back to TA for anatomy. [The first years have started class. Can't believe that was me a year ago. I'm a second year now!!!] We had a lot of fun sharing stories from our clinical experiences. I made dinner for us, then we went to Sweet Frog that night. We were going to rent a movie, but there wasn't anything good at Redbox, so we just ended up talking all evening, till late at night. I looked at the clock at one point and couldn't believe how late it was! In the morning, I introduced Bettina to Carytown Cupcakes before she had to go.

I had talked to Tristan about meeting up in Tappahannock later on Saturday since my plans got canceled, but she called me that morning and wanted to spend the weekend in Richmond instead. And that is why I love having flexible friends- instead of a couple hours in Tappahannock one day, we spent the entire weekend together and had a blast! Tristan brought her sisters, Bailey and Riley, with her too. We went shopping at Short Pump on Saturday evening and had some girl time. At one point, I was watching Riley while Tristan and Bailey shopped and she wanted to go on a little train ride that went around the mall. We bought the tickets and had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to go on this silly little ride, but Riley loved it, and it was so cute!

The next day after church, we spent some time at the pool. The pool is kind of a different experience when you go with a seven year old. Riley mumbles and hums and sings the whole time, and occasionally asks us to look over and watch her do something cool. And when we're in the water with her, Riley is always holding on to one of us, climbing on us, and jumping off us. It's just so fun to be around little kids sometimes. I love how affectionate seven year olds can be. When Riley snuggles with me on the couch or gives me a big hug, it is just so adorable and I can't help but smile! Tristan, Bailey, and I also got some lounge time by the pool in our efforts to get tan. :) After the pool, we went to see Mr. Popper's Penguins with Riley. I remember reading that book as a child, but not much else about it. It was a really cute movie.

Tristan, Bai, and Ri just left and I'm so sad to see them go! This was one of the best weekends I've had in awhile! I'm so glad I got to see some of my favorite people before I leave to go home.

Riley and me

Last day of clinical

I finished my clinical today! Yesterday Melanie and Jessica (my two clinical instructors) and I went over my performance and had to fill out evaluations on 18 different criteria set up by the APTA. In the comments section at the end, Melanie said that I would "excel as a physical therapist". Now that was some good news to hear! At times I didn't feel like I was doing a very good job, so that was so encouraging. One of my patients today kissed my hand and thanked me for my patience with him and my encouragement to help him reach his potential. It's the moments like these that I remember. When patients get better, that's great, but when they are thankful for all the hard work you've put in to help them get better, that's wonderful. It's nice to be appreciated by the patients we try so hard to help.

Today was also pretty great because it started off with a huge breakfast we had for a new PT, Rachel, who recently passed her boards and got hired. In the rehab department, there is always a reason to celebrate something, and it usually involves food! Between birthdays, holidays, baby showers, old PTs leaving, and new PTs getting hired, there's a big lunch or breakfast at least every other week. I can't wait to be a PT just because of the food! As we were finishing breakfast, Melanie called and invited us to come see her baby. She went into labor last night and her son was born around 5am this morning. We went to see her and brought her food (of course) and it was amazing to see that sweet, purple little baby!

I'm so glad to finally be done. At last I get to take a break and enjoy summer. I really enjoyed the inpatient rehab setting, but it's definitely hard, challenging work, especially since I have very limited knowledge and experience so far. I'm glad I got to meet the patients and PTs that I did, and I've certainly learned a lot. But today, after a long stressful week, I'm just completely exhausted and so happy to be done for awhile.

What I love about my dad

In honor of Father's Day (which was yesterday of course, but it's never to late to celebrate your father), I'm going to post some things I love and appreciate about my dad.

I love that my dad works hard and loves his job. I've never once heard him complain about working long hours. He's a doctor and often has to work 12 or 24 hour shifts, then he comes home, sleeps the whole day, and goes back and does it again. He never complained when we lived an hour away from the hospital and he had to commute every day. It must have been exhausting to make the drive after working such long hours. He likes what he does and he's good at it. I remember the first day I realized that my dad is a really good doctor.

My mom and I were watching "Mystery Diagnosis", that show where people have some weird medical condition and no one can figure out what's wrong. My dad walked through the door halfway through the show, so my mom and I caught him up on what was going on. We explained the patient's symptoms and the results of the doctor's tests. At this point in the show the patient had seen 3 different doctors plus a specialist and no one could figure out what was going on. My dad told us what he thought it was- some kind of rare genetic disease found in only 0.1% of the population (I can't even remember what it was called). At the end of the show, we discovered he was right!

I love that my dad made our education a priority. He saved up money so he could pay for all three of us kids to go to college. I'm so grateful that I didn't have to take out any loans to pay for school. Which leads me to something else I'm thankful for- my dad is wise with money and knows how to save. I've seen other dads waste their money on big TVs, sports cars, electronic gadgets, even gaming systems. My dad has never wanted stuff like that. He puts a lot of his money in savings, so when the time comes to buy a new car, or get repairs done on the house, or pay for our education, he has enough. I think the only time he's taken out loans was to buy a house! I'm glad I've learned from my dad how to spend money wisely- on things that are important.

I love that my dad is strong. Leslie and I would each swing from his arms when we were little and sometimes he carried one of us on each shoulder. Sometimes I would fall asleep in the car on the way home from somewhere, and he'd carry me upstairs to my bed. Sometimes I'd pretend to fall asleep because I wanted my dad to carry me up. I always thought my dad was strong enough to lift anything and tough enough to do anything. I was also convinced he couldn't feel pain. And in fact, my dad never complains of pain. He's broken his hand and injured his shoulder before, but you would only know by the swelling or purple bruising, because he never said it hurt.

Finally, I love that my dad is fun. He would play soccer and football with us in the yard when we were younger. He was so competitive and often got carried away- but that taught us how to be tough! I remember my mom yelling from the house "Go easy on the kids!" We used to love to wrestle with my dad too, but he was strong and could always get us pinned, even when all three of us ganged up on him at once. The game would usually end when one of us started crying, but the next day we wanted to do it again! One of our favorite things to do was going swimming with my dad. While my mom would go in the pool for a five minute dip, my dad would stay in the pool with us for hours, playing all sorts of ridiculous games that we made up. We loved swimming in the pool at night and playing "the sound game". My dad would sometimes come home at 8 or 9pm after a long day of work, and he'd still swim with us for a couple hours in the dark, until the neighbors complained. My dad is in his fifties now, but he still skis with us, rides roller coasters, water skis, rock climbs at the gym, and is still a lot of fun, a little too competitive, and a kid at heart.

All alone, but not

Audrey left last week because that's when her clinical was over. I thought I would get bored and lonely living here all by myself, but honestly I've had so much to do in the last week that I haven't minded being here by myself. One of the things I'm really thankful for is getting to know friends from my church here in Richmond. I love having friends outside of my PT class. Sometimes it's nice to be able to talk about things other than PT and have friends with different jobs and different interests. Last week one of the girls had a big project for her class that she had to finish in one day (she's a high school teacher). I went over to her house to help her with it and we had a great time. She was grateful for the help, and I was glad I got to work on a project that had nothing to do with PT. Don't get me wrong, I love learning about PT stuff (most of it) and I love the program I'm in. It's just overwhelming and I need a break from it every now and then.

I've also been going to a Bible study on Wednesday evenings. We're doing a Beth Moore study on the life of Paul. It's been great having discussions on what we're learning and getting to know the other girls in the study. Last night we got together for pizza and a movie and these girls are absolutely hilarious! I'm so glad I've gotten to know them.

I've been so blessed by the friends I have in Richmond. I have fun with them and I'm encouraged by them. And best of all, my church friends and Bible study friends have a passion for God that makes me want to draw closer to God and get to know Him better. What a huge blessing!

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

News from my clinical

I only have one more week of my clinical left! I haven't posted about my experience much, for two reasons. One- I am extremely tired when I get home each day. Two- I'm scared that I'll violate HIPAA. I'll describe some general cases today because neuro is really fascinating. I'm having a great experience and I like inpatient rehab much more than I thought I would! I've been bouncing back and forth between two units: the neuro/spinal cord unit and the brain injury unit, so I've gotten to see a lot of different patients. I've started guiding some sessions, planning some treatments, and writing patient notes. I love that I'm getting to do stuff instead of just standing around observing.

On right: this is what a pt with neglect would draw.

I've been working with a really interesting patient lately (disclaimer: some details have been changed). This patient had a right parieto-occipital intracranial hemorrhage, which means that he has left neglect. Left neglect is something I learned about last semester in neuroanatomy, but I didn't really understand it. It works like this: because the right side of the brain is used for spatial reasoning and attention, a lesion on the right (especially in the parietal lobe) will produce neglect of the left side.

The patient will lean toward the left and think they're standing up straight. They will "push" to the left- meaning they put pressure on the right hand and right foot to help them lean more to the left. The patient will not notice people or objects on the left and will run into things. They also won't notice where their left hand or foot is and what it's doing. You literally have to tell a patient like this "Look to your left. What's over there? Where's your left hand?" They are capable of noticing things on the left, they just don't without verbal cues.

For instance, I arranged a semicircle of eight cones in front of this patient and told him to pick them up and stack them on the right. He picked up exactly four cones, then stopped. I asked him if he got them all. He said yes, but then started looking over to the left and noticed another one. "Oh yes, there's one more over here," he said. Then he noticed one more, and another one, until he finally looked far enough over that he saw all the cones. We have to get a mirror during treatment sessions so that he'll see himself leaning to the left and be able to correct. I've come up with some ideas and activities that I want to try with him tomorrow. I'm really enjoying working with him, and I hope I get to see some progress before I leave in just one week.

Banana desserts

Last week I felt like baking something, and I had a bunch of bananas in my fridge, so I decided to make some banana desserts! I love bananas and these desserts were so tasty. First I made banana chocolate chip cake. The recipe didn't say to frost the cake, but I had some extra icing left over in my fridge, so I decided to anyway. The frosting made the cake extra sweet and that much better! The chocolate and banana in the cake was the perfect combination and I loved the moist banana-bread-like texture of the cake.

I also made one-ingredient ice cream. Guess what the only ingredient is? That's right- bananas! I read about this on a blog and I thought that one-ingredient ice cream was impossible. But I was intrigued and wanted to try it. You simply freeze a ripe banana, then cut it up and put it in a blender, and it makes perfect banana ice cream. Simple- no ice cream makers or rock salt required!

Waking Up in Vegas

This weekend I had some free time. Actually, I was kind of bored! (This rarely happens to me. I usually find something to occupy my time even when I have no plans.) Anyway, I decided to work on a project that I've put off for the entire school year because I knew it would take up a lot of time. I finally put together a music video that Tristan, Emily, and I recorded last Fall. It is by no means perfect, as I don't have advanced video editing equipment or any technical skills to speak of, but it still took me a while to splice and edit all the clips and to try to get it to match up as closely with the song as possible. Below is our video, to Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas".

We always seem to come up with the craziest stuff when we get together! What better way to spend a Friday night than acting out a song and jumping in a freezing cold pool with our clothes on? It really was a lot of fun. It's not the first time Tristan and I have decided to make a music video, either. Our debut was a music video we did with Leslie to Kesha's song "Tik Tok". That one was quite hilarious as well!