Why physical therapy?

Why do I want to be a physical therapist?
(I wrote this post awhile ago, but I'm removing it from my pages and posting it here. Every once in awhile I like to look back on my journey to become a PT and remember the reasons I chose this career path)

I could give lots of good reasons such as “I want to help people” and “I want to make a difference in people’s lives”. Both of these things are true, but there are lots of jobs where I could be helping people. I could be cynical and say I want a job where it will be relatively easy to find work and I want a job that pays well. It’s true that in this economy, where jobs are scarce, it’s a huge advantage to have a professional degree in such a selective field. I do want to have job security and a decent paycheck (especially after all these years of school!). All of these things have contributed to my decision to pursue a degree in physical therapy. But there’s more to the story.

To fully understand why I want to be a PT, I have to start at the beginning. Let’s go back to my senior year of high school. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do or what I wanted my major to be. I considered getting an education degree and becoming a teacher. I also considered English or Psychology. I find psychology fascinating and I liked every psych course I took in college. However, it was my mom’s advice that prevented me from getting a degree in any of these fields. She advised me to consider what job I would want to have and work backwards from there to decide what to major in; NOT to choose a subject I liked, only to get a degree in it and then not know what to do with it. It was good advice.

Although I like English/literature/books, I wouldn’t know what to do with an English degree. I didn’t want to be a journalist or an editor or an author (actually I hated writing papers period). Although I find psychology interesting, I would never want to be a psychologist or social worker or psychotherapist. (I only like to give people advice if they listen to it, otherwise I want to scream “Get over yourself and get a life!”) I still liked the idea of teaching, but my mom said that I could get any degree and still become a teacher later. So why not major in something else instead of education? Well, with those guidelines, I started to think about job options. I’ve always liked the medical field, but I knew I didn’t want to be a medical doctor. I don’t think I could handle the stress of making life and death decisions every day. (I already feel guilty over every little mistake I make- which is usually something like I forgot to turn off the stove- another reason I shouldn’t be an MD: I’m very absentminded sometimes!).

Anyway, to make a long story short, I finally decided to major in biology with the intention of going into forensics. I actually wanted to be a forensic pathologist and examine dead bodies. I figured it would be an interesting job with limited stress (I mean, the person’s already dead, what harm could I do?) It wasn’t until I got to my senior year of college that I started to reconsider. By then, I was in upper-level biochemistry classes, and I discovered that I HATED all the tedious lab work. All those tiny test tubes and formulas and gels were driving me crazy. Forensics involves running a lot of lab tests and I realized that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life. I decided I wanted a job where I’d get to interact with people more instead of spending my time running tests on machines. This is when I started to consider physical therapy. My sister was actually about to start school to be a physical therapy assistant and being a PT sounded like such a fun and interesting job. I liked the idea of helping people get BETTER. Not diagnosing them, not performing surgeries, not being there during the crisis, but AFTER the crisis, being there to help the patient recover.

I ended up changing my concentration to pre-med (still a biology major) and taking A&P and some other pre-requisite classes. I applied to PT schools that summer and figured out what I’d need to do to make it into the program. I had to spend an extra year in undergrad, but I had a new energy for my classes. I had been getting burnt out with school before, but having a definite goal in mind revitalized me! I NEVER wanted to be in school for this long, but here I am. I NEVER thought I had what it took to be a doctor and now I’m going to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy.

It may seem crazy, but I think physical therapy is the perfect job for me. I love the medical field. I love learning how the human body moves and works and how it can adapt. I like working with people and moving around all day rather than sitting in an office. One of the best things I like about physical therapy is the variety. No patient is the same and no injury is the same. As a PT, you can develop your own rehab plan and modify it for each patient. There’s no reason to ever be bored! And then there are so many options available to a PT! I could work in outpatient therapy, acute care, rehab, orthopedics, or an athletic facility. Finally, I like physical therapy because it’s a job where you can see results. You can witness people improving- walking again after surgery or developing a better range of motion, for instance. I like it that there can be such clear-cut results. I know that not all patients will heal ideally, and I bet that will get frustrating, but I hope that I will still feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, knowing that I’m helping these people on their road to recovery.

To sum it all up, the main reason I want to be a physical therapist is because it’s a job I think I’ll enjoy. I have to remember that through all the long labs, early classes, and difficult tests. I have to remind myself that it will all be worth it in the end!

Unexpected snow

It snowed yesterday. In March. In Virginia.

I didn't mind. It was a beautiful, peaceful kind of snow. It came down in soft little flurries and painted the world white in a matter of hours. It coated the trees and the roads with a generous amount of fine white powder. This is how winter should look! (Too bad it's now spring). I love the snow and I enjoyed having it visit for one more day.

But now I'm ready for warm spring weather!

Cooper

My sister got a new puppy yesterday! His name is Cooper and he's the cutest thing ever.

So far he's fallen asleep on a car ride,

 tried vanilla ice cream,

 chewed on his beaver toy,

and played in the snow!

I wish I could keep him!

Waiting

I've been pretty productive the past few weeks. I've applied for jobs, moved into my new apartment, started a new clinical, registered for the PT boards, and applied to graduate. I'm ready to graduate, get a job, find a more permanent apartment, and move on to the next step in life!

But I can't yet. I have to wait.

I have to wait to hear back from managers. I have to schedule interviews. I have to wait to see if I get any job offers. I have to wait until I get a job before I can choose an apartment. It's frustrating having to wait and being so unsure of the future! I don't know where I'll be working or where I'll be living 3 months from now. That seems like an incredibly short period of time, yet so much needs to happen between now and then!

I'm trying to learn to trust and be patient while I wait. I'm doing all I can- filling out applications, sending off my resume, and scheduling interviews. Now I just have to see what happens. It's hard not to know what the future holds, but I know I'm in God's hands, and that has to be enough.

Wound care clinical

I'm doing my last clinical rotation at a wound care center. I was nervous at first because I don't have any experience with wounds, but I'm learning a lot each day and my clinical instructor is fantastic! I've learned how to pulse lavage, debride, and apply compression wraps and dressings. Today my instructor went over different types of dressings with me and I got to see her debride a wound with low-frequency ultrasound. My favorite part of wound care is removing all the yellow slough and necrotic tissue to reveal beefy red granulation tissue underneath - I know it sounds gross, but it's SO COOL.

Plus I get to wear booties and a mask at work. I feel like a professional.

Butterflies

I ended up being able to go to DC for a day to see some old friends from Liberty. I went to the Butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum with my friend Dan. We saw some beautiful butterflies!

We discovered that Dan is the Butterfly Whisperer (either that, or he happened to wear the right color shirt). Either way, several butterflies landed on him and not a single one landed on me.

It was fun to catch up and reminisce about the fun we had at LU. It made me miss college a lot.

In like a lion

March, so far, has lived up to its reputation of coming "in like a lion" in more ways than one.

A snowstorm blew in last night and dumped buckets of slush and ice, messing up my plans to go to DC for a few days. But the weather took a backseat to everything else going on this month!

I finished up my clinical rotation in Roanoke, drove to Richmond, and moved into an apartment I had never seen before. When I got to the leasing office and encountered some problems with paperwork, I wondered if I would get to see it at all! Thankfully, it all worked out, although it took several hours and a trip to Kroger to get a money order.

My mom and I moved my "bare essentials" into my new place. Bare essentials still included a mattress and box spring, table and chairs, boxes of textbooks, and assorted boxes of kitchen supplies and clothes. My dad and brother missed yet another move-in while my mom and I were busy lugging all these heavy objects up the stairs. They were gone for the weekend at a weight lifting expo. Ironic.

On a whim, my mom and I decided to go to IKEA to look for a cheap futon/ sofa bed. Luckily, we found one for a great price. Unfortunately, that meant we had to carry it up the stairs. Then we had to put it together. It looks great, though, and I love it!

The MOST stressful thing this week was a series of job interviews and tours. On Monday I had an interview that lasted for 2 hours. On Tuesday, I had tours at two different rehab facilities. I was exhausted by Tuesday night, overwhelmed by all the information and decisions I'll have to make. I don't really have a clear idea yet of where exactly I want to work. I'm leaning pretty strongly towards rehab (as opposed to outpatient or acute) but there are still endless possibilities within that setting.

March has certainly brought its share of stress and uncertainty to my life. I hope it lives up to the rest of the saying and goes "out like a lamb".