Found the energy for an update...

Today was a big day. A weird, but big day.  I couldn’t get out of bed this morning and got a late start. I then left for the hospital 15 minutes later than normal, and got to the hospital with only 2 minutes to spare- literally. Then I realized I forgot my ID and wallet. I couldn’t think straight today. But I survived.

Another patient with a very rare disorder was admitted today. I did her eval; my first solo eval. It went well, I only forgot a few things, and I was much less nervous than I was the last time my CI required me to do only MMT.

I also was given my first confidence boost by a patient. She is a 71 y.o. in rehab after a cerebellar CVA. She has a tremor in her right (dominant) hand, a below the knee amputation and prosthesis on her right leg, and her stroke affected her left side. Oh, and when she was in the hospital, she forgot to take out her dentures when she went to bed, and they fell on the floor and broke. The poor thing is falling apart, but she is as sweet as can be. I wrote my first note on her. I did my first solo treatment session on her, and I got my first confidence boost from her. But before I get there, I have to give you some background information. She relies on her son to do most things, basically because she can, not because she needs to. So she doesn’t like cooking because “my son will do that for me when I get home, why do I have to do it here?” She doesn’t like games, and she HATES theraputty.

Well, last Friday she got up in her room alone, and fell. She banged up her arm, tailbone, and head pretty bad, but she is ok. So this week I decided to work on walker mobility and safety in the kitchen; reviewing the precautions with her. I thought we’d throw some balance in there too, so I had her unload the dishwasher. Because of her tremor when she went to put the coffee mugs away they were really rattling.  My CI suggested that she use her left hand to put them away instead, but she couldn’t get her left arm above her head. Ok, she’s admitted for a stroke that affected her left side… so up until this point why has no one addressed her left shoulder ROM!? The next day I decided to do passive ROM on her shoulder while she was lying down. (My CI told me to use pulleys! {My goal is to get through both fieldworks without using cones or pulleys.}) J So, on to my confidence boost. Today I didn’t have her as a patient, but I saw her in the gym and asked how she was doing. She said, “I’m ok. But you know, those stretches you did on my arm, I could really feel it. It feels good, and so much better today.” I did that. I saw a problem. Addressed it. And helped her. I did it. It’s not monumental. It’s nothing that any other therapist couldn’t have done. But the thing is- no one else did it. I identified it as a problem and treated it.

Last week a man was admitted after a TIA. He has a previous diagnosis of dementia as well. When he was in therapy he said that he was hungry. My CI asked him if he had eaten lunch, and he said “not to my knowledge!” So my CI decided to call his nurse to see if he could have a snack. She told the nurse what he said, and started laughing hysterically on the phone. When she hung up she told me that the nurse had said that he ate about  ¼ of his lunch, and said he was finished. Nursing came in, moved his tray, readjusted him in his bed, and put the tray of food back in front of him before leaving. The man said “Oh, lunch came!” (not remembering that he had already eaten some of it!) So, not only had he eaten lunch once, but he ate lunch twice, and didn’t remember either time. Needless to say, we gave him some pudding, and he was happy.

Ok. I need to go to bed. This 40 hours of work a week stuff is killing me.