first placement- WOW

two weeks down and i cant put into words how much i experienced, learned and best of all, got confirmed in what i wanna do in my life and what difference i ALREADY have made to my patient's lives, WICKED!

so what do i do.well i am working in the acute ward of an hospital. people get admitted to emergency and once they are "stable" they come to the MAP unit and the doctors write a list with patients they want to be reviewed by us physios or psych, OT (occupational therapists), speech therapists, neurologists, dieticians etc. so in the mornings we go down there and usually do one assessment of a patient. i had one who was found on the floor at home, not responding, waking up in the ambulance insisting that nothing was wrong with him (but he couldnt move at home and was`gone`??) so i wanted to test him on a CVA (cerebral vascular accident ie any type of stroke) but by the time i got to the unit he was already walking around again and the MRI and the doctors confirmed that there was no evidence for any neural involvment and it must have been a seizure and he was discharged. so no work for me. or another patient had a stroke, only 57 years old, couldnt put her make up on one morning, started slurring her speech, had severe balance problems, hand didnt want to do what she wanted so i checked her function and she came to the ward i "work" in (Adult Hospital 9B haha) for some ACUTE REHAB as an INPATIENT so we saw her for 4 days to get her back to function ie safe walking and mobilizing, arm and hand function, writing, typing, and cosmetically exercises to "hide" the stroke face with the dropped mouth due to the paralyzing effects of a stroke (brain doesnt get blood in particular area, no oxygen, brain cant work, no input to that area in body -> dysfunction).

the treatment was so much fun because she was high level patient so we had to be super creative, so made obstacle courses, played games to get her fine coordination back into her hand and fingers, balance exerices so she can cope with fast movements, perturbations, turning etc....fun! after 4 days she could go back home and soon after that back to work. cool!

ok i have to work tonight so will tell you more about it all later, i have hours of material to tell stories :)
im doing well tho, its challenging, extremely satisfying AND sad as well unfortunately, exhausting and i have to lie down for at least 10 mins every day after i get back home before i go to work or training but i LOVE IT!