Holidays

Hi everyone

nur mal ein kleiner Vermerk, dass ich jetzt Ferien habe, sprich ich bin daheim um zu telefonieren, zu den meisten Tages- und Nachtzeiten.

Mein Laptop ist immer noch futsch, verscuh ich mal zu reparieren, aber das ist der Grund warum ich bissl von der Aussenwelt abgeschnitten bin.

Ich hoff es geht euch allen gut!

Ich hab jetzt also einen kompletten Block Ferien, 5 Wochen und dann noch mein letztes Prac in Ipswich fuer 5 Wochen- cardiothoracic physio- also viel post OP und Intensivstation Zeugs...und dann bin ich so gut wie fertischhhhh, eine Woche Uni mit einem Test, ein komplexer Fall, aber das wird einfach sein nach unserer Prac Erfahrung.

So und jetzt lege ich mich in meine Beanbag draussen auf Terasse in die Sonne im Bikini und les ein Buch, OHJA!

LAST time i had to pay uni !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I so should get absolutely smashed, I paid my last lot of fees...I hate to press that submitt button with that huge amount being displayed on top. Breathe in, breathe out.....CLICK....and it gooooooeeeessssssssss.

Eva and me are usually not in a very good mood on pay day. People that live at home and dont work and complain or winge on that day to us, wont have it easy, cos we most likely start a discussion.....and do NOT mention Macintosh computers around us....ARGG. Still cant believe uni had to pay, I dont even wanna know how much, to replace ALL computers on the ENTIRE campus with oh-so-nice macintosh` just to be the best uni with the best research and the best teachers and the best technology, nothing was wrong with ordinary (???) flatscreens especially considering we still use windows, anyhow, I have to let it go =)

Even people in Australia dont know how much we have to pay as internationals, and they ususally are like "WTF how on earth do u do that" " I dont even know myself...." Its all about budgeting, but a big part played my family who always supported me!!

Anyway, I wanted to say a

HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE THANK YOU

to everyone who has helped me through those tough times around pay day because I was just saving money like a maniac and usually went a bit crazy worrying that i wont be able to finish the course!

DANKE DANKE DANKE

Kim, meine rettende Hand letzte Woche, fast haette ich es alleine geschafft. War aber schier unmoeglich. Nochmal Danke, ok?!

Und noch ein anderes

RIIIESENGROSSES DANKE

an euch, Oberstens! Irene + Dieter, ohne euer Vertrauen haette ich damals nicht weiter machen koennen und ich rechne euch das extrem hoch an was ihr fuer mich getan habt. AMAZING! Ihr habt beigetragen, dass ich meinen Traum weiterleben konnte, was in der damals schwierigen Zeit das bester fuer mich war, und auch abgesehen von der ganzen Sache, wirklich genau das ist, was ich machen will!!! Falls irgendwie meoglich, moechte ich mich revangieren, bis dahin, seid ihr jetzt meine Nummer Eins Investition, von jetzt an spare ich fuer euch, nicht mehr fuer UQ. Die haben mich ja bereits ausgesaugt. Also vielen lieben Dank nochmal!!

Cant believe it that I actually managed to pay the fees for this last year cos in my calculations, I was a fair bit short but it is done and i am STOKED! So proud of myself AND so proud of everyone who helped me, love my FAM! U ROCK! All this for little princess Anna, I appreciate it big times and I will proof to all of you that it was the right decision to support me in that crazy, Anna-will-study-in-Australia-project! U will never have any pain anywhere ever anymore, I`ll come and fix ya, haha ;)

Computer futsch

Hey everyone!
Just a quick note to let everyone know that my computer finally left me :( He fought for a while but didnt get out as the winner in the end. My apologies if I have been really slack with contacting you guys but first of all I dont have my own laptop and secondly, I am busy AS! In my fourth week of musculoskeletal prac at uni and it is just full on, I dont wanna winge because it is good in regards to that we learn sooooooo much but on the same token: we have to put in a LOT of work too. We get there at 7 every day and leave between 5 and 6, then I sometimes have to work straight after, or if I can I go to the gym to switch off and then at night there is usually more work and study to do for the next day and the huge amounts of paperwork and projects and presentations....so in a nutshell, placement is still good but I just dont have anytime beyond so dont be upset please, I miss talking to everyone as well but I had like 5 occasions now where I get ready for bed "early" with the intention to call someone but as soon as I'm horizontal, gravity acts on my eyelids and I cant be bothered. Two more weeks and I am all yours again because I will be on holidays, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Mein 24ter, erster Teil

Vodka mit Brause. Jenny, Koechin im Hotel wo ich arbeite, hat das zum ersten Mal probiert aehm oder eher probieren muessen ;)

Sara's moves,like the style, haha

knuddel

Pat and I

LOL

a friends facebook status:

Note to all physio students in the hospital - not necessarily UQ ones - do not wear your stethescope around your neck like a doctor! Especially at lunch time or before 8am cause you're definitely not on the way to see a patient!

• I wore mine to lunch yesterday by accident... felt like such a douche

• 
  
• I never "wear" mine! Only carry it! Despite it being cool and pink and probably a good accessory haha. Did hydro with sam the other day.. Fun fun! She is so nice

  
  
• 
  

  are you kidding? i got discounts on food if i wore mine to lunch! lol

  
  
• 
  

  F, carrying it isn't functional, it's gotta go round the neck.

  
  
• 
  

  sounds like a typical loving yourself situation

  
  

Worried? Yes!

So, monday it is, the start of my 5 week placement at the musculo skeletal/ sports physio clinic at UQ uni. Well, and it is said to be a tough one. Thats ok, im up for a challenge, we are here to learn BUT i think this one is gonna be REALLY tough. There has been people failing, in the last one there were some that just scraped thru, tears, nasty facebook entries about how bad it is, warning messages from people who have been....oh dear. The worst thing tho is the faces from people when they ask where u are next...its this OMG-face, big eyes, pity...with a "oh no u will be fine" after the first reaction with a face that could tell stories. Anyway, here a message from a friend who just finished it....

Hey guys!

I'm writing to apologise to you in advance about what you are going to experience for the next couple of weeks. I have struggled in the UQ MS prac and have written some God-awful chart entries. Unfortunately you guys have inherited some of my patients and will have to dig through the aforementioned charts to work out what the f*ck I was doing/thinking, and there is a definite possibility that you won't be able to do either of those things. After a couple of weeks you will understand that when you have 5 charts to write at 4:30, you just write nonsense and nobody really reads it. The same will go for my beloved transfer summaries for today. They will be woeful. Give me a call if you need an adequate explanation from an "Adequate" (hopefully) student. Rest up this weekend, gather your thoughts, muster some courage and good luck with it.

Yes I am worried, I havent revised much at all....I probably should have, damn, but u just need to get the educator on your side and just say YES MA'M to EVERYTHING. NEVER EVER dare to say anything against, no BUTS, just do EXACTLY what they tell you, even if you have learnt something different. Its WRONG. Thats what sucks because for physio there is never one way of doing things/approaching problems, there are a million ways to treat a patient and it just sucks big times that you have to do it exactly how your educator wants it even if you have learnt a better way by now from other physios in other placements, well we have to kiss their a**** which i HATE but oh well. We have this one educator who came from america and he thinks he is god, i hope i dont get him cos i cant STAND him, the way he talks and looks at you if you try and answer his question, *shiver*
BUT i try and do what i ususally do, and thats my OWN THING. do not get influenced too much by what the others said because everyone's perception is different so I will from my own opinion but I am quite worried I have to admit. Sam who just finished too said that our first week is crazy busy, a LOT of patients booked in. I wonder how I will like musculo skeletal because thats the one everyone THINKS they like it the best because thats what everyone understands of physio but its a complicated one as well apparently. 5 weeks! thats it. TSCHAKAAA!

1st Volleyball Tournament

Robbo (Bond girls coach, Ange and me from Brisbane, Kirra and Leesa from Bond) We played in the finals. I was supposed to work at 5 and we started finals at half 3....i so couldnt focus, damn, we came 2nd altho we won to them in the pool earlier that day. Still good for first tournament and NO training at all. Season wont start till October but there will be a few winter events organized from Bond Uni...might play the odd one.

Trying to save a pass, come Anna, dont be lazy and get UNDER the ball...

I didnt even know how much I missed the beach, the whole day on the coast was just lovely. soooo schön

chillin in the bean bags in the sun on the beach- THE best!

THIS makes me feel good

Freak

I was just revising some first year stuff, simple things like anatomy of every single little bone, numerous muscles,tendons,ligaments etc and their contributing role in the biomechanics of the ankle and I stumbled across this picture. I think this is so cool, and just after I've released that thought, I thought "you are a freak, that's just an ankle". But I guess that's something that fires my passion for this profession. How amazing is our body and its ability to heal and help himself. But also on the other side, how vulnerable is it to the changes in society from former days to today including work ethics, social habits, decreasing time availability, food manners etc. It's just so cool how simply understanding the body can help you to heal it with minor changes and facilitation (from us :) ) and using its own features rather than injecting things or taking pills or cutting it open (Mind you, surgery is often essential and evenly AMAZING but I'm talking about the minor everyday complaints) I guess you must think, "what the hell is she on about" but just looking at that photo, it's ONLY the foot but kind of complex, so many structures, not just one bone and one muscle, it's the perfect design and that allows us to do so much with it. Moreover, knowing what everysingle part does and what happens if it doesn't work that way and how I can test that as well as hopefully fix it with manual therapy, exercise, taping or even simple advice and education is just COOL. Haha, and the ankle is soooo easy, there are much bigger challenges like the cervical spine, shoulders, knees....oh yeah =)

Happy Anna

got marks for the 2 subjects from first semester. altho we didnt have an actual semester as such,we still had 2 instead of 4 subjects, weighed more heavily ie 4 units instead of 2 and our performance and assessment from placements and assignments presentations make up the overall mark for each subject annnnnnnnnnnnd i got two 6`s = disticiontions. yay yay yay. i actually totally forgot we get marked, lol, only looked it up yesterday after someone asked me about it, haha. only wanted to learn heaps in placements but i wont complain ;)

only two more placements to go. my second week off holidays next week, literally working like crazy everysingle day BUT my birthday and day of my party, then 5 super hard weeks at sports physio at uni-ohoh- we had a few ppl failing that one and its just haaaaaaaard, EVERY one says that,but thats ok, i just push through 5 weeks, prepare well and it will all be fine because then i have my holiday block for 5 weeks where i actually can relax because most likely i wont be able to work more than 20hours due to visa (only allowed to work as much as i want in uni holidays and thats in middle of semester) and then one more 5week placement at ipswich, which should be reasonable easy, i think and theeeeeeeeeeeeeen my brother and his gf come and only amazing things happen from there........WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Eva, Kirsten, me and Sam

Houseparty at ours

it was time again, for a party at chester road. michael and sam, not a couple, thats just our physio love =)

was für ein Outfit mit diesen tollen Hausschlappen, Frau in der Küche beim Würstchen braten

meine neueste Errungenschaft. Wollte mal wieder Geld ausgeben und hab mir neue Schuhe gekauft, waren eh nur 40 Dollar. Bargain.

die Aussicht von dem Balkon von dem Club mit der Soty Bridge und Brisbane River

Kirsten and me

Trinkspiele....

Eva, Kirsten und Sara

I have the proof, Sara is having SAUS...she has been on a vegetarian trip for last half year. Yum

t!






jelly shots

my beloved Sara, since she is English,we had a bet for soccer game last night and Deutschland won, score, she will cook dinner for me this week. mhmmm
I already won a bottle of really good italian amaretto, cos I had a bet going on with my barmen and I told him I liked Amaretto Sour and I won so that was my win. I start liking this world cup altho it keeps me up very late at night...our verdict.... :-P no night with us girls without having Jägerbombs...yum

3 years, a quantity so big, but a feeling of recentness?

The loss of a beloved one, will give you your very own guardian angel.

You are not here anymore, where you were

but you are everywhere, where we are!!!

Wenn der Tag vergeht
und leise, ganz leise
die Dämmerung naht

Wenn die laute Welt ganz still wird
und schläft
und träumt
von der Sonne

Dann singt in mir
die Sehnsucht leise ihr Lied
und lächelnd komm ein Engel
und bringt mir dein Bild



Du bist nicht mehr da, wo Du warst,
aber Du bist überall, wo wir sind.

how good does it feel...

Just a quick comment from Campus. We are finally back at uni doing our 4th block of the year, non-immersion so we are not out but doing lectures, courses, clinical visits that we wont cover with our actual placements and some holidays and it is just AMAZING. I am loving this passive role of being a student, just a bit of osmosis if you want to, soak it in or just snooze away. And it is just sooooo good to see everyone again, first half hour was just hugs and kisses and general excitement to be united again. So scared to have to leave everyone and my beloved uni life :( Being on campus is really nice too again. Especially because everyone else is stressed and freaking out because it is exam period and we are just chilling out lying on the grass in the sun in between lectures, LOVE LIFE! No scarry supervisors, no pressure to perform, no extra work at nighttime, oh yes, I will enjoy the next five weeks....then I will be all charged up to smash the next placement which DEFINITELY will be hard cos its at uni clinic so thez know what we should know and the push us! Which is good cos we learn heaps but for now, I am happy where I am, haha. Give my brain bit of break. But yeah, so fun to see all the second years etc totally stressing out, I can see ourselves, that was us and it was scarry at times but see where we are now. It is so satisfying, the big 4th years, LOL! Ok back to lecture and then i only go to gym and then watch final episodes of grays anatomy with my girls and popcorn, what a day! Talk soon!
P.S. what do u guys think of my layout?? too much? I really like it so will see. Love, Anna Banana

bye my beloved kids

Tracey was one of my major patients and I got her from being on crutches, not being able to TOUCH her leg or move in any manner from below knee to WALK WITHOUT crutches, her calf is something she has to work on from now on so she is able to walk on tippy toes and jump properly but how awesome is that? We said goodbye to crutches on Thursday, she had them for a few months....awesome. She was the patient with CRPS, that chronic pain disorder syndrome. I did an amazing job with her, so my supervisor, so proud of myself cos in my first session she started crying when we only attempted to touch her foot, and I was quite intimidated by her presentation but we got there in the end. JUHU.

so happy....and it was so sad to leave :( she made me a card last week and yesterday she gave me a big present, everything wrapped up and another card, so lovely. ohhhhhhhh thats one hard thing, saying bye to patients. Also my two bomb boys, I gave them my email because I wanna know how they are going. I saw them from day one post explosion, when they were hardly responsible and did some chest physio with me half unconscious and yesterday both boys, BOTH, on crutches in the gym and we were doing heaps of stuff. So cool, was such a long path till here and they still have such a long road to walk. Wow, love that job! So relieved I did pass that placement tho, because it was SHITLOADS of work, so busy during the day, coming in early and leaving late due to paperwork and research and extra study at night and weekends....BÄH....

I passed well, got good comments, good constructive feedback regarding my weaknesses. Paeds is definitely something I will consider for my career, the last 2 placements werent that flash but this one cld be my direction. The other girl in my department didnt pass, so that was quite sad, cos became really good friends with her :( I have 5 weeks non-immersion ie 3 weeks uni and daily clinical visits and 2 weeks off EEEAAASSYYY PEASY. hello life,I got u back, haha =)

Paeds placement

Ok so i explained to you last time, what my normal day looks like. Besides looking after inpatients on the orthopaedic ward, ie acute cases, I also see outpatients, which only come in for their appointments. They are usually not acute anymore, sub- acute or chronic. I got orthopaedic cases like kids that came out of casts or had some sort of pains after playing sports etc. So these patients usually required a thorough assessent in order to find the source of their problem rather than just treating them post-OP for mobility. So two totally different things.

Once you diagnosed them and decided they would benefit from physio, I arrange appointments with them and treat them as well. Very often I do hydroptherapy with them cos the pool seems to have magic effect on kids and their pain. Its just such a great environment to do physiotherapy in. The water and its properties is like a gym full of equpiment: buyoancy, resistance, compression, heat, assisted movement when creating a strudel, massage .... and then we have so many cool toys as well, so its always really good fun.

Then, if I am not effective or if I think there is something else going on, I can refer them on: I had one girl who was sooo hypersensitive after her cast, I diagnosed her with CRPS (chronic regional pain syndrome) which is a syndrome, where the brain and its neural connections to the affected site "gets confused" about signals so light touch is perceived as pain. Usually its when u had major traume so the brain wants to protect the tissue, like a broken ankle, but in fact, no one knows why exactly that happens, the site is healed, no damage but the brain still wants to protect so even just touching the skin makes these sort of kids jump thru the roof because light touch is perceived as nociception ie pain signals. Really bad condition and really hard to treat cos u cant touch them. You actually have to remodel your brain and convince that the body is healed and touching or just moving is NOT painful.

So first I had to explain that complex condtion to the girl and the partents, which was already hard, but then make them understand that Tracey has to push through that pain cos the more she doesnt use that foot, the stiffer and the weaker it gets and the more it will hurt to get it back to normal again. So, I have to desensitize her, kinda hard cos they in sooo much pain but I did one session with her and got an "excellent with gold star" from my educator cos I have handled her and the situation so well. Anyway, my point was, I had to refer her on to the pain management team. I also came to the appointment with her and the doctors asked me all that questions and really acknowledged me and what I have been doing and what my plan was for her. Felt little proud as the little student with the two big doctors =)

OR another girl which huuuuge social issues at home (abuse etc which I read in chart from the child protection services) stopped bending her knee, so she is majorly tight and stiff and cant walk so I tried to do hydro for 3 weeks with her, only got better tiny little bit, most of the time we jsut talked and she told me all that stuff about her "fucked up" (excuse my french, but thats how it is) family and she really enjoyed coming to physio and when i told her that i have to send her back to the orthopaedic team she got bit scared "can i come back to physio again tho?" and i told her it depends on what the doctors find out because i dont feel i am effective enough to justify the treatment. And there u go, I got her to bend the knee, walk up stairs in pool and do all sorts of stuff, got rid of her crutches (MAJOR IMPROVEMENT-yay) and I got her knee to 70° degrees knee bent. So I have to see whether physio is the right thing and sometimes you are jsut a friend who gives you attention, which is the case with her I think, so psychosomatic issues rather than actual physical impairment. Once I thought that was the case, I jsut pushed her heaps further altho she told me it was painful but she was just not consistent enough with her pain patterns and intensities and it all didnt match up so I took that risk and went through the pain with her and tadaaa, she can walk again. Thank god =)

Ok i have to go to work, brain numbing waitressing, no need to think and lots of opportunities to chat to my friends and the guests, I love that, always have a good chat and loads of good food- I LIKE.

Week four tomorrow, then one more week and I finish my 3rd placement. OH MY GOSH!

I miss you all at the moment. Been to a few family & friends things and got majorly jealous!! kinda imagined how nice it would be to be able to just come over and have dinner with my fam or go for coffee and stuff :( bugger! we'll talk soon tho, ok?! Kisses to my beloved friends and especially family =)

Straight after hairdresser

ok now i just have to learn to style it that way, too, i just dont get that looking-in-the-mirror-and-holding-hairdryer-in-one-hand-and-brush-in-the-other-hand-right-is-left-left-is-right-my-shoulder-starts-to-hurt-up-or-down-mirror-image-fine-motor-skill-business :-P i think i will go for the just-got-out-of-bed-and-just-shake-my-head-for-a-minute-style haha

new hair....yeah so happy i did it

smiling was too boring....but since everybody was harrassing me...here are the pics!

3rd prac, royal childrens hospital

what do i do? click here i am sure it`s nothing u expect

sooooooooo, where to start? hm. kinda hard because so much is happening everyday and i have the urge to tell u guys all that stuff every day but never get a chance to jump on the net for longer and write. but now i have time so lets open the book of my third placement and read some stories:

well, my third placement is all about pediatrics ie children. i am in a very renowned facility, the royal childrens hospital brisbane. we get kids from all over queensland, pretty amazing. the physio department has, again, so many different parts. we have the cardio-respiratory stream, neuroscience, developmental pediatrics, hydrotherapy and orthopaedics. i am learning in the last three areas.

so i start my day with reading charts from my patients to get a bit of an overview and to NOT get totally smashed by my supervisor but being able to answer some questions especially in regards to conditions, there are a million kids conditions and because i dont have one but three areas i have 3 times as much to look up. so i try to skim thru the patients i got allocated and jump on wikipedia, lol, he just is my best friend of all times, and look up all the words and conditions that look chinese to me so i actually know whats wrong with my kids. at 8:30 I go upstairs to my ward, acute orthopaedic ward, and follow the wardround with the doctors to see what we are up to with all the little fellows. from there i can gather information who is due for surgery, what surgery, who came out of surgery, who they wanna discharge (which means i have to make sure they are safe to go home in terms of HOW they go home, walking, crutches, wheelchair etc, is the home environment safe? are they able to manage school with stairs and long distances etc pp...write letters for the teachers, give out appropriate equipment, refer to local physio, give home exercise programme...) how did it go, well tolerated, complications, what further services they want, what sort of painkillers they are on, could be epidural (into spine), PCA (patient controlled anasthetic, so they can push button when they are in pain and get morphin or similar) or just normal stuff taken orally. this has big implications of the sort of treatment we can do and not to forget the contraindications...safety is issue number one, obviously, these kids are sick and weak!

so usually they ask for physio in regards to acute chest physio post OP becasue the analgesics decrease lung function and we have to get the kids to use their whole lungs when they lie in bed and are in pain, rather just shallow breathing. so, altho cardio-resp is an area on its own, its something else i have to do, GREAT, but its not that hard and it's really cool to auscultate them and hear stuff and then do exercises, make them cough up heaps of stuff and then auscultate again and the crackles are gone or shifted, quite spectacular. the physiology is bit tricky but i think i understood most of it at uni so its not too bad to apply the few principles and its not that i have to know different conditions. not yet, thats my last placement.

apart from that i do a pre and post OP assessment to see what their function is and to assess what changed during surgery. so i dont only look at the affected limb, often i cant do anything anyway cos they might present with a massive fracture so make sure not to touch that limb at all. but, i still have to assess their lung function, cough ability, muscle strength, flexibility, circulation and ask questions about school, hobbies, home environment, goals etc.

then when they come out of surgery, i assess again, get their lungs going again as well as look after the good body parts since not moving causes deconditioning straight away. u would not believe how quickly u lose your muscle and how much your joints stiffen up if not moved regularly. so i do bed exercises with them, teach them some stuff they can do on their own, get parents and nurses involved to encourage and facilitate and see them, depending on severity and condition, up to 3-4 times a day.

if the doctors and surgeons give green light to move the "bad" leg for example, we can start moving that, but then u have to coordinate that with the timing of their analgesics cos otherwise they are in too much pain and then the nurses wanna shower him and they have to go to xrays, or they sleep, or they have just eaten, or they are drowsy etc. so thats something really hard, to coordinate it all cos these kids are quite busy with all their appointments etc.

we also have to help the nurses to move that kid, so we have to get them out of bed in an appropriate manner (quite tricky if they are weak, in pain, have pins and screws adn plates everywhere or even have an open external frame with screws piercing the skin from outside- something that gave me a short funny feeling in my stomach the first time i saw it, apparently it doesnt hurt...) so there is a LOT of work on the ward to get all your kids done and coordinate.

and then, what i never expected, there is soo much paperwork. everytime u see a patient u have to write in their chart, which is often really hard to find because nurses, doctors, other allied health professionals etc have a look at them so i spend a bit of time chasing up patients charts also. then i have to write letters for schools, referrals to other physios, organize referrals with the docs if i cant authorize it, organize equipment loans, discharge summaries....yeah, lots of paperwork. i can kinda understand bit more now, why doctors have such a bad writing, cos they have to make a lot of entries....its ridiculous, i tell u, its just a scribble, i cant read it most of the time, praying i didnt miss some crucial information.

ok so much for the work on the ward. thats only one third of my tasks at the moment. and cos i dont wanna bore u, i stop here. i try and tell u a bit about 2 of my very special amazing patients, holy lord, they tried to built a pipe bomb.....check it out here

Life is short,
break the rules,
forgive quickly,
kiss slowly,
love truly,
laugh uncontrollably,
and never regret anything that made you smile.

Vatertag

Papsi, nochmal auf diesem Wege alles Gute zum Vatertag. Sorry, dass ich bissl zu spät bin. Auch wenn ich soweit weg bin, bist du doch immer irgendwie dabei :) schließlich lebe ich ja deinen Lebenstraum, und das mit voller Begeisterung. Bin soooooo froh, dass wir so ne tolle Beziehung haben und dass ich IMMER zu dir kommen kann und zwar mit ALLEM. Danke Paps. Du bist der Beste!! Drück dich! Big Töchterchen-Love!!!