A Long Week

This week began with MLK day and I'm running out of obscure MLK quotes for an annual game. I was glad for the day off, but somehow this week still felt long.

My PA was salty with me about a lot of things that I think I'm doing relatively well at - extension, not using crutches, and avoiding slipping on the ice. I submitted my documents to start official rehab - but I was able to bike and do SL RDLs this week, which I'm counting as a win.

Did I mention it was my best friend's birthday?
Log onto FB to see some terrible pictures, hear some terrible singing, and read a wonderful poem. 

Lindsey and I had a much-needed catch-up chat with french toast and fruit. Roger and TJ were both furious to be uninvited. I watched Abbie practice her PICO (which she crushed). And I met with Meghan to discuss some stats and troubleshoot SAS.

Friday was the much anticipated Winter Formal, which had 50 couples (10 more than last year with half the effort - including 4 couples from the track team we work with and 1 from the PT program). It was fun, but I wished I could really dance.

Sad we're missing Rahz, Kay, and Val. 

I drove down to Phoenix late Friday and ended up chatting with Maddy until about 2. Leaving us 4 hours until we needed to get up and head to the first day of our pelvic floor class. There was only 13 students and lots of lab time and it was the most engaged I've been in school for a long time. I learned so much and touched all the pelvic floors (externally only). Lauren, Maddy, and I had a Jamaica reunion at Shake Shack, and (despite other plans), we crashed at 7pm for the night.

Sunday, we did it all again. But this time with more lab. It was well worth the time and I wish Sarah would come to Flag to teach us this stuff. She is awesome. And even let us out a little early for our drive back home - where I ate spaghetti and studied some more. C'est la vie.

Awkward prom pics in the pelvic floor lab. 

Last First Day of School EVER.

Back to school this week and I hate it. Not the school part, or the stuff we're learning - I actually enjoy that. But I hate sitting in class for eight hours a day and studying. Luckily, we only had 2 quizzes and 2.5 days of school this week. But I still had to sit there and slowly let my foot fill up with edema.

Another bright point of the week was free lunches from the Institute for 3 days and free breakfast from my apartment complex on Monday. AND that I went to the gym 4 days - doing all upper body stuff, but I could move around well enough to do it.

Kill me. 

Wednesday, we went out for lunch with Ciera & Erin (who's leaving for navy training in RI). About ten of us hit up an Indian buffet, which was delicious, but I usually like to eat as much as I can from these things and I currently cannot. I can't eat a lot bc I don't work out, so it makes me sick. Sugar and dairy also make me sick post-Jamaica, so I'm trying to redefine my relationship with food currently.
John ran a vestibular lab, where we learned some new testing. He demonstrated a test for an optic nerve palsy, where if your eye moves, it's considered positive. I couldn't see his eyes, so I asked "Hey did your eye move?" To which he replied, "No, if they did, I would be really worried." Well guess who found out they have an optic nerve palsy.

The Prochnow was showing Knives Out - for free, with free popcorn & drinks - so Roger and I went. It was good, funny, if somewhat predictable. Worth the watch.

This is me cleaning off the blood 1 week post. 

I started working again this week! Jamie said I looked like I got into a real good fight - with all my bruises and my pimp limp. I've got several on my arm from the IV and several on my leg from the surgery. But it was fun to get back to ATing and we even had a track meet this week, which was fun.

Roger did a game night and dinner (pizza, steaks, chips, cookies) with some of our friends, including Brandi and a kid she met on mutual who's visiting for the weekend, Phillip my cup. I temporarily broke the TV when I was trying to put Toy Story on in the background. My bad.

Unless he got buns, hun. 

I spent the week asking Roger to a dance this weekend with a series of bum poems, roses, and miscellaneous trinkets. He loved it. We fed the missionaries with Abbie & JR - King casserole, which was a hit.

Under the Knife

I had my last two days of normalcy and function this week. Tuesday night, Rog and I went to Page for Stu's game against Chinle (a team that is getting a Netflix special apparently). We won.

Cloud cover cutoff. 

On Wednesday, they sliced me open and stitched me up. The process was better than last time, but hurt way worse. And I was only on drugs for two days before sleeping no longer worked.

Post-war. 

We "watched" the LOTR series and Roger finished a painting and made so much food. He was only mad the nurses started telling him he'd have to shower me. To which BOTH of us protested.

Guess what this is from. 

Saturday we got to see Paislee and half of Roger's extended family. I like them, but it wasn't a good time for me to be around people. Here's hoping that eight hours of classes goes better.

Moriah's "leg exercises".

This Week

I'm finally caught up on things - and just in time. Because after surgery on Wednesday, I will be a straight mess.

After watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail (while making guac with unripened avocados), Roger and I spent NY Eve with his BFF Colin, wife Tiana, and baby Archer. We played New Phone, Who Dis? and Colin ended up winning (barely). We watched The Proposal and ate tons of homemade wings (which were delicious). Also polished off several bottles of the Martinelli's we stole from the wedding last week.

I made chocolate PB balls and a pot roast. I read so many books. And I worked out every day - which made me feel really good, sore, and also sad that I'm going to be severely limited in the near future.

Exercise is my outlet. 

I slept in every day and slowly accomplished tasks on my to-do list. Including writing a report to ABOR about the misuse of our program fees. Coincidentally, a report was listed a few days later about the President of NAU misspending funds.

We went to Carol's house for Roger's cousin's birthday party. But mainly to see his cousin's kid, Paislee. They have the cutest relationship, but he hates all other children and didn't feel like he could really play because ALL the kid wanted in. So he was out.

Going into the new year with a bang. 

My good friends Becca & Keaton tied the knot this week, so Roger and I made it to the sealing and luncheon before zooping back up so he could go to work. We ran into Sam Mackey, recent RM who is just as funny as ever, and my friends Courtney and Sage. Also my old bishop & his wife, who are wonderful people.


Roger asked for some nice pictures of us together since his Android photos are always blurry (go figure...). Conveniently, a friend of ours volunteered a free photography session so he can practice and add to his portfolio. Voilà, a preview of our free shoot this morning.

One Week Ago (aka I Could Eat)

Maddy, Rahz, and I took a taxi to an all-inclusive resort (after ensuring the taxi driver was old and frail and we could easily take him). I hid in the bathroom for 30minutes while they checked in to our 2-person room. We ate at an unreal buffet before changing into our swimsuits and heading to the beach. We saw fish and drank pina coladas.

Maddy and I took a sailing lesson. J Star taught us reggae line dances. Romaine made us delicious chocolate coconut smoothies. We drank out of real coconuts and had fresh pineapple. I schooled some old people in sand volleyball with a torn ACL.

We walked along the beach and swam at sunset. We took the best showers and got room service (because we could) and went to our Hibachi appointment at 9. We went to a silent disco and a piano-singalong and we crashed.

I went to morning yoga while Maddy threw up because she forgot she can't eat asian food.  We went kayaking and rode on bikes in the pool. We floated around and tanned because the sun felt so good. 

We showered again and checked out and ate at the ridiculous buffet and drank more chocolate coconut smoothies. We took a taxi to town and did a little shopping while Maddy got her hair braided by some insistent shopkeepers. 

We dropped Maddy and Rahz off at the airport and then Andre and I went to my hotel for the second night's stay. (Which was significantly less nice). I called the folks and chilled and had complimentary goat curry for breakfast and went to the pool before taking a taxi with Kevin to the airport. 

Where I waited 5 hours for a delayed flight. I made it back to AZ by midnight, my car by 1, my apartment by 4 (due to icy roads), and Page by 6am. Just in time for Christmas Eve with Kevin and the Sandalls. 

 

Kevin and Stu played bball at some point. I took a nap and a shower and did laundry. We ate chimichangas. And played lots of Enemy. We had a family come visit while I worked on resewing a missized wallet I bought in my new Christmas pjs. 

When you get to wrap your own gifts. 

Christmas was nice. I slept in. Ate homemade toast and hot chocolate. We opened gifts just like the Hutchins do. I got a quilt from Eve which is the warmest new addition to my house. And some boots (which passed the hunting test), wool socks (which I'm still wearing), and a new shirt from the Chin that Roger claims is his favorite. My adult light-up shoes were clutch and I've already read (and want to re-read) the book Shannon got me because it's that good. Then we introduced these kids to Clue and they loved it. 

No Kill Kev in action. 

We woke up early to go rabbit hunting. The Sandalls gave Kevin and I camo shirts for Christmas and I'm pretty sure Kevin is still wearing his. (It IS scent-protected...) We got nothing, but had a good time. Then I headed down for another doctor's appointment to satisfy insurance. Surgery scheduled tentatively for Jan 8th. 

Kevin and Roger met up later and we went shooting together (which was much more successful than rabbit hunting). Kevin made the targets and brainstormed a new What Do You Meme? Chins ed. as we played the Hutchins version of Guess Who? It's currently in the works. 

We spent an evening playing Things with Ryan and Carol's family and eating their food - fish, applesauce, salad. We drove down to Roger's mission son's wedding reception on Saturday and took turns stealing personal bottles of Martinelli's and putting them in the car. I think we went home with ten altogether. In addition to the free tacos and snacks and drinks we consumed all evening. 

Two Weeks Ago

We began day 2 of treatment with PNF and mat work - which is surprisingly challenging, even for JL. When he found out he would get to lie down, he said, "I get to lie down? You're gonna make me get down some crazy way like a one-legged squat or something." He wasn't wrong.

I am never, ever going to forget you in my whole life. 

JL and I attempted an obstacle course before it started downpouring. (JL would later describe this as the best part of the day). We did band walks and played the bead game again with another patient, CM, but he dropped the cup and had to pick them all up. "I hate this game." We did some trampoline work and practiced dance moves with ML. We ended the day with group volleyball, where JL had to kneel (while everyone else sat) and could only use his left hand. In our final recap, one patient said that he learned today that "White girls CAN dance".  Classic.

Why can't I sit in a chair like everybody else?? I want justice!

Tuesday we started on mats again, but this time I felt like doing something entirely different. JL got a break (for once) and I just worked on joint mobs, soft tissue mobilization, and passive ROM for a while. When we were finished, JL could lift his arm above his head! This was the first time in four months! Game changer.

Teammates. 

JL made a playdough elephant and increased the number of beads he can move in 30s (19 vs 32!), and practiced placing pegs in a board. When we finished the whole board, he just started laughing and said, "I was thinking you'd want me to do it again."

We practiced for our dance competition, which JL was lowkey into. IB won with Smasher the horse and Wrecking ball. Maddy did some good work with him and it was cool to see their bond.

Smasher. 

After treatment, we walked down the road to a coffee plantation run by Wade and Lloyd, who are deaf. Maddy and I both know letters, so we were able to communicate somewhat and they gave us some name signs. They were hilarious and we laughed and laughed with them. Maddy and I found out we're eskimo sisters and everything made sense.

The coolest people. 

We did home visits again to help our patients and their caregivers how to apply everything we'd been teaching them. JL's wife Shirline watched as he cut yams and carried heavy boxes and agreed to keep making him work and use that affected side. JL is a man with a plan and told me how he plans to exercise and job (cheetah speed) and use the affected hand more and replace meat with vegetables and decrease the stress in his life. What a champ.

The cutest couple ever. 

JL took us to the best jerk center around - and it was dangggg good. Then we met up with the whole crew for a football game that was a fundraiser for one of the patients by the teams he used to ref, the Reggae Boys. At half time, we played ball with the locals. We found and killed a forty legger - a venemous and huge centipede looking thing. Toots regaled us with some stories and brought in her homemade jewelry. And Trump was impeached? 

Thursday was re-test day and everyone did phenomenal. JL cut all of his times in half and improved on every single test. It's easy to brag about his accomplishments. His wife came for lunch and a slideshow. Each patient was given mugs to give to their PT students and since I was the only solo student, JL insisted he give me 2 mugs since I did the work of 2 people.

There's more life in this hand now. 

The NAU crew. 

 We convinced Brooke to let us go to Lover's Leap lookout since we missed the hike. We had about ten minutes of beautiful view before we were enveloped by a cloud and had to enjoy our ice cream and drinks in the cold, wet air.

This is my sexy pose. 

We made a community breakfast with all our leftovers for Lauren's birthday. (And later threw flour at her and ate her key lime pie.) Then we drove to the beach for community integration day. It was awesome to watch JL just check up on people, make sure they use their affected hand, and see how they're doing. "I've never seen so much love."

The NAU crew. Iconic. 

We got patients in the water, including IB who was walking (with 6 helpers) and singing the Gambler. We drank pina coladas and mango smoothies and ate lobster fritters and curried goat and lobster. JL promised he'd get in the water (despite his fears), but kept putting me off with "the sun's too hot" or "it's man time". As we were cleaning up, I found him hiding in the bus and ended up chasing him down the road. I've never seen him move so fast. I caught up and he agreed to walk back along the beach, but eventually he had to step into the water because there was a sharp cliff we couldn't walk on, so he did. And drenched himself.

Drinks are better here. 

Saturday, we took a three hour bus ride to the airport and said our goodbyes. Rahz, Maddy, and I headed off for a totally different adventure.

Three Weeks Ago

Exam week consisted of 5 exams in 3 days, 21 hours of studying, and a lot of burnout. Tuesday was the worst because the exams were long (each question had like 10 parts and an entire page to read first) and written by several different professors, so you have to know how to cater your answers. I told Val I felt physically ill afterwards.

So I skipped our planned study session that night and watched a movie and made dinner and relaxed. Until about 9, when I filled out the study guide, which I reviewed briefly before taking the exam. Which was by far the easiest one.

After the exam, I went down to PHX for a surprise Bachelorette party that Autumn and I hosted - which couldn't have gone better. We got Keaton to deliver Becca to us and all jumped out at the same time. Autumn prepared a beautiful cookie and hot chocolate bar and we had a good time catching up.

Then Kaleb drove me to the airport to catch a flight (which was delayed 2 hours) - but the complimentary face masks came in clutch. Lauren and I met up with the PHX NAU crew - Rahz, Maddy, and Macy in Florida and headed to Montego Bay, Jamaica together.

We knew we were in Jamaica when a lady on the plane asked where she could find some weed real quick and her neighbor said - don't worry, you don't have to look very hard. We met up with Val & Kay and our drivers Peter & Dane and made a stop to the MiniMart for some breakfast foods & snacks - including fresh fruits, granola, oreos, and plantain chips.

Welcome to Jamaica, mon.

We drove four hours to Top Hill, St Elizabeth (the countryside) and passed several military checkpoints. A van begged us to let them pass because they had a corpse they needed to put on ice. We arrived late, stowed our gear, and feasted on fried chicken. We met the Duke and Arcadia crews that had arrived the day before and discussed our patient assignments.

I was assigned to work solo with a higher-functioning taxi driver JL, who had a stroke back in September. We met briefly the next day when we had a group devotional and song time. Then Maddy and I were assigned to administer an upper extremity baseline test, so we ran all the patients through this test.

What does a badger even look like?

We ate quickly after we finished and then JL drove me, Val, and another group to their patient's house (HB). Other universities aren't as good at getting hands-on experience as NAU and you could tell. Val and I tried not to take over, but had to step in a few times for safety. Then we went to JL's wife's restaurant where he struggles to help cut vegetables from 4-6am every day. We also visited his chicken coup where Val was shocked by the 300 chickens. We stopped briefly at a store to pick up a few things and found out that JL, as a taxi driver, is a town celebrity. Everybody loves him.

"I don't just want to make it to the top of the hill. I want to make it a challenge!"

We made it back in time for beef & brown sauce. And some gingery June fruit juice. Then a group of us played some games and had a rooftop starlit chat.

Saturday morning, we conducted roughly planned evals. JL had weakness and decreased sensation on his L side; shoulder/wrist syndrome as well as some distal swelling. The Duke prof, Hoder, helped in a gait evaluation. Then we got to treat. We had 4 stations throughout the day that we cycled through.

Jeffrey's favorite game: Catch the ball in a cup of beads.
(But if you drop the cup, you get to pick up all the beads.)

In Upper extremity, we played air hockey with PL's group and practiced fine motor manipulation of small beads. In balance, we walked the hillside blindfolded, holding a stick in his weak hand. In gait, we practiced arm swing and knee flexion and changing speeds. In our free station, we practiced cutting huge yams and washing eggs and did a stick pull and some joint mobs. Then we had a group game of hot potato, where JL was a close second.

We are here to help patients, and in return patients help us.
Help us to refine our skills and our knowledge and our love.
That is divine organization. 

 Sunday was our day off. I did rooftop yoga as the sun rose and we all shipped out to Smurf's for some breakfast. We had a beautiful boat ride with warm water and dolphins until we got to the Black River, where there were tons of crocodiles.

We continued upstream until we found a rope swing - and used it. We ate here, explored the cows, and watched Val's signature dives. I had curried goat for lunch - a Christmas classic here.

We stopped at the Pelican Bar - a restaurant in the middle of the ocean on a sand bar. We swam and watched the sun set and I got stung by a jelly fish five times and narrowly avoided a sting ray. This is a good place.

Four Weeks Ago

You may wonder why it's taken me so long to update. Keep reading. You may not care. Keep reading anyways. You're already here, so why not?

Flash back to the final week of the semester. We still had full class on Monday and Thursday, but we took our final practicals on Tuesday. The first was cardiopulm and I drew a couple skills out of a hat to perform. Cake. The second was MSK, where we drew 5 skills to complete. Normally this is cakier than CP, but the guest PT who was grading us would mark us down despite performing the skills "perfectly" because he had a slightly different technique. Which I told him multiple times I would never use and here's why.

Wednesday was my last day of clinic with RB. We retested and found significant improvements in the safety and control of literally everything he did. And we got to jump rope for the last half hour - and he almost got ten in a row! It's cool to help people accomplish meaningful goals. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut where we just test walking speed or how many times they can stand up. Which is good, but what's the functional difference for them? In RB's case, it was decreased impulsivity, increased control, and getting to return to something he loves.

We presented our neuro patients in Grand Rounds, where Val was astonished at RB's progress. Of course, she couldn't find us most of the time because we left the building or else she might have known a little better. We also had final presentations on a business plan - where ours was easily the most realistic, and more class. 

I took my last test of the year on Friday. But I studied all weekend for exams and had very little fun aside from a short trip to Sedona with Carol to see little Stu's basketball game in the finals of the tournament. They won. And I got Mexican leftovers and a ride home with the Sandalls.