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.