OT tid bits and other stuff

Can you believe it is mid may 2013 already? Time goes so fast!! Is it because we’re all so busy we just don’t notice the days slipping by? I remember when I was little and I thought time took foreeevvvvveeeerrrrrrr to pass. I used to read books in trees for hours, but it didn’t feel like that. These days I feel like the hours fly by and I get nothing done. 

A friend sent me the picture you see to the right featuring Ryan Gosling’s face. It is the most amazing thing EVER and I now have it as the lock screen on my phone.

As expected uni is super busy (blurgh). Ended up having to take a couple of days off last week due to a heavy cold and general exhaustion. I don’t like missing class as it means I have to make it up at a later date, but it is a better option than sharing my germs with everyone. Plus, sometimes our bodies just need a break. I have learnt the hardway that if you don’t slow down when your body is telling you to, you will pay for it later. Mind you I have just started picking up some night shifts which is where I am now working hard clearly, which can’t be helping. Shhhh. #unistudentproblems. Did I seriously just hashtag the middle of a blog post? Oh dear, it must be late. To be completely honest, I drank a can of mother about an hour ago and am now feeling quite jittery. In addition, I have down all of the work I am required to do until morning/it arrises (seeing to clients etc).

One of the (many) things we have been learning about in class is tech drawing *groan*. This involves a scaler ruler, graph paper, mechanical grey lead and a steady hand. We are using the skills we are developing to design suitable environmental modifications to our houses (according to Australian standards) pretending it belongs to a hypothetical client who has had a full hip replacement. At first it was quite a fun activity, until I realised how tedious it is. For some reason I am finding it difficult to draw exactly on the lines, which makes my measurements slightly out. This would not matter, except that our drawings have to be scale boooo. I can see the use of us learning these skills, but I can’t help but wonder how often/if ever we will utilize them as real life OTs. My group had quite a struggle as we did our home assessment on my place which is not particularly suitable for anyone who may need assistance showering as the bathroom is ridonculously small, while the toilet is insanely narrow. Further the kitchen doesn’t even really count as a kitchen and would not be at all suitable to someone using a wheelchair/walker/stick or kitchen trolley. For the assignment we can only make changes that would be able to be complete by the time our hypothetical client is discharged from the rehab unit. ie. no major changes such as ripping out the bathroom and building a new one. Ah well, I have been told that us OT students have a tendency to “over do” mods when we should be going for the simplest most cost effective modification possible. I think this information may be correct or my house is terrible or both

In addition to these tech drawings (please see mine to the right – I shall probably redo this one as I have lots of rubbing out marks and that bothers me) we are also required to submit an image of our modifications in plan and elevation views using a program called google sketchup. If it weren’t for an assignment this part may actually be quite fun, but with the pressure of so much else to do it makes me want to rip my hair out. I simply cannot work out how to install a rail on my *sigh*.

Well, friends I hope everyone is having a wonderful evening/morning (it is currently 1:30am and I am wide awake – this mother stuff works!!) I shall leave it here.

Oh, one more thing. I like quotes, you may or may not notice (depending on whether you read my blog by email or rss) but I frequently change the subtitle under the blog title on the homepage. However, I have decided to include quotes I like/have found inspiring at the end of my posts instead. They may or may not be related to the content of the post.

“there are far better things ahead, than any we leave behind” - C.S. Lewis

::WARNING::

This post is not in relation to occupational therapy.

I repeat, this post is NOT in relation to occupational therapy.

So a couple of months ago I posted about having “grumpy innards” and how I was being tested for this, that and the other. Fortunately most of these tests have come back negative (still waiting on some test results),they also said I shouldn’t be making any drastic dietary changes such as not eating gluten so back to being a gluten consuming non meat eater for me. However, the good ol’ docs have been throwing around the term “IBS” or irritable bowel syndrome, which really doesn’t sound all that pleasant. Basically IBS is used when the docs don’t know what else can be causing various digestive complaints. The best way to manage such a problem is through diet largely avoiding foods that are known to cause problems or by following a low FODMAPs diet. Meaning Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, and Monosaccharides and Polyols’, which are all indigestible sugars that occur naturally in foods. In many people these dietary sugars are not absorbed well by the body and they increase the water content in the gut and produce excess gas, causing the symptoms of IBS. These sugars are found in some foods while not in others, for example it is generally recommended that people with IBS avoid dairy products, certain fruits and some veges as well as things like white pasta, bread and surprisingly multigrain bread. However, everyone is different and has varying levels of sensitivity . After doing some research, I have decided that really the best thing I can do for my body is treat it and nourish it well. In order to do this I am going to “clean” up my diet by avoiding junk food (high greasy food, chocolate, lollies, highly processed food etc) completely for a month. Also being vegetarian, I will go to extra limits to make sure I am getting all the iron, protein and calcium my body requires. During this time I shall observe how my body is feeling and my energy levels. I am so ready to feel well and healthy, that if not being able to eat chocolate or cheese is going to do that, then I am willing to pay the price. Really I shouldn’t be all that surprised, I have known for years that dairy upsets my digestive system.

It has been a ridonculously (making up words) long time since my last post. In fact it has almost been a month :O this is terrible!! I have become so lazy. But oh my goodness have we learnt a lot in the past month?! We have learnt how to appropriately measure people up for walking sticks, walking frames and crutches as well as how to instruct people how to use them and what sort of gate they should walk with. Fun fun. It was a particularly enjoyable class that we had that day playing with Bony Bob and trying out several different walking aids ourselves. Walking correctly up stairs with a walking stick or crutches is harder than one might

think. Here are some fun facts you may not really want to know but I am going to tell you anyway. Did you know that a walking stick should be used on your strong side? For example if you have had a hip replacement on your right side then you would use your stick on you left side. This gives the weaker side the best support (assuming you are walking correctly with it). Walking sticks, frames and crutches should all be measured to your ulna styloid (pointy bit on the outside of your wrist), this ensures they the right high and reduces the risk of further injury. During this class I was asked to play the part of a patient while another student measured me up. I am a bit of a shorty and so the stick we were using had to be adjusted to it’s second shortest notch, which was somewhat entertaining.

We have also learned how to measure rang of motion (ROM) in joints (shoulder, hip, wrist, knee etc) using this whacky little device called a goniometer. I really just like the word. Goniometer. It’s fun. This class was a bit tricker as we are required to know a bit more anatomy (acromion process, iliac spine and what not), which is a little intimidating. Compared to the students who have come through a health science course/another course that looks at anatomy, my knowledge is incredibly lacking despite having done the bridging course over the summer. I am getting there slowly and I am very much a visual learner, so these practical classes where we having to locate this bones and muscles ourselves are really helpful. However I am a little nervous that I am going to get a physical setting as my first placement (July – wooooohhh) and I won’t know anything. I guess if that happens I will just revise all the basic terms and structures in the weeks leading up to the placement. Speaking of anatomy, we got to play with cadavers the other week. It wasn’t really as exciting as I thought it would be, and to be honest sort of freaked me out a little bit (the smell more than anything).  It was interesting to see what our bodies look like on the inside, but I didn’t really find it particularly helpful in terms of learning the structures as everything was the same colour (all of the blood is drained prior to the specimen being looked at by us) and so it was difficult (for myself) to distinguish past what was skin, bone and muscle. Obviously tendons and vessels are smaller, but it is hard to tell the difference without touching them and I wasn’t so keen on that.

Anyhoo, we have been super busy and have about a thousand assessments coming up, which I should probably be working on. Some are really quite interesting so I should write some more about them but I shall leave it for another post AND I shall write posts more often