8/29/2013

2/3 done with the nursing home. I couldn't be happier. My day was so long and boring.  I hated most of it.  I had 2 good treatment sessions but I find it hard to get excited about much of anything there.  I was supposed to work tonight but decided to go climbing instead. It was a good choice. The climb was great, I got to see friends, and we went out for burgers afterward. mmmm. The charity that grill'd is currently supporting is called the Unicorn foundation.  I supported their cause.

8/28/2013

Today clinic was alright. Well I'm not sure that I learned anything but I also didn't spend the entire wishing that I could leave. I helped fit a chair, I did a transfer training and I treated a few small problems.  Mostly I just day dreamed.  I went for my first run in way to long today.  8miles felt much harder than it should have but I'm back on the training schedule.  This evening Katrine and I went out for dinner to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of living together.  It's been a great year and we hope for another just as splendid.  Dinner was amazing.  We went to a restaurant that has been just around the corner the entire time but we have never been.  It is a Tai and Laos restaurant.  We ate spring rolls, curry, Tai fried rice and caramelised banana roti.  It was amazing.  We were too stuffed to move for quite some time.  To truly celebrate being housemates.  We finished the night by lying around in the hallway sharing youtube videos.

8/27/2013

Half way done!!! I'm half done with the nursing home! It was either a bad day or a good day I can't quite decide. I was at 2 different facilities today and therefore spent my lunch break riding between the 2 facilities on one of the hardest bike routes in the city, yarra boulevard, which is 6km of hills. I actually quite like the route so it energised me for the afternoon, except that it replace lunch so I was hungry. I had many opportunities to interact with patients and I fixed a wheelchair so it should have been a productive day, I just have a hard time enjoying it. I finally got lunch when I made it home at 6pm and then had dinner at around 7:39. I was hungry. This evening I began work on 1 of my numerous 2,000 word synthesis assignments. The faster I finish these projects the more likely I will be to get to travel on my footy free weekends.

8/26/2013

Back to the nursing home today. It wasn't so bad. I treated my favourite patient in the morning and helped lead a manual handling seminar in the afternoon. I even had friendly conversations with the activities coordinator over lunch. My projects are quickly approaching. I should have done some tonight but instead I watched The News Room and made ice cream. 

8/25/2013

Up early for footy again today. My favourite team played their grand final. They won by about 40 points. After the game they gave out awards and went back to the club to celebrate. After considering for a while if I was going to go or not I stayed around for 8 hours of the celebration. I finally went home when they headed for the bar. They're a great group of guys and really deserved to win. 

8/24/2013

Up early for the under 18's last game of the season. They won for the second time this season. The weather was beautiful so after the game I went for a 110km bike ride on my nice bike. It was pretty great. I ran into another rider on my way back that was doing 200km. We were both pretty tired and were passed by a hipster on a 30year old bike. How embarrassing. My Sri Lankan friends invited us over for a feast tonight. It was delicious. I ate so much food: Potato curry, chicken, apple pie. The best was the eggplant salad with tomato and chilli. We watched footy, did a puzzle and watched fight club as I was the only one who had seen it. 

8/23/2013

I was going to go swimming this morning. As I was hitting the snooze button on my alarm I got a message and decided to have a conversation instead of swimming. It was a good conversation that lasted almost as long as my workout with a friend that was headed to Europe. After we were done talking I promptly went back to sleep to better enjoy my Friday off. Once I finally got up I did a small bit of work before taking a trip into the city and coming back to finish doing homework. I have barely started the things that I should be working on this weekend. I procrastinated quite a bit today, hopefully I'll have a better day tomorrow but I doubt it. Talking to Rachel today I found a new food site. Check it out for all of your drooling needs. http://www.yumgoggle.com/?rv=0&av=36&pv=396&pn=13 Additionally it linked me to a recipe that is all in hebrew. I really want to test myself and try to make it without pressing the translate button. That's how I'll know that I'm ready to go to Tel Aviv.

8/22/2013

Back at the original nursing home today. It was more of the same but I did get to put a detailed treatment plan into action.  I am giving one of the more neglected patients more attention while I am in the facility.  I have designed it quite nicely but my supervisor want more explanation and better formatting which I will work on over the weekend.  I was extraordinarily grumpy during lunch because I had a lunch date that fell through.  I went for a walk and got a nice coffee which made me feel better. After work I went for a Thursday climb with Sylvie. It was a really good climb. We went until my fingers and toes felt like they were gonna fall off.  Then we had Italian wine, garlic bread, and eggplant pizza for dinner and Koko black for dessert it was absolutely amazing. I really can't think of anything else a girl needs in the world.  I also got my pacing email today. I will be running the Melbourne marathon in exactly 4:20 come join me:)

8/21/2013

I had a crazy day. It started with an emotional roller coaster of I had a friend who was in town for the day but too busy to see me, to be fair I was to busy to see them either but it really upset me that we didn't plan this better.  I was at a different nursing home today and I went to the wrong one.  I was only 3km from where I needed to be but my dot kept getting lost on google maps so it took me much longer than it should have to get to where I needed to be. As a result I was about 30minutes late. Luckily it was alright because this supervisor is super nice and very understanding. We did a lot more treatment today especially of the exercise variety which makes me happy since there is much more evidence to support exercise vs. massage in long term treatment aims. I did an assessment on my own around 3pm. I was explaining the process to my supervisor over coffee and dumped my coffee all over myself. I got the stain out but had a wet shirt for the last 2 hours. I was still quite grumpy over missing my friend so I took the very long way to work to extend my bike ride 4 times longer than it needed to be. Work was actually good tonight. The boys were all lovely and I spent most of the night working and getting them ready for finals on Sunday.

8/20/2013

Day 2 at the nursing home. I got to do a large amount of the treatment today. We have 51 patients to see between the 3 of us each day and my supervisor is so busy with paperwork that he doesn't get much treatment time. That means that I got to treat about 40 of the 51 some with another physiotherapist some on my own.  I can't say that I am completely thrilled with the work that I am doing. Most of it is just making patients feel better but I have one patient with lymphoedema that I am enjoying treating and a few others that I hope to help a bit as well. The rest of my day was quiet Kat got home today and I'm thrilled to see her the house has been so quiet by myself.

8/19/2013

My new placement is in a nursing home. I hate it. For real. Severely dislike. My supervisor is super cool but this placement is going to be miserable. We barely do anything. I don't need a brain. I just need minor people skills. Very minor because they don't remember conversations we had 5 minutes ago, who I am or if they liked me. I get to do just a tad of PT and most of it is the stuff that we have evidence to say is minimally effective. Barf! At least there are 5 great coffee shops right next to the facility to keep me awake. 11 more days of placement till my aged care placement begins? If this isn't aged care I don't know what is. 

8/18/2013

My event of the day was a cook-out at Billy's at 3pm. I brought a cheese cake so I made that this morning. It was caramelised  banana Japanese cheesecake. Pretty tasty. We ate and played cards all afternoon.  This evening I've been getting ready for my new clinic that starts tomorrow. Chronic disease. Yay!

8/17/2013

I was going to work this morning but the team never told me what time to come despite the fact that I asked multiple people multiple times. I did ride down to the game that I wasn't working to deliver supplies. It was 20km away and I got to ride back along the bay. It has been so incredibly windy that riding is a bit difficult  but it was a fairy good ride. I stopped in the city on my way back and saw some pretty cool street performers. I was planning on being lazy this afternoon but Billy emailed me and told me he was coming by to get some of Kat's stuff. I have been a little messy here by myself all week. I decided if I had to clean I better make it worth it and do a good job. When he showed up Billy made fun of me for being to clean :) much better than the alternative. 

8/15/2013

I was having a good day until I had a coughing fit with my patient. We were both coughing so hard and trying not to laugh that we started crying. My day kinda went down hill from there. My patients were grumpy, my supervisors were critical, my group for the assignment due tomorrow is absolutely terrible, and my phone broke despite the fact that it's in a lifeproof case. But my carrot cake went over really well, my final feedback was very positive, and my presentation for tomorrow is looking fantastic. All done with paediatrics I start chronic disease on Monday. 

8/16/2013

Friday morning swim! it was a little less productive than normal but I'm still not feeling 100%. I still got Friday morning after swim breakfast. Yum! Then I gave a presentation on CF and motivational issues with treatment.  I think my presentation went well.  I got my phone fixed and on my way home a friend called me for lunch so I stopped past the children's hospital for lunch. I had another project due at 5pm so I worked diligently to make it perfect before the deadline. I was quite tired so I had a quite night of making ice cream and going to bed early.  I made olive oil, pine nut, and caramel ice cream. it may sound strange at first but it is quite tasty.

8/14/2013

Busy day for me. I had 6 patients at the hospital today. All of them had good sessions. I have a couple cuties this week. One has a onesie for every day of the week. She also has the same one as Kat so I told her she should meet my housemate. She also has giant microbes so we bonded over yeast and brain cells. After work I almost went for a bike ride but it was raining and I'm still sick. I did go to work. It was a good night. The hot doctor decided that he needed a back rub and a chat instead of practicing tonight. Too bad his hair still looks terrible. After work I did a bit of airway clearance by way of singing show tunes in a very steamy shower. It helped clear out my chest but I feel bad for anyone who lives within hearing distance. Tomorrow is my last day of Paediatrics so we have an end of placement tea party. I made my carrot cake for the party last night but I still had to ice it and make candied carrot curls tonight.  I was unaware of how much time it took to make candied carrot curls. 2 hours later....
I also have 2 presentations to finish tonight. One webpage on Cerebral Palsy and one 10 minute talk on Cystic Fibrosis and.... I have paperwork to do for the next clinic that starts on Monday. Looks like it's gonna be a late night.  Carrot cake pictures tomorrow....

8/13/2013

I think that I lost my brain today. I felt like I didn't have any of the right answers. I should have been more outspoken with all of my patients. I had several chores to do tonight because I am working the rest of the week and I have end of placement presentations Thursday and Friday. So, I went to the store to buy supplies for the 3 cakes that I need to make this week including honey to sweaten my carrot cake. I came home and made the carrot cake and cream cheese icing.  After the cake was in the oven I realised that I had used the wrong recipe so that I hadn't put in the honey that I bought specifically for this cake.  It tastes good all the same.  I also went to Billy's to feed his fish and look after the house.  The fish are doing well but blinds fell down when I walked in. I am trying my best to look after his new place while he is in New South Wales helping Kat with family emergencies. So far I'm 2 for 3: fish and mail check, don't let the house fall apart-fail.

8/12/2013

I had a roller coaster type day. I was sick this morning. I decided to walk to the hospital just in case I was feeling better by the end of the day. I was but running home was more than I could handle. I coughed and sputtered all morning. One supervisor thought that I was playing up my symptoms while the other wanted to send me home. I told both of them that I was fine to work I just wanted to be safe with the patients. Thanks to Abbie I had a fantastic joke that kept me laughing all morning. I'd explain but there are too many layers and you'd think I was a nerd.  In every spare moment I drank tea to keep my cough at bay and tried to get all of the Israel paperwork to the clinical coordinator. He is very particular and the first time I sent my information in slightly the wrong order, so he refused it. Sigh. All fixed now. I had 1 extremely sick patient this morning with very severe lung disease and my normal grumps. It was less productive than I would have liked but all were good sessions. At lunch right after I had straightened out my paperwork I got a call from Kat who had a family emergency and had to rush the 6 hour drive home. She'll be gone the rest of the week so I will take care of her stuff here. My afternoon got cut short because my patient was sent home from the hospital. Good for both of us since I was able to come home too. I should have done research this evening but instead I worked on learning Hebrew and planning excursions. 

8/11/2013

By today I was so bored of being sick. I woke up with a cough and a terrible headache that kept me from wearing a contact in my right eye.  That meant that I spent almost 2 hours looking for my glasses just to find that I had put them in the drawer right next to my case. oops. Once I found my glasses I went out to Queen Victoria market for some fresh food retail therapy.  I took the tram because I still wasn't feeling the best. I also bought a new ghd straightener so that I can do my hair in Australia(after 1.5 years).  I made Mac and Cheese with my fresh ingredients from the market it was pretty tasty.  Then I bought the new JT album and did some paperwork and organisation while listening to my new music.   Which is when I got my email that says I am officially doing my global placement in Tel Aviv in December! I'm so excited! :)

8/10/2013

I was supposed to work today but one of my co-workers very generously offered to do the game for me. I was excited. I slept almost all day.  I finally got up and helped Billy move.  He moved about 3 blocks from one side of our house to twice the distance the other way.  It was fun and there was so much food to eat.  At about 9:30 when the bulk of the work was done, I headed back to bed. Still trying to fight this cold.

8/9/2013

Luckily I have Fridays off from the hospital otherwise I don't think I would have made it.  I slept almost all day and have a nagging cold.  I finally got up at 3pm to pick up supplies for Footy tonight.  I layered up and took my bike on the train about 45 minutes to pick up some special anti-slip hand paste.  I got all the way there to find that the store has  been closed for months and they now refer former customers to a shop 2km from my house.  I didn't have time to go before the game at 6pm but I will get it before next week.  My favourite of my teams played the first round of finals tonight.  They won so they have a bye week next week and the grand final in 2 weeks.

8/8/2013

Feedback day today.  I am a little past half way through my paediatric placement and I am doing well.  They say stop chewing gum and I say do you really want to smell my breath.  I wasn't feeling the best today but my supervisor was not worried about me cross-contaminiating since my patients are all colonised with the same bugs.  I had training again tonight.  I like Wednesday much better than Thursdays but I survived.  I came home and went straight to bed trying to get better.

8/7/2013

Happy Sidney Crosby's birthday! I spent the whole thing working but I did get to look at hockey pictures during lunch. I am really enjoying working at the children's hospital even the grumpy kids are absolutely wonderful.  One of my Cystic Fibrosis patients is being evaluated for a lung transplant so I got to do quite a bit of research to the types, reasons, and problems with lung transplants in CF. Let me give you the highlights.  With CF both lungs have to be replaced at once to prevent infection.  Historically it was a very difficult controversial decision due to the high incidents of complications however in the past 2-3 years huge improvements have been made both infection and rejection rates have dropped and a lung transplants can help CF patients to live longer, less symptom dependant lives. It is also important to mention that CF is a systemic disease that affects many systems including the lungs so that a lung replacement is a treatment not a cure for CF.  Cool Stuff. I also did Footy training tonight.  The team is playing the first round of finals(playoffs) this weekend.

8/6/2013

I had a very good day at the hospital today. I treated 4 patients, twice each. One very motivated 8 year old who brought his brother because he doesn't trust me to play basketball, 2 teenagers who are grumpy yet adorable and a sweet 7 year old. All with CF but each doing slightly different things. I felt like I ha a good day that was both fun and productive. I was supposed to work tonight but it was canceled so I took a nap/sleep. Fine I was really tired and asleep by 5:30 and woke up to my alarm at 7:30am. 

8/6/2013

I had a very good day at the hospital today. I treated 4 patients, twice each. One very motivated 8 year old who brought his brother because he doesn't trust me to play basketball, 2 teenagers who are grumpy yet adorable and a sweet 7 year old. All with CF but each doing slightly different things. I felt like I ha a good day that was both fun and productive. I was supposed to work tonight but it was canceled so I took a nap/sleep. Fine I was really tired and asleep by 5:30 and woke up to my alarm at 7:30am. 

8/5/2013

I woke up this morning and found that someone on Facebook had made an ill informed comment about how women don't belong in the Olympics. I went on a very long rant that I am quite proud of siting the Olympic charter, WHO physical activity statistics and world records. I like to think that I did my part to advocate  health promotion in women and men alike. It kept me motivated and on my game all day. Back to the hospital today. I had a busy day of work but I did much better treating patients today. Plenty of studying this evening when I got home from clinic and then dinner and cards with friends. 

8/4/2013

Our first big assignment of the semester is due tomorrow. I spent almost my whole day working and editing with my group.  Plus talking to people on Skype and facebook. Once our project was finalised I decided to go for a drive so I got dressed up, rented a car for 2 hours, and went to the sketchiest K-mart I could find. I didn't mean to but I figured that I should drive somewhere. Driving in Australia especially by myself is a bit scary.  It's not as bad as learning to drive the first time, it's not as bad as learning to drive stick on an uphill, I would compare it to driving a Penske truck in an unfamiliar city. I can drive safely and legally but I have a distorted sense of where I am on the road. It's a tad unnerving but I'm getting better at it. While I was out Kat made homemade pasta. It was so delicious. I have a busy week of work both at the hospital and at the football club so I made sure to get everything in order for the week. At the moment everything is clean. It seems weird.

8/3/2013

Today's footy game was really far away.  It was a lovely 2 hour bike ride there. It is the last game of the inaugural season for the other team.  They were really excited. All of their players wore animal consumes for the warm up.

I was really enjoying the game when it started raining in the last quarter.  Then everyone started getting hurt and my day went down hill. We still won by 50 points or so. It was a good day. On my way back the rain was coming down in cold windy buckets.  At one point I realised that I had gotten off of the road that I was supposed to be on.  I turned down a side street to find directions. When I pulled up my map I found that I was on Madeleine drive and it lead to a train station. I took it as a sign and rode the train the rest of the way home.  By the time I got home I was rather cold and miserable.  I tried to warm up for half an hour before going out to dinner and bowling.  The bowling ally had super sized fruit ninja it was so cool.

The first game of bowling I got in the 70's but the second game I hit my stride and got 101!

8/2/2013

Day off! I don't like Fridays off because it interferes with the continuation of care and I miss a day of treatment with my patients. However, having a day to catch up is great.  I woke up early this morning to go swimming. Then my friend Steph came over for breakfast before we went on a 50km bike ride.  The weather was perfect this morning when we were in the pool but by the time we had finished breakfast it was really windy.  By the time we were 20km out it had started raining so it was a hard, cold ride home especially because my beautiful new bike  hates the rain. On our ride today we passed a Maybach.

For anyone, like me who didn't know.  A Maybach is a luxury car brand made by the owners of Mercedes.  They typically sell for a million and up.
http://www.maybach-manufaktur.com
I got home, washed my bike and did some chores. I find that I am so busy during the week that I do realise how messy things can get.
I have a really busy week next week so I wanted to cook tonight while I had the chance. I made broccoli and spinach pasta and strawberry balsamic ice cream. It was really good. The recipe is here but I changed it a bit. I feel so wasteful using 5 egg yokes when it's too rainy to make meringue, plus I opened the cabinet to realise that I was out of vanilla. The only thing that I would change is the strawberries weren't quite ripe enough so they were a bit tough in the ice cream. I needed to either have riper strawberries or cut them smaller.
My first big project of the semester is due on Monday so it's gonna be a big weekend of work.

8/1/2013

I said to someone today, "Oh, I don't need to worry about that it doesn't start till August." Oops. Is August. I learned today that my ideal age group is not 2year olds. I was accused of playing fetch with a toddler today. I think I need to add to my creativity because I have no idea how to get a 2 year old to run for 1 hour straight. I tried my best but failed. Clearly. I do well with the teenagers but little ones are hard. The end of my first week and I feel quite overwhelmed thinking about everything that is expected of me. After the hospital I went straight to work. Thursdays are normally a drag but it was fine tonight. After work I went to Billy's for dinner. His last dinner before moving to his new place in a week! How exciting. Dinner was fantastic. Homemade burgers and potatoes. Mmmm plus I didn't have to cook.