Right here….Right now….In easy eyeshot of my house.  They’ve been unloading porta-potties, there are media trucks (the first one drove through at about 8:30), the local fire department is directing traffic and the 4 acre field is filling up with parked cars (likely they’ll have to go to overflow parking by the middle school soon).

In celebration of heroic selflessness:

Associated Press – April 25, 2009 8:13 AM ET

JERICHO, Vt. (AP) – A week after returning home, the U.S. cargo ship captain who spent five days as a hostage of Somali pirates is getting a hero’s welcome.

A homespun homecoming is scheduled at noon Saturday in Jericho, Vermont, near Underhill, where Maersk Alabama skipper Richard Phillips lives.

The 53-year-old mariner, who’s been hailed as a hero for offering himself up to protect his crew, is expected to attend the picnic along with his family.

On the menu: live music, a bring-your-own lunch and what’s expected to be an outpouring of well-wishers.

Vermont’s governor will be on hand, and Phillips is expected to speak, but organizers say he won’t answer any questions about his ordeal.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Graduation is in 21 days!

I have two weeks left of fieldwork.

Today I have my last class ever in New Hampshire.

Further updates as warranted.

Look at the forecast for this weekend!!!!

	Friday Sunny. Much warmer with highs in the mid 60s. Southwest winds around 10 mph.
	Friday Night Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 40s. South winds around 10 mph until midnight…becoming light and variable.
	Saturday Sunny. Much warmer with highs around 80. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph.
	Saturday Night Mostly clear. Lows around 50.

Sunday and Sunday Night Partly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of showers. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the upper 40s.

We don’t so often get 80 degree weather in April!!!

And guess who has to spend lots of time (indoors) working on some darn school project?   Well, it looks like I’ll have to take a few breaks to enjoy the weather!

Without sounding too hokey…

Sometimes I find it a real privilege to work with the elderly in the nursing home.  I always remember that they are real people and simply want to be treated with dignity and respect.  Evidently I do it well as several of the patients I treat have told my supervisor that they like me.  I guess my manner is more pleasant than not!

Yesterday, I was doing morning washing and dressing with an older lady.  She wears a wig and it was her day to change her old wig to a fresh wig.  The process of reaching up and taking out her bobby pins and combing out her sparse hair was exhausting to her.  Not only that, but her hands were shaking so badly that it added quite a bit to her difficulty.  She explained to me how she usually braided her hair and then pinned it up to be under the wig but that she wasn’t going to do it because it was too much work.

I offered to help her and braid her hair and pin it up (Just an aside, professionally speaking, we’ll likely add hair maintenance to her goal list, but yesterday she was tired and we had done lots of work already so I was willing to help her with it.).  I braided her hair and handed her bobby pins so that she could get it just so.  We then pinned up the loose wisps.  After she carefully combed out her wig, she put it on and looked as good as new.

Something about the whole process felt very humbling to me.  Perhaps it was seeing her wig-less and at her very barest essential self.   Maybe it was how honest she was in her actions and discussion of her hair/wig routine.  I’m not really sure what….but it felt like an honor to be helping this woman.

Not only that, but she kept thanking me profusely.  She even said, “God bless you.” 

It is a reminder to me of how important the work I do is…Not just to the physical self of the patient, but to the emotions and spirits of the person.  I hope that I can always see each patient as a person first and as a patient to be treated second.  If I can always remember that, I think I will be a pretty good COTA.

These days sure do by by fast!

Yesterday, my supervisor put me much more in charge of the caseload.  Figuring out who to see when, who we could group together, and doing a half-dozen weekly progress notes proved to be quite the challenge.  I felt pretty overwhelmed, but it went okay.  Also, my supervisor isn’t of the “throw her to the wolves” mentality, so she was available to help with ideas and managing everything.

Really, that’s what it’s about….managing everything.  Things aren’t cut and dry in the nursing home in terms of when and how we provide patient care.  There may be a plan to see a patient and do a particular activity and then we get to their room and find they have a visitor, or are sick, or off for another therapy or are eating……Being flexible is one of the first lessons to learn!

Today we get to do it all over again, though our caseload is a bit lighter as we have a handful of patients we see on M,W,F so today should be a bit easier.  However, I must point out just because it should be lighter doesn’t mean it will be.  We also have a home evaluation to go and do and other things will pop up.  Being off site for the home eval will throw a big kink in the day….And then there’ll be all the unexpected stuff….I can guarantee even though the caseload looks light, we’ll be hopping busy!!

I am so much in countdown mode it isn’t even funny!

At this point, I just have three weeks left of fieldwork.  And I’m not counting down the days because I dislike my fieldwork, I am counting down the days because I am soooo excited to be done.  It will be such a huge relief to me to be done school!!!!!

And have you been noting my ticker?  Graduation is less than month away! Squee!

Things are going well with school and fieldwork.  I am learning so much! I really am enjoying my time too.  I have one last big project to do for school and that is going to be eating up my spare time for the next week or so.  Friday, I have seminar at school….That will be a big day too as it is a big interdisciplinary case study with the OTAs, PTAs and Nursing students.  The case study is geared to take up most of the day!

Other than that things are going well.  I am not convinced the cortisone shot worked….In other words, I still have some heel pain.  I am trying to decide if it is less pain though.  Or maybe residual pain from actually having the shot?  I’ll give it a few more days and see. Mind you, I don’t really know what recourse I have if the shot didn’t work…..

So…How did the shot go?

The jury is still out….But here’s the story:

I got the shot Tuesday after work.  First off, I got a nerve block shot in the side of my ankle.  It was pretty painful.  Dh (who went along for moral support) said it was hard to watch as the doctor sort of plunged the needle in and out of my ankle as he tried to get the anaesthetic medicine in the right place.

Then we waited about 15 minutes or so for the nerve block to take effect.  It did seem to work, the bottom of my foot was numb.  So, the doctor got the cortisone shot and stuck it in my foot.  I’d say about the top layer or two was numb…but not all of my foot.  When the needle hit the inflamed tissue, it hurt like a son of a gun! I guess I’m glad I had some numbing as I can only imagine how awful it would have felt un-numbed.

Yesterday, my foot was very, very sore. I was actually limping around at work most of the day.  I had more pain in my foot than I think I ever had…..I guess irritating already irritated tissue isn’t necessarily good!

Now, there is a chance that the cortisone shot won’t “take”.  The doctor said I should really know by tomorrow afternoon if it works.  I am already getting excited though because starting about mid-morning today, I noticed that I had no pain in my foot.  Could it be fixed? Is it just a lull in the inflammation process? I don’t know….We’ll see how it feels tomorrow.

Really, if it is feeling good, I will give it a good test by going on a walk over the weekend.  Walking has been pretty much a guaranteed recipe for flare-up.  If I can handle walking and have no pain the next day, then maybe I am cured!

I have to say, I am a little worried about being so hopeful.  I have had chronic foot pain for over a year now.  The idea of being pain free….Well, I don’t want to let myself hope for it too much as I will be sadly disappointed if it doesn’t work out.

I’ll keep you posted!

I went on a walk Monday evening with my dh.  As a matter of fact, we are going to try to go on a stroll every evening after dinner.  It will be a chance to get out and stretch my legs and have some time with dh every day.

I must say, I was bitterly disappointed by my cardiovascular condition.  I know that I haven’t been exercising and I know I have gained weight.  I just didn’t realize how much of an impact that had on my body.  At this point, I am so out of shape that it is pretty much like starting over.  I get winded on the smallest of hills and the big ones just about kill me.  I used to be able to charge up those hills and not even break a sweat (literally!).  I am mad at myself for letting myself get so out of shape.

I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that I am very excited to finish fieldwork to get my life back.  (Just 3.5 weeks now!) Part of the reclaiming of my life will be getting the exercise I need every day.  I am already planning for it.  Last week, I ordered some fitness clothing online (as I am yet another size or two bigger and don’t own any exercise clothes that will fit. <sigh>).  I will have what I need to hit the trails as soon as fieldwork is done. 

That doesn’t mean I won’t put forth an effort now.  For example, the stroll with dh certainly counted as exercise.  But in terms of really getting out there for a significant amount of time and sweating it up a bit….Well….That I’ll be starting towards the middle of May.

And I am excited about it!  I have some goals for reclaiming my fitness over the summer and I am feeling like I am in a place where I can stick to my plans.

It’s been amazing how much time and energy school has sucked out of me.  I think maybe I would have gotten back on the wagon a while ago if not for the constant stress of school.  And I got so far behind in terms of taking care of myself, I just couldn’t see a way to catch up.  But now, with the end of school clearly in sight….I can see me doing what I need to do to take care of myself.

I am taking charge of my health today.

After a solid year of chronic pain in my right foot due to a pesky heel spur….After seeing the doctor, getting an x-ray, seeing a podiatrist, wearing a support brace, getting physical therapy, ultrasound, laser treatments, iontopharesis, wearing inserts and a cushy heel cup, massage therapy, topical NSAIDs…And after not walking or hiking any significant distance for 9 months……I have had it!

So, today I am being very brave and going to the podiatrist for a cortisone shot.  I hope this does the trick.  The idea is that if I can get the inflammation down that maybe it will stay down.  I am skeptical, but heck, I have tried everything else…Why not try this?

Honestly, I am a little bit nervous about it.  I am guessing that it is not so pleasant to have a needle inserted into very inflamed tissue.  As a matter of fact, I know that the podiatrist is going to start by giving my some shots to numb up my heel. 

Ummmm…..Yeah….maybe I’m a lot bit nervous about it!

Luckily, dh is coming along and he can hold my hand and be my moral support. 

Wish me luck!

Sometimes life is just too busy. 

I have reached an impasse with my massage therapy.  I have been dutifully going every single week.  It has gotten harder and harder over the course of this semester, but finally I have hit the wall.  Between my massage therapist and myself, the only time that worked was Friday afternoons after work.  I tell ya, it’s a terrible time! I am so tired that it just doesn’t seem worth it to even go.

But then we have hit the real impasse.  Scheduling conflicts. <sigh>  So, it looks like I won’t get to go for a month.  Basically, I am stuck until I finish up these last four weeks of fieldwork. <grumble> I have come to realize how much a part of my routine and sanity maintenance massage therapy has become and I will likely suffer a bit to not go.

Of course, you all knew that my life has been super busy lately.  I’ve had no pictures to share, and days on end with no blogs! It actually bothers me as I do really like to blog and I don’t like being so busy!

In more cheerful news:

Our community is relieved at the rescue of Captain Phillips.  It has been pretty amazing to drive through town and see all the yellow ribbons on the trees in peoples’ yards.  Everyone has been thinking and praying for the Phillips family and we all share celebrating the safe rescue of the Captain. 

Actually, we knew something was up when we headed for Easter dinner at my MILs.  As we drove out of town, we were passed by some mobile satellite news trucks heading into town.  We figured there was news (though we didn’t know if it was good or bad) and were hoping it was good.  After a while at my MILs, dh checked online and found that the Captain had been rescued. 

In fiber arts news:

I have nothing to report.  I have basically gotten to a point where I do next to no knitting.  I both miss it and am actually not minding a break.  Honestly, my arm is still a bit sore from overdoing it a few months ago, so I am just letting it heal up and figuring I’ll have more time to heal while I finish up fieldwork.

I will try to be a bit more diligent about blogging this week.  I would like to try to keep up with some of my routines rather than be all consumed by fieldwork!!!!