I am SO bad at them! Last night, I had a dream that I was in high school, but my teachers were my grad school professors, and I found out I had to work my new job (details to follow) as a co-op course during 5th and 6th period. Think my brain is a little confused about where I am in life?
Major things first. I got a J O B! I accepted an offer to complete my clinical fellowship at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem. I will be spending at least half of my time in the same department where I was an intern...which I loved, so I am thrilled. No pediatrics, all adults in mostly (hopefully) acute care, and possibly some in inpatient rehab. It's not that I don't want to work in inpatient rehab, I just prefer acute care. But the way they have created the position, I should get some experience in inpatient rehab as well, which is good for me, professionally.
In early April, I took a course to start my FEES certification and am about half-way through with that. The bonus to starting early is that I won't need supervision for as long. I get to wear scrubs (I despise business casual) every day with comfortable shoes. My co-workers are amazing clinicians as well as supportive people. My point is, I'm looking forward to it!!!
Details are still being worked out, so the plan for now is to move all our stuff out of the townhome in Midlothian (starting today) and into a storage space in Winston-Salem by the 16th. We have already started looking for places to live in Winston...we fell in love with a house yesterday, but they are still considering a lease option, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up (despite the fact that I mentally placed all of our furniture in the new house while trying to fall asleep last night). Until we find a place, we'll be living at Mom's, which we are forever grateful to be able to do.
I should start work either the last week in May or the first week in June.
Less major things in this crazy life...four close friends are pregnant. That number should be three...only of those sweet women should have had her baby yesterday, but that munchkin is being a little stubborn. We've been working really hard to give our nephew meaningful gifts (not just toys, he'll get plenty of those) and I hope to be able to continue with these four new babies...but it is hard sometimes! We've gotten our nephew, Jackson, a nice, framed print of the Stonewall Jackson monument in Richmond for his first birthday, a nice toybox for Christmas, and a child sized, real guitar for his 2nd birthday. I'm already running out of ideas (ok, so I ran out of ideas after the Jackson print, Michael thought of the other two). Hopefully, I'll get creative again soon...
Ok, now, I'm just rambling. Time to organize this house before we pack. Michael is thrilled about it. Well, he doesn't know about it yet, but he will be thrilled, right?
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Post-COMPS, Post-Praxis
Well, they are over. If you are wondering "how did you do?", well, I wish I had an answer for you. I'm honestly a little clueless about how well I did. I'll know in four weeks. For the COMPs, I am sure all my information was correct; however, I'm not sure if it was exactly what they wanted or if it was enough info. The praxis on the other hand, there were at least five words I have never seen before in my life. So, surprisingly, I'm less confident about the praxis.
My placement is still going fabulously. I'm getting all my necessary pediatric hours and learning more and more how much I prefer the adult population! Whoda thunkit?
These days I like pretending I'm not in school anymore...I spend time with my husband, family, and friends without guilt over not studying. QT with the hubs is coming back in full force. I'm so blessed that he is so supportive, patient, and understanding.
Training has started back up again too. My foot is back to 100% and I'm aiming for a time goal in a 5k in May. I haven't decided on that time goal just yet. It won't break any records (not even personal ones) but it will be good for my overall performance ability.
My sweet husband has offered to let me pick out a destination marathon so I have something to do when I no longer have school to worry about! I am 90% sure I want to do the Las Vegas Marathon in December. Half of it is on the strip and it is at night this year! How much cooler can you get than running under the lights of Vegas?!?! My only concern is the four and a half hour time limit. I completed my first marathon in May 2009 with no intentions of a time goal and logged 5:29:30. That means I'm cutting an hour off my marathon time. If I had kept up that level of fitness for the past two years, I wouldn't be hesitant. But, I haven't, so I am quite hesitant. I'll see how this 5k training goes and decide by June 5th (before the price jumps up another $35).
I know these posts are sporadic and random, but hopefully I'll get more consistent with them soon!
My placement is still going fabulously. I'm getting all my necessary pediatric hours and learning more and more how much I prefer the adult population! Whoda thunkit?
These days I like pretending I'm not in school anymore...I spend time with my husband, family, and friends without guilt over not studying. QT with the hubs is coming back in full force. I'm so blessed that he is so supportive, patient, and understanding.
Training has started back up again too. My foot is back to 100% and I'm aiming for a time goal in a 5k in May. I haven't decided on that time goal just yet. It won't break any records (not even personal ones) but it will be good for my overall performance ability.
My sweet husband has offered to let me pick out a destination marathon so I have something to do when I no longer have school to worry about! I am 90% sure I want to do the Las Vegas Marathon in December. Half of it is on the strip and it is at night this year! How much cooler can you get than running under the lights of Vegas?!?! My only concern is the four and a half hour time limit. I completed my first marathon in May 2009 with no intentions of a time goal and logged 5:29:30. That means I'm cutting an hour off my marathon time. If I had kept up that level of fitness for the past two years, I wouldn't be hesitant. But, I haven't, so I am quite hesitant. I'll see how this 5k training goes and decide by June 5th (before the price jumps up another $35).
I know these posts are sporadic and random, but hopefully I'll get more consistent with them soon!
Monday, February 28, 2011
COMPs aka my life for the past six months
This Saturday, I take COMPs. Longwood University administers comprehensive examinations to all graduate students, no matter what program they have been completing. For my program, there are three questions: an adult case study, a child case study, and an ethical case study. We have approximately three and a half hours to complete those three questions. It's pass/fail.
Speech-Language Pathology is a broad field. For the past two years, we have been studying material from nine areas. Speech, language (duh), cognition, hearing, social, fluency, augmentative/alternative communication, voice, and swallowing. All of those involve a level of study involving neurology and anatomy at the core. It is not an easy program. I am so grateful (for being laid-off???) that I was able to complete this program full-time.
These COMPs are, well, comprehensive. We must know everything about every area.
In August, I started reviewing terminology and basic concepts. I found old flashcards from midterms and finals, then filled in gaps with new ones. I also started recording myself reading those flashcards. I listened to those flashcards over and over and over again...while I was running, on commutes, anytime I could. I carried flashcards in my scrub pockets, took them to bars during Panthers game in VA, and to tailgates before Hokies games. Every week, I reviewed a different area, each of those nine; some twice.
Starting in January, I've been meeting with a classmate and friend. We've reviewed a praxis prep book and then started looking at all the information as a big picture situation. I've read every case study in every textbook I own. We've compiled fake case studies and borrowed case studies from other classmates. We've found case studies on websites. From each, we work through differential diagnoses, analyze assessment data, identify necessary next steps for assessment and treatment, identify referrals, and create treatment plans complete with prognosis, goals, and rationale.
After three straight full days of studying over this past weekend, I've decided I have done everything I can. I was fortunate enough to complete a real pediatric language eval on a child today, and I figure my report will be the best practice I can think of for the child case study. For the adult case study, my reports each day are the best practice of anything, I suppose.
So tonight, I watched House, skyped with some friends (mostly about school), and did NOT study. I will probably read some more case studies later this week (thanks to Carrie for finding some decent ones), but other than that...nada. I truly feel like I have done everything I can. If six months of dedicated and deliberate studying isn't enough, well, then, I'll just have to take it again.
Please send good vibes my way Saturday morning at 8am...then bring a collective sigh of relief with me at noon. My entire graduate school career will have culminated...
(note: I am not proofreading this post...my brain is fried...sorry for any errors)
Speech-Language Pathology is a broad field. For the past two years, we have been studying material from nine areas. Speech, language (duh), cognition, hearing, social, fluency, augmentative/alternative communication, voice, and swallowing. All of those involve a level of study involving neurology and anatomy at the core. It is not an easy program. I am so grateful (for being laid-off???) that I was able to complete this program full-time.
These COMPs are, well, comprehensive. We must know everything about every area.
In August, I started reviewing terminology and basic concepts. I found old flashcards from midterms and finals, then filled in gaps with new ones. I also started recording myself reading those flashcards. I listened to those flashcards over and over and over again...while I was running, on commutes, anytime I could. I carried flashcards in my scrub pockets, took them to bars during Panthers game in VA, and to tailgates before Hokies games. Every week, I reviewed a different area, each of those nine; some twice.
Starting in January, I've been meeting with a classmate and friend. We've reviewed a praxis prep book and then started looking at all the information as a big picture situation. I've read every case study in every textbook I own. We've compiled fake case studies and borrowed case studies from other classmates. We've found case studies on websites. From each, we work through differential diagnoses, analyze assessment data, identify necessary next steps for assessment and treatment, identify referrals, and create treatment plans complete with prognosis, goals, and rationale.
After three straight full days of studying over this past weekend, I've decided I have done everything I can. I was fortunate enough to complete a real pediatric language eval on a child today, and I figure my report will be the best practice I can think of for the child case study. For the adult case study, my reports each day are the best practice of anything, I suppose.
So tonight, I watched House, skyped with some friends (mostly about school), and did NOT study. I will probably read some more case studies later this week (thanks to Carrie for finding some decent ones), but other than that...nada. I truly feel like I have done everything I can. If six months of dedicated and deliberate studying isn't enough, well, then, I'll just have to take it again.
Please send good vibes my way Saturday morning at 8am...then bring a collective sigh of relief with me at noon. My entire graduate school career will have culminated...
(note: I am not proofreading this post...my brain is fried...sorry for any errors)
Sunday, January 30, 2011
I love what I do!!
I've been getting a lot of questions about what I'm doing every day at the hospital. It's a pretty detailed explanation, but I find it fascinating and that means everyone finds it fascinating, right? Of course!
I am 'working' (fo' FREE) four days a week in the acute care department and one day a week in the pediatric inpatient department at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. I follow my supervisor (an ASHA-certified speech language pathologist) around all day and participate when it's permissible.
In the adult acute care setting, we see any patient that has been admitted to the hospital that may also have cognitive, communicative, and/or swallowing concerns. We receive "consults" (orders from doctors) to complete evaluations on patients. The majority of these consults for swallowing evaluations. The next process is called a clinical swallow evaluation ("bedside" for short). We just have the patient take a few bites of food and sips of drink to determine if the patient can at least take in and manipulate food in attempt to swallow. If they can, we do a fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). This involves my supervisor putting a tube with a camera on the end of it up the patient's nose and down into their throat. From here we can actually watch green dye-tinted food and drink travel from the back of the patient's tongue down into (hopefully) the esophagus. We spend 10 to 20 minutes or so watching the patient's vocal cords and making sure the food and drink goes where it supposed to and not into the windpipe. If you go to this website http://www.med.nyu.edu/voicecenter/resources/video.html and click "abnormal FEES study" you can see an example of what I look at every day.
If for some reason, the patient will not tolerate a FEES or we need more information, we can do a modified barium swallow study. This involves taking an x-ray of the patient while they eat and drink stuff with barium on/in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf2kRD85zvc This is an entertaining version of what the MBSS looks like.
Once we have all our diagnostic information, we make recommendations about what a patient can and can't eat or drink, as well as make recommendations about therapy exercises. We are also consulted to do Passy Muir valve evaluations for patients with tracheostomys. A PMV is something a patient can use to produce voice with the trach. It's a really neat gadget. The company's website has fantastic videos. http://www.passy-muir.com/
We also work with patients who have had laryngectomees to learn how to use an electrolarynx. There is also a level of counseling we provide for these patients pre- and post-operatively.
We also see patients who have had brain injuries of many varieties for language and communication deficits. We have some short standardized testing we can do, but mostly our evals for these patients are short and informal, due to their medical state. Even these informal evals give us a lot of information about possible intervention for the patient related to language and cognition.
Whew...there's more. I'm doing all that four days a week. Once a week, and soon, two or three times a week, I'm with the pediatric inpatient SLP. Half of those days involved MBS studies with children of all ages, including preemies! The rest of those days, we do feeding therapy and oral motor exercises with the babies in the NICU and IMC.
I absolutely love this placement. I am learning so much and every bit of it fascinates me. It's challenging and interesting. Every day is different. I'm so grateful for this experience.
I have decided to start applying for this type of position. If you know of any hospitals that might have openings and especially if you know anyone I can talk to in the Speech and Hearing Departments, I would greatly appreciate the contacts! My resume is ready to be sent out!
I am 'working' (fo' FREE) four days a week in the acute care department and one day a week in the pediatric inpatient department at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. I follow my supervisor (an ASHA-certified speech language pathologist) around all day and participate when it's permissible.
In the adult acute care setting, we see any patient that has been admitted to the hospital that may also have cognitive, communicative, and/or swallowing concerns. We receive "consults" (orders from doctors) to complete evaluations on patients. The majority of these consults for swallowing evaluations. The next process is called a clinical swallow evaluation ("bedside" for short). We just have the patient take a few bites of food and sips of drink to determine if the patient can at least take in and manipulate food in attempt to swallow. If they can, we do a fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). This involves my supervisor putting a tube with a camera on the end of it up the patient's nose and down into their throat. From here we can actually watch green dye-tinted food and drink travel from the back of the patient's tongue down into (hopefully) the esophagus. We spend 10 to 20 minutes or so watching the patient's vocal cords and making sure the food and drink goes where it supposed to and not into the windpipe. If you go to this website http://www.med.nyu.edu/voicecenter/resources/video.html and click "abnormal FEES study" you can see an example of what I look at every day.
If for some reason, the patient will not tolerate a FEES or we need more information, we can do a modified barium swallow study. This involves taking an x-ray of the patient while they eat and drink stuff with barium on/in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf2kRD85zvc This is an entertaining version of what the MBSS looks like.
Once we have all our diagnostic information, we make recommendations about what a patient can and can't eat or drink, as well as make recommendations about therapy exercises. We are also consulted to do Passy Muir valve evaluations for patients with tracheostomys. A PMV is something a patient can use to produce voice with the trach. It's a really neat gadget. The company's website has fantastic videos. http://www.passy-muir.com/
We also work with patients who have had laryngectomees to learn how to use an electrolarynx. There is also a level of counseling we provide for these patients pre- and post-operatively.
We also see patients who have had brain injuries of many varieties for language and communication deficits. We have some short standardized testing we can do, but mostly our evals for these patients are short and informal, due to their medical state. Even these informal evals give us a lot of information about possible intervention for the patient related to language and cognition.
Whew...there's more. I'm doing all that four days a week. Once a week, and soon, two or three times a week, I'm with the pediatric inpatient SLP. Half of those days involved MBS studies with children of all ages, including preemies! The rest of those days, we do feeding therapy and oral motor exercises with the babies in the NICU and IMC.
I absolutely love this placement. I am learning so much and every bit of it fascinates me. It's challenging and interesting. Every day is different. I'm so grateful for this experience.
I have decided to start applying for this type of position. If you know of any hospitals that might have openings and especially if you know anyone I can talk to in the Speech and Hearing Departments, I would greatly appreciate the contacts! My resume is ready to be sent out!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Hacked?
I tried to sign into my blog this morning and got a notification that it had been removed. After a short panic, I logged straight into my (old) email and discovered it had in fact been shut down for "suspicious activity". I have no idea what happened, but if something sketchy happened on my blog, or if anyone received sketchy emails from my old email address (with my maiden name) I apologize profusely!
Post to follow about what I'm doing at the hospital!
Post to follow about what I'm doing at the hospital!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
DESTINY
This was part of a holiday letter from an old boss of mine. She is someone I admire professionally as well as personally and I really appreciated her sharing this. I decided to try and put myself up against these verses and see what I learned...
God knows that you have desires. You just have to endure so that you can reap them
and do not be limited by your sight. Just trust Him and allow Him to instruct you. Then new things that have not existed before will come your way. And when you say yes to Him it will start all over again.
D- desires (Ps. 37:4) Well, I certainly haven't been delighting in the Lord. Traveling has kept us from church and laziness has kept me from the Word. Shame on me to expect a loving God to give without receiving.
E- endurance (Heb. 12:1) Sheesh, I haven't been enduring or actively pursuing anything (spiritual, academic, or physical) since my last final. I have let laziness take over in most aspects of my life.
S- sight (2 Cor. 5:7) I am desperate to *SEE* an answer to our family's job situation, for both of us. I am struggling to just believe that the right things will happen, even though I've experienced that a number of times, specifically related to jobs.
T- trust (Pro 3:5) Hard to actively trust when I don't interact.
I- instruction (Pro. 8:33) Can't hear something if I'm not listening for it.
N- new (not existing before) (Lam. 3:23) I have to add verse 22 to that. Here comes the encouragement. It doesn't matter what I haven't been doing. (v22) "The STEADFAST love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end." I've got to get back into that mindset. He does His work. The only work for me to do is talk with Him and be open to doing His work.
Y- yes (Matt. 5:37) This passage is about taking oaths, making promises. The verse says to just come out and be straight about whatever it is. For me, I made my promise to God (however faulty) that I would be His child and work for His glory. Well, I seem to have forgotten my "YES" and settled for a "when it is convenient or easy".
My major struggle right now is routine. I've blogged about this before...I need structure, deadlines, and to-do lists. Things don't get done without those things. This goes for everything in my life, running, school work, cleaning, and spending time in the Word. I'm seeing now (again, for the millionth time) how this affects my whole life. Time to get cracking on being real with myself again. Laziness over. Prayers would be appreciated for perseverance, an open heart & mind, and faith. I'll ask for prayers for the specific stuff later, once I get back on track with this mess.
God knows that you have desires. You just have to endure so that you can reap them
and do not be limited by your sight. Just trust Him and allow Him to instruct you. Then new things that have not existed before will come your way. And when you say yes to Him it will start all over again.
D- desires (Ps. 37:4) Well, I certainly haven't been delighting in the Lord. Traveling has kept us from church and laziness has kept me from the Word. Shame on me to expect a loving God to give without receiving.
E- endurance (Heb. 12:1) Sheesh, I haven't been enduring or actively pursuing anything (spiritual, academic, or physical) since my last final. I have let laziness take over in most aspects of my life.
S- sight (2 Cor. 5:7) I am desperate to *SEE* an answer to our family's job situation, for both of us. I am struggling to just believe that the right things will happen, even though I've experienced that a number of times, specifically related to jobs.
T- trust (Pro 3:5) Hard to actively trust when I don't interact.
I- instruction (Pro. 8:33) Can't hear something if I'm not listening for it.
N- new (not existing before) (Lam. 3:23) I have to add verse 22 to that. Here comes the encouragement. It doesn't matter what I haven't been doing. (v22) "The STEADFAST love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end." I've got to get back into that mindset. He does His work. The only work for me to do is talk with Him and be open to doing His work.
Y- yes (Matt. 5:37) This passage is about taking oaths, making promises. The verse says to just come out and be straight about whatever it is. For me, I made my promise to God (however faulty) that I would be His child and work for His glory. Well, I seem to have forgotten my "YES" and settled for a "when it is convenient or easy".
My major struggle right now is routine. I've blogged about this before...I need structure, deadlines, and to-do lists. Things don't get done without those things. This goes for everything in my life, running, school work, cleaning, and spending time in the Word. I'm seeing now (again, for the millionth time) how this affects my whole life. Time to get cracking on being real with myself again. Laziness over. Prayers would be appreciated for perseverance, an open heart & mind, and faith. I'll ask for prayers for the specific stuff later, once I get back on track with this mess.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Clumsy Baker
Last Thursday was my first day with absolutely nothing to do. No studying, no family dinner dates, nada.
So I decided to try baking again. And I made these http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/cranberry_honey_spice_pinwheel_cookies.html
and some of this cranberry orange bread http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/cranberry-orange-bread-2/Detail.aspx
I was so excited about not having anything to do, even shopping at Wal-Mart in the December madness was fun!
I am REALLY enjoying baking. But I am BAAAAD at it...here are a few examples of just how bad...
So, when I baked last week, I used every single prep bowl we own. Because I'm a smidge OCD/anal-retentive and it was fun for me. But the clean up was a bear, so this time, I decided to just go slowly and put everything into one bowl when prepping the bread. Flour, good. Sugar, good. baking powder, good...oh wait, that said three TEASPOONS, not tablespoons. Try to scoop white baking powder out of white sugar was difficult to say the least, so when I baked the cookies, I spread everything out into seperate bowls. Lesson learned.
Still on the bread, I decided to double the recipe. I paid close attention...and then apparently got distracted at some point. I got to the last step and started to fold in the fresh cranberries. I thought to myself, "well, this seems difficult" and "hmmmm, i don't think this batter is going to pour into the loaf pan like the banana bread batter did last time" So I double check the recipe...yep, I neglected to double the liquid ingredients. OOPS. So I picked 50 fresh cranberries out of the thick dough, added the liquid, mixed, and it was perfect!
For the cookies...I took my time and laid out every ingredient. I didn't have a single problem with these cookies! And let me tell you, if you have the time, you should really try these, they were so very good! So good, I'm going to make another batch today! It claims it makes 90, last time, I got about 50 out of the recipe...so I'm going to try to slice them more thinly today.
Off I go to the grocery store for ingredients...in the SNOW! I woke up this morning to a beautiful surprise of three inches of snow!
I'll probably post again later today or tomorrow about today's baking expedition!
So I decided to try baking again. And I made these http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/cranberry_honey_spice_pinwheel_cookies.html
and some of this cranberry orange bread http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/cranberry-orange-bread-2/Detail.aspx
I was so excited about not having anything to do, even shopping at Wal-Mart in the December madness was fun!
I am REALLY enjoying baking. But I am BAAAAD at it...here are a few examples of just how bad...
So, when I baked last week, I used every single prep bowl we own. Because I'm a smidge OCD/anal-retentive and it was fun for me. But the clean up was a bear, so this time, I decided to just go slowly and put everything into one bowl when prepping the bread. Flour, good. Sugar, good. baking powder, good...oh wait, that said three TEASPOONS, not tablespoons. Try to scoop white baking powder out of white sugar was difficult to say the least, so when I baked the cookies, I spread everything out into seperate bowls. Lesson learned.
Still on the bread, I decided to double the recipe. I paid close attention...and then apparently got distracted at some point. I got to the last step and started to fold in the fresh cranberries. I thought to myself, "well, this seems difficult" and "hmmmm, i don't think this batter is going to pour into the loaf pan like the banana bread batter did last time" So I double check the recipe...yep, I neglected to double the liquid ingredients. OOPS. So I picked 50 fresh cranberries out of the thick dough, added the liquid, mixed, and it was perfect!
For the cookies...I took my time and laid out every ingredient. I didn't have a single problem with these cookies! And let me tell you, if you have the time, you should really try these, they were so very good! So good, I'm going to make another batch today! It claims it makes 90, last time, I got about 50 out of the recipe...so I'm going to try to slice them more thinly today.
Off I go to the grocery store for ingredients...in the SNOW! I woke up this morning to a beautiful surprise of three inches of snow!
I'll probably post again later today or tomorrow about today's baking expedition!
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