You are currently browsing the daily archive for April 11th, 2008.
Since Vickie was back in town, she wanted to make plans so that during the times of no plans she could structure her studying/schoolwork time. Linton suggested to Phoebe who suggested to Vickie to eat at Cafe Montrose: A taste of Belgium! because it was different. Vickie got there first and asked for a table, but they asked if we had any reservations. No…and your restaurant is empty…. They had to check in the back and then gave us the big table in the back near the criss-crossed wine holders (and fake HUGE wine bottles). The lighting was “romantically” dim. Vickie, Chris, Jonathan, and James were there first, and Linton drove Phoebe, Hannah, and me. (I had asked to carpool but no one had answered me so I called Phoebe then Linton. After confirmation, James called to say that if i still needed a ride Jonathan was going to pick him up and he could also pick me up as well.) Jonathan and James ordered the $16 three-course special. I got the disappointing $16 beef stew with the boiled potatoes (as recommended by the waiter). Hannah bought the curry mussels (with fries) while Phoebe got the garlic mussels. Yum! Linton doesn’t like mussels, though. And yes, the place did end up filling up by 8:30 pm.
Turns out the other location for Swirll doesn’t open this weekend, so we went to the original location where Oliver Huang works. He told us to go ahead and try it (even though the grand opening was no more). I didn’t want to eat all their resources so I didn’t sample again since I had sampled last weekend. Eventually James and Jonathan had to leave because Jonathan is biking in the BP MS 150 and James is going with Braden, Vincent Tao, etc. to go jet skiing. We were sitting around on the unique chairs they had. I asked what people would do if they had one year off (question 1 from below). Chris and Hannah said they’d travel. What would I do? I was thinking out loud and didn’t realize I was vague because in my mind I had some inclining. Chris teased me that I was giving a general answer that anyone would give, since I was saying “learning” or “doing something”, etc. So I tried to be more specific, like imitating another’s OT idea incorporating it into missions, or researching the healthcare system, or learning how to tap dance - or any dancing….
- “If your company gave one-year paid sabbaticals, what would you do for that year? Are you doing anything like that right now?” This reveals passions, priorities, goals, secret desires….
- “Will you share an embarrassing moment with me?” This reveals security in self, ability to be vulnerable, able to take self lightly, able to continue after failures….
- “If your house were on fire, what’s the one thing you’d make sure to save? Why?” This reveals sentimentaligy, practicality, values, what’s close to the heart….
- “What’s the biggest misperception people have about you?” This reveals how s/he views him/herself, how you can adjust your own opinion of others, dispels bad first impressions….
- “What’s the one life experience you want a do-over on?” This reveals regrets, character….
Sally and Dr. Kienman are gone this week. Sally took the week off for herself for her birthday, and Dr. Kienman is on vacation. In the beginning, I didn’t understand how the short-term goal of “Patient will attend OT groups 50%x” was a good goal and tied into the long-term goal, but somehow this week it clicked for me. Otherwise, how could we justify having all those occupational therapy groups (self-care, task, and therapeutic activity) during the day??
Monday, April 7, 2008. I again reported the results of the KELS for one of the patients. In rounds, Rick helped in evaluating a new Spanish-speaking patient. I also asked him to do the questionaire since none of the COTAs are fluent in the language either. I spent the rest of the afternoon writing up the KELS for another patient (not the one I reported on this morning). I was just trying to finish writing it, so when Elderine said she was ready to go, I kept writing. I don’t know if she stayed because I wasn’t moving, or she ended up also finishing up something else herself. Thanks, Elderine.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008. Rick did task group for me so I could meet up with the family and talk about the KELS with Dr. Fotouh and Sonja. The patient brought up a good point about using the cell phone as an alarm to remember to take his medication, and Sonja made a good point of volunteering as a transition to working since he really wanted to work and help his family out. In fact, after lunch and presenting my brochure to Theo during the staff meeting (Rick gave me his $5 gift card to use at McDonald’s that he received for Employee of the Month from productivity) and bingo, I met with the patient one-on-one (he actually asked me). However, he was so slow and distracted, trying to look up ways to remember. I feel so horrible. Can you imagine feeling you’ve lost a huge chunk of yourself, and you know you’re not the same, so you try to fix it, and it seems no one around you is as concerned as you. Or at least they have no idea how to help you out any more than you do? Sonja asked me about this past patient we had who was a bit suspicious of us, thinking we’d move him to another place, where in fact it turned out he already had a living situation with a day program worked out. Sonja asked if I rememebered where he had stayed, as an option for this patient, but I sure don’t LOL.
I was using the computer where Janet usually sits, so Janet was sitting where I usually sit. Elderine was at her usual spot in the OT office. Rick came in asking if we remembered [name of patient] (she was the one asking about physics on Thursday). I said yeah, but everyone else was a bit fuzzy. Janet asked if the patient was back (like those two other patients who were discharged and then returned). That was what I was seeing in my head, her being back on the unit doing her thing. Rick said, “Oh no, she won’t be back. She committed suicide.” Immediately my reaction was a loud sucking in of breath and turning around (I can’t seem to reenact the sound, like a “huh!”). Rick was surprised at my reaction, “like you just heard a family member died or something.” He commented that she wasn’t even my patient (i.e. she was on Team C), so it wasn’t like I had a close relationship with her. She never seemed to be the suicidal type, and in my head, I just saw her manic self all of a sudden turn motionless on the ground. Janet said to no one in particular, “And it just had to be one of Coverdale’s patients.” Apparently when he was still green, one of his patients committed suicide soon after discharge, thus he keeps his patients longer than Dr. Barber.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008. Today I came in 15 minutes earlier to finish a lot of paperwork, including the KELS writeup for the patient we met with on Tuesday with Dr. Fotouh because he left today. After lunch I presented my actvity analysis on decoupage. Rick had informed me that the OT staff was going to act like patients, but somehow that didn’t click with me that I had to bring supplies. Fortunately my project utilizes supplies they already have. Also, Rick gave me tips (e.g. keep an eye on the scissors, tell them that they could also use it on previous projects, etc.). I could tell they didn’t make it hard on me, and I definitely appreciated it. Sally was gone, Janet couldn’t make it, and neither could Theo, so it was just Rick, Elderine, Jennifer (who really had to cough outside - it wasn’t an act!), and Tiffani (who imitated one of our manic patients to a D). The only comments I had were that I needed to talk louder, that the font needed to be bigger, and that I probably don’t want to give as much information about myself as I did, to instead redirect the patient back to his/her project. Interestingly, that patient actually came in later and continued coloring her poster which I had thought she had forgotten about, oops. But she didn’t give me a hard time, she just was asking questions as always, like does my family own the Chinese restaurants like Jimmy Chan’s LOL. Yay, I got to leave at 4:15 today, how fortunate, so I walked to MFAH to buy 5 tickets with a student discount.
Thursday, April 10, 2008. I figured I’d might as well go in early again since I’ll have to go in early on Friday. I evaluated someone with GAD and another who…is very confident. He apparently recently came out of jail, and didn’t seem embarrassed about what he was doing (not related to the jail incident) so that his family brought him involuntarily into the hospital. He was..fun to talk with; if we kind of spread out his confidence between the two of us, it would be great haha. Everyone was gone for lunch (EPIC training), so I ate by myself. But, they were testing the fire alarms or something so they went off at least three times. They said don’t worry about it, but the doors would still unlock so I still stood there to make sure no one left. One patient is so consumed with his internal thoughts that he walked right past without noticing, so I had nothing worry about (he previously was with another patient trying to figure out the keyhole and ID card swipe). Victor was nice and told me to enjoy my lunch, so he sat near the door. Afterwards I prepped for cooking group. At home I actually watched The Office - it was actually the first new episode after the writer’s strike and pretty (usually it’s not funny to me) with the Dinner Party theme going. That woman is crazy!
Friday, April 11, 2008. This morning we had the HCHD quarterly meeting at Ben Taub. We celebrated OT month by having breakfast provided for us (which was a bit disappointing with bagels and cream cheese, fruit, and frozen juice that I had to keep punching with a coffee stirrer to consume). As we headed toward the auditorium, I saw Alvin and made chitchat. He just finished his second week at Ben Taub internal medicine, and he loves it (there were already pictures of him on the slideshow as a “wanted” individual). He says his manager (Denise Cortes) doesn’t hover around or anything and is quite flexible. The meeting started with the slideshow and giving out certificates and a drawing for prizes (turns out Michelle Funtanilla and her brother won - rigged? ;-P LOL). I went over to say hello to Ruth Lauzon and Erin (Caroline Ellender left before I could say goodbye - she’s leaving for Louisiana to join her husband coach - and according to Denise Liau it’s more because she doesn’t feel she’s growing here, and probably because Monica herself is quite new). I administered another safety assessment today, and then all the Spanish-speaking patients on Team B left. Rick left at 2:30 to buy self-care items, hehe.
It’s been ten years since the birth of the Vagina Monologues and how they are helping end violence against women (rape, incest, female genital mutilation, battery, abuse, assault, slavery, trafficking) across the globe. Today and tomorrow they will be hosting their V to the Tenth anniversary events in New Orleans.
http://www.sublimedirectory.com/vagina_list.htm
Reminds me of when I was at the University of Texas with their Take Back the Night. I wanted to go to their Clothesline Project (also in El Paso), but somehow I never got around to it. Also, in Skirt! magazine, Teresa Rodriguez wrote an article about the mutilation and murders of the women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico: http://skirt.com/node/2863.
