Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Entering the world of Physical Therapy!

Yesterday was my orientation for the Physical Therapy Assistant program. I am very excited to get the next 2 years under way and see how much I will enjoy physical therapy. It was an eye opener of a day. I got to tour the two rooms that I will be spending much of my time till August, 2010. It made me realize that I really am going in to a medical profession. Who knew I'd end up here? Certainly not me! I signed a form saying I agree to be a human subject. This just means that in our labs we will all be practicing on each other. I even need to get a halter top so my shoulder and spine can be exposed for some labs. Guess this modest girl will need to go shopping! I also learned that in my second year of the program I will do 3 rounds of clinicals. This means that in the fall semester I will have class for 7 weeks, work for 6 weeks, then have class again for 7 more weeks. My clinicals will rotate between an in-patient unit, an out-patient unit, and a rehabilitation center. How cool is that?

I have a list of purchases I need to make. One of which is a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. Man I wish I had paid better attention in physiology. We had a lab where we took blood pressure readings and I could never the thumping and whooshing sounds. Today I borrowed a kit from a guy at work, I'm determined to get this thing down before class!

I got my books yesterday. They all have titles like "Kinetic Anatomy", and "Guide to range of motion". One is an anatomy coloring book, I think I can handle that one.

We all know the story dad tells of how Tamara cried before Kindergarten because it was going to be hard. Then Tamara cried before 1st grade because it was going to be harder than kindergarten. Then Tamara cried before 2nd grade because it was going to be harder..and so on all the way through high school. Some of you (mom, dad, Shaleen...) even know that I did in fact cry the first week of my anatomy class (which I got an A in the end) last fall...well, I am bound determined not to start this semester out with tears. Who knows where this path is going to take me...what I do know is that I'm right where I need to be and I am excited to see what is around the corner.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love how open you are already! Good luck on this physical therapy training. It does sound quite interesting. :D

In regards to your last paragraph... yes, upcoming stuff is more of a challenge, but people do their best learning with challenges. I can already see your motivation to get things down before class that you feel weaker in.

Our challenges are usually not more than we can handle, and we can always stop the ones that are. Glad you're kicking back to enjoy this!

Unknown said...

You are going to be perfect for PT. And, if a few tears are shed along the way, no problem, you'll just get another A.

Anonymous said...

you cried before your anatomy class?