Happy Halloween!!!

One of the winners from our pumpkin carving contest on Friday night. It was entitled "Cherokee"

And this was the other..."Pussy Galore"

Trouble with a capital T

Tracy (to my left) was a great girl I met this weekend, who has kindly provided her photos. (Mine are stuck on the internal memory of my camera until I can find the transfer cable.) She was a bit of a troublemaker with regards to me the night of our Halloween party, as she kept feeding me wine spritzers during pre-party events. I subsequently developed balance problems during the Halloween party, which apparently kept everyone entertained. I'll be going to a party she's having in two weeks time, so chalk one up in the new friends column!

Clowning Around

My friend the surgeon next to me here was one of my South African buddies, as well as Tracy (witch above), and another guy named Mark. We had a great time playing cards, pre-party, and I learned several new games including one they called S**thead (classy). During the party itself, I do believe the surgeon dragged me out of bed twice to rejoin the festivities, even dragging me through the window of our room once. Ok, get your minds out of the gutter, it was a hostel, eight of us were sharing a room!

Updates

I was too sick on Thursday to attend the post-post-pub crawl party, at which the announcement was made that we did, indeed, break the world record by 41 people. Apparently my team, the Tigers, handed in 126 stamped cards, though we were only 125 to begin with, and lost some along the way. Go Tigers! Here's the official picture from the big day, the guy in front in the red shirt is the guy who organised the whole thing.

Also, my photos have been included in the second edition of the online Schmap travel guide for Kauai!! Woohoo, I've been published! You'll find a new widget on my sidebar, directing you to said Schmap guide.

Trick or Treat!

A la Billy Madison...check out the interactive flaming bag of poo . Thanks to Don Heilala.

An unexpected encounter

Still feeling very krappy with my cold, so this'll be a short post. I did go to work today, I still seem to have my stupid American work ethic of not feeling I should stay home for a mere cold or flu, so I stuffed my backpack with meds and off I went. My supervisor let me go home about half an hour early, and wouldn't you know it, I ran into the Head OT on the High Street with her whole family...she happily introduced me to her husband, her sister and her children. She inquired about the stroke unit, and I told her I'm loving it and learning a lot. Meanwhile throughout the whole 2 minute encounter, I was hoping she didn't realize what time it was, and I kept wanting to blurt out that I was legitimately leaving work early with my supervisor's blessing. I didn't, but it was just ironic, since this is only the second time I've ever seen someone I know on the High Street.

Anywho, here's a cool link, it will generate a slogan for any word you input, including your name. One of my favorites: "Just what the Allison ordered." Or, "Smart. Beautiful. Allison." Or "Happiness is Allison-Shaped." Or "Behold the Power of Allison." Heehee. Ok, ok, I'm getting carried away, give me a break, I'm sick. You may not recognize all the slogans your chosen word is inserted into, it's a UK site, but a lot of them are slogans that have been used in the US too.

Me and my big fat mouth

So....I had a wonderful weekend in Rugby, er, Clifton upon Dunsmore, with Jo and her boyfriend James. In spite of my cold. Yes, I made the mistake of bragging to housemate Nicole midweek last week that I have not been sick since the day I set foot in this country in February. And wouldn't you know it, by Friday night, after we came back to Jo and James' cottage from the local pub, I knew I had a full-fledged cold. That didn't stop me, we had a great weekend, but I will have to sum it up tomorrow night, because I am exhausted, I can't breathe, and I still haven't reviewed my kinesiotaping method for my patient with a hemiplegic shoulder. I'm supposed to tape him up tomorrow, so I guess I'd better review it now. Just a friendly reminder kids, don't temp fate by bragging about oh, for example, good health, because you might just be jinxing yourself ;)

Almost Forgot

You cannot look at this web site and not be happy, especially with the three cuties showing up on the main page today. I meant to put a link on here earlier since I've got the puppy of the day on my sidebar...unfortunately, the daily kitten does not have a convenient widget for my sidebar.

How things stand on a Wednesday night

Things that are making me happy and/or laugh tonight:

I met a really fun Australian girl on the pub crawl, and sent her a text on Sunday to say I'd like to hang out again in future. I heard back from her tonight, and I'm quite pleased at the prospect of a new friend :)

My Aunt Sue's comment on my previous post...it would seem sibling rivalry shines through whether you're a teenager living at home, or an adult with your own family ;)

Dinner plans tomorrow night!

This weekend I'm visiting Jo- checking out her new place in Rugby and partying it up. Plus some shopping-- something I never do over here because it's not in the budget. But I have a little left over this month.

I have signed up for a Halloween weekend in Kent-- haunted house, hay ride, pumpkin carving, costumes, and a chance to wander around Leeds Castle. Not to mention, more opportunities to make new friends.

I ruined a chicken roast on Monday, trying to make it up as I went along, but managed to turn it into a very tasty chicken soup last night.

And last, but "soitenly" not least: I'm working on the stroke unit and loving it!!!!

I'll let you know when I know

There are no official results, yet, for those of you who have been asking. We all carried around cards that we had to have stamped at each pub, to provide evidence that we'd been there and had a drink. I checked out the web site today, and the organizer had an announcement that he's waiting until this Friday to do the final tally to make sure that all the cards are in (with a little message to those who forgot to hand it in to get it in the post and to him by Friday). I am back in action, having had a rough Sunday, go figure. For some reason, my parents found this funny.

Little story: For New Year's Eve, during my senior year at college, they took me, my boyfriend of the time, my sister, and her friend to Edinburgh for Hogmanay. (The BEST New Year's I've had thus far in my life, by the way, totally worth it!!) Due to various reasons (12% cider, a friendly Scottish couple who kept feeding us rum and coke during the concert, etc), I was much the worse for the wear on New Year's Day. Unfortunately, we were driving home (to Bagshot) that day, and I was moaning and groaning with a plastic bag in hand as we went round umpteen roundabouts, Tressa too, as I recall. And my parents found this hysterical. Cheers, mum and dad!

What a difference a job makes...

Yes, it's a Friday night and I'm home. But I've actually already been out for three hours immediately following work- drinks for a colleague who's leaving. AND the Guiness World Record attempt for biggest pub crawl is tomorrow. One drink at each of 10 pubs between 11:30am and 6pm. Our picture will be in the paper and everything, although with 2700 people, I doubt you'll be able to pick out individual faces.

Anywho...I feel like a different person. As I titled this entry, what a difference a job makes. I'm so incredibly happy, it's like night and day between the last rotation and this one. I feel at home on the one hand because rehab is familiar and satisfying work for me. I'm also rather intimidated at all that there is for me to learn, and me being me, I'm setting ridiculously high standards/goals for myself as to what I am to accomplish in a short 6 months. All that I want to do is impossible really, and I'm trying really hard to remind myself that I always aim too high...I cannot become an expert in the care of stroke patients in 6 months. My supervisor is very laid back, extremely so, which although I'm sure I will find trying at times, should be very good for balancing me out, and keeping me realistic. I had supervision yesterday afternoon, and told her that in general I am very happy (because she wanted to make sure I wasn't dreading coming into work everyday-- I told her "No way!!"), but that I'm worried time will fly by too quickly and I won't be able to learn everything. To which she said simply, you won't. And she's right. Even the Senior Physio that I'm working with for 3 of my 6 patients is still learning, and she has a lot of knowledge and skills. But as flatmate Nicole and I were discussing tonight, when you've got the right job, or are on the right unit over here in England with skilled teammates, there really are career-oriented reasons to be working in the UK. Woohoo!!

It's not just the job though. I've also slowly slowly started to make new friends and connections, through work and other means...one of those things that just takes time, and can seem like it's never going to happen when you've moved to new country on your own. But I can see now after 7 months that things are starting to happen, a new life is coming together. I know from past experience that moves like this, whether it's to a new country, or just simply away from family and friends, makes me stronger, makes me a better person, helps me to know myself better...but every time I do it, it's still just as hard, and it can initially be easy to forget that the fact that it is hard is what makes me grow. But enough of my soapbox-- I'm going to go practice my chugging technique ;)

The Incredubyas

Wawa Fabulous!

These are people after my own heart...

www.myspace.com/welovewawa

If I could import Wawa tuna, I would ;)

New shoes

Guess I need a new pair of running shoes. My sneakers have been wet and squeaky, and thus I didn't notice until this morning that you can also hear air rushing in and blowing out every time I step on the balls of my feet. Haha, the race must have done them in. I'm a bit disappointed-- even though it's been a year, and I should be replacing them anyway, I've loved my Nike shox so much, it's a bit of a bummer that they've given out. I've had other sneakers that have lasted longer, but maybe that's what happens with air-cushioned shoes.

Anywho, the play last night was pretty funny. Lots of sexual jokes, which I expected. No audience participation unfortunately, but they did directly address the audience at times, and there was a mix of comedy and tragedy with the tales that they chose to perform (Carpenter, Miller, Knight, Clerk or Oxford scholar, Nun, etc). For a fiver, definitely worth it!!!

West End

Yay!! I think the 5-pound West End ticket offers season is starting up again...there weren't really any over the summer. But tonight, we're going to see Canterbury Tales by the same theatre company who put on The Complete Works of Shakespeare in 90 Minutes. I had my 15 minutes of fame last time I saw this company perform the play I just mentioned. It was on a winter break during college, and I had come "home" to England where my parents were living at the time. My aunt, uncle, two cousins and their wives had also come over for the holidays, so my parents got tickets for all of us, having seen the show already themselves. They specifically asked for certain seats in certain rows, knowing that the cast would call some of us up on stage. I was one of the lucky few, and received some on-the-spot direction as Ophelia in front of a packed house. Good thing I did so much theatre in high school, or I think I might have frozen on stage. But it was seriously good fun!! So I'm expecting a very good show tonight. And hopefully, there will be lots more plays to see for a fiver over the winter.

pumpkins and steroid shots

Anybody out there dealing cortisone injections? Think my hips could use a couple! Little tip: if you work in rehab, and have tendinitis in your hips, the day after you run a decent-mileage race, you're pretty much useless as far as transfers and manual handling go. So you better have some understanding colleagues who are willing to pitch in, or your dept better have access to an electric standing frame. (Fortunately, my dept has both.) I checked the RunLondon web site today, and the South team won, by an average time of 56 minutes 7 seconds. (North average was 56 minutes 26 seconds.) Booooo-- I ran for North.

I walked home from work, and having decided to skip the gym (on Cecilia's advice, she runs marathons, and said a walk was plenty), stopped in at Tesco's. I have two patients who had to go cold turkey on smoking and drinking as a result of their strokes, one of whom I posted about recently because he was actually a full-fledged alcoholic (the one who freely admits he's got the attention span of a goldfish). As it turns out, he's very good at crosswords, Sudoku, and other word games, and this helps to keep his mind off the drink. Since we're running out of puzzles for him at work, I stopped to get him a cheap book of puzzles, and wouldn't you know it, Halloween is catching on over here. Tesco's had pumpkins for carving, and all kinds of decorations and costumes on display. From what I hear, a few (very few, but still more than none) trick-or-treaters even knocked on our door last year. This is very, very recent, and I wonder why it has so suddenly caught on over here?!

A small deviation from the routine

It's funny how we make assumptions, even little ones, on a daily basis. Like me this morning for instance. I never think I'm going to run into anyone I know on the Leytonstone high street, mainly due to the fact that in the seven months I've been living here, I've never randomly encountered a friend or colleague. So this morning, as I'm walking up the high street, lost in my thoughts, I pretty much screened out all the noise as usual. There was a very loud honk directly across the street from me, but I ignored it, since there are people honking all the time, it's just part of what you have to put up with, living on a busy road. The honk sounded across the road again, and this time I looked...as it turned out, it was my friend Andi, another OT who now works off site at an intermediate care facility. But she happened to be driving to the hospital today to get some bloodwork done, and saw me walking, and thought she'd give me a lift.

Anyway, a little factoid for you: This past summer was the warmest the UK has had in 234 years, which is the amount of time for which they have been keeping records of such things. So basically this summer had the hottest average temp in recorded UK weather history. And September was the warmest September that anyone can remember too-- I must say, it was really nice. October has been somewhat gray thus far, but still, fairly warm...

I did it, I did it, oh yeah, yeah, yeah

My hips are none too happy with me, but I did it! The RunLondon 10k in Hyde Park was this morning...apparently something like 30,000 people were there, and I believe it. Way too many people. To call it a madhouse would have been a bit of an understatement. But quite a rush to have a big crowd cheering! Good weather for it too. So now I need to figure out whether I actually want to run a half marathon, and how my hips continue to feel over this coming week will be a big factor.

I was going to treat myself tonight for my accomplishment by watching The Mummy Returns, but it's missing. Again. I brought the DVD over here and it disappeared, and the one roommate who was borrowing my DVDs said she didn't have it. So eventually I re-ordered it on sale, and my mom shipped it over to me. It was a set that also included The Mummy, and The Scorpion King. I just now went to get it out, and my new copy of it has also now disappeared. The other two DVDs are in there, but The Mummy Returns is gone. Very, very weird.

Time has started to fly by again, thanks to my new rotation

I am having the best professional week I've had since moving here. I will be learning about normal movement from some pretty skilled therapists on my stroke unit. I will be attending a 6-day Bobath Course, to learn some more about normal movement, and learn specialized intervention techniques for working on good alignment with stroke patients. I will be having one-on-one training sessions once a week with my Senior OT who is also the Rehab Stroke Team Leader, on anything my little heart desires...from seating to dyspraxia to cognitive assessment and interventions. I will have six patients just about every day, with whom I will have the chance to build a therapeutic rapport as I carry through on rehabilitation treatment plans I have helped to establish. I will be setting problem-based treatment goals, with client input. We have an electric standing frame for use with "heavy" stroke patients, who barely have sitting balance...one man's wife was almost in tears today, seeing him for the first time in a vertical position, rather than just laying in bed.

I do NOT have to attend department business meetings anymore. I WILL be presenting to my new stroke rehab team on kinesio-taping of the shoulder, since I took a course about this time last year.

And finally, anyone out there have any suggestions on interventions addressing attention? I have a patient who is an alcoholic, and as a result of his stroke, currently involuntarily sober, and he forgets that he cannot walk, he wants a drink so badly. As he joked to me (coping strategy!) on my first day, he has the attention "of a goldfish". We have no way of knowing if there were cognitive issues due to the alcoholism before the stroke, and generally speaking, he's good on perception, orientation...but there is no safety awareness, no insight, no judgement. I'll be working this over with the Senior OT, but as I need to start with attention on the perceptual/cognitive hierarchy, I would appreciate it if any of you OTs have suggestions on interventions addressing attention.

I am a happy, happy girl.

"There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware"

I have met a guy, a new friend, whose parents, believe it or not, lived in Freehold, NJ for 10 years or so. I think he said something like 1993 - 2004. So he went to boarding school at Stonybrook here in the UK, which he tells me is where they taped Three Men and a Little Lady, for 6 months out of the year, and spent the other 6 months in Freehold. So he knows all about things like the Point Pleasant boardwalk as THE place to be on a hot summer night when you're in high school. And he did say he misses having a decent beach so nearby... what have I been telling y'all about the Jersey shore, hmm? It's not just me, I'm not crazy, sure it's not tropical, but there's just something about the Jersey shore. Anywho, my dad will kill me when he reads this post, for putting it in his head, but I just can't help myself...
It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all
It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world!

Apologies, I know I've lost most of my reading audience by now, guess I've just been too busy and I'm still struggling with the whole sitting in front of the computer thing-- I do have lots to write about, and I will, just not tonight. I'm exhausted, and am going to bed early. And probably not tomorrow night, because I'm in London in the afternoon for an AMPS update meeting at the National Hospital of Neurology (or quite simply, Queen's Square, to those in the know), and then will pick up my RunLondon 10K tshirt at the Niketown on Oxford St. in time to have dinner and attend at play at the final week of the Globe Theatre season-- A Comedy of Errors. In a note to self sort of spirit, I will be blogging about Halloween, fall in general, hospital fashion, my new rotation, and some of my new patients, by Thursday at the latest. But for a quickie-- I'm very excited about my new placement, and I think there is the potential to learn a lot. Night, night everyone, love to all.

Which "Scrubs" character are you?

http://scrubs.mopnt.com/fun/personality/

Apparently I'm JD. I suppose that's better than coming up as Elliot ;)