News from the world of CVAs

Hardly feels like 2007, eh? Not all of 2006 passed in a flash for me, in particular those bits related to my rotation at the day hospital. Unfortunately now on my stroke unit rotation, it's like my life is on fast forward. I have less than 3 months left, and I try hard not to think about the withdrawal I'll probably experience once it's done. Everyone on the team would love to have me repeat the rotation, but it's too popular of a rotation- there's no way the Head OT will let me do that. So my only hope to stay in stroke world is the acute unit, which is on the Senior II rotation. I'm still waiting on word from the Head OT as to whether she'll be allowed to hire to that rotation. If the answer is yes, I'll probably be interviewing in late February, and assuming I were to get one of the posts, I'd most likely be slotted into Orthopaedics until the Senior II rotation changes in early July. At that point, fingers crossed, I'd be assigned to the acute stroke unit. In the meantime, I'm still looking at all the job adverts I can find, as what I really want is to be on a stroke rehab unit. Since I can't continue on the unit here after March, I have to look at other hospitals, and hope they don't count my need for a work permit against me, like the Homerton did (very famous regional hospital in East London, with specialisation in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of higher level cognitive disorders-- for example, Dysexecutive Function). I have a guy on my caseload right now as a matter of fact, who is fully functional on a physical level, but unable to cope with problems/new settings/changes/novelty because of higher level cognitive deficits caused by his stroke. He's been accepted to the Homerton, but there's a long long waiting list for a bed, and we're pulling our hair out because we're not specialised enough to provide him with the treatment he really needs whilst he's waiting for a Homerton bed. Which could still take more than 2 months. Argh.