arggggggggggggggggggh

Today, I had to do an electro demonstration. My partner and I had to demonstrate the case of a 12 year old girl with a grade-1 (e.g. "mild") ankle sprain, where she'd developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy. In other words, it was a mild sprain, but now the sympathetic nervous system in her ankle was on high alert, and the ankle was red, swollen, shiny, hypersensitive, and occasionally jerked spasmodically on its own.

Yeah, that sometimes does happen. Typically the patient won't let you look at it, much less touch it. The way to fix it is to get the patient to actually use the injured part. The trick is to convince them to do that.

So.... when you make me demonstrate something in front of 20 people, I take that seriously. My partner was mellow; she reviewed the case with me, decided what she was going to do, noted the parameters she had to memorize, and went away for the three-day weekend.

I went home after practicing with her and produced the Almighty High Document Of Everything Having To Do With This Case, including the case, the game plan (reduce the patient's pain so she can begin to put weight on her foot), the exact parameters to use, the range of parameters you could possibly use, alternative ways you could use the same treatment technique, a definitions section for all the terms we don't know, and a list of answers for questions the professor might ask us.

And I reviewed the case about a dozen times over the weekend, mentally practicing it.

So, when it came time to draw roles out of a hat... one partner is the therapist, and the other is the patient... and I got... patient. Yeah, that's right, my sole contribution to the resulting good grade was to say "Ow, my ankle hurts."

Sigh....

Revised plan

This is probably monomaniacal and boring. Someday, though, I'll look back at all this and laugh.

UPDATE: Electro demo done, result A+. Physiology chapter review questions are Done. Electro quiz postponed until Monday night (professor had mercy on us). Wts done. Tired as heck on Monday; moved ride & wts to Friday (their original location).

WILD CARD: the Elon gym sucks. I do not have access to a butt blaster machine or decent hip abductor/adductor machines; the hamstring curl machine is built for football players; and the mats smell like they have not been cleaned since the Jordan Gym was built. I need to find a new gym, and the Golds' gym downtown annoys me, so I'd rather that wasn't it. And I need to find this gym now. Add that task to the pile...

So....

Tuesday (remaining) Ride :60, Review article to present, write summary of it, formulate discussion questions about it; study O&P, answer physiology review questions about all three of the labs featured on the test.

Current ability with O&P: Have reviewed 50% of required material, can wrap a transtibial (used to be called "below knee") amputee's residual limb so that it looks vaguely like the wrapping job in the book, can recall about 50% of the residual limb examination considerations; can teach about 50% of the things the amputee needs to know to wrap his/her own limb. (This is right on schedule, maybe even ahead of schedule.)

WEDNESDAY: Ride 1:30, Wts :30, present article at lunchtime, attend O&P review from 6-8 PM, study physiology, study O&P in any leftover time, bag the electro studying.

THURSDAY: Take physiology exam, ride :60, wts :30, study O&P including lab time, spend at least :45 on cardiopulmonary and :45 on electro.

FRIDAY: wts :30, ride 1:30. Take O&P test. Get haircut. Take O&P practical. Drool slightly when no one is looking. Recover senses and make fabulous dinner and death-by-chocolate dessert for rstapleton.

SATURDAY: Ride 4:00. Do nothing related to school. Nothing, I tell you.
SUNDAY 22nd: Divide studying between electro quiz and cardiopulmonary test.
MONDAY 23d: Take electro quiz. Study for cardiopulmonary exam.
TUESDAY 24th: Take cardiopulmonary exam.