Thursday, October 13, 2011

It's been a while, and I need to write...

So, turns out applying to grad schools and doing the million other things that I do during the average day doesn't leave much room for blogging. For now, I'll give you the quick and dirty version of what I've been doing with my life in regards to physical therapy, because there has been quite a bit of news.

Shadowing:
I started shadowing at the local hospital by my school. It proved to be a really great experience, and I was able to see a lot of variety in the physical therapy field. The three PTs that I was able to work with were really great. They knew quite a bit about the field, and had really great hearts in their work. One of the therapists was from India, one from South Africa, and one from here in Michigan. The stories that they told me were great. I am really sad that I won't be hanging around them everyday now. Like I said, they just had the biggest hearts, and I like to surround myself with people with big hearts. The small-town atmosphere at the place was great. Every patient that came in knew about the therapists' lives and vice-versa. I think this really improved the actual therapy that was being given. The PTs knew what their patients were up to and how it affected the treatment that they were receiving. In regards to the variety I saw, it was pretty great. A lot of the patients were there for your typical orthopedic therapy. They had broken a hip, got a knee replacement, tore their rotator cuff or something along those lines. Those injuries are neat to treat and see progress, but they were mostly things I had already seen in my shadowing. Some of the newer things I got to see was the training of a prosthetic leg and a child with Pompe's disease (A disease that causes severe muscle weakness due to a missing enzyme in the body). I learned a little about something called the McKenzie method, which is a type of physical therapy that involves extension of the body to help "move" pain out of the body. It is really cool to see in action and is definitely something that I would be interested in learning more about later. All in all, it was a great opportunity, and I'm really glad that I was able to observe there.

Applications:
In the world of applications, I have added two schools to my list: University of Illinois- Chicago and Grand Valley State University. Those applications are done, and now I am just waiting (still) (not so patiently) to hear back from someone. A little bit of possible good news though: Chatam University in Pittsburgh emailed me saying that I was being placed into their 'priority' track. Basically, that means that I will have a sooner interview with them and will know sooner whether or not I got in. All depending on if they like me or not, of course. Still trying to be hopeful.

I probably could come up with a little more to say, but we can just leave it at that for now. I'll keep you updated as the offers roll in.... -_-

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