My First Week in Atlanta

Well, I've just finished my first week on clinical in Atlanta. Let me share a few events that have happened so far...

Day One (1/9): I'm spending the day getting to know my CI, the other PT, office staff and kids and I'm really feeling good about the clinical... The last kid to come is about 10 weeks post ACL repair, and from the beginning I can tell that he's not the highest motivated kid in the bunch. For those of you who know about rehab for knee surgeries, one of the most important goals is to restore the range of motion. Well, this kid can't even make a complete cycle on the bike yet (just a reminder, he's 10 weeks out of surgery). At the end of the session, I'm measuring his knee flexion while my CI is holding the kid's hip down on the table and the other PT is pushing his knee into flexion. I am able to measure maybe 115 degrees. All of a sudden my CI is in the face of this kid and getting very angry, almost to the point of yelling. Not exactly what I want to see on my first day as his student... Needless to say, I was "on my toes" the rest of this week :)
( My CI is really great, and he apologized after the kid left)

Day Two (1/10): It's 10 am, and I'm about to do my first eval. Yay!!! I'm actually a little nervous, but excited about getting back into evaluating and treating patients. I walk up to the mother and daughter and introduce myself as a student who is going to do the eval. I then introduce my CI to the mother and tell her that he will also be with me. The mom looks at me, then looks at my CI and says, "I would rather you see my daughter because you actually know what you are doing." OUCH!!! My CI sticks up for me and tells the mom that I know what I am doing, but the mom still refuses. So, I had to sit there and watch my CI do exactly the same things that I would have done... I hope that doesn't happen again.

Days Three and Four are uneventful, but I was able to do a few evals. I'll just say that I am a little rusty when it comes to evaluating patients, but I know that will get better.

Day Five (1/13): My day was spent doing three evals and completing all of the documentation. After work, I went to a Thrashers hockey game with Lana and two other friends. This was my first experience riding on MARTA. I just recently learned from Jeff what some people say MARTA stands for, which I will not repeat on my blog. Many of you probably already know it, but if you don't, ask Jeff... After the game, the four of us were riding MARTA and there were these 3 females sitting near us (one of which was obviously very drunk, and it was only 10 pm!). The drunken one was trying to apologize to her two friends but was saying several words that I cannot repeat... Maybe I live a sheltered life, but I couldn't stop staring because I had never heard so many bad words in one sentence before. She then gets on her cell phone to call someone to pick her up. Meanwhile, there are these 4 guys sitting across from her talking with each other, and she tells her friend on the phone that she is NOT with a guy. One of the guys starts yelling at her to "come back upstairs" and saying other things that I also will not repeat. So, she has to keep telling her friend on the phone that she isn't with a guy. It escalates even more with the guys yelling other things for her friend to hear... Everyone around them is watching and laughing, and the guys are applauded as they leave the train. It was really funny to watch, but it was also reason enough for me to never get on MARTA again. I was glad that I was not by myself.

Atlanta is very different from Nashville, and after this first week the score is : Nashville - 1, Atlanta - 0. But I still have 7 weeks to go... I am enjoying meeting some of Lana's friends at North Atlanta C of C, and seeing the people I already know from the retreats that I've gone on with that church. But I'm looking forward to heading back to Nashville next weekend to visit my friends there. I miss all of you!!! I especially miss Michael, Stephanie, Sara, Brian and Camden! And you too, Mom and Dad. I love you and can't wait to see you.