Clinical Assignment Number Due

The entirety of my clinical experience has consisted of outpatient settings. They have provided a lot of opportunity and learning for me, but treating the same orthopedic or sports injuries all day can feel a bit monotonous. I was looking forward to an inpatient assignment (hospital, nursing home, acute care center) this term but was disappointed, initially, when assigned to another orthopedic and sports PT clinic. Luckily, my colleagues reminded me that this affiliation is only 6 weeks, opposed to the next one (definitely an inpatient setting) which is a longer 8 or 12 week term. In other words, it’s better to get the outpatient affil over with now so that I can spend more time leaning in an inpatient clinic later. So I guess it worked out.

I’m about to start day three at my new clinic and so far so good. It’s an orthopedic and sports physical therapy clinic in Grand Central so it’s very busy and close to home. Seven minutes and the seven train is all I need to get to work! J.  My clinical instructor, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, is very open to questions and tries to teach me things when he can. There are DPT’s, PT’s, PT assistants, athletic trainers, and PT aides employed by the clinic so I’m getting to see a little bit of everything.

Other than the location, another perk to my new job is that it’s on the top floor of one of the nicest gyms in the city. I was working out at the school’s gym until Jen got me a two week guest pass to her New York Sports Club on Wall St. Well not I’ve been upgraded again, this time to Equinox Grand Central. All employees of the clinic get to work out there for free so I took advantage of that yesterday after work. It might be the nicest gym I’ve ever been in. Even better than FSU’s Leach Center, I hate to admit.

So yah, so far so good, although the days have been going by at a snail’s pace. I was told I’ll start working with patients on my own this week which should help the next six weeks be more bearable. 

P.S. There seems to be some kind of bug in blogger.com that's causing random highlighting in blog posts. Hope it doesn't happen again on this one!

The Big 2-7

Not only did I want to celebrate the great results of my finals (and Flag Day, ha), but also my birthday! I had a great day full of cards, gifts, and the biggest surprise: my favorite birthday cake from TooJay’s in Florida! Jen somehow had it shipped here and it arrived in perfect condition and still frozen, on dry ice.  I just had to eat around the frozen parts. On a side note, I find it kind of ironic that a cake shipped here from a deli in FL has the motto, “A New York deli, Florida style". Anyway, the Banana Dream Cake was even better than I remembered. Jen and I had to take some to work with us because it’s like crack and I’ve been known to get out of control and eat the whole thing. Ha. As expected, our coworkers were pretty amazed by it too.

Friday, the day after my actual birthday, Jen and I had the day off together. We kept the celebration going and decided to spend the day at the King and Grove (Williamsburg) Hotel in Brooklyn. My friend Erin (from Bourbon Street) just got a job there cocktailing the pool and lounge area so she gave us the scoop on the new boutique hotel and free access to the saltwater pool.  She hooked us up with cocktails and lunch as we lounged. It was my perfect day. When I’m at the dentist, mid-root canal, I just close my eyes and go to my new happy place… that pool. Ha.

After the pool we headed back home so I could take a nap ha, and get ready to go out that night. Especially in NYC, a birthday is also a great excuse to dine in a highly reviewed, fine restaurant. After a lot of back and forth on my part (what’s new?) I committed to Buddakan, an Asian restaurant in the Meat Packing District.  We didn’t spot any celebrities, not because there weren’t any but because the food was so awesome and well presented that it took all our attention. We had a appetizer sampler called the Bo Bo plate with tuno spring rolls, carrot dumplings, and shrimp Toast.  We also shared stir-fry noodles with prawns (delish!) and braised short ribs with Asian pears.  Of course we had to try some dessert and got the Crying Chocolate which was basically chocolate mouse inside a chocolate tarte with chocolate and caramel sauce.  Everything was awesome!

Because of the limitations of space in the city, most restaurants are on the small side. Buddakan is an exception… it’s huge! The ceilings are very high, even on the mezzanine. We got a great table for two that overlooked four huge chandeliers that hung above a long communal table and private rooms off the lower level. Also, along the walls on the first level were large glass cases filled with taxidermied animals native to Asia (I love taxidermy! ha).It was hard to take any good pictures inside because of the dim lighting but here’s one attempt.

After dinner we went to The Park (just a few blocks west on 10th Ave) to meet a group of friend’s for drinks. There was a good mix of my friend’s from work, school, and church. The Park is great because you can start at the main bar, move to the lounge as your party grows, and then upstairs to the nightclub to dance all without leaving the building. Good times!

I must say, this has been one of my best birthdays ever.

Finito!

I have so much to catch you up on that I might have to just split it up into two separate posts. I survived finals, had a great birthday, a not so great root canal and other fun doctors visits. And our life in NYC recently.

I can’t believe I can put this in writing… I’m done with classes! Finals went even better than I had hoped. I got a 100% on the 45 minute comprehensive practical exam; something I’m not sure has ever been done. I received A’s in my two final classes overall.

My class and I had hours and hours of finals over the course of a few days which, no matter how prepared you are, are exhausting. By the time they were all over we were a little delirious but definitely had reason to celebrate so my class and I did just that the afternoon we finished. Shout out to Jamara who found a pub that would let use their grill and backyard for a bbq AND for providing all the food for our celebration. We couldn’t get too wild at our bbq because that night was my old class’s graduation/ pinning ceremony.

The graduating class reading the professional oath

Most of us somehow made it home to get dressed up and back to school in time. Although it was hard to see my previous (and favorite) class get pinned and know I should be in that group, it was a really nice reception and sendoff. The speeches and video presentation the class made was so entertaining. At that point they were officially done and had nothing to lose, allowing them to make some jokes at the faculty’s expense… tastefully of course. ;)

Sneeky Pup

Tonight we brought Pup with us to the NO DOGS ALLOWED Gantry Plaza Park on the water. We tried to "act natural" as two golf carts full of park maintainance staff passed by, but no one said a word. Enjoy this funny pic of the sun setting behind Manhattan

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My Loyal Pup

Business at BSB&G was great last night as people just kept coming in until around midnight. I took a cab home around 1:30 AM because it was raining and so late. This morning (about noon) Jen took this pic of Pup patiently waiting for me to wake up. It's good to know she still cares, ha.

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