Summer time in KC

So here is another post about the heat. This summer (especially the past few weeks) have DRAINED the life out of me and decreased my desire to get things done. Here is a random shot that I took of the temperature in the middle of the day (left). I haven't said too much about the heat because honestly, what can we do about it and secondly I wasn't sure what to think of it myself. Yes- obviously it has been unusually warm in KC, but its summer. Yes- its hot, but posting all over fb or complaining about how hot it is does nothing more than to point out the obvious. Yes- I don't feel like going outside and the a/c doesn't seem to be able to run enough to keep up with it (not gonna lie, a little concerned about the a/c bill this month). HOWEVER, with all that being said I have to count my blessings and allow those people that have it worse off than me (especially those stricken by the heat, ie homeless/working poor) to do the complaining because they deserve to complain. I saw on fb how someone posted about the heat and followed it up with the temperatures in the middle east where our armed forces are deployed and followed it up by 'we really shouldn't be complaining.'

SOO whether you have vented it in some social realm or kept it to yourself about the heat, I hope that it relieved some of the pressure that the heat has caused on your life. My other hope is that you count the blessings you have in your life, the heat will subside (someday, I hope), the pressures of life will still need to be faced in the morning, and more troubles will always be knocking on your door waiting to see how you will face them when you are faced with adversity.

OTS thoughts: First, a side note: For all the first year OTS's, you will be fine, especially if/when you made it through this QUICK summer semester. OK, The heat has made me re-evaluate myself and life and what I bring into the day to day 'workplace' which I currently call school. I haven't complained much about it, or really brought it up at all because it only was negative commentaries that I would bring up. The heat is acts on us, just like a difficult/unmotivated patient that gets so down and focused on the problems instead of the solutions. I need to keep him driven to reach his goals, and let him communicate some of his worries/problems before we can start making gain in his treatment. Yes, the heat is a burden but as I dig deep to finish the semester I hope you dig deep and internalize some of the complaints to get the tasks done that you are working on. Also, as I have said throughout- take a moment and count your blessings, especially for ice water and a/c.

More summer fun... stache bash

This summer has been filled with many opportunities to hang out with family and friends. One way that I have found to instantly click with my relatives and friends (and have a fun time) has been to bust out a sharpie marker and give everyone fake mustaches.




What you need...

1) A finger (preferably the index finger)
2) a sharpie (or other marker that will not rub off easily)
3) A willing spirit to have fun (obvious and necessary)

Directions: Apply the sharpie to the outside of the finger in the shape of the mustache that you would like to see. There are many options, so be creative and have a good time.


The best part is when you pass it along for 1st time stache-ers (I just made that name up as you can probably figure out) and my cousin wasn't too pleased that I taught her daughter this little trick. Either way my family and friends have busted out the fake mustaches at pre-wedding activities, wedding activities and the family reunion and it has always been a hit. It makes any gathering into an event thus the 'Stache Bash.

So if you are still reading, which I am sure that you are, thanks for reading and I hope that you incorporate the 'stache bash into your next gathering.

OTS thoughts: So besides that fact that I love to have a good time with others, you might be wondering how I could tie this into OT. Well, as a future OT, I will be dealing with many diverse populations. OTs work with all ages, and races, and people from many different backgrounds. We work in schools, hospitals, and in the community (to name a few.) Now, will I be using the 'stache bash in the hospital, or in therapy... probably not...However, I believe as a practicing OT practitioner I must be innovative to keep therapy interesting as well as find ways to connect with my patients to make them feel at ease to regain their quality of life that they had before therapy. This idea is simple, it modifies the situation, and its brings everyone to instantly have something in common- a fake mustache (or a real mustache if they already have one).

weddings and school and weddings

SOO this summer has been pretty fast and furious. My wife and I got married at the end of May, we have been to Minnesota, Chicago, and had several weddings and trips along the way.  Class has been busy and I have learned a lot about Neuromanagement, but the summer time is always hard to focus on school with so much going on.  The picture tothe left is of myself and my lovely wife at her cousin's wedding reception.  The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. 

The picture on the right is of my new brothers and father-in-law.  The reception was right across the street from Millenium Park in Downtown Chicago and they had wines and beers from all around the world.  It was a very cool idea and well done.

Since we were in Chicago- I have wanted to stop by THE BEAN, but for some reason we never make time when we go to see my family.  So I did the typical tourist thing and took a picture by the bean (left).  It is a pretty unbelievable site and always something fun for people that are visiting Chicago to take picture besides. It is about maybe a story or two high and is shaped like a giant lima bean.  It is a 'must see' if you are on Michigan Avenue and near Millenium Park in downtown Chicago, IL.

OTS thoughts:  Since occupational balance is part of life- I am finding it more and more difficult as I get older to find the energy and enough hours in the day to complete all the things that I want to accomplish.  Class is going well, but the travel and fun is hard to mix in with the hard work necessary to complete this master's degree.  So for now I am working to focus hard to learn about neuromanagement and balancing fun/friends/etc with hard work to be an OT someday.  

Back to school- Honeymoon Cook Islands

Here is a picture of our honeymoon destination. We were fortunate enough to go to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. There are several islands and we were told through tripadvisor.com that Aitutaki was the prettiest and least touristy of them. The lagoon surrounds the islands and its smaller islands (picture left) the dark spots are the reef and the island lived up to its expectations of being less touristy with great people and overall beautiful.






We decided to roam around the island for a day as all of the island cruises were booked. So my wife and I tried to see all that the island had to offer via moped. The main road was one giant circle/oval with many roads intersecting it. The picture (left) is of myself enjoying some ice cream. The prices for food etc are a bit higher than the US, the NZD or New Zealand Dollar is a little bit less in exchange rate- but the island has to import many of its goods from New Zealand, Australia, and other locations.

We had a great time and I will be putting up more posts about the beautiful islands and our adventures.


OTS Thoughts: It was hard to leave such a beautiful place, but my wife and I did take note of the possibility of coming back to work with the local population. Their lives are much different from our in the states. They live very simplistically with tourism and local crafts being their main income. If I had more time I would have loved to see what the hospital had to offer as we heard that it was a pretty basic hospital (luckily we didn't need to visit it this trip for health reasons). OT on the island would be much different than what is needed in the states and I had not interviewed enough of the population to see how OT would be used. I would speculate from what I saw that we would deal with energy conservation, hand injuries, and some of the children in the school. The island more or less stabilizes a patient and then flies the patient to nearby New Zealand for more in-depth health coverage. We talked with a massage therapist that was trained in New Zealand for the purpose to come back to the island to work and we talked with our driver from the hotel that said she had never left the island.

SUMMER OT 2011

So it is summer time here in Kansas City. The weather has been rather HOT lately and summer session 1 is in full effect. There are a lot less cars on Rockhurst's campus and the new PT/OT class of 2013/2014 will be arriving soon. Below is a random shot I took on my way into school. It is one of those 'street view' cars from Google maps. (It was right out of a red light so I wasn't fumbling while taking a picture with my phone.)

This summer's curriculum is filled with a Neuromanagement lecture/lab and the second years are doing Neuroscience as well. I will keep the blog posted with new revelations this summer as the class unfolds.

OTS thoughts: 'Neuro' and 'Neuroscience' is the study of the central, autonomic, and peripheral nervous system and we are studying the disorders that go along with it. Thus far we have looked into how the working of this system effects many aspects of the patient. Some examples of persons with this type of disorder are stroke, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury patients. The components of this class compiled with the musculoskeletal course that we will learn over the next couple of semesters will better prepare me for my Level 2 (3 month) fieldworks (to be completed at the end of the program.)

Have a great summer!

Fieldwork Level 1: Peds

This past week I did my Level 1 fieldwork. In the MOT course curriculum you are required to have a 'rounded' experience to give you the most exposure in different OT settings.


Here is a story from the week: A boy was doing an evaluation and he would randomly fart but stayed somewhat focused on his work. The evaluation was testing his executive functioning as well as several other areas in one evaluation. After completing most of the paperwork he had to do a gross motor evaluation which included balancing, dribbling, and jumping. He continued farting and then said "I guess I just have some of them broccoli farts again." Definitely the funniest moment of the week.

When I started the program I wasn't sure what area I really wanted to work in so I chose to have a peds (kids) and a geriatric (older adults) fieldwork for a week a piece. I have completed my geriatric fieldwork after my second semester and this past week I completed my week with peds. Children's therapy group is a sensory integration nonprofit organization located in Overland Park, KS. There are some OT's, PT's and SLP's that work here. All of the staff was very knowledgeable and helped me learn more about sensory integration, home health, iLs with headphones, and OT with pediatrics. This site was interesting because it was a non-profit and worked with the clients to get them coverage. Since some insurances are particular about different treatments- it is good to know that this nonprofit is focusing more on the therapy and the kids getting therapy instead of neglecting clients due to financial problems.


For Rockhurst students- you will need a rounded rotation and I enjoyed my time here at CTG. The staff was all helpful, willing to teach, and approachable.

For more information on sensory integration or on children's therapy group check out their website http://www.childrenstherapygroup.org/. They are working on vamping up the website but it is packed with information.

OTS thoughts: Sensory integration is interesting because most kids have a 'normal' functioning Central Nervous System and for some kids the sensory input can be too much or too little. This imbalance in sensory can make the children act out, shut down, or manifest itself in different behaviors. In the lab they talked about some of the kids 'internal motor' to acknowledge what the child is feeling and educate them on how to react when this is happening. Also at this site you saw OT at work because they took the therapy session and made it pertinent to the children (ie baseball sports teams, or sports they played daily). The kids helped pick out what to do in the therapy session by picking out puzzles versus light bright or what tasks should be in the obstacle course. I enjoyed my time with peds and think that working with kids would be an interesting route to pursue.

Wrapping up the semester

As the semester starts drawing to an end I appreciate the fact that mother nature has sprung with new life and I have made it through another semester. The OT class is getting ready to go on our next Level I fieldwork after finishing up some final projects and I am excited for summer to start appearing more and more. It has been an interesting semester and like the seasons - my attitude has changed over the semester.





When the stress was high and it was cold outside the end of the semester looked out of sight. Now that we are in finals week with our Fieldwork next week, I can see new life and we have some nice weather (every couple of days). The pictures (left) are of the St. Ignatius statue outside of the library. Since I spent much of my time on campus stopping into the library to study- I walk by this new statue daily. It has stayed the same while everything around it has changed.

As this semester wraps up I will continue to put thoughts on the blog. If you had ideas on how to improve it or subjects that an OTS should cover I welcome the opportunity. Enjoy the rest of spring and get excited for summer as it quickly approaches.

Winter 2011












Spring 2011