What a Week!

The knee seems to be doing a little bit better this week. I was going down the stairs at the gym this evening and it seems to be bending a lot easier. I can actually go down the stairs without holding on the railing. The morning was a little tougher but it always seems to loosen up by the evening.

This has been a crazy week so far. I started my last internship this week and I think... it's going to be okay. My clinical instructor, Joan, is great. She is this perky little lady who has been at the hospital for 20 years so she knows the place backward and forwards. I have the feeling that I am going to get a very well rounded experience here. It will be a mix of inpatient, outpatient, neuro and orthopedic cases. I'm fine with the orthopedic stuff. Not so sure about the neuro. The BIG difference between this internship and my last one is the health of the patients. Most are quite old and a lot have recently had surgery. I watched one lady barf today. Morphine is nobody's friend.

I've been run the wringer as far as the amount of health-related documentation that I have to provide. All the other places have simply assumed that I'm up to par. This place wants to see ALL of it. They also wouldn't just take my word that I had chickenpox. Apparently, it is actually a state law that you provide documentation of having had either the disease or the vaccine (but this is the only place that follows it). I had it when I was 8 and I don't even think that I even went to the doctor for it. My sister caught it before me so when I came down with it, it wasn't even a surprise. So last night I had to skip my swim workout to go to a clinic and pay 70 dollars for a blood test to prove that I have the antibodies. If it isn't the school, then it's something else that keeps sucking me dry.

I'm also having a difficult time just getting to the hospital. I have been there three days and have gotten lost a total of 5 times (2 coming and 3 going). I was so proud of myself because I thought I was on my way this evening. Then I realized that I was going west on 94 instead of east toward Ann Arbor. I realized this only after I had gone about 9 miles out of my way.

If there are any bonuses for this clinical internship are the hours. I don't have to be in until 8:30 and I'm out between 5 and 5:30. This gives me plenty of time to work out both in the mornings and the evenings. Now, maybe I can start getting some decent swim workouts in. I'm expecting this week to continue to be a difficult one for workouts but I should be in a better routine for next week and then I'll at least be getting in regular trainer rides and swims (in addition to huge amount of lifting that I am still doing).