Thursday, August 12, 2010

A Day in the Life

Today was pretty typical. I got up at 5:20 am and ate an egg sandwich then went to work at 7. Work has been taxing lately, my patients are driving me cray-zay. I love my job, but it has just been one of those weeks (or months). For lunch I went out to eat with my co-workers (a fellow OT and a COTA, aka certified occupational therapy assistant if you were curious) to have much needed Mexican and Diet Pepsi.

You may be wondering: Shannon, what do you do in a typical day at work? You also may not give a crap, but I'm going to tell you just in case. When I get to work I put on my name tag and look at my schedule to see who I need to see first and I try to prioritize my patients. In a skilled nursing facility (or nursing home to some) patients getting therapy are put under certain levels depending on how many minutes of therapy they can tolerate or is appropriate for that person each day. Therefore, my schedule tells me how many minutes I need to see each person but not when exactly I need to see them. In this way, a SNF is different than an outpatient therapy clinic. In a way this is a big reason why I love working at a SNF. I have more control over my day and if I need to leave for an hour for an appointment it's not a big deal. In the morning I will usually complete ADLs (activities of daily living) which include things like showering, dressing, grooming/hygiene at the sink with a patient. In the late morning and afternoon I'll usually do exercise and balance activities with patients to improve their safety when completing those daily tasks. I always have lots of paperwork to do, as we are required to document what we did with each patient and what kind of progress they are making. I also give advice to support staff like the CNAs who are wondering what to do with a certain patient or who have questions. I also attend care conferences to give rehab updates to social workers, patients, and their families and help determine when the patients will be safe to go home, or what they need to do or have at home to be more safe.

So there you have it! I love love love my job. OT (and physical therapy and speech therapy) is the best!

After work I went to the post office to get much needed stamps and then to the grocery store, where I somehow spent $113. I don't buy meat so you would think my grocery bill would be a little less hefty, but for me that seems high. Those groceries will probably last me 1.5-2 weeks, but it still hurts when that price comes up on the screen at the check out! What do I usually buy, you may ask? Well here's a breakdown:
  • Organic milk and butter
  • String cheese and pepper jack cheese slices
  • As much produce as I can get my grubby hands on! Just kidding, kinda. Today I bought strawberries, apricots, plums, peaches, Granny Smith apples, broccoli, bell peppers of 3 colors, organic carrots, a Walla Walla onion (holla Washington!), avocado, shrooms, organic pears, and red potatoes.
  • Morningstar maple flavored sausage patties
  • Bread products: Whole wheat buns, whole wheat bread, English muffins, and thin buns.
  • Skinny cow ice cream
  • Breyer's (all natural) ice cream (hey, it was on sale!)
  • Yogurt (the junk kind, Yoplait light)
  • Instant brown rice
  • Mustard, relish, artichoke hearts.
  • Orange juice
  • Limeade
  • Expensive garlic parsley fettuccine that looks amazing

Well that's all I can think of. I also got Kobe a snack, as I always do.

I then came home and put all my shiz away, let Kobe outside, made a vegetarian bratwurst to have along with my cucumber with sea salt, and watched Oprah. Tonight I will be taking a shower so I can get to a patient's apartment at 6:30 so I can help her with a shower and dressing! I also am going to watch So You Think You Can Dance which is the best "reality" show ever (besides Project Runway, Biggest Loser, Top Chef, Chopped, and Iron Chef, etc. etc.).

That's my Thursday! Ciao!

6 comments:

  1. Love the "book shelf" that shows what you're reading. Your day sounds busy and I'm sure you don't have many dull moments. You should be proud of what you're doing! Love ya!

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  2. This was really fun to read! I love hearing the "what your typical day of work is like." work takes so much of our lives it is nice to peak into someone else's.

    Your groceries are expensive do to produce! and organic, healthy stuff is always more expensive than anything else. Meat should be expensivd! They should add a meat tax and fish tax...call it "something had to die tax"

    What is the name of the grocery store you go to? everywhere is different :)

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  3. *due...I hate when I type that one wrong!

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  4. This was cool to read - I love knowing what people do in a day! Sometimes with produce it's hard to buy for 2 weeks b/c stuff starts going bad after like a week. And man, those Morningstar Sausage patties are good! Put 'em on a nice english muffin with some egg - daaaaaaaaammmmn!

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  5. I enjoyed hearing about a typical day at work for you! Groceries are unbelievably expensive - I buy a lot of generic and it's still spendy.

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  6. Thanks everyone for the nice comments. SJ - I shop at a store called Super One. It's kind of ghetto and a little like Cashwise in Bizzo, but they have the BEST produce section and have a pretty good natural foods section. I also sometimes buy food at a natural foods market called Pilgrim's Market, which is essential for Indian sauces in jars, when I don't feel like making it from scratch :)

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