Momma told me, there'll be days like this...

Van Morrison, you speak the truth.

Man oh man...where to start?  I now understand why my college professor's just happened to omit important information regarding certain job "duties" we'd face on the field.  Don't get me wrong, we're all very well prepared and educated by the time we finish undergrad...your lives are not in danger.  Science and theories are drilled into our brains and we learn how to work with an individual and their families to piece their lives back together.  Sometimes back to the way things were, other times we help paint a whole new picture.  It's pretty great.

This pretty picture is painted for us for the first 4 years of our schooling.  Hooray for changing lives!  I know I was psyched to dive into my first clinical and felt ready.  I knew everything and was going to be the best OT EVERRR!!!  Dummy.

Now, there are MANY different realms in the world of OT.  I just happen to prefer (LooOoOove) working in acute care/acute rehabilitation hospitals with patients who have sustained neurological injuries/diseases/disabilities.  (I've also enjoyed working in mental wards and skilled nursing facilities but most of my experience is in the aforementioned area).  Nothing about what I'm going to talk about next is to be taken negatively.  I love what I do...but sometimes you encounter days where you say to yourself, "WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING!?".

Ok...so after undergrad comes grad school.  You're thrown into clinical placements where you experience EVERYTHING the profession addresses.  Bodily function's, baby.  They wait after you've already dedicated 4 years of your life to tell you about the nitty gritty.  Can't back out now, right?

Everybody poops.  There's a book on it..."Everyone Poops, My Body Science".  Everybody does.  Pooping is an occupation of living thus, occupational therapist's must address pooping issues.  I've most definitely become desensitized to this issue.  It's taken a few years but  I can have a serious conversation with any patient who needs counseling on certain plumbing issues.  I must remember, though, that just because I'm comfortable with it, doesn't mean they are!  Working with people in their most vulnerable moments is enormously humbling and I take it very seriously.

Sooo...back to that, "what the heck am I doing" comment.  I almost cried at work today. A huge dirty karmic boomerang was thrown my way and almost beat me.  Everything I touched either broke or pooped.  The first 3 hours of my work day were spent cleaning, powdering, barrier-creaming, and re-dressing my patient's.  (Keep in mind- it's not on a toilet.  Bed pans, diapers, bedside commodes...majority of these individual's can't move half of their body so I need to lift or shift to make it work).  Sometimes twice in a half hour...it just kept coming!  Seriously, who passed out the prune juice last night?  On top of it, half of the cases included C.Diff (if you're curious and don't know what it is then look it up after dinner).  My treatment sessions all morning (4 hours) focused on toileting.  I've never, ever, experienced this much poop at work before.  Must be it for the day, right?

Nope.  I knew it too.  I called it at lunch with a co-worker..."my 3 o'clock is going to add to my day".  The second I walked in, "hey Kaitlyn, I think today would be a good day to work on my bowel program".  OF COURSE IT IS!  All systems were go...

...and I still love what I do.   :)