College Roomie Visits Atlanta

Jessie is an awesome friend! She and I were teammates and roommates at Willamette University. Last year, she visited Texas and spent a day teaching my kids. This year, she came to Atlanta to see my life here. We had a great time...sight-seeing (World of Coke, Martin Luther King Memorial, Centennial Olympic Park), going to an Atlanta Hawks NBA game, hiking with friends on part of the Appalachian Trail, dyeing Easter eggs with my babysitting cuties, and spending Easter Sunday with Jackie and her family. Two Northwestern girls enjoying the South! :)

Spring Break in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Megan (my good friend from the PT program) traveled with me to Texas and Mexico. We stayed with former Teach for America friends that are still living in "the valley," as we call it. Our mini-spring break included a Mexican breakfast with Jana, a relaxing day at South Padre Island, dinner reunion with my buddies in the mid-valley, a surprise visit to Taylor Elementary (complete with tons of hugs and classroom presentations about Physical Therapy), a hop across the border to Nuevo Progreso for delightful eats, a run on the canal near my old house with my dear friend Ashley, a stroll through Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, a visit with Nasaria (my former language partner), a quick eating excursion to Reynosa, MX, and an evening in McAllen and Mission with my former "roomies," Corbin and Ali.


As a college friend once said, "Lori, the valley earned a special place in your heart." That is certainly true; I was grateful to return and share this special place with a special friend!
All of the pictures from our adventures in the Valley can be found here

Three of my favorite gals!

Meg, Kate, Megan, and I have lots and lots of good times! This was one of our nights out at Hand in Hand, one of our favorite bars in the Highlands. When I'm the designated driver, my friends have to wear cardboard hats from "the Varsity" (famous Atlanta restaurant)..good times!

Superhero Party

This is what physical therapy students do for fun on the weekends....host and attend "Superhero Parties." Recycle Woman is now an official superhero. I will consider renting my costume to fellow tree-hugging outdoors-loving enthusiasts.

Atlanta, GA Marathon-Part I

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PT girls (me, roomie-Kate, Meg, Lindsay, and Jenn) at our pre-race pasta feast. We let the boys come too, but they had to do the dishes!

Roommates at 6am, waiting for the start.

Posing with my running buddy, Scott. He wasn't a runner until we became friends last summer. In November, we raced in the Atlanta half-marathon. Now, he's hooked! Many, many long Saturday morning runs (with yummy post-run meals) led up to our pre-marathon smiles.

Georgia Marathon-Part II

Here are all the Emory Physical Therapy girls at the start line. Notice, it's still dark outside! Two of us ran the full marathon and the other three ran the half. We proudly wore Emory Healthcare shirts, along with about a hundred students, faculty, and health professionals. Emory was one of the race sponsors for Atlanta's inagural marathon.

Atlanta Medical Center...the finish line, well, not really! This is where Scott ended the race and where my tired legs had to take me after 26.2 miles. The full story requires a little background, this March day was unseasonably hot; 70+ degrees at the start, before sunrise, warming up to record-breaking heat in the mid-80's by the time most marathoners were finishing! Around mile 19, I was struggling to stay with my pace group (3 hrs. 40 min.) when someone said "not good, man down" and I looked over to see some guy face down in the grass with familiar-looking running shoes, blue shorts, and a red singlet (much like the one I helped Scott pick out the previous day at the expo). It was Scott...with people surrounding him!!! I didn't know what to do. Fortunately, I knew that he had one of his roommate's phone numbers on the other side of his race number (I handed him a pen the night before and made him do it). I kept running, knowing that a turn-around was coming up shortly. I continued to have an internal debate, should I stop and help my friend or finish the last 6 miles. There were medical people around him (so I thought). So, as I neared, from the other side of the road I yelled his name. I told the guys around him to call the number written, "We already tried that" they yelled back. What did that mean, I wondered? Should I try to help? No, he has people with him, there's nothing more I can do, I decided. So, I kept running, then saw an ambulance coming (for Scott, I assumed). The last 6 miles were the slowest of my entire running life (I had hit the wall and was terribly worried about my friend). Finally, finally, finally I reached the finish line (after seeing my babysitting girls cheering on the course, smiling at Jackie's homeade sign "Run, Lori, Run," and having my roomate join me for the last mile). Then, the next challenge began....get Scott's running bag (fortunately I remembered his race #1007), find his cell phone, call his roommates and girlfriend, find food, visit multiple, multiple medical tents, make phone calls to countless friends for directions to different hospitals, talk to many different ER nurses, and finally (!!!) find out he was at Atlanta Medical Center. Scott's girlfriend helped me manuever the stairs and curbs as we took the Marta train and walked to the hospital. All of this, after 26.2 miles...quite a journey. When we finally arrived at the (correct) hospital, I had to take a picture.

Scott being goofy in his hospital bed. I was actually quite fascinated by all the wires and I listened intently to all the lab results, then translated them for Scott's mom and friends. Scott ended up having heat stroke (temp. 105) and severe dehydration. By the time I got to the hospital he was on his 3rd IV bag! It was crazy! I analyzed his pulse ox (pulse oximetry...blood oxygen saturation) and EKG (heart) readings the whole time. I had a final exam the next day, this was the closest thing to studying! I finally got a ride home from the hospital and my marathon adventures came to an end, another crazy, unexpected day. Oh yes, and I finished the marathon just at 4 hours (off my target, but okay...all things considered!). Scott's ready to try again, we'll see!

Patients in the Nursing Facility

We called her "hollywood" with her big glasses















Ms. T! One of my substitute grandmas with a sweet, sweet smile.

Treating Patients

He was a consistent presence in our PT gym. Always laughing and telling jokes. I taught him some Spanish. She lost her sight due to diabetes. We danced together and had fun doing exercises. She could identify me by grasping my hands.










He gave me cookies and candy! A funny man with lots of characte. He gave me attitude and I gave it right back. :)
Aww...one of my boyfriends. I think he was a little teary-eyed when I said goodbye. I probably waved at him about 20 times a day. I always said I was going to time his wheelchair laps around the building....he was speedy!

PT School Life-Mid-Year 1

In January we entered our first of three "symptom" complexes. Basically, this means that we were finished with 9 months of physiology, neuroscience, anatomy, kinesiology/biomechanics...the core sciences...and ready to start applying it all. Officially titled "Nutrition Symptom Complex" this 3-month module was about all the reasons that patients are hospitalized (coronary artery bypass graft, emphysema, congestive heart failure, bronchitis, pneumonia, diabetes, etc.) and what physical therapists can do to help them.

A short-term clinical affiliation supported our classroom instruction. All 41 of my classmates were assigned to a site and paired with a veteran PT. These sites were mostly acute-care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health. I was assigned to a skilled nursing facility (in the medical world, they're called a "sniff"), which is a sub-acute setting where people go if they aren't well enough to go home yet (post-hospitalization, surgery, illness, fall/fracture, etc.) and/or they don't have the support system at home to care for them. I worked at the "sniff" every Thursday for 8 weeks, then every day for 2 weeks. The facility looked similar to a nursing home, but with more critical-care equipment (ventilators, feeding tubes, etc). There were RNs, CNAs (certified nursing assistants), OTs (occupational therapists), and a social worker also working there. All of my patients were over 55 years old (the majority in their 70's). Laura, my friendly clinical instructor/therapist, and I spent all day walking through the halls treating patients in their rooms and bringing them down to the PT gym for treatment. In all, we typically saw about 8 patients a day and walked a ton!!! I made lots of new boyfriends (one even gave me a roll of toilet paper as a gift the day he was discharged), exchanged high-fives, hugs and smiles as I passed by the rooms, and even challenged my new friends to wheelchair races down the hallway. Of course, I taught a patient to say "Buenos dias senora" (with his thick southern accent) to the nurses!

The hardest part of this rotation was dealing with death. Four patients I treated passed away (medical lingo="expired") during my time there. The toughest was the morning when I arrived to the news that Ms. P had died. She was this adorable Cuban woman that I started treating during my weekly visits. She and I spoke Spanish and she told me stories about Fidel Castro, Miami, and her grandchildren. Even after she was discharged from therapy, I still visited her room daily and sat at the edge of her bed for a nice conversation. Her face just lit up every time I stuck my head in the door. After the deaths of a few other patients, I told a friend, "I just don't know what I'd do if Ms. P died." Then, it happened...that was a sad day! :( But, I learned a lot during my time at the sniff (smelled a lot of urine and other not so nice scents) and, most importantly, helped many elderly patients improve their functioning. I've posted some fun pictures from my rotation.