LAST DAY

Monday May 23th 2016

           Well, I never thought this trip would come, let alone already be over. On my last day here in SoCal, I decided to take a bus to Venice beach, only about 5 miles from my homestay.  Not too bad of a bus ride until a very smelly homeless man joined us. The stinky bus ride was well worth it though because the beach was gorgeous, one of my favorites I've seen here so far.  When you first walk up to it, you see a group of very tall palm trees stand before the beach. To the right and left of the palm trees are bathrooms and changing areas to utilize before going out on the beach. These were the first restrooms I saw that were not gender specific! Back off the beach, there was a rather long boardwalk with a plentitude of shops, with very neat souvenirs. I thought to myself how I wish I would have came here earlier :(.  Oh well.. I thought about renting a surfboard or skim board here because I have done both on the east coast, but figured I'd spare myself the embarrassment due to the massive waves and icy waters. Anyways, there was a man playing the piano extremely well along the board walk and many folks tipped him as they passed.  I had the chance to grab lunch with a perfect view of the boardwalk and got to take in some of the sights.  While eating my chicken wrap, I noticed just how different this setting was from any other I've ever been in before.  Almost all of the young men my age wore converse and vans and I quite frankly loved it. Those are 2 of my favorite types of shoes! Not many people at all wore sperry's like that of the east coast.   It is MUCH less common to see men wearing converse on the east coast. I loved the feeling I had from being out here, I don't know if its because of my style, or my way of thinking, but I definitely fit in with the stereotype out here (if we're stereotyping).

        After enjoying the beach for the day, because it was actually sunny, I ventured back on the bus to catch some flame broiler one last time before heading back to good ole PA.  Flame broiler is an amazing fast food restaurant out here that serves bowls of rice with either chicken or steak with vegetables.  This is my 3rd time having it because it is an actually reasonable price and it is delicious!
Tomorrow my flight leaves at 12pm and it will be a very long day of traveling due to my layover in PHX. I expect to arrive in PIT around midnight.
         To say the least, this trip has been amazing.  Not everything has been easy, but I figured it out. I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to experience SoCal and share all my adventures with all of you.
-Stay tuned for my "Life After Magellan" post
Grimmzlybear

Trip to USC

Today, I took a bus to USC, figured I’d check out the campus and I’m glad I did. It was one of the prettiest college campuses I’ve ever been on to say the least.  All of the buildings were architecture so well.  There were pools and fountains around every corner. I checked out a lot of their sports facilities, (go figure). One thing I found really strange was the outdoor swimming pool, but then I remembered that I’m in California and that is normal.  Back in PA none of our pools for swimming are outdoors because it always snows, it never dawned on me that it is basically nice out all year round there, at least nice enough for them to swim outdoors in the winter at least! Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool.  After checking out the campus, I decided to play it safe with lunch at chipotle.  It was the first time I had it all trip and boy was I excited.  Surprisingly, there aren’t a lot of chipotles out here. And if there are, I haven’t seen them.  Right next to chipotle was my favorite ice cream place on the whole planet! Coldstone! You bet I had both! I was so full I thought I was going to explode. I was finally starting to get a hold of the bus system and it’s almost time to go now, funny how things work out. It was about a 40 minute bus ride to USC, but it was well worth it.  I’m so glad I had the chance to visit.
-Winding down
Grimmzlybear

Another Day at the Office

Well, today was the last day of my shadowing and much was the same all week; new professional athletes in and out receiving treatment. Much of the same patients from day 1 were there with Dr. Guthrie throughout the week. I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time, it makes me sad that I don’t get to stay any longer. This shadowing experience has helped broaden my knowledge of all the different ways Physical Therapy can branch.  From neuro to orthopedics, I’m excited to experience it all in my clinicals one day.  Today I learned that Dr. Guthrie had the chance to evaluate the US women’s soccer team (unfortunately not while I was there)! She also told me she doesn’t prefer to work with professional athletes anymore because of the way they treat their bodies. “All the coaches just want you to do what you can to put them back out on the field, rather than take care of their body for years to come,” and because of this she says she’d prefer not to work with them.

                On a different note, one of the other therapists began to teach me about the 3 planes of motion, which was pretty cool.  We went over a bunch of different stretches as well & she even gave me a packet full of PT terms to learn and take with me. Overall, my time at Synergie PT has been well taken advantage of.

Pleasant Surprise

Tuesday June 7^th 2016

                Today was my first day of shadowing with Dr. Julie Guthrie at Synergie PT & IT WAS A BLAST. 

Trying to find the place was a bit confusing, but eventually I found it tucked between bed bath & beyond & city bank.

There are three different practices within the shared space, which was really cool because I got to meet all the other therapists and spend some time with them, including a neuro PT practice. What was even cooler was professional athletes were rehabbing right in front of my eyes! I got to meet Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team and two of his teammates as well.  Michigan State’s star basketball player Denzel Valentine was also there, who is predicted to be a number 1 NBA draft pick this year (AWESOME). Two pro tennis players and 3 pro hockey players were there too.  I definitely was not expecting to get such an experience, but it was amazing! The equipment that they have is state of the art stuff. 

They even have a gait analysis machine with a computer program that analyzes what is causing pain when you walk.  What’s even better is that I got to work with the program!

I was able to take screenshots of the EMG’s and paste them into an excel spreadsheet. They hooked up electrodes to the gluteus maximus and medius and recorded EMG’s to see which of the muscles were firing and when they were. Another girl my age was there, who I later found out it was her first day as well, but she was working there for the whole summer (I’m jealous).  Dr. Guthrie had 2 patients with pelvic floor dysfunction and 2 knee injuries.  It was cool to learn about pelvic floor dysfunction because I haven’t heard much of it before.  Overall, it was a fantastic day & I can’t wait for tomorrow!

-Things are looking up.

Grimmzlybear

Urban Idiot

Monday June 6^th 2015

                Yesterday evening I moved in with the host family Deb & Paul, who are extremely caring and helpful people.  Their son and daughter in law just had their first child a day before we moved in, so they were both excited & exhausted when I arrived. Deb had a list of all things within walking distance for us, as well as information of bus routes. The beach is about 2.5 miles from us, which I decided to run last night- not bad at all after walking 10-15 miles a day with a 45 lb pack on my back. 

Playa Del Rey Beach

Due to a conflict at the office & with her childcare schedule, I was unable to go into shadow Dr. Guthrie today. So, I decided to take full advantage of the day off in cali by going to check out the Santa Monica pier.  This included trying to learn the bus transportation system for the first time. Keep in my mind how my luck has already been on this trip so far. To start the day off, I got onto the wrong bus which took me into downtown LA. I realized I was on the wrong bus as I watched a bus on the opposite side of the road drive by with the words “Downtown Santa Monica” across the front of it.  Luckily, there was a girl on the side of the road at the station that was willing to help me out.  Finally, I got onto the right bus & arrived in Santa Monica about an hour later.  In downtown Santa Monica, there was a multitude of shops, where I was able to pick up some souvenirs for the family.   I was even able to hang at the beach for a few hours and ride the Farris wheel on the pier, showing a spectacular view.  Unfortunately, while on the beach, I stepped in some sort of black tar, which seemed to stick to the bottom of my foot as bad as gum sticks in hair. I instantly reached down to remove it & it quickly branched onto my fingers.  SO, not only did I have black tar on my foot, but now all over my hands! I couldn’t even touch anything! I had to get a cup of ice in order to freeze it to scrape it off.  After hours of effort, the tar finally came off.

-Life was much easier on the trail.