It's come to a close

So picking up from where I left off. Tuesday night we were at Howard and Sandra's again. Holly and I were cleaning the beautiful wooden steps that haven't been covered while everyone has been painting (don't tell John Harriman). So there are covered in splatters of paint.
Wednesday I was in the hospital and we did a home assessment for the lady who had been in hospital for 3 months. That was good, it took most of the morning. I hope it all goes well for her, she hasn't adapted to the change of using a wheelie walker, she doesn't think ahead enough about what she is doing. Hopefully she doesn't have another fall, we'll wait and see. We went to a ward meeting in the afternoon where I spoke about the above lady, good experience.
Wednesday night, Guy, Holly and I went to Josh and Katie Hay's for dinner in Warwick. It was a really fun night, Josh is just hilarious. Katie is so pregnant she is about to pop. They're also happy to give me a job once I'm finished my degree :S
Thursday was my last day in the hospital.

It's such a cute little hospital. Anyway, Thursday we had an outpatient who was showing symptoms very typical of carpal tunnel syndrome so we made her a splint and she'll be reviewed next week. I got to help make it, so that was pretty cool. I then met with the social worker to discuss what she does and how that works with the OT. Then I met with Penny for lunch after she had met with Geraldine to discuss my final marks. They are both really happy with me and say I'll make a fantastic OT, so that's awesome!!!!! I passed my assessment too, so that's great, oh and I passed all my subjects this semester as well. I had a video conference in the afternoon with my uni friends and another coordinator lady, and they've both had really great placements as well.
Thursday night Guy and Holly took me out to dinner and we went to 'Patty's'. It was a great place, awesome food! It was a really lovely night. Guy and Holly knew everyone who was there, just because of the small town factor.
Friday I had breakfast at Mason Winery with the team from Granite Belt Support Services and Penny.

It was a beautiful place and I had a great brekky. This is my team!!! Geraldine is the one with glasses and Penny is the one on the other side of me in the front with the black shirt. They are all amazing at what the do!

Friday I just joined in with whatever was happening, went to a few groups breakup parties and named presents for the clients of GBSS from the teachers at Stanthorpe High. I even saw Jono Bushby!
Friday night there was a church BBQ. It was a really great night a nice way to say farewell. And after the BBQ...we went shooting!!!!!!!!!!!! It was very exhilarating! Don't tell Maya, she wasn't too keen on the idea ;) I used a 22, a shotgun and a 505 (I think it's called). The power in those things was amazing. Look away now if you don't want to see a dead possum.

Well that brings us to a close. The Lord answered my prayer in having a productive time, having sweet fellowship and making very dear friends. I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to come down to Stanthorpe and spend time with the folk here. They are a great bunch, it's been a real blessing. So thankyou everyone for your prayers and for following my blog, hope you enjoyed! I'll be hitting the road shortly and I'll see you when I see. So this is OT Lani signing out :)

What have I been up to!

In case you haven't picked it yet, Stanthorpe is a busy place with lots happening all the time and I have absolutely loved being a part of the place. Not just at prac but within the church community as well.
Friday night I went to Nathan and Leanne Sweet's. They have 3 children, Ruth, Alannah and Jono. They are all legendary kids. We had a really great night together. I continually love that distance isn't an issue for meeting and knowing one another, but rather our connections are based in the Lord, it's just awesome. I found out that Nathan's favourite story is about me...when I picked up the compressor at Vic and Lorraine's one day and carried it down to the shed, apparently he likes telling people :S
Saturday of course was Mark and Charissa's wedding!!!! What a fantastic day that was, and it was great to see my family and friends again! Love you all lots, especially these munchkins...they didn't want to leave my side :)

And it was nice to see these 2 as well :D

I enjoyed catching up with Zach as well, I just didn't get a very good photo of him :S
During the wedding and the reception I hung out on the beach with these fun girls, Holly and Sara

It was such a great day. It was great to witness these 2 get married and rejoice with them in their commitments.

So we got home around 1.15am and Guy was ready to share Sunday morning. It was all about the seven times trial. And we were encouraged that we are to find joy, thanks and confidence in the midst of our trial, for we know that this is defining us towards our sonship. So it was a great morning. That evening there was a big group that went out to Howard and Sandra's to do some more painting. We all then  huddled under the shower as the storm rolled over and had a BBQ dinner. These were my little buddies...Ruth

Alannah...

And Jono...

Then Monday I was in the hospital again with Penny. We met with an impatient who has been in for 3 months and has finally been given the approval to weight bear, which means she can go home soon. So we organised to do a home visit with her. We did another home assessment for an elderly couple in their 90's who just wanted a rail in the shower, apart from that they cope very well. So I did up that assessment and sent it away. We then looked up some information to send to a family in relation to a toilet chair that they are considering purchasing for their dad. So that was good, nice to have a look at a database, that I'm sure I will use again in the future.
Monday night I had dinner with Howard and Sandra. It was a really good night. They are such a great couple and I really appreciate them both. Howard thanked me for just being me, giving myself to the place and participating on Sunday morning. And Grandma, Sandra hasn't forgotten that you suggested they come and stay in your place when it is built. So we should get a visit in the new year :)
Today I was again Granite Belt Support Services with Geraldine. They are all wrapping up for the year, so there was lots of report writing, filing, archiving and trip to town for lunch. We went to a little Thai place that was really good.
Well that's it for now, we have lots planned for the rest of the week and I'll keep you posted.

Only one week left to go!

Well I was planning on doing a halfway blog, but that has come and gone and now its a 2/3's blog :)
Tuesday night there was a crew of people that went around Howard and Sandra's to do some painting in their newly built guest extension, that was really fun.
Ok...Wednesday we discharged man from our services now that we can't do any more for him and he is making steady progress with the exercises he has been prescribed. He has a contracted third digit on his left hand. It is getting stronger but it will never be able to fully extend, and it is not impacting him functionally. We then saw 2 patients we also saw last week to see how they were going. The first lady has Parkinson's and we had found a hand splint that would support her fingers and wrist and hopefully reduce the rate of deterioration. The family was happy for us to go ahead order one for each hand, so that has been done. We then checked on our dear little lady with lymphodaema swelling and has been prescribed a compression vest. She doesn't love it but after discussing the benefits, we found a happy medium and she wore it for a few hours. I with the care nurse from Blue Care, helped put it on. We'll wait to hear how she goes this week. When we got back to the hospital Penny taught me to do lymphodeama swelling bandaging and I nailed it. She said it was a little complicated to get the hang of...got it first time :D

Wednesday was my halfway day, so I was assessed. I'm passing everything and both Penny and Geraldine gave me some really positive feedback. I got a few marks of insufficient because I haven't had the opportunity to to be assessed in those areas. But we aren't concerned it should happen within this next week. That evening a few of us ladies went to Jono and Rach's place to do some cleaning...it's an ex-boys house and it was in need of some serious cleaning.

We also wondered if they wanted us to check if their presents were satisfactory, we may have opened a few...

Jokes, we'll leave it to them.
Yesterday was another great day in the hospital. We did a home assessment for a guy who had been recently discharged. Between Penny and I, I probably did 40% of the talking to the client. So that was good, we worked really well together. We saw another lady who was having issues with her compression bandages so we gave her some more equipment and handy tips. Dad I'm wondering if a compression bandage might help reduce the pain in your varicose veins. We saw an inpatient who was fairly well asleep and is probably going to go into a nursing home. So we were looking at his discharge plan...no plans as yet, we'll wait until he's more awake and family are present. That night (last night) I went over to Mike and Karen Collier's for dinner. Mike was in Warwick for choir, so it was just Karen and I. We had a very lovely evening together, enjoying a meal and sharing various points where the Lord has met us, so that was lovely.
This morning was prayer meeting, different style to the Gymps, but still good. Then today I was with Geraldine and I presented a little talk to some of the mums whose sons we have been assessing. So that was really good. Geraldine said I did really well. We did a new assessment of a young boy how had been referred to us from his school teacher. Following the assessment Geraldine and I discussed the results and I was able to draw on different pieces of knowledge learnt from uni to help me understand what she was talking about. So it was quite a consolidating day of information learned and uni and real life scenarios. So it was a great day, feeling more and more confident :)
Oh and this is a fairly regular occurrence of an afternoon when Guy gets home :D

Look forward to seeing most of you at Mark and Ris's wedding tomorrow...really looking forward to it!!!!! :)

Another few days since the last few days :)

Ok so since I blogged last I've had double church on Sunday. There was a morning service here in Stanthorpe and then the Warwick fellowship joined us for a combined service. It was a great day, I was really encouraged by the song 'All my paths You've overshadowed'. It speaks of the Lord's promise to complete the work that He has begun in us as we continue to give ourselves to our obedience. After the night session I went over to Mick and Alison Tremellen's place for some card games. Caleb, Reuben, Tim and Nick were there also.
Then Monday I was with Geraldine again. We again started in Ballandean State School where we assessed a young boy who has previously had issues with his gross and fine motor skills, issues with hand dominance and major speech and language difficulties. We watched him running around with the other kids and it is obvious that his gross motor skills had caught up to speed, so we assessed his fine motor skills and hand dominance. He has improved significantly Geraldine said, he was able to do everything we asked him competently. He is a young Aboriginal boy and we asked him to do a drawing of himself, so he drew legs, arms, body, head, eyes, mouth and hair. We asked him what else he had on him and he said...dirt :) One of those classic cute moments! We then went further south to Wallangarra, to 'Free Range Kids' childcare, to assess a young girl in a group setting. The children were very cute and fun to interact with. We then coincidentally met with an OT and Physio from the Rural Allied Health Team. It was helpful to chat with the OT and again see another side of OT. We then went to Broadwater State School, which I believe some of the Sweet girls attended. It's another tiny 2 teacher school. This was a really exciting assessment. He was a 6 year old boy new to the program so we were showing him sensory tools and we had to discuss whether these helped him learn by keeping him calm or if they made him tick faster or slower and hence not be at the optimal learning condition. So while Geraldine chatted with his mum about some other issues I assessed him. That was great and Geraldine was very happy with me, and said I showed very mature initiative. I was with the Siblings group in the afternoon and we took them for a swim in the pool.
I went to Michael and Alison's place for dinner, which was really lovely :) They are another great couple who I'm very stoked to have the opportunity to meet and spend time with.
Today I was in the hospital again with Penny. We went and did a home visit for a couple who live about 20 minutes out of town. It was one those properties with old cars everyone, some half pulled apart and dozers and stuff kinda everywhere. And the house didn't get much better. We were met by a 6 foot 8 rough bloke and his budgie Freddie, who got a smooch from the giant when we left...gross!! We couldn't really do much for them, they have already adapted to life with the changes that have come. So we made a few suggestions and went on our merry way...2 hours later! We then went to check on our inpatients and I was all geared up ready to let this man know what we could do for him and how we were going to approach it etc etc and we got to his room and he had been discharged a few hours earlier.
Anyway, so it was a quieter day today, and hopefully I'll have some fuller days to tell you about shortly, talk soon :)

End of the first week

Well...I've completed one week of prac and I'm at the point where I can say, "I'm glad to be becoming an OT!"
On Friday I was with Geraldine again at Granite Belt Support Services. We did a home and school visit out at Glen Aplin. We were working with some young boys mostly with autism. Geraldine is great the way she adapts the lesson on the run to fit what the child is talking about at the present minute. At the home visit we were working with one young boy and showing him ways to deal with his frustration. Geraldine was talking to him until he interrupted and said 'hey look this blue-tac looks like um what is it? Oh I know a chic pea!' Geraldine then used that to continue showing him the various strategies to deal with frustration. Sounds a little crazy I know, but it worked. She's really great how she does that.
We also had a new assessment of a 3 year old boy, we're not quite sure of his diagnosis yet, still trying to figure that one out. And we also worked with another regular young boy with quite severe developmental delays. He isn't diagnosed but all his behaviors look very autistic. It was quite a fun session, we were on the ground with him interacting with toys and trying to get him to crawl properly.
I think I really like working with the children. You have to be very on your toes and ready for anything. You have to be creative to keep them interested and engaged. You have to be very observant of all the actions and behaviors. You have the opportunity to interact with mums and dads and sometimes siblings, which can be really helpful or provide an extra challenge. And you have to know your stuff - be familiar with many conditions and what are the many ways that we can help. So it's really broad, but I like it. Geraldine gave me some homework, so I can be ready to talk to some parents next week about the programs we run and how they can help their children in this program :)
Then I went to the Eddiehausen's Friday night.

It was lovely to spend the night with them and then the next morning getting ready for the wedding. And the 3 hours in the car to get to Brisbane :)

Jono and Rachel's wedding was beautiful and it was great to join in celebrating with them and their family. Maddy was a very excited sister of the groom!! It was a very joyous day.

Well I'll be in touch again soon...watch this space!

First 3 days in the Hospital

Well, I've completed 3 days in the tiny Stanthorpe Hospital that has roses in most of their gardens (see pictures). And by day three I've decided I really like working in hospitals. Day one I was quite sure what was going and was trying to come to terms with how everything works, and was a little confused. However by today I was doing home visits with my supervisor Penny and doing the diagrams when we got back to the office to send to Home Assist. I was suggesting hand splints for a nursing home patient with Parkinson's disease who we will see again next week to discuss our progress with the families. Penny had said she will probably get me to speak at next week's 'ward meeting'. This is where nursing staff, doctors, and any other health professionals come together to discuss current or recently discharged patients. Penny is very happy with how I am going, and I certainly feel like I am learning a lot. I even saw Dr Michael Tremellen on Tuesday.

 I have hour lunch breaks in the park, which is beautiful. I often do some follow up reading and research. But it's still enjoyable :)

This is Guy and Holly's house where I am living. It's been an absolute blessing to stay with them, I'm very thankful for the opportunity to meet them and spend time with them. Good news Gympie folk...they are very very keen to come to Gympie :D We had home fellowship break-up on Wednesday night, it was a simple BBQ with one of the other groups and we were able to share our testimonies together. I really enjoyed the opportunity again to fellowship here with some dear brethren. Guy and Holly are now in Brisbane in preparation for Jono and Rachel's wedding. So I went to Glynn and Shelley's for dinner tonight. It was great to spend time with them and their boys; Jack, Lachie and Darcy.
I'm having a great time in the green Stanthorpe; learning lots, experiencing lots and having sweet fellowship! Hope everyone is well :)

Me on day one :)