from Mankato

Things are continuing to go well for me in Mankato--despite the weather! The lows without windchill have been in the -20s, and last night a record low was tied. I think it's a bit ridiculous, but it is supposed to hit 10 above zero tomorrow for a high, so we will have a heat wave.

I haven't done too much exploring around the Mankato area. I've driven in the old downtown area, which would be fun to see. I've visited a couple doctors offices (with the PTs for marketing) and been to the grocery store and Walmart. I am hoping that someday I can have something more exciting to report on the blog someday.

PT clinic life is going well. I am accumulating my own patient load and working on my eval skills. When we are slow (or have multiple patients cancel because of the extreme cold and some icy roads), the PTs and I practice skills. I feel a lot better about some of my manual skills and special tests and am hoping to learn more strategies typically learned in continuing ed, not the traditional school classroom. We have had some interesting patients of late. We have had two older men--in their 80s--who have some balance and falls issues. One of them probably needs a neuro consult, and the other had a partial hip replacement and his recovery is complicated by dementia. We also had an adult with Down Syndrome complaining of symptoms that are not necessarily appropriate for PT, but it is hard to tell which symptoms she is actually having because of communication and cognitive difficulties. It is all very eye opening. I have eval'd a few patients with low back pain, and one of them was a textbook disk displacement. It's rare that things present in the "typical" fashion. Working with a few patients with partial knee replacements or repairs has been kind of fun. It's interesting to compare the different progressions patients have depending on their personality types and complicating factors.

And on a completely different note, I ordered my wedding dress today!