Even though this was a short week, it seemed to have very long days - so I was very happy that today was only a half day at school. We are out early on most Fridays which gives me a little something to look forward to at the end of the week. My motivation for getting out of bed this morning was knowing that I only had to focus on learning for 4 hours today. The first part of the morning was spent looking at x-rays to determine what type of amputation we were looking at and the details of that particular amputation. Through an x-ray you can tell if it is a congenital amputation or an acquired one. You should easily be able to note where the amputation is on the body and then you can get more information by looking into it further and figuring out what kind of surgery was performed (if any) and what kind of bones you are looking at under the amputation. It was very interesting and a fun challenge in human anatomy. You think you know the body until you are looking at an x-ray that does not look quite right and then trying to figure out what the particular person has going on with their body. Knowing what you are looking at on an x-ray will greatly help when making a device because you know how long the bones are and where there might be overgrowth or a sharp edge so you know where to accommodate for those things in the device. It is crazy how many different things go into making these sockets and how many things have to be taken into account to get it just right. Then we had a three hour lecture on how to perform research. I know research is a very important part of this career - without it, we would not be able to give amputees nearly the quality of life they have now, but writing a research paper is about the last thing I want to do at the moment. Luckily, I have till December 7th to get that done :) I have a lot of topics in my head that I am curious to learn more about, I just have to get motivated to put in the time to get the research done.
I am also celebrating another week of school on the books!! Two weeks down and only 15 to go. The number said aloud sounds like a lot of weeks, but oh my goodness, only 15 more weeks till I am supposed to be super confident and really know what I am doing!? Seems crazy to me. When the day comes (and it is going to come faster than I think) where I cannot hold up enough fingers to count the weeks completed, I will be looking back thinking how I am shocked that it is almost over. It is going to be exciting!
And in other exciting news, I found a site to start getting some preceptorship hours in during this semester at school. We are required to have 250 preceptorship hours (working/observing under a Certified Prosthetist) before being granted our certificate. The hours can be completed immediately after the program, before you start your residency, or concurrently and after. I am trying to get some hours in before I end the program in December because I am hoping to get into the Orthotics program that starts in early February and I don't think there are enough hours in the month of January to get them all done before Orthotics starts. I met with a really great CPO today, Chad, at a company called Southern California Orthotics and Prosthetics (SCOPe) and they are going to let me come in and learn from them about 5 hours a week - mostly on Fridays and Saturdays. I think it is going to be such a great learning experience!! I have heard wonderful things about this group of clinics and I think it is going to be really helpful to apply what I am learning at school in a real life clinic setting. I am looking forward to seeing more patients and the extra hands-on experience. When I was there today they were making a prosthesis for a dog! My first day is next week so I kind of hope the dog has to come back for an initial fitting :)
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