Wet ANd CoLd...

today is the first Thursday when Kate and I had to swap, was feeling worried already the night before, not knowing what to do, and have already forgotten some of the stuff I used to do in MRT, and working with the PT...

so this am, Kate was late, we were doing handover for almost an hour, which of course, did not sit well with Dawn, and then got a p/c from Ren saying Kara is on sick leave, and asking why I have yet to turn up... which also meant that I will be working with the PT mainly, which was definitely one of the things I was worried about... so after handover, headed over to the office, everything felt the same but also different at the same time, went to see this pt first, to do some UL stuff and apply the FES, had to revise my notes on FES and speak to people, cos I really forgot how to do these after not having done this for so long... and then of course, decided to page the PT to see where he was up to, met up with him, and began the first time we worked together, I personally felt really awkward, don't really know what to say, I really do suck at making small talk... anyway, the day went on, and I pretty much did not know what I was doing most of the day... I was pretty much either doing UL stuff or helping out the PT... after having done one day of MRT, and being physically exhausted, I was reminded of why I don't think I could do this again, the pts are heavy and I have gone for so long without having to do all these heavy transfers... and also, forgetting where wards are, and how things work, all contributed to me feeling really out of place today, and just the feeling of not knowing what to do, which sucked... the PT must be thinking 'what is she doing?!!!'

I really don't think this swap on Thursdays work well, but it's really not up to me at this stage, and it's not easy for Kate either... well I am off the hook for the next 2 weeks whilst Kate is away, so we'll see what happens... over at cancer care, still trying to get used to the different environment, people and how things work there, which is quite different from how it is back in the office... Dawn is quite supportive, but I sometimes do get the feeling of being a new grad or a student all over again, which is ok with me atm cos I am still learning every day... dunno about the lymphoedema part though, Dawn was telling me how we don't really get to wear gloves during bandaging and measuring for garments, and there may be pts coming in with really bad lymphoedema that it oozes out, and there's a smell and having to touch pt's private areas sometimes as well... my first thought was OMG what have I gotten myself into??!!!