Random Musings on Guinea...and Covington...

So today I just had a few random thoughts on going to Guinea...my physical is now in, so it should just be a matter of days before I am officially approved!

Is my 're-entry' shock going to be harder than after living in Honduras for 2 months since I'll be there almost twice as long, or will it be easier since I'll be working on a boat where the usual language is English and I'll be surrounded by lots of non-Guineans? 

I should really take a self defense class at some point...  Conakry will be the biggest city I've ever "lived" in at >1.5 million people.  (I know, I know, that's not that big...3x the size of Tucson, 1/4 the size of Phoenix)

How many times am I going to start randomly speaking in Spanish expecting French to come out?  (I did this in Kenya...someone spoke Swahili to me and I answered in Spanish...silly brain)

I hope I can find some friends that would like to explore the more mountainous regions inland...there are supposedly some nice waterfalls!  I'm hoping I'll be able to see the mountains from the boat - I think they might start about 30 miles inland, but since I'll be going during the dry (and MANGO) season, it's more dusty so visibility might be low.

However, before I get to Guinea, I will be near Covington, VA (known for its lovely smelling paper mill) working for a home health company starting in about 1.5 weeks until Christmas.  I have not done home health before, so that will be interesting in and of itself, as well as the fact that I'll be driving all over these tiny towns and rural countryside to get to my patients, which I will have 30 a week to see. 

I tried to go today to see if I could find a place to live (because it would be 1.5 hour drive each way to get to my office from home...plus all the driving between patients...that would put me on the road for probably 7 hours a day, and I tend to get sleepy with lots of driving.  Not a good combination.).  I've struck out so far...part of me just wants to take my tent and camp and come home on weekends.
However...that would probably equal a very stinky PT, with even less sleep and therefore even more likely to fall asleep while driving...  and I would like a refrigerator...  I could get by with a camping stove, but a fridge is a little harder to come by camping.  Unless I dehydrated all my food beforehand ;)  And by the time December comes around, it might be a little cold (although I do have a 0 deg sleeping bag...sometimes it still is hard to sleep when it's in the teens...thinking back to Cold Mountain...brrrr)   Yeah, my patients might not like me sleeping in a tent.  (good, I just justified my way out of that one...shew.)  ;)

Africa bound!

Today I verbally commited to making a dream come true that I've been dreaming about the past 4 years...  to be a PT on Mercy Ships.  WOW.  Pending my physical gets approved, I will be spending 3.5 months on the Africa Mercy stationed in Conakry, Guinea, on the west coast of Africa.  I will leave a few days after Christmas and return mid April...

While I applied for a PT opening in August, I really just knew that several others had applied and then I didn't hear anything for about a month (they said they would take 4-6 weeks to approve an application).  I was able to reach them on Friday to see if I was still a candidate or if anyone else had already filled the position so I would know if I needed to end my next rotation as a travel therapist at a certain time.  They said the Jan-April position was filled, but they might be opening up a spot for a 2nd PT in November for a couple months to help with all the orthopedic surgeries they planned to do, but it had not been approved - they would try to let me know Monday or Tuesday this week.
So after going for a walk this morning, I returned to a voicemail, saying they did indeed have an opening then, as well as the longer opening from Jan-April as the other person had to back out. 

Decisions, decisions...  leave earlier for a shorter time (6 weeks) or leave later for a longer time (~15 weeks).  I had been talking with God a little bit about if the short term one came open (originally she had stated for early October - November, which would be about 3 weeks from now) I was really a little nervous about getting ready in that time period - money, self prep, medical stuff (shots, physical, dentist, etc) and not getting to work in that period meant a little wasted time in my opinion (not that it would actually be wasted, but I knew my insurance benefits would be cut off a little before I could take care of all those physicals and shots and things...).  Then I was given the choice, 2 good choices, and it was one of those things where I felt like God just wanted me to choose my desire.  (Sometimes I don't like choices though, because I can be a little indecisive at times and both options allowed me to be home for Christmas, so that was not a determining factor)  I asked Kristin, the woman helping me through the process, which time they had a bigger need for.  She thought for a while and said the Jan-April spot because we don't have a PT lined up then at all.

Well, that made the decision for me.   BUT oh WOW, I'm going to be the ONLY PT??!!  Yikes.  Now I've been used to being the only PT from time to time, but this is acute care, I know there will be burn and plastic surgery patients, and probably all sorts of other cases I have not seen before.  (I do love my outpatient ortho...)  Yikes, what if I have to do wound care??  So I think I'm going to be in a little over my head... 

Thankfully God's not in over His head.  I've got a feeling I'll be thinking James 1:2-5 quite often these upcoming months.  Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, and perseverance must finish it's work so that you are mature and complete, not lacking anything.  And when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, tossed by the wind.  Since I'll be on a boat, that wave of the sea may take on new meaning to me...

Right now I'm riding a wave of excitement and nervousness...  This is going to be awesome!  and hard!  I think the thing that may scare me the most (honestly more than treating things I've never seen before) is the fact that I will mainly be confined to a 500 ft boat.  If you know me...you know I like to get outside and explore...  particularly mountains...  The rooms are tiny, so I don't forsee myself spending much time there...take a look at the single's housing here.  I'm not really clausterphobic, I just like to get out and see wide open land (not buildings or even sea for that matter, and I'm going to be right in between those 2 extremes).  So I think my biggest need for prayer may be that I don't get too 'antsy'.

I will keep you posted on my progress!  :)  Thanks for reading!

My New Toy

So for about 2 months I have been spending a lot of time experimenting with my new toy:  a food dehydrator!  It was a lovely birthday present from my parents.   So I've just been playing around with the variety of different things you can do with a dehydrator - right now I'm trying my first batch of chicken jerky, to be followed by the beef jerky while I'm sleeping tonight.

So obviously you can do jerky...this was marinated in Kikkoman's Teriyaki Takuma Collection which was AWESOME if I don't mind saying so myself.  Think mouth wateringly good...atleast if you like teriyaki like I do!
And then you go to the Farmer's Market and go overboard on buying fresh and happy fruits and veggies and have plenty of ways to 'experiment' with them...

My very first experiment was just drying plain zucchini and squash...nothing special.  Then I did the walnuts and almonds after first soaking them to make the easier to digest (dehydrating just dries them back out after soaking them...they are still considered "raw" if you keep the temperature of the food under 118 deg if you're on a raw food kick).
Then I decided I better step things up a notch, so I tried making some kale 'chips'.  (No, even through they're in a Fat Free container, they do still have fat)  You basically wash kale, rip it into pieces, put a little oil and whatever seasoning you want on it, then throw them in the dehydrator for about 4-5 hours.  I had a garlic parmesan mix that was very tasty on them, as well as just salt.  They're light and crunchy, definitely with a little bit of the bitterness that kale has, but I personally enjoyed them very much!

 Of course there are the regular other fruits: blueberries (took FOREVER to dry), sliced strawberries, halved cherries (also took FOREVER...aka a couple days), star fruit, cilantro, "sundried" tomatoes (halved cherry tomatoes), apples, peaches, bananas...  I haven't tried very many veggies yet, so I'll have to work on that some more.  I did try to make potato 'chips', which did not turn out very well - they got grey and were very starchy.  So I pounded it down into little pieces and figure I can use them as a soup thickener if I ever need to...

One of my favorite things has been making fruit rollups!  The ones pictures are actually just applesauce I had in the fridge I decided to experiment with.  I also did ones made out of dragonfruit, tomatoes (again to make into a sauce), cherry banana - blending in any leftover zucchini pieces to get in a bit of veggies!


On a similar note, I used Rawmazing's banana crepe recipe to try out the fruit rollup idea further - obviously mine don't look quite as amazing, but it was fun to try!

I also tried to make a kale-flaxseed cracker/wrap and they were AWFUL.  I'll have to try to make something a bit better than that and see if I can come up with some sort of tasty cracker type recipe...

So as the word 'experiment' came up quite frequently in this post, that would be the most appropriate word for how I've been eating recently...I've also read a book or 2 that make logical sense to me as far as eating the stuff you digest most easily (fruit, then veggies, then protein) first so it can get through your system the quickest.  Very interesting stuff indeed!

Back to Work!

So, update in order - this one is mainly job related...

I finally managed to land a job near Daytona.  I've been at Florida Hospital - Deland's outpatient clinic for 4 weeks now and I am loving it!!  :)  Orientation was a fabulous start, where they kept on emphasizing Christ centered compassionate care (it is owned by Adventist Health Systems), talked about the start of Adventist Health (basically the brothers that originally made Kellogg's corn flakes were in charge of the 1st Adventist "hospital" and the health system still holds to the idea of healthy eating, exercise and fresh air.  I mean, really?  Can I have a better fit in values in a place to work for?  I think not.  So we get to have lunch for free and I get to eat some pretty amazing salmon that's like $3.40, add in broccoli, carrots and a bottle of Aquafina for <$6 (and good crushed ice...you know the kind...).  The salmon was better than the salmon I had at Red Lobster a week before.

Now I get over to my clinic (which is about 6 miles from the hospital...so I don't get to partake much in their amazing cafeteria...) and there are 2-5 therapists (all ladies - I'm filling in for the only man out on medical leave) there each day depending on the day of the week.  They all seem to get along, work as a team, joke around, and learn new things and try to show me new things.  Thus far, those main "new things" are Graston technique with the tools (which are $2700 to buy) and Kinesiotaping. (yes, that's the stuff you're seeing on all the Olympic athletes right now)  So I'm getting to learn the basics of both of those (probably almost as well as I would in class which would be about $500 each for a class), and I've gotten to share some Strain-Counterstrain (Positional Release) with them...well, my book atleast...never taken a class on it!  It's been great!  Being here reminds me the good ole days of working at Laburnum...we had a good team and a lot of fun :)

The patient population is quite fabulous, too.  I've gotten to work with a 6 year old up to those in the 80's, from orthopedic to neuro.  We get 45 minutes to treat, 60 minute evals without any overlap, and a little documentation time!  Probably my biggest challenge actually has been on the neuro side - particularly Parkinson's disease.  Thankfully there just happens to be a free series of modules on APTA's Learning Center right now that I have been able to go through to get a few new ideas!

This has been an excellent change and about face from my time spent in Ft. Myers where I didn't have many patients, no other therapists at my clinics, and a small set of diagnoses.  YAY!  :)

Honk for Jesus: Part 2

Ok, so just to show that I'm not all talk, I wanted to showcase my Honk for Jesus shirt...  (I actually made it when I was still in Ft. Myers so over 2 months ago...Daytona is just keeping me a lot busier than Ft. Myers was so there's not as much downtime for blogging!)

The supplies:
Drifit shirt and iron on letters from Walmart:   (they're a little smaller than I wanted...oh well)

Ironing on:













And the finished product!!  :)

This is after using said shirt to do a very sweaty mountain biking ride at Spruce Creek Preserve near Port Orange, FL...so there were not any vehicles for me to actually try out my experiment on, but it works just fine in 105 heat index temperatures as it was today...

The Florida Keys: Observations

So being in FL, and never having been down to the Keys before, (and not currently working), Jonathan and I decided to go down to the Keys for a few days.  So here are a few of my observations from that!

After talking with a few Florida natives, we determined that Key West itself might be a bit crazy, that the Floridians go to Islamorada instead.  (which thankfully is a much shorter drive!)  So we based ourselves out of Islamorada, which also happens to host some fabulous watersport activities.  Actually, all of the Keys seem to be home to fabulous watersports, so I would highly recommend partaking in them if you go.

Alligator lighthouse about 3 miles off the coast

Surprising to me, the Keys were not full of long white sandy beaches everywhere you looked.  On the contrary, much of the coast is mangrove swamp.  There are definitely some areas of white sandy beaches, but if that's all you're looking for, I'd really recommend the gulf coast of Florida instead!

The shallow reef near the lighthouse

If you're ready to be a little more adventuresome, the Keys do offer many snorkeling and diving opportunities that are great due to the clear water, and fairly shallow reefs and many sunken ships several miles off the coast (unfortunately the snorkel from the beach options aren't the best, so for better viewing take a boat out a few miles).  After doing a little research, we thought Alligator Reef off of Islamorada might be the best - lots of fish, shallow reef, and a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean to boot!
Fish love to hang out in the shade of the lighthouse and there are THOUSANDS!!  (Unfortunately I didn't take an underwater camera, but a few highlights were: Blue Tang, Sergeant Major fish, Yellow Tail Snapper, grunts, little minnows, Rainbow Parrotfish - if you listened underwater you could actually hear the Parrotfish biting coral!, etc)  We saw quite a few Barracudas, a Moray eel, and just after sliding off the boat near the lighthouse (our 2nd stop - first we stopped in a deeper reef for 45 minutes) I spotted a 5 foot grey nurse shark!  I came right back up and yelled, "Shark!" and Jonathan was able to see it, but no one else was really in the water yet and thankfully the shark decided it didn't like humans that well (and I personally don't like sharks that well, even if they are supposed to be harmless like this type was).

Speaking of sharks and watersports, we also did a little stand up paddleboarding - well, about 3 hours worth - which was plenty!  (all my little foot intrinsic muscles were very tired and sore after that!  ...ok, so they were already sore from ultimate frisbee in cleats, but anyways)  While SUP'ing, however, I saw 2 more, smaller sharks, about 2 feet long Black Tipped Sharks like this little guy:

I did not take this picture...but it looks the most like what I saw!

We also paddleboarded by an area where a crocodile lives (again, I was very thankful NOT to see said crocodile with a measly 4" fiberglass board being all that separately me from the water) in someone's backyard, and out to Indian Key a half mile out to sea.  There was once a settlement due to the wrecking trade in the 1800's that was attacked by Seminoles and largely burned and then turned over to the military - all that remains are a few cisterns and foundational structures on this tiny little island that once housed about 60 people.

We based our snorkeling and SUP'ing adventures out of Robbie's Marina, just a few miles from where we stayed in Islamorada.  There are other activities such as deep sea fishing, kayaking, and feeding the tarpon you can do there.  Feeding the tarpon?!  Yup, you can see these 100 lb fish fighting over the food you throw them from the dock at Robbie's.  Costs you a dollar, but would be highly entertaining for small children...  OR, if you happen to have rented a SUP or kayak from them, you might actually want to stay a little further away as I was a little scared paddling back in as these HUGE fish thrashed around as people fed them that I might just get bumped off my paddleboard into the water with all them!

So yes, we did go down to Key West for a little while one day, hit up the historic sites, which was fun!  We saw mile marker 0, Hemingway's house, the "southernmost part" of the US, were closer to Cuba than a Walmart, lots of chickens walking around the town, the Key West lighthouse, and a few endangered Key Deer on the drive home!

And off course we also sampled some more Key Lime Pie...

As far as food goes, well, we ate a lot of fish (duh!) and Key Lime pie...  Ma's Fish Camp and Islamorada Fish Company (yes, the same one that's in the Bass Pro Shops - this is the original!) did not disappoint at all and breakfast options in Islamorada were also quite tasty at Bob's Buns and Mangrove Mike's!

So overall, I would say if you're looking for a more laid back approach to the Florida Keys, Islamorada is an excellent (and cheaper!) way to go, but if you like a more lively "scene" then Key West would be a better choice.  Also from Key West you can visit the Dry Tortugas (if you have a reservation far enough in advance) which look pretty awesome!!  If we had been in Key West longer, however, I would have loved to have tried the all inclusive beach pass for a day which had a parasail, kayaks, SUPs, Windsurfing, Sailing, etc!

So a recap/words of advice if you're heading to the Keys?  Stay atleast part of the time in Islamorada, take lots of bug spray and sunscreen, and indulge in various water activities besides sunbathing!  (and eat lots of fish and Key Lime pie!!)

It's all about effort and attitude!

So when I was in high school, we had a couple basketball t-shirts with sayings on them...one reminiscent of Notre Dame: "Play like a champion today", and the other I think Coach Harvey kinda made up himself: "It's all about effort and attitude".

I might not play that much basketball anymore (sadness I know...but I would love a game of pickup if anyone's interested), but I've been struck recently be how true that second quote is in life...  A few examples:

In my last rotation, I was in an office where the 'leader' was the doctor, though unofficial, he is the one in the position of power afforded by his credentials.  Effort I can't necessarily speak to as I am unaware of the productivity and things along that line, however attitude was easily observable.  I was at 2 clinics a week for the same practice, however different staff at the 2 locations.  They were set up similarly - 1 MD, 2 PA's, multiple medical assistants and office staff.  However, the palpable feel was very different, and as I spent more time there, I believe the attitude of the "leader", in this case the doctor, makes a huge difference in the overall attitudes of the rest of the staff - which were constantly complaining, often out on sick days, often upset.  In this clinic the doctor had many complaints as well, and seemed to expect others to fix problems that affected him which he could also help fix.  In the other clinic, things were busier as far as caseload it seemed, however the MD and his main PA took it in stride and maintained a good attitude - joking, seriously considering problems without yelling or demeaning another, teaching other staff as they went along.

So I tried a little experiment - with the office that needed an attitude adjustment, I tried to be very friendly, not get into too much gossip, constantly ask if there were ways I could help, and even brought them some ice cream sandwiches on what seemed like it was a very stressful day.  And while they seemed to have a fabulous opinion of me with all that, it didn't seem to do much to alleviate the overall tension and attitude of the office.

So that led me to conclude that 1 random happy person cannot completely change attitudes, however 1 well positioned person can definitely sour attitudes (and hopefully improve them as well).  I guess I'm a little naive to just be struck with this so much at this particular time - thus far I have been blessed to have bosses who do lead by example and work to create solutions rather than complain about circumstances.

So that being said, if you are in a position of power and/or influence (as said at Second Mile), your attitude will greatly affect the quality of life of those around you - use it for good!  And since we all have someone(s) we influence somehow, it's a challenge to myself to not complain, but seek to improve bad situations, and as I Peter 2:23 says, "When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he ENTRUSTED HIMSELF TO HIM WHO JUDGES JUSTLY."  


If I entrust myself, my job (or current lack thereof), my relationships to the Lord, it puts a different light on things - I don't need to complain, or throw myself a pity party, or sulk when things don't go my way - instead  I need to keep looking for what the next opportunity God may have for me is, and try to consider what He may be trying to do in my/other's lives with my current circumstances (not that I may ever realize what that may be).