Week 8 :)

"Instead of dashing headlong towards your goal, let Me set the pace. Slow down, and enjoy the journey in My presence." -Sarah Young, Jesus Calling

I have thoroughly been soaking in what the Lord has been trying to teach and show me this week. My mom sent me the devo, Jesus Calling, and it has literally changed my outlook on how I approach each day. Hope, peace, faith, and love are the course it sets me on each morning, and what an adventure each day has been. I am not stressed. I have stopped worrying. I have started praying more about everything--I know, sounds like a no brainer that I should have been implementing before....

I want to share a tidbit of my week with my patients.

This week I truly learned the importance of implementing occupation-based practice. it not only invigorates your "OT spirit", but gives you a glimpse of how it can change the course of many patients' therapeutic experience. I had a blast developing creative interventions that were graded and adapted to address my patients' deficits--creating a bowling alley in the therapy gym, painting a canvas on an easel, playing horseshoes to address functional reach, decorating a wreath to increase prehension skills, finger knitting, etc. My patients thoroughly enjoyed the interventions this week, and seeing their response to my treatment approach really lifted my spirits. Occasionally, I have found myself slipping into the clinical treatment approach, but this week was a great reminder of the importance of meaningful occupations.

I also learned how beautiful life is, and how every day is a blessing. I have a patient who is a 40-yr old gentleman with a deadly brain tumor who is one of the most tenacious, positive people I have met. His prognosis is 4-5 years at best. He has very limited movement in his left side. He continues to progress and get movement back in his arm, and then he will have a seizure and lose his function again. He is the most driven, hard-working patient I have encountered. He literally sweats, grunts, and challenges himself during every one of our therapy sessions. He always comes to me the next day with a report on the progress he has made and the new exercises he develops for himself in his room. He always thanks me for what I am doing for him, but he has no idea the impact he has made in my life.

I am also blessed to be at setting that is so client-centered. One of my patients today could not stop talking about the gem of a facility that we were. Quote on quote, "This place is Georgia's best kept secret." She was amazed at the teamwork that occurred here, and was enthralled by all the activities and equipment we had at our disposal. She is absolutely right, and I do not think until recently I realized what a truly unique place this was.

I hope that these experiences will forever remain in the forefront of my practice. I hope that I can give the world even half of what my patients give me on a daily basis. I am challenged continually to grow and learn all I can, so I am providing competent, client-centered care.

I pray that you allow your heart to be opened to all the Lord wants to teach and show you (Rom. 12:2). As I reflect on my life, the times that were the most trying were ALWAYS where I gained the most needed pruning and the growth. Be blessed and be open to accepting the blessings He wants to adorn you with.

Know that I miss you and you are loved by me. :)

B