what a day!!

as you know, yesterday was our 1st clinical day at the VA in topeka. it sure was an early and long day!! left town at 5:45am and returned at 5:15pm. it was interesting. another student and i were placed in the "acute care" ward which means basically that people are admitted during their crisis and are stabilized here. they are then sent to another more long term mh facility or stabilized enough to return to their home environment, wherever that may be. as you can imagine in a military hospital, there are many people experiencing post-traummatic stress and depression, but we also talked with those detoxing from alcohol/drugs, obsessive compulsive, schizophrenic, and schizoaffective inflicted people. very interesting day. one of the 1st things that happened was that there is a patient that for some reason, just runs everywhere. kind of stooped over and shuffling-feet running. well, there is a whole ward meeting every morning where clients are able to request that their privileges be expanded etc. well, this pt was a few minutes late and came running in wearing only a shirt and depends diaper! they were quickly escorted to finish getting dressed. there was another individual who is experiencing extremely severe obsessive-compulsive disorder who gets stopped in mid stride and becomes so fixated on completing the rituals that alleviates the anxiety they feel, that they almost go into a catatonic type trance. this patient will stop in the middle of whatever they are doing and just be stuck until finally they take a few steps backward and start again. and they will answer appropriately whatever you ask them during this trance too! very interesting. most were very nice individuals. we sat in on a couple of "team meetings" where the patient, dr's, and social workers meet and discuss how things are going and what needs changed. we had the opportunity to witness an intake admission where the individual was not being truthful and was confronted on this behavior. how things changed then. there was no more talking and no more interview!! after lunch, we got to go to recreational therapy where we played 'sorry' and 'uno' with some patients. a pretty fun but long day for sure! my whole group and instructor were walking down a hallway when we ran into a couple of patients who shouted "oh my...look there they go wearing their cloaks of importance" which i thought was funny. another student said to me "they seemed nice" so i had to tell her that i didn't think that was a compliment!! how funny!! i'm pretty comfortable (at least so far) in this environment and in dealing with these people but for the most part my peers are not. they get very anxious and scared and some even had nightmares the night before. so, i think this rotation will do a lot for their understanding that the mentally ill are people and have feelings and needs just like everyone else. i am hoping that there will be less unhelpful fear and more understanding, and that they are able to distinguish the difference between when they really should listen to their own fear and instincts about personal safety, and that sometimes, it's not needed. so i got home a little after 5pm and hadn't been feeling very well all day so i laid down for a few minutes before joining chris and caden at the park across the street where they had been flying caden's kite and swinging. when caden saw me, i could hear him yelling "mommy" from clear across the park!! the sweetest sound! we went to dinner and the store and when we got home i crashed!! thank heavens for daddy!! i actually went to sleep around 9 i think!!
i had my interview with the boys and girls club this morning. she only had concerns about my schedule which is also my concern along with having too many responsibilities for a part time job. i would be responsible for the programming of the school along with hiring and firing of staff. this summer would be monday-friday 7:30-5:30 which is a little more than i wanted to work but it would be really fun i think. and she said that i could bring caden some days like friday's is swimming day so he could definately come then and wednesday they do "brown bag concert series" so he come then too. that would be nice. it would also help me with my dieting this summer!! i'd be taking my lunch everyday and be doing a lot of exercise playing with the kids!! and i'd probably be pretty darn tan from being outside so much!! so we'll see. she had 2 more interviews today and said she was hoping to make a decision by tomorrow so she'd call me either way! i like that quick turn-around!
looking very forward to my weekend!! we're leaving tomorrow around 3pm!! so, that's what i know!!