#ot stuff

[pickleandthequeen]

This came to me today and I haven’t stopped chuckling so I had to make it

[dogpantry]

i know i was so confident like two weeks ago but monday is the start of my 11 kid caseload and 15 direct treatment hours and i’m feeling the confidence slip away as i tinker with like 20 treatment plans for the week

[pickleandthequeen]

Half the reason I don’t really want to go back into pediatrics is because I’m afraid of the all the parents who want me to fix their disabled kids instead of help their kids be happier and better able to participate in things they want to do. That was the worst part of my old job. All the parents asking me when the autism was going to go away or when was their child going to be normal and what am I doing anyway if I’m not fixing their child and making them normal?

[pickleandthequeen]

Patient walks out into the hall, t shirt on and no bottoms, balls swaying in the breeze: “excuse me, miss, someone’s done shit on the floor “

[dogpantry]

today a kid asked me if i had ever played ghost of tsushima and i said no but my fiancé has that game and the kid went “you still live with your brother?”

[dogpantry]

i would just like to say that i’m killing it in fieldwork. i’m so proud of myself?? i hope i don’t jinx it but ive never felt this confident + motivated to work my hardest every. day. to do for kids what society has failed to do in the past. i LOVE my patients. i love when they sit in my lap and say “miss katie...” but it sounds all wrong because oh, shit, they have speech in two minutes! i love when they hold my hand and (yes, covid, i know) give me kisses mask-to-mask even if we’re supposed to be teaching them about personal space 🙈 i LOVE when my nonverbal kiddos who usually prefer to play alone actually interact with me during a game or when i’m attempting to engage them in pretend play — i love when those kids in particular smile at me!!!!!! YES, LITTLE MAN, GRAB THAT FORK I DONT EVEN CARE IF YOURE USING THE CORRECT GRASP.

i don’t do a lot of over sharing on this platform but i hear from people who know me and where i’ve come from: “you’ve overcome so much to get to where you are.” normally i shrug that off because, like, have i? but it’s been these last few months that i’ve realized, yeah, i have. i was my patients’ age when my world was falling down around me and /i/ wasn’t getting the care i needed or deserved. and now i’m like. here. doing this thing i love. and i made it here because i’m resilient. because i wanted it bad enough!

i know occupational therapists experience a lot of burnout. i know insurance is out to get us, cut our pay, downplay our skills and importance. i know some people think what we do you can google and do yourself at home (i promise you you cannot. if an ot is doing something in the clinic you feel you can do with a quick google search at home, GET A NEW OT). i know productivity sucks. but i know more occupational therapists who love their jobs than don’t and aaaaaaaa i hope i can feel this way about my career forever.

anyway, tomorrow is my first day of my 3-kid caseload. i’ll increase it by 1-2 kids every week until i hit 30 hours of direct treatment time and at least 10 hours of observation. i’m SO ecstatic. i’m exhausted. i’m the happiest i’ve been in a long time.

[dogpantry]

fieldwork is still going great or whatever but can i just say it’s hard now. honeymoon phase is over i love the kids but i need a nap. today i had applesauce splattered all over me + i accidentally stuck my finger in a kid’s mouth while he threw himself to the ground and screamed + put my hand in a puddle of spit bc the kid i was working with drools + had mandarin orange juice spilled all over my scrubs

last week i forgot to take the arm rests off a wheelchair before i transferred someone that’s like OT 101 i should be doing that in my sleep but i swear some of these kids are so difficult and intimidating i forget my own name

i have two kids on my caseload who, when i present them with an activity, promptly throw whatever i’ve handed them away. and my c.i. is just like (: you’ll get better at it (: i gave you the really hard ones on purpose (:

[dogpantry]

me: hmmm do i wanna be a hand therapist? thats a lot of shadowing hours. a hard exam. lots of studying.

hand therapists: make 40/hr

me: yeah i think i can manage it