First Day as a "real" PT! :)

Well, as I work on filling in some missing pieces (mainly my 4th clinical experience, graduation, getting a job and studying for the boards), today was a monumental day in my journey from teacher to clinician... Today was my first day as a real-life PT!

Since I did a clinical experience prior to my employment, today felt like I'd never left. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but it definitely helped ease my anxiety. In fact, there were a few familiar faces today and I guess I can expect a couple more later this week. The clinic is sort of slow right now (compared to when I was there before) which I also take as a blessing that I won't be quite as overwhelmed as I work into getting into a routine.

I was working with some patients today and found myself continually going to my prior-CI to ask for permission. I sort of realized halfway through the day that technically, I can now make decisions based on my own opinions. ;) It's still nice to ask permission for someone else's patient though.

So, it was a long day... 10 hours.... Wow. My feet are absolutely killing me, so I'm looking forward to getting used to the feeling of being up and moving all day so that my poor feet don't feel like they walked through a war zone.

I'm also exhausted. It has been about 10 weeks (I would guess) since I last even touched a patient, much less was active all day. I could honestly go to bed now and am literally considering it once I finish this blog post.

I honestly can't believe I just went to work today. I literally went to work and got paid! It's crazy. I remember when I started this journey back in 2009, it seemed like 2014 would be a million years away and now it's here! The interesting thing is, now that I'm done with school I want to try to pick up some hobbies, but I have NO IDEA what I want to do with all my newly earned free time... Definitely getting back to the gym is on the top of my list, and I keep trying to convince my boyfriend we should get a fish tank. Thank goodness the Olympics are on and I can entertain myself with that for the time being! Go USA!

My First Day

Well, I survived my first day of PT school and am already wondering if it is too early to start a countdown. ;) There are 36-37 students in my class and we spent the morning in anatomy lecture, followed by physiology lecture and then a 4 hour long orientation session that left me literally exhausted.

My classes are definitely going to be very demanding and I'm already dreading September 26-27 because I have my first anatomy exam followed by (back to back, no less!) my first physiology exam and then my lab practical on the next day. The work seems rigorous, but I'm excited to get started to see if I can rekindle the passion I had for this as much as when I decided to go back for my pre-requisites.

Our orientation consisted of having lunch with our advisors, another tour of the facilities (that's three I've had in total; I think I know my way around!) and introductions by all of the faculty and all of my classmates and a lot of going over the rules, expectations and overview of the program.

It was a lot to take in on one day, but I am happy that I am not the only "older" student, as there are a handful of people my age and slightly younger/older that are not coming directly from our undergrad degrees, or related fields.

I feel like so much happened today, but honestly my brain feels like it can't anymore at the current moment, but I just wanted to post and say "I did it! I survived the first day!"