More Growing

A lot better that my other internship outfit, huh?

Friday was the last day of my internship at the skilled nursing facility.  At first I hated this internship as much as my internship at the hospital.  But in the end, I believe I really learned a lot. I have learned that there are a lot of unpleasant things that I will have deal with as a Physical Therapist.  Take, for example, the patients who throw up after walking or the lady who yells, "I think I'm pooping!!" every two minutes.  Not pleasant, but that's life.  

More than that, it has been a great exercise in growing compassion.  At first, I would think poorly of the patients who were grumpy or difficult to deal with.  Those who would say they were too tired to work.  Those who were rude when the PT gave them instructions.  I assumed that they were just mean people who didn't want to get better.  (This is just not true).  Trever, the PT I worked with, was excellent about reminding me that as a PT, you are working with people on the worst of days.  It is their circumstances that make them act the way they do.  Oftentimes, their lives seem to be crumbling before their eyes.  That makes me feel a whole lot more compassionate. And that is why I want to be a Physical Therapist.  Because these patients ARE having the worst times of their lives.  If I can do something to help them get through that, that is what I want to be doing.