Philly

So, I started my week on Monday at 6:30am to see a client at 7:15 am, then to the office, then a six hour drive to Philadelphia for my clinical at McGee Ortho Hospital. First I will be bitching about the Sheratan Downtown which sucked. It was essentially a 2 day camping trip which cost about $550. The garage is under construction so it's Valet parking only ($42 a DAY), the room was $259 - they advertise some rooms for less  but it's just a ruse. since they're never available. I had decided to pack most of my food, usually when I travel if it's in a city I'll do that since I know by the time I get there I'll be too tired to find something to eat. Plus with my day starting at 7am I'd rather eat in my room and have my coffee there - but $259 will not get a fridge or a microwave. Or a Kurig.Or breakfast. Or Internet. Yeppers, that will run you $15 dollars a day. When I got to my room I found they'd given me a room with two king beds so I called down and got $50 a night off my bill.  And I brought a cooler with food that just needed to be kept cool, not refrigerated, I opened my K-cups and used a paper towel as a filter in that cheap ass coffee maker and did break down for Internet for one night since I had a butt load of paperwork to catch up on. In other words, camping.  Did you ever notice the more some hotels charge the less you get? And then they only booked me for Monday and Tuesday, which made me homeless on Wednesday - and there were no rooms available in the city. At all. 

I've done two days of my clinical so far and it's been great. We spend the day following a patient in the rehab, we can go through all the charts we want, we attend therapy sessions and speak with the nurses that work there. We are not allowed to participate due to insurance constrictions which is weird feeling. One of the things I've come away with is how your life can change in just one instance - there are a few spinal cord injuries that are due to simply....falling. And the results are devastating. For me in home care I can see how they struggle at home, the reality that no matter how hard you work, pray or try, there is no way to fix it. But this is the other end of it, before they go home - how much more is involved that just therapy - the family and staff meetings, the social workers, the therapists all working to get these people home to a new life - not a better one most of the time, but a different one. But it's not all hopeless, I had the privilege of see someone stand up for the first time since their accident - another person walking for their family, there is a lot of hope in that devastation. And a lot of ways the teach people to live well in their new lives.

So, while I had my internet for the night (and it went off EXACTLY 24 hours after I paid for it) I used it to book a hotel at Best Western that I have recently become fond of. They are usually a bit dated, but you know what - they're clean, the room is big with a table to eat at. I have a fridge, microwave, coffee maker, internet and I parked my own car for free. Breakfast in the morning if I want it - all for a third of the price. The downside is it's an hour drive in the morning with traffic, but it's just one more day so I can suck it up. The week has been tiring, but worth it, I've learned a alot and seen alot - I'm really grateful for this opportunity that Bayada has given me.