And that's the way things go...

I think this has been one of the most stressful weeks of the semester... even more so than when I had an Anatomy exam, Anatomy practical and Physiology exam within the span of two days. I have a feeling this week of hell is going to last until the end of next week, which sort of puts a damper on things...
It started last weekend, which didn't really feel like a weekend since I spent the majority of my Saturday working the Parents Weekend "Arts Alive!" Festival at Tufts. Then there's this paper/project for my Occupation & Adaptation (O&A) class that's been hanging over my head that's due next Friday. Just trying to get everything done this week that needs to be done was highly stressful, or maybe not highly, but just more than usual.
Next week I have a midterm on Wednesday, Thursday, and then that paper/presentation on Friday... plus an Anatomy exam the following Monday. Funnn times, yes?

Please excuse my b*tch session, it needed to get out in some medium.

I will say that I had a highly entertaining morning. As part of my O&A class we are observing special needs classrooms in different towns/schools. I (and Sam) are observing a medium-functioning classroom in Lexington HS. We have the pleasure (in my opinion) of going to gym class with the kids for the first part of the morning. I think those 40 minutes was some of the most enjoyable time that I've had in a while. The kids are great and play so well together, despite whatever challenges they are facing. The classroom aides are absolutely hilarious, taking each other out... calling inappropriate fouls on Sam... and just acting ridiculous in general. I think I spent at least half of the time laughing (in a good way) at what was going on. It was also fun to play soccer, even if it was in a really laid-back and relaxed way. I think I would enjoy coaching a soccer team of disabled kids... The rest of the classroom time after soccer was good, although Sam and I were definitely fading slightly. I have so much respect for the teacher and the aides with everything that they have to deal with, every day. I imagine that there is a high turn-over rate among special-ed teachers... but who really knows?

Apparently this is not the week for good relationship karma, because it seems like the majority of the people that I've talked to have been having issues. Deeana attributes it to being about a month into school and early relationships ending and what not. Come to think of it, the past two september/octobers have sucked for me, so maybe there is truth to Deeana's hypothesis. Non-platonic relationships are such funny things. (So are platonic relationships for that matter.) I feel like it's very easy for things to be misunderstood and people's feelings to get hurt. I guess that's the nature of the "game" though. I wonder if the entire online-dating scene has exacerbated/changed this cycle. That would be an interesting study. (I also wonder what the divorce rate is among couple who met online, but I think we need to wait a couple of more decades to start running those studies).

To conclude on a somewhat positive note, we had a guest speaker come in for my Clinical Reasoning I class this week. Steve is a professor in the Classics department at Tufts who contracted Guillain-Barree Syndrome about a decade ago. This syndrome basically causes damage to motor neurons, resulting in varying degrees of paralysis. In Steve's case, he was fully paralyzed at the onset of the disease, and now uses a wheelchair and is functionally mobile with his upper extremities. Anyway, what stuck in my mind was how Steve talked about his therapists. During his stay in the hospital/rehab clinic, the majority of his doctors were okay, but it was his therapists and nurses that made the biggest impact on his rehab. It was his therapists that really got to know him and his condition, and really cared about his progress. In regards to his OTs, he said that they were really good at finding creative ways to allow him to get better and to increase his independence. Basically, they allowed him to live again.

This is exactly why I want to be an OT.