Back From Boston

I got back from Boston yesterday. I was there to visit Shriners Hospital for Children. I met their director of Rehab when I was in Chicago, and she invited me to visit and see what they do, and learn and all that jazz. It was GREAT! I had an amazing time! (minus the door to my compartment on the train not opening and me almost not being able to get off in Stamford, running down to the other end of the car in a panic "DON'T START THE TRAIN YET!!!!!" Kinda funny thinking back on it but not so funny at the time.

Again, I'll not bore you with itty bitty details. Just the highlights.

Boston Highlights:
I LOVED Beacon Hill. It was the cutest little neighborhood! Little narrow streets with little colonial row houses/buildings. Ivy climbing some of the walls, flower boxes, brick sidewalks, it was so cute! And i was peeping into a realtors window, and while some of the apts went for a million to buy many decent looking ones were only about 4-500,000. That seemed reasonable to me! Probably would have been double that in NYC. Not that I have 500 grand, but one can dream...

Harvard was nice. Crowded, but nice. It looked pretty much as i expected it to look. :)

Somebody hung roller skates off of Ben Franklin's statue (somewhereon the freedom trail, i think the old state house or city hall or something like that. maybe it was where he read the declaration of Independence, I don't remember exactly where. But it was a cute site. And Someone put furry boots on John Quincy's statue just across the courtyard. I'll post the pics as soon as I finish the roll and get them developed.

My new hat from Quincy market! Yay! A nice black hat (no to some of you, not a black hat black hat, just a hat that is black) to go with my nice spring/fall jacket, and it has a pink flower on it! :)

Oh yeah and I LOVED the name of this bagel shop chain around town. Finagel a Bagel I thought that wa REALLY cute! Though the bagels were only ok, not great but I've had worse. It wasn't a NYC bagel that's for sure. But the name made up for it.

Shriners Highlights:
I learned how to make and made a TON of splints! They were really generous with their splinting materials. And this is awesome because now I can make splints if our OT is away, and patients won't have to lose range of motion. So not I can make a resting hand splint, and a rotating elbow splint, and a neck splint, and a foot splint! The hand and the rotating elbow are the most exciting. They're the ones that'll get the most use. I love the elbow because it has a strap that gets pinned up and keeps the shoulder elevated and helps prevent shoulder contractures! YAY!

I got to go into the OR! It was really cool to see, and the PT's there go into the OR all the time. They do passive range of motion assessments while the patient is under anesthesia, so they don't fight you, you get to look at the wounds and see what's what, and they re-splint the patients too. it was awesome. I want to be able to do that! It would help SO MUCH!

Just watching and learning all the different things they do and techniques, it was great. The trip was SO worth it. :) I had fun and learned a ton that I could bring back and use at Bridgeport. I really had an awesome experience.

YAY for Boston, and YAY for Shriners Hospital!