We're going to the ship... whaaat?!

Normal

Last weekend, I was able to go home to "the MPLS" to see Kyle and the NSC Minnesota Stars take on the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the first leg of the NASL Championship series. And, no big deal, they won, 3-1. I am so happy for Kyle. This is such a huge experience for him and I am thankful and blessed to be a part of it. In fact, I will be traveling to Ft. Lauderdale, FL this weekend to support them in the second leg! The playoffs work in a unique way, there are 2 games for each round and the team with the highest aggregate advances. In this case, the aggregate is based on goals scored. So, right now, the Stars are up 3 goals to 1. Having a two goal advantage is huge, especially since it is an away game. Say a prayer for their team this weekend and for Kyle is has been nursing a hamstring injury.

Roomies, Elena and I

Last weekend was also the Gopher Soccer Alumni weekend. It was a blast to have everyone together again. It was our first alumni weekend and I truly believe it was a success. It started on Friday night with a little bit of tailgating before the Gophers took on Indiana. Unfortunately, because I had to drive back from Fargo, I missed the first half of the game and didn't get recognized at half time because I was late :( The second half of the game was awesome and they won 3-1 as well. After the game, most of the alumni went on a peddle pub in Downtown, Minneapolis, while I went out to dinner with Kyle. We went to Outback Steakhouse.... yum! It was so much fun to be with Kyle again since we have been away from each other for quite a while.

Yay! and Ew he is sweaty

Kyle's parents came in for the game on Saturday morning. We picked them up from the airport at 9:30am and they took us out to breakfast at the Grandview Grill in St. Paul (they spoil us). We hung out for a little bit with Dexter and then I left to go tailgate for the Gopher vs Nebraska football game with the alumni. Carlie (former team mate and good friend of mine... I call her 'dirt') and I decided it wasn't a good use of money to purchase a ticket because of the current Gopher Football record. So, we just tailgated the whole time and met up with her husband Cole and some of his friends. Then, Kyle's parents picked Jennie (another former team mate, good friend and Kyle's room mate Neil's girlfriend) and I up to go tailgate up in Blaine for the game. (what a day of tailgating!) Anna also met us at the game! She is definitely an avid Stars fan!! Shine On!!!

Aww... Jennie and Neil

This week in the clinic has been fun and challenging. Leah has been giving me more and more responsibilities in the clinic. I have been studying each night in order to be prepared for treating and rehabilitating strokes, traumatic brain injuries and total joint replacements. I really like this rehab setting. We see patients 2x a day to get them back home. Patients are usually in inpatient rehab for 4-5 weeks, so there is plenty of time to get to know your patients, what motivates them and how we can best treat them. Please keep me and my patients in your prayers.


A special thanks to Kathy Altman for the photos :)

You Know You're In North Dakota if....

The excitement of the day is 'the cop turned his sirens on'....

It turns out, there are actually a couple of fun things to do in Fargo. After driving from Davisburg, MI to Rockford, IL to Minneapolis, MN to Fargo, ND, my first stop was the Third Day and Tenth Avenue North concert with my parents and sister Laura. The tickets to the concert were a gift to my mom for her Birthday... I think this past one was her 30th? Right, Mom? Anyway, we all had blast. The concert was in a church so it was a more intimate concert setting, which I usually like more anyway.


I was slightly distracted during the concert, unfortunately, because Kyle had a semi-final game at the exact same time. I was getting text message updates from his parents and it was a really intense game. The game ended up going into a penalty kick shootout, with the NSC Minnesota Stars, coming out on top! They play this weekend at home, in Blaine, MN at 7pm in the championship game. Check them out online or go to the game!

The fam... minus one 

You think a bison is a buffalo....

Isn't it?! I'm pretty sure I don't know the difference, and I don't think I say the word 'bison' the North Dakotan way. 

My sister, Laura, a North Dakota State University Bison, had her Senior Recognition soccer game the Sunday I arrived in Fargo. They were playing one of the top 4 teams in their conference, Oakland University. The game was a chilly one, with very large gusts of wind that changed the whole pace of the game. Regardless of the wind and cold, they got a really good crowd out supporting them. They ended up winning the game 1-0, with a really close call in the last 10 seconds of the game with an Oakland University shot sailing over the crossbar. EEP! They remain undefeated in their conference and left this morning at 6am for University of Missouri Kansas City, for a battle of the undefeated's tomorrow. Check out their webpage and follow how they finish their season! 

There she is... my little bison, dominating that girl

The locals think that more than six cars per mile of highway is a traffic jam....

Let me just say... people here have no idea what traffic is. So far, I have had two experiences where native North Dakotans have talked about how bad the traffic gets here. Although for them, this may be true, for me... I am enjoying my 15 minute drive to work everyday. I make approximately 5 turns on my drive and usually don't go over 35mph... not due to traffic, but simply abiding by traffic laws. 

I had to get my badge on Monday from another building, which required me to drive to another Sanford campus. My CI, Leah (whom I really like), gave me verbal directions. She asked if I would be okay with not writing them down. I usually would prefer to have something written, but I had a hard time believing it would be that hard.... It wasn't. I did think it was kind of funny that her description of how to get there involved "turn left at the dike" (which really looked more like a hill to me.... who knows).

If the three trees on Main Street are considered a forest....

Seriously, there are like four trees in the whole state. Not to mention nothing to block the wind. I have been enjoying the fall weather and running outside after work. The first couple of days, I stayed in the neighborhood of the retired couple, I am staying with. They graciously have opened their home to me and provide me with a my own room and bathroom and meals. What a blessing. Anyway, back to the running. I recently started branching out of the neighborhood to get a change of scenery. Little did I know that as soon as I left the protection of the houses, creating a nice warm, wind free nook, I was overtaken by the icy, frigid, crisp wind. It was not very fun and I think I will stick to the neighborhoods from now on. 

You hear "You Betcha" and "Okey Dokey" in the same sentence....

My CI speaks with a very thick North Dakotan accent. I love it, it's so perfect for her... but I am terrified that I am going to start talking the same way.... I'd like to think my Minnesotan accent is fairly mild and only comes out with certain words... like "coach"... right Kyle?!

More Clinic Pictures

I think I am going to enjoy my time here in Fargo. I have already spent some quality time with my lil' sis and plan to savor as much as I can of being close to her. A special thanks to Kalani for providing me with a wonderful taco dinner and pumpkin bagel with cream cheese. :)

These are for you Mom!

Davisburg Through A Lens

I will forever hold a special place in my heart for Davisburg and my six favorite residents of this town. 

My first "Last Week"

Can't leave Detroit without some apparel!!

This past week has gone by so quickly….. Let me restate that. This past 9 weeks has gone by so quickly. As I was driving the first leg of my trip home today, it felt like it was just yesterday my dad and I were driving to Uncle Rob and Aunt Deb’s in Davisburg, MI.

This past Sunday, I worked at the hospital to make up for the Friday I took off to go to Tampa. Weekends at the hospital are much quieter than during the week and it’s amazing how much I got done… and in so little time!  Working on Sunday also gave me an opportunity to work on other floors/units – which really challenged me as a clinician to be ready for many different diagnoses. Although I hated only have 1 day weekend lazy day, Sunday was a good learning opportunity.

The Butterfingers

Students at Detroit Receiving in the therapy department are required to present an in-service – a presentation on a medical condition and how it relates to therapy. Norm gave me the topic of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). ACS is an umbrella term for 3 types of coronary artery disease (CAD) associated with a rupture of plaque… pretty much a heart attack, each type with its own severity, signs and symptoms and key characteristics to distinguish them in the clinic. I also spoke on hypertension (chronic high blood pressure). 60 million Americans have hypertension and only ½ of those are actually diagnosed with the condition. Hypertension can progress to and cause a heart attack or stroke… so have your doctor check you out! J Anyway, the presentation went well. I made some homemade Butterfinger bars for everyone, thanks to Anna’s recipe. They were a huge hit.

On Wednesday night, Katie (former PT student at Receiving with me) invited me to dinner at her apartment in Grand Blanc (20 minutes north of Davisburg). Her boyfriend, Mark, grilled the most amazing flank steak I have ever had. The marinade is a family recipe and absolutely delicious. To help you understand its indescribable yumminess, it didn’t even require any sauce for flavor. I baked some Crunchy Peanutbutter Brownies – Alison P’s birthday treats this year in class – for dessert and we each had one with ice cream on top and then another brownie on top of that. It was nice to visit with Katie again (we went out to dinner last week and watched the Michigan football game last Saturday). It was definitely a blessing to have a buddy at the hospital and now outside of the hospital! She’s actually coming to the good ol’ MPLS next weekend for the National Physical Therapy Student Conclave. I am not going because it is Gopher Soccer Alumni weekend, but I plan on trying to meet up with her on Saturday night!

My last day at the hospital this week was Thursday. Norm let me have Friday off so I could start my trek home to Minnesota and then on to Fargo! Anna (OT Anna, not my PT student Anna) gave me a Biggby gift card. Biggby is a coffee shop specific to Michigan. There is one in the hospital that a lot of the therapist… ok all of them go to. She wanted me to pick out a coffee mug to have in remembrance of my experience there. How thoughtful. I chose this little guy! I have actually always wanted a smaller travel coffee mug so it was a perfect gift! Norm, Anna, another OT and 2 other students all went out to lunch to celebrate my last day. It was fun to eat out and Norm treated me to lunch! It was such a fun experience at Detroit Receiving!

Thursday night, we all enjoyed some quality family time on Thursday night. They all gave me such a wonderful and thoughtful gift that honestly made me start to cry. I have no clue where my emotion came from, but we were all in the kitchen hanging out, talking and laughing and it just hit me that it was my last night with my family. It was very unexpected, but that night and my last 9 weeks in Davisburg will always hold a dear place in my heart.

 Friday morning I woke up, finished packing and went out to breakfast with Aunt Deb, Katie and Kayla (Kim had to work and Uncle Rob was in India, working) at Bob Evans. Robbie was our waiter by request and he did an ‘OK’ job. J He actually did fantastic. We had a little photo shoot at the table to make sure we embarrassed Robbie as much as we possibly could. To put the icing on the cake, Aunt Deb and I made Robbie take a picture with me at the table.

Friday night festivities with Anna were a blast. I got in a little earlier than planned so I got to see her clinic! Super nice. Then we went to Granite City for dinner and ate 5x as much as we should have. However, both of us seemed to have left room for Red Mango! What's Red Mango you ask?! Only the most delicious hund cal fro yo (hundred calorie frozen yogurt) - well maybe not hund cal... but definitely non fat!!! AND this specific location is make your own!!! 40 cents per ounce. AWESOME!!  My ice cream went from full........ to empty in about 5 minutes. No. Big. Deal.

born to serve ice cream

empty and sad

FULL DELICIOUSNESS

DTW--> TPA

This week has gone by so quickly! I have been trying to sit down and write an entry. However, every day, I got home from work and just wanted to lay in bed and snack. 

So here I am now. 

Last week, Robbie decided to clean out one of his drawers in his room. And let me tell you, this had to have been a huge drawer. I was amazed at how much stuff he was getting rid of. Although he did give me a heart rate monitor which I have wanted for a long time :). He also found these weird ear wax candle things. It doesn't seem like the best idea to me.. but see for yourself.

I asked my supervisor if I could take last Friday off in order to fly to Tampa to see Kyle play AND WIN their quarter final game. I got in at about 4:30pm and Kyle's mom, Kathy, picked me up from the airport. It was so nice to be in 80 degree weather, wearing a short sleeve shirt, my sunglasses and driving with the windows down. We found our way back to the hotel, which was more like a country club. It was really nice.

Kyle had training at 4:30 so Kathy and I just hung out on the porch and snacked and chatted. Kyle got back from practice at like 6pm and him and Neil came up and hung out for a bit in their sweaty training gear! But regardless, it was so great to see him! We were all starving so Kyle and Neil went to change and then we all went out to dinner at Seasons 52... or was it Seasons 12?  The restaurant had kind of a unique idea. Because there are 52 weeks in the year, the menu changes each week (Seasons 52). Also, the waitress told us that everything on the menu was less than 475.....calories. At first when she said that, we all thought she was going to say $475. haha

The food was delicious, we got some flatbread pizzas, stuffed mushrooms, a spicy thing that I didn't eat and a baked ravioli for apps and then we all got a delicious meal! And then of course we got some dessert at the end! Thanks Kathy for treating :) You spoiled all of us.

We went back to our room and tried to watch Trinity University (Kyle's alma mater and his brother Kelly's the A.Coach there now) online. The feed didn't work, but we could get the game stats. So Kyle, Kathy and I sat in front of the TV watching live stats. It was exhilarating! And they won! yay.

On Saturday, we went out to breakfast at a Cuban restaurant. We sat on bar stools like an old diner. Kyle, Neil and Kathy got a lunch meal that was very Cuban, I got eggs and bacon. But to spice up my meal, I ordered some fried plantains. They were pretty good, but they burnt my tongue so I was slightly upset by that.

Then Kyle and I watched some TV, took a nap and by 2:30pm it was time for him to have his pre-game meal with the team. After he left, Kathy and I got ready for the game. We showered, got our 'Altman' jerseys on and by the time we were ready it was 3:30pm..... we were a little excited for the game I think. Alan (Kyle's dad) got in at 4:00pm, we picked him up from the airport and went straight across the bridge to St. Petersburg. We scoped out the stadium's location and then did a little shopping (against Al's wishes). We sat down for a snack at a little wine bar and chatted until game time.

We got into the stadium and this was our view! Can it get any better than this?! The game was intense and it was weird being the 'away fan' but we had a couple other supporters with us. Kylie, Lucas and Rich Kallman DROVE down and Jay, Kallman's girlfriend was there too!

The final score of the game was 1-0!!!! The NSC Minnesota Stars advance to the Semi-Finals!!!

After the game, we all went out to eat a little bar downtown. The waitress was a little... blond... and kept forgetting all of our orders, especially water! The food was average but the company was above par!! aFter dinner, Kyle, his dad and I wanted to go grab a drink to celebrate. We made a very underwhelming attempt to find a bar, and decided we were all too tired to sit somewhere anyway! We went back to the hotel and pretty much fell asleep. Good celebration!!! :)

Sunday, Kyle left at 6am, I left at 12pm and Kathy and Al left at 3:30pm. It was such a great weekend, catching up with Kyle and his parents and being in a tropical climate even for only a few days. The weekend wore me out though.

I was exhausted this past week at work!! But, can you believe it.... I only have one week left here in Michigan :( I am ready to move onto the next rotation, but will sincerely miss my family!! This next week, will be hard, but I plan on spending as much time as I can with my family!