Stress

These past few weeks have been sooo stressful. I've done WISE work a lot. For a long time I didn't have any posts, because I was so busy. Okay, maybe that's a little misleading. I had entries, in a written journal. I kept an account of what I did in that so that I could type it up and put it in my blog later. The problem was that I didn't get to type it all up for a long time; there was a lot that I had to make up. So, the past few weeks, I've been doing that. It's been crazy. Plus, last week was senior week, so that pretty much took up all of my time.

I haven't been able to meet with Kim nearly as much as I would like to. However, when I have, it has been excruciatingly boring. Oh the joys of working with sports teams. When their season is over, at least in high school, so is yours. She's excited because that means she has early nights. She'll get off at 5 instead of 7:30 every night. But for me, it just got really boring. She could do paper work. I was stuck there just standing there doing nothing.

I would have done more work during the time that I was there, but I needed a computer, and while Kim has one, she was using it; plus I would feel bad asking for it so I could work on my English project.

Anyways, I guess that's all for now. Bye.

Since You've Been Gone

As has been mentioned, the student trainers from Ithaca College have left. Their last day was a few days ago. Since that time, I've been able to do some taping in the training room. Bob and Matt are there too, but Bob only knows how to tape ankles, and he doesn't get there right away, so it's usually just me and Matt. Matt doesn't do taping, so it leaves me. I tape ankles, wrists and shins. I've watched Kim tape an Achilles and knees but I don't trust myself with those yet. Kim is so great about all of this. She'll talk me through things if I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, and she always asks me if I want to do the taping.

As much as I want school to be over, I don't, because that means the end of this project. I've had some major issues with keeping up to date with everything that I've been doing, but I have absolutely LOVED this project. One day I was talking with John Dale, the guy from IC. He was saying that freshmen don't do anything in the AT major. So, this is going to be my taping quota for a while because there's going to be a period of about 2 years where I'm not really going to be involved with taping anybody, but it's giving me a headstart on what we're going to be learning in college. Yay! :)

Lax Scrimmage vs. Homer

Today was a Scrimmage for the Lacrosse team. If you don't know what a scrimmage is, it's a game played during preseason. It doesn't count for anything, but it gives both teams a chance to get used to playing other teams before the season actually starts. Today's scrimmage was vs. Homer. It was awful out. It was cold and rainy. We, Kim, Kara, and I, were outside in the rain from about 6 o'clock to about 8 o'clock. It was miserable. The good news is that Ithaca won like 14-5 or something like that.

During the game, we stood on the benches by Ithaca's players and watched what was going on. There were no injuries (luckily), but Kim told me that when I was there, if there was an injury, I could run out onto the field with them. I figured I would be able to, but it was good to hear it. So, we got to watch the whole game from the sidelines (which was seriously cool) and then after it was done, we packed everything up and went back to the training room and put everything away. Not a great time, I was soaked, but worth the two hours. Plus, I hadn't gotten to work with Kim earlier in the week as much as I usually do, so I got to work with her then and make some of that time up.

So, I'm cold...I'm gonna go make some tea. Bye!!

Such a long day.

Oh my goodness. I had the longest day ever today. It started when I got up. My alarm woke me up an hour early. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I ended up getting up about a half hour early. I got ready and went off to school. But the day just dragged on, it was awful. I don't remember a day ever taking this long. I couldn't wait for the end of the day, because I was meeting with Kim and I was going to be there for like 3 hours, a good chunk of the time that i need to spend on my project every week, but the day wasn't going to work like that. However, when the end of the day finally came, I went to go meet with Kim. I was really hoping that maybe I could do some taping. Well, good news. She let me!! I got to tape somebody's knee. It took me a really long time, and Kim watched and guided me. It was so weird, but it was a lot of fun. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to do some taping is because today is the last day I'm going to be able to meet with Kim this week, and the college students are going to be back next week, so they'll probably be doing a lot of the taping. Grr.

So, after we finished the taping, we headed out to the turf where the Girl's Lacrosse team was meeting. The guys would have been practicing, but they had an away scrimmage, so they weren't there. But it was such a nice day. Kim and I had such a good time. It was the first time that I really got to talk to her one-on-one. We talked about all sorts of things, from Athletic Training to her daughter being at a sleepover at ACS this weekend to the fact that she was excited because she was going to be able to put together her new vacuum this weekend. It was great being able to get to know her in a way that doesn't have to do with my project. I love her, she is soo funny.

After I left Kim, I went to the spaghetti dinner for the seniors. It was to save graduation. It was fun, but I left at around 8:30. That means that I was at school for almost 12 hours. It was awful, but after school, I had so much fun. I loved it. Well, that's all for now.

See ya!

Wednesday.

The college students aren't here right now, they are all being cool down in Florida, Cancun, you know the deal. Lucky them. But it also means lucky me. I get to help out a lot more now that Kim can actively work with me. I learned a lot about taping this week. I don't know if you caught it, but in the video that I posted earlier about ankle taping, there was a point in the beginning of the video that the guy put two pieces of foam on the person's ankle. I had always wondered why they did this, and I asked Kim today. The reason that they do this is because it is lubricated on the insides of them, and it helps to not have the foam stick to the leg and it creates a good base for the pre-wrap.

So, Kim started teaching me how to tape and by the end of the week I should be able to tape a knee or something of that sort....I'm so excited!!!!!

ImPACT Testing

I met with Kim again today. Usually I spend about 1.5 hours with her per day, today I spent a good 2.5 hours. Just meeting with Kim this week has fulfilled my 8 hour requirement...that's not taking into account the mentor meeting, the class meeting, the research I've done, the time online writing the blog. If I keep up this pace, I will be in good shape come May or June.

The reason I was with Kim for so long today was because we were doing ImPACT Testing at 5 o'clock. The ImPACT Test measures how your brain works if you don't have a concussion so you have something to compare to in order to see if you do have a concussion. I don't know if I've written about this before, but I think I have. Sorry for the repetition. Anyways, so I was just going to watch to see how the test was done, but Kim suggested that I take it as well. Let me tell you. That thing was a pain in the butt.

The test itself is 6 sections. It all has to do with memorization and things of that ilk. The first thing you do is fill out a section about demographics-who you are, what you weigh, etc. Then you start the actual test. This is the obnoxious part. They flash words up on the screen and you have to memorize them. Then at the end, they will ask you if certain words show up...annoying right? Well, that's just the first section, they then do the same thing with shapes, and the shape is a line that is all squiggly. At the end when they are showing you the shape, they will turn it every which way, and you have to do the exact shape or you are wrong. So, they had 6 of these sections. Then they throw you for a loop. At the very end of the test, when you think you are all done, they ask you to remember the words and shapes from the beginning and be able to identify them again. Ugh. It was so annoying. It took a good 15 to 20 minutes for the test. Something I never want to go through again.

I Met With Kim Again

Day 3 of meeting with Kim. I love it. I have so much fun, not only with the IC students and Kim herself, but with a lot of the students that come in there. The girl who had to put her foot in the ice bucket yesterday, Harmony, came back today for another round. We were joking around because Kim wasn't in there when she got there. Throughout the time that she was in the ice bucket, we were joking and laughing and having a good time. It's a lot of fun. I'm so glad that I decided to do this for my project.

Today started Impact Testing. If you don't know what it is, you get asked a series of questions, and it tests how your brain works normally, or when you don't have a concussion. That way, they can more easily tell in the future if you have a concussion or not; all they have to do is compare the scores that you got on the two tests and they can figure out if you have a concussion or not. I was going to get tested myself, but I had to leave before I could. Kim told me I should take the test, that way I can get more acquainted with the process.

I am going back for Day 4 tomorrow, so I will likely take the test then...with the guys that are going to be taking it as well. Should be fun...

Meeting with Kim...Day 2

I met Kim again after school today. Mary Rose and Kara were there again, along with Bob Wu. It was a lot of fun. I got a video of Bob getting his ankle taped, and I'll put that up here soon. A girl came in and had to go in the ice bucket because she rolled her ankle. I do not envy her that. The bucket was half filled with ice and then water, and she had her foot in there for fifteen minutes.

We went out and saw the Girl's Lacrosse practice today. Kim was talking about how it would be easiest if each high school student was assigned to an IC student and a team, that way it wouldn't be so crazy everyday trying to decide who would go where because after school, the training room is crazy. It was fun today, Bob kept things really light. I know I am going to have a good time working with Kim.

I am going to try to go back either tomorrow or Thursday...we'll see.

First Meeting with Kim

After school today, I had my first real meeting with Kim Bailey. At first, we were just in the Training Room and she was taping people's ankles and toes and knees. Brandon Jordan came in and had to do some shoulder stretches with a band because he has problems with his shoulder.

We went out the football field and watched the Boy's Lacrosse practice for a little while. There really wasn't much to do. Kim said herself that until there is a game that a lot of the job of being an athletic trainer is standing around.

There are four IC students that are going to be shadowing Kim along with myself, Bob Wu and Matt Foote from the high school. Today I met Mary Rose and Kara, they are two of the students from IC. I think it is going to be a lot of fun working with Kim this semester.

First Meeting with Kim

I went to meet with Kim today. I watched as she taped up some of the girls basketball team. She told me that there really wouldn't be a whole lot for me to do until March 8th because the winter sports are over pretty much and the spring sports haven't begun yet. I might go the Boy's Basketball game tomorrow to see what a trainer does at a game, but I don't know if I'll make it or not. We shall see...

Email

So, it's been a week since I last wrote, my bad. I emailed Kim Bailey the other day and she got back to me. i am going to meet with her on February 22nd. From then, I don't know when I'm going to meet with her. It will depend on my schedule.

I read the rest of the periodicals that I chose. None of them helped me very much. One of them was about dancers with injuries. This helped me with personal issues. I have a herniated disk, so this was a good one for me to read.

I spent some time on a site that helped me look at a certain area of the body and the common injures associated with that area, it was tons of fun. The only problem with it was, that it was a general site, not really a site that helped with certain sports, but I'll try to find one of those too.

That's all for now.