Words

Not sure if it is hurricane derived, but things have cooled off in the last couple weeks to highs around 80 to 85 degrees.  That, plus the mental comforts of taking home an actual paycheck for the first time in 2 years, mean that I actually sleep these days.  Quite remarkable for the last two weeks of August.  Usually, my morning summer runs leave me like this:

And that is after I "cooled down" for 10 minutes.  I do not miss those days.  Even Merus has had better long term recovery from her extractions now that the temperature is tolerable.  *Knock on wood* that moderation persists.

Meanwhile work leaves me ready for bed at 9pm but is grand.  It is an incredibly supportive environment to apply yourself, to learn from everyone around you, and to put all the pieces together in ways that they had not yet as a student.  My documentation and recommendations affect whether a person gets to go home or qualifies for rehab upon discharge.  Whether I talk to the doctors and residents themselves or they rely on my notes, the abilities and participation of patients in my sessions are cross cited in MD notes and affect changes their medical course.  Pretty cool stuff.  I remember 3, 4, 5 years ago teaching a group yoga class and thinking of just how much I could create change in people and yet how transient or, in many cases, how socioeconomics determined who I would impact.  I sought greater implications, applied to those who actually needed it versus a) those who knew of and decided to take yoga, and b) those who could financially afford to do so.  It is wonderful to find recourse so quickly within my just-budding career. 

And, while I knew word choice was important in connecting with patients, I see more and more every day just how much of a difference words mean.  How you encourage, how you agree/disagree, how you redirect, how you explain why, how you ask someone to move....  Word choice has incredible implications.  It is much, much more than simple having good rapport with patients.  The difference can be quite subtle and yet dramatic in their effect.  It is something I brought with me from yoga.  It is something I personally work on every day.  It is something which SO needs to be its own class in school for medical professionals.  Fits right in with psychosocial needs in a much more poignant manner than simply acknowledging cultural differences.