A Week of Things

Let me first start off by saying that I am fully aware I never did my “what’s in my pantry/fridge” post. Why? Because when I went to take the video, I realized my phone is a piece of crap, and I do not have a working camera. So.. that’s that.

I’ll figure out a way to do videos, or just do pictures. Either way, pantry post still to come.

Moving on, this week marked the end of my Community rotation in my internship, which meant it was suppose to be my last week at the eating disorder recovery center. BUT, for this next part, Advanced Nutrition, which is a total of 7 weeks, I was allowed to pick an “elective”. I asked if I could stay at the ED center for the elective weeks, and my instructor ok’d everything last week. So I’ll be staying for two more weeks, and then going back in July for another two weeks.

Up until this week, I hadn’t actually been counseling the existing patients one-on-one, but I did do a lot of the group sessions and new patient sessions. One of the dietitians on staff will be traveling for work over the next two weeks though, so I spent a lot of time in the sessions with her and her patients this week, getting to know them and their story from front to back. Next week, I’ll essentially be filling in for her by seeing her patients, going to rounds for updates, and doing all of the group sessions she normally does. I’m nervous to kind of fill her shoes for couple weeks because she’s awesome with the patients, but she’s a young dietitian so I’ve been learning a lot from her and I feel like I can relate well to her philosophies on everything.

Aside from having a full week with the internship-grind, this week Andrew and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. It’s actually a psuedo-anniversary date because we don’t know for sure when we started dating, so we never make a big deal about it. Just deserves an honorable mention!

photo from almost four years ago exactly!

photo from almost four years ago exactly

It was also the week we decided as Annie-girl’s birthday… little pup is now two years old!

Anddd this week I started getting up earlier and working out in the morning. I also tried a new protein powder.. but more on all of that later ;)

 

Do you celebrate dating-anniversaries?

Eating Disorder Rotation

Have you ever thought about something, or wanted something, for so long, that when it finally happened, you were like, “eh…”.

That’s actually how I felt the first week or two of being at the eating disorder clinic. For years I have had this dream of working with eating disorder clients, but never was able to get any experience since it’s such a specialized area. And then when I found out that within my internship, I would finally have the opportunity to get the experience, I started building it up the whole year! It was kind of like I was just going through the motions with my other rotation sites so I could just get to this one.

The first two weeks, in my head I was like “oh my gosh.. what if this isn’t what I actually want to do, what would my dream be then?”.

But, then I had my week off. I was able to de-stress and re-center myself. I didn’t think a whole lot about internships, jobs, or even nutrition (except for eating delicious foods, of course), so when I came back to the eating disorder clinic that Monday, I would be coming back with a clear head.

And then, it became everything I’d imagined it to be. I started to see it for what it was, not what I had built it up to be. I was in such a fog of stress that even my “lifelong” (not really, but kind of) dream was almost passing me by. But fear not, I conquered the fog.

Since I’m the intern, I don’t do a whole lot of one-on-one counseling with the established patients, not yet at least. I calculate the calories each patient eats everyday, attend interdisciplinary staff rounds with therapists, nurses and the like, help the dietitians run their group sessions, and do the new admission assessments.

What I like about it is that every day is something new. It’s not like hum-drum clinical dietetics, and it’s not like frantic-crazy-employee-disciplining management dietetics, it’s client-focused. And you certainly don’t want your clients getting bored, so in turn, you’re never bored.

The best, and worst part, is that each patient or client is a challenge. No two eating disorders are the same. Sure two people may both be diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, but their story? How they got there? Not the same. Their fear foods? Triggers? Not the same. How you speak with them? Not the same.

I say it’s the best part because it is important to me to be challenged. One of my fears about my future career is that I’ll get bored, and not be challenged anymore.. but with clients like these, I just don’t ever see that happening. But for it to be the worst part, for now at least, I mean that it’s going to take a lot of experience in learning how to effectively deal with each patient separately. I’m always concerned that I’ll say the wrong thing, and I’m sure I’ve said the wrong thing a few times already, but it will come with time.

 

Aside from my thoughts about my rotation with eating disorders, I wanted to put this out there: If you are struggling with eating disorder behaviors or thoughts.. please reach out for help! I often find that people think they’re “not sick enough” to ask for help, and that is just not true. Everyone deserves a good life, and if you are plagued by thoughts that prevent that, then please reach out to a therapist or a dietitian that specializes in eating disorders. They can, and will help you, no matter how big or small the problem may be. A good place to start is the National Eating Disorder Association.

<3

Quick Life Updates

I haven’t posted in a week! Ah!

Trust me I have wanted to post but I’ve been busy with the move… let’s talk about that.

On Friday night we got the keys to our new apartment, so all week we were packing things into boxes and getting everything squared away for the move. Since we just moved to a different apartment within the same complex, things were pretty simple but we still had a lot to do.

Anyway, Andrew and I made huge progress on Friday night by just filling up our cars with boxes and transferring them to the new place. On Saturday morning we picked up the U-haul van we rented and moved as much as we could manage until my friend and her boyfriend could come over to help us with the big stuff. By 3pm on Saturday, we were done! I spent the rest of the night unpacking and enjoying my new balcony and view.

I took a video of the apartment when it was empty but my narration is ridiculous and I don’t feel the need to share that with you guys so, once everything is unpacked and in its place I’ll do another video. Ya know, show you all a little glimpse into my life. And maybe into my fridge. Requests?

Rewind to the beginning of the week with the start of my rotation at the eating disorder facility. One thing I’ll say is that it is exactly what I expected. Seriously.

My job as an intern, as of now, is a lot of just helping out. Eating disorders are obviously a very specialized area of nutrition so I can’t do a whole lot yet, at least until I’m familiar with everything. In the mornings I take all of the girls’ food journals from the previous day and calculate their calories (which they don’t get to see, in case you were wondering). Then I’ll sit in on sessions with the dietitians until lunch. At lunch I monitor the cafeteria, signing off on trays to make sure the portions are correct, handing out condiments and keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior. After, I typically help out with one of the group sessions for the day. My favorite so far is the cooking group, which is for several of the patients that have reached a higher level in treatment and recovery. They make a meal from start to finish, then afterwards they process and discuss their feelings toward everything.

I don’t really have a whole lot to say just yet about this rotation because I’m trying to absorb as much as I can. Like I said before, eating disorders are what initially sparked my interest in studying dietetics and nutrition so I really need to see if this is what I want to do. Already I can say it is much more relaxed than working in a hospital, so I’m liking that. A lot. ;)

 

Have you moved recently, or are you soon? Tell me about it!