I was off to a rough start Thursday, when my flight out of KC was almost 3 hours delayed and I didn't find out until I was almost to the airport....longest. day. ever. (I would not be considered a "patient" person by any standards, so this was really hard for me.) I finished reading "Twilight" and read the majority of "The Firm" that day. FINALLY arrived at my hotel by the medical center (where the training was) at 8:30 Thursday night.
The training was 8-5 Friday and Saturday with about 22 other SLPs (Speech-Language Pathologists) from all over the country. It was a really great group and everyone was super nice (but then, what speech therapists aren't great?!). There were people from New York, Maryland, Connecticut, South Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, Kentucky....and even two women from Germany. The training was all-paid by my employer and I was lucky to get to go through training with the women who invented the procedure in 1988. So, I need a little more "supervised practice" with the procedure and then I will be able to do it with patients and it will be really beneficial to have, especially in the ICU where it is more difficult to transport patients out of their rooms for testing. Today I got my first practice on a fellow co-worker. I am bribing the physical therapists with chocolate chip cookies for use of their noses. :) My dad is also "volunteering" sometime this week.
Besides the ever-exciting training, I got to see a sliver of Boston. Our hotel thankfully had a shuttle that went to the Prudential Center, which is where a lot of shops are in Boston....Friday night a group of us went there, walked through some neat residential areas, by a few historical landmarks, and through Boston Commons, which is a park that has been there for a very long time. We ended up in the "North End" where Boston's Little Italy is nestled and we had a really good Italian dinner....I tried shrimp scampi for the first time- not too bad! Here are a few pictures from the trip:
Some really beautiful homes near downtown; I love all the brick!
Some beautiful flowers in Boston Commons...
The speech therapists I went to dinner with Friday night....fun group! After our training Saturday, I went to The Cheesecake Factory with one of the therapists from South Carolina because the tour that I wanted to take was sold out. Dinner was really good though, however, I tried to banana cheesecake since it always sounds good (I have an insane love of bananas). It is not good. Stick to what you know Michelle! The Snickers cheesecake is amazing- why I ever veered from it, I don't know, but I have learned my lesson!
Sunday morning I flew out at 11, layover in Charlotte and back to Topeka by 8:00, just in time for some heavy rains!! Nothing says spring in Kansas like some storms! So, I am back at work and will hopefully get some more experience with using this procedure and will definitely make a second appearance in Boston at some point!
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