Happenings

This past Wednesday I headed up to Philly for the NATA convention.  I had class at 1pm where we had to give our assessments that we created to our peers so that we could get feedback on our questions.  Luckily we finished in an hour and didn't have to stay until 3:30, so I was able to get on the road.  81 and 66 were fine and I sped right on up, but then 495 had some traffic issues, meaning it was a parking lot. Then 95 had some bad parts too and I swore I will never drive on 95 again.  Finally got to Baltimore and saw my dad's old office from the freeway, then drove through Wilmington and on up to Philly.  I got in about 7:30, put my stuff in the hotel room and walked over to where the JMU reunion party was.  I had a quick bite to eat before the party started and then got to see a bunch of the JMU people that I haven't seen because they moved or I haven't seen because I'm not working in sport medicine anymore.  Lets just say free drinks is not the best idea...we drank them out of yuengling and vodka.  A group of us headed out after to the Field House which is by the convention center, but were unable to get drinks there because it was so crowded so we headed back to the hotel.

Thursday we got up and headed over to the convention to see the speakers on Sudden Death in Athletics.  The first speaker discussed cardiac implications, like HCM and commotio cordis, the second talked about sickle cell, the third was Kevin Guskiewicz talking about concussions and the final speaker discussed heat stroke considerations.  Thinking about concussions I realized that we have lots of information on return to play post concussion, but we have little (that I know of) about return to school.  I was certainly not able to return to school the day after my last concussion (junior year).  In fact it took me a week to get back to class and be able to fully participate.  The other big thing I got was from the heat stroke discussion where I learned that you have 30 minutes to cool a person after they collapse from heat stroke and the best way is through ice water immersion (all but the head), and the problem with just calling an ambulance is that it takes 45 minutes on average to get the person to start cooling at the hospital.  They apparently don't believe in ice water immersion, even though studies done by the Army have proven that it's the best technique.  Complete lack of communication and evidenced based practice there.  That afternoon was the keynote speaker after they showed the JMU video Smooth Professional.  It was so neat to see that on the big screen and know that two guys from my school created that!  Go Dukes!  The keynote speaker talked about keeping play part of your life and focusing on making an impact.  He showed a video about the human polar bear, a guy who swam a km at the north pole!  Crazy dude, but it really showed that climate change is a big issue if someone can actually swim in the north pole.  The other neat thing about that session was the awards part.  My PT from high school, Craig Denegar (who is an ATC/PT) who helped me with my shoulders got an award.  I ran into him after the ceremony and said he probably didn't remember me, but he did!  It's a small world.  He even asked how my parents are doing and remembered my mom.  Crazy!  Thursday night I didn't go out because I was so exhausted from so little sleep the night before and because I had to be a the convention center at 9 the next morning.  I saw on the news that night that there had been huge thunderstorms rolling through the area around 3pm while we were in the keynote session.  We knew it was raining because we could hear it hitting the roof, but didn't know that there were 75 miles per hour winds outside!  The news showed all these photos of trees knocked over into houses and such.

Friday I got up early, tried not to wake up my classmates (ATEP 09!) and walked over to the convention center.  It wasn't too hot yet so it was a nice walk.  I had signed up for the Myers-Briggs Personality Test and took the assessment before I got to Philly.  We talked about the different types, defining how you see the outside world (introvert or extravert), how you integrate information (sensing or intuition (N)), how you make decisions (thinking or feeling) and how you execute those decisions (judging or perceiving).  I'm ISTJ, which means introverted (the party's in my head, not in the room), sensing (practical, literal and hands on), thinking (logical, good at analyzing) and judging (organized, enjoys decisions, liked categories and control).  Makes sense doesn't it?  I think it describes me very well.  The one point that was nice to hear is that while these letters describe our personality preferences, how we like to be, it doesn't mean that we don't have any other parts of us.  So in situations I could be more intuitive or more feeling, but it just depends.  Makes me sound less like a cold-hearted b*tch.  The other interesting things that we did was separate into two groups, based on extravert and introvert and discuss what we liked about our group, what we liked about the other group, what we didn't like about our group and what we wanted the others to know.  So all you extraverts out there, know that just because us introverts go quiet, doesn't mean that something is wrong.  Or that we may not initiate the conversation, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to us, we just need you to initiate.  Then we changed into SJ (completely me), NP, NF, and NT groups.  Most people were SJ and we were supposes to discuss what a company would look like if it only had SJ employees.  Basically we'd be super organized, get everything done on time and perfectly, but have little forward thinking or creativity and be very workaholic.  So we'd eventually all burn out and the company would fold.  Meaning that we need other people in our lives.  I got to thinking about how Julia (roomie) is the complete opposite of me (ENFP) and how she brings me out of my shell, which is good.  After the seminar, I headed back to the hotel and met up with my 09 kids, we grabbed some cabs and headed to Jim's on South Street to get Philly Cheesesteaks.  I obviously didn't get the cheese part, but the steak and onions was fantastic.  After lunch it was time for me to head out and start the drive back to JMU.  I decided to stop in Annapolis to see Sara for the night which was a great decision.  I took the backroads through Delaware, drove through Jaynell's town, got to call her and catch up while I drove (hands free!) and then arrived in time for dinner at Sara's grandparents.  I got to meet a bunch of her family and they were all so nice and told some great stories.  I would go back anytime. ;o) We decided to stay in because we were tired and watched some tv before chatting for about 2 hours lying in bed.  It was really nice to catch up and hear about everything going on in her life and talk about everything going on in mine.  So worth it!

Saturday we got up around 10, hit the pool at her uncle's for 30 minutes with her little cousin and aunt, then headed over to her grandparent's where we had lunch and I headed off.  The drive back was not a problem at all, 495 kept moving, I didn't have to shout at people to find their gas pedals, and then 66 and 81 were speeding right along.  No tickets either!  I'm glad to be back and get my work done for class tomorrow, and it was a pain to get to Philly, but seeing my ATEP family and knowing that it's ok that I don't look for an AT job (Bridget said "you've finally found your niche!"), and then seeing Sara was worth it.  The perfect excuse to skip class. ;o)