My Pink Splint

Part of an OT's role is to make splints for various kinds of conditions. A splint, in a nutshell, is usually a plastic tailor made device that holds a part of the body in a particular position. At varsity we are trained to make these devices for hand conditions primarily. As with most teachings, at varsity you can only have so much practical training and most of your clinical experience takes place in the working environment. Here is one such learning moment:

Early in my community service I found myself alone in the department one afternoon. A patient came in with a peripheral nerve injury of the hand and desperately needed a resting splint. It is always helpful to have someone around to assist you when you are an inexperienced splinter but this afternoon I was alone and had no choice but to make the splint by myself. The only material we had available was pink perforated Aquaplast. This kind of material is usually used for children with small arms or finger splints but I had no choice... I had to use it.

The material was HORRIFIC it stretched beyond recognition and the webspace ended half way up my patient's arm. As I think about it now I'm not sure why the splint even had a webspace... It looked like a dog had it for breakfast. That splint became infamous in the OT department. Each time my patient came for a follow up appointment, the staff couldn't contain their laughter.

Did I mind? Not in the least! My patient, a sweet old man, treasured his pink splint. He wore it all the time because it kept his limb in a neutral position. If it was an exam I would have failed on the aesthetically pleasing part but I got an A-plus for client satisfaction. And in my eyes that's the most important part...

That's all.

Why it Was Cool Being a Kid of the 80's and 90's

• Fashion was funky, at the age of four, I had acid washed jeans, Doc Martins and a perm style hairdo (100% natural of course).
• The cartoons produced then were top class, who doesn't remember Gummy Bears, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Smurfs.
• I missed the era of apartheid but remember the first elections.
• Michael Jackson (RIP) had a concert in Cape Town and I attended! (U2 is awesome live I'm sure but, in my opinion, MJ will always be the best entertainer, Sorry U2 fans).
• Music was fun, they simply don't make songs like Macarena, Barbie Girl and Too Sexy anymore.
• Parents had not realised the amount of unhealthy additives in those ridiculously bright sweets and mix-a-drink cooldrinks yet.
• As kids we used our imagination on a regular basis, we were not couch potatoes and it was safe to play outside until late into the evenings.
• Computars just started to become popular, even though they only had two colour screens, and games like Prince of Persia kept you entertained for hours.
• There were plenty of good programmes for little boys to watch such as, Knight Rider, The A-Team and Dallas ( I think only my brother watched Dallas though) and little boys had plenty of bad musicians to idolize, such as MC Hammer, Snow and Vanilla Ice.
• Fireworks weren't banned in residential areas as yet and Guy Fawkes and New Year's Eve were always memorable days on the calendar (as a supporter of animal rights I completely support the ban now but I have had my years of ignorant bliss).

That's all.

The Failed Magician

Its strange how siblings from the same parents can have such markedly different personalities. Since I was a young child I have always been an introvert by nature, my sister on the other hand was a born performer. Anyway, we were both given a chance to express our individuality.

The idea of performing in front of an audience petrified me but I thoroughly enjoyed putting on a show for my immediate family. Even if have to say so myself, I could do a mean Mr Bean impersonation and I was quite the impressive magician.

During one of my performances I magnificently executed my 'Cut the Doll in Half' act and left everyone, especially my little sister, astounded. She couldn't fathom how after putting a paper doll in an envelope and cutting it in half with a scissors, the doll was still left in one piece. She secretly decided she had to try this one out for herself...

As I entered my bedroom later that evening I found my doll laying on my bed with a handkerchief suspiciously placed across her waist. On closer inspection I found that my beloved doll had been cut in half and the handkerchief was strategically placed across her middle to conceal this.


As you can imagine I never left my sister alone with my magic set again.




That's all.

Running Out of Gas?

After 2 weeks of intensive blogging I seem to be slowing down...Could I have run out of random life experiences or have I just encountered bloggers' block? The truth is randomness is attracted to me, whether I like it or not, therefore I think it's the latter. I'm hopeful Ill remember old adventures and have many new adventures and you can rest assured those will be documented here.

Watch this space...

P. S. I have run out of gas in real life but who hasn't? Makes for a good story...

That's all.

Murphy's Law is Not So Sweet When

As a 40+kg therapist you get referred the morbidly obese stroke patient that can't sit up and you have to work with the physio with a bad back (NB: not all physios have bad backs, it is mainly the older, lazier ones).

This story has a happy ending though, a 40+kg speech therapist assisted me in getting the patient to sit up. Don't believe me? I still have the biceps to prove it.


That's all.

Murphy's Law is Sweet When

Your homework gets circulated around the Eerste Taal Afrikaans class. When the teacher calls on you to provide an answer your answer is correct. When the teacher calls on one of your classmates to provide an answer your answer is incorrect :-).

That's all.

Why Ill Always Love the North West Province

• Having come across my love for local house music here.
• Suncity.
• Evening walks in Kloof with a friend.
• Zanzibar (a dodgy club with the worst music and strangest patrons but the company was always good).
• Waking up and seeing a small buck outside my window.
• The sound of baboons jumping on my roof in the morning (at first I was afraid but eventually I found it rather comforting).
• The frequent good hair days (the air is so dry it keeps frizz prone hair tamer for longer).
• Amusing locals strange dress sense, choice of hair colour or backward way of thinking (some days I felt as if I was in movie, a movie set in America but prior to Martin Luther King's time).
• Tasting pap for the first time and liking it (pap tert is a real winner).
• Camping in the wilderness and choosing to sleep outside the tent.
• Huge ass baboon spiders taking residence on my pillow and forcing my roommate and I to laugh in the face of danger.
• Learning and enjoying Tswana culture and people.
• Mocktails at Piattos.
• My first game drive.
• Pick-a-pancake.
• Seeing the mountain, a few metres above my house, ablaze. 
• The most beautiful winter sunrises (this counts for much because I'm from Cape Town and I have seen my fair share of beauty).
• The incredible friends I made.

That's all.