Now What?

As the semester is rapidly coming to a close I find myself wondering, now what? In 11 days I will be done with Physiology, Rehabilitative Biomechanics, Abnormal Psychology, Introduction to Human Disease, and Epidemiology. And I will be halfway done with my junior year as an undergrad!! With the semester ending I am left with the question: so now what?

I will obviously continue to take Health Science classes/electives in order to graduate on time, but then what? I currently plan to apply to grad school for Occupational Therapy. If I stay on my current track, I will be applying to grad schools this time next year already! That being said, I need to accomplish a lot between now and then. I have to take the GRE, spend 40+ hours shadowing an OT, visit and apply to grad schools, and everything else in between. Once this semester is over, I will have roughly a month off, where I will hopefully be able to plan ahead on how I hope to accomplish some of these tasks.

Over break I also want to really reconsider my options as a Health Science major. Should I apply to grad school for OT? Should I consider other types of professional school?  Should I take a year off and try to earn some money to pay for grad school? Should I stop at undergrad and hope I can find a suitable job with my Health Science degree? Or should I “bank” on marrying rich and not having to use my degree at all? (JUST KIDDING about the last question) But really, though, all these questions are important and weigh heavy on my mind as my time at JMU is coming to a close faster than I realize.

Taking epidemiology this semester has also broadened my opinion on health and disease, especially in the areas of animal epi and how child and adolescent health is directly related to the health of a country. So I also wonder, now what in terms of epidemiology? Should I venture to find more classes related to this subject? Should I try studying abroad to gain a new perspective on how others view health and disease? Should I even get a Masters in Epidemiology?

So I ask myself again…now what? After writing this blog, it appears I have a lot I need to think and pray about over the next few months. I am excited to see what the future has in store for me and in my continued education!  

Let the countdowns begin!

5 days until break, 11 days until Thanksgiving, 19 days till Finals begin, 26 days till the end of the semester, and 37 days till Christmas!!! With so many countdowns in the near future it is sometimes hard to concentrate on what is at hand. It is also hard to believe that my junior year is almost halfway completed! Where has the time gone? It seems like just a few days ago I started writing these blogs unsure of what I would be able to write about from week to week.

Tick tock!

Looking back, I can see that I have grown better at writing my blogs and while doing so have gained an immense amount of knowledge about epidemiology over the last 13 weeks or so. Before taking the class, I did not even know what epidemiology was, let alone all the different facets it encompasses.  This class has been eye opening and I have found interest in several aspects of health that I had not considered interesting before which is also refreshing. Looking back on the semester, I have gained a better knowledge of different topics such as the flu of 1918, how case studies are done based on the type of disease, the different types of tests and surveys that are done to study diseases (especially graphs and charts), how diseases are spread from animals to humans, how bad traffic injury is in India and Africa, how infant mortality is directly linked to a country’s overall health, how to compare different statistics and so much more!

I will be taking away more from this class, than I think I originally "signed up" for on MyMadison last spring, and I could not be more thrilled.  So many of my friends have asked me about epidemiology and what it all entails and I love that I am now able to inform them correctly.

Finally, as these countdowns all come spiraling down quickly, I can't begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to being united with family and friends back in my hometown, Hampton, VA. I also look forward to my mom's home cooked meals (even though JMU's dining is awesome), spending time with my boyfriend and his family, and going shopping and baking holiday treats. And once we get back from Thanksgiving break, we only have two short weeks until Winter break, which is always my favorite time of the year! With that being said...On your mark, get set, go...! Let us begin counting down the days!!

Itching for More Information

Friday was like any other Friday for me.  I met with one of my groups for another class to work on our case study paper, went to class, did laundry and cleaned my apartment.  Friday night I had winter semi formal for club swim team that I went to, and then Saturday came…I woke up around 10 am, ate breakfast and soon after I started to feel very itchy.  My scalp, neck and upper back were red and had little raised bumps on them.  At first I thought I just needed to shower and clean up.  However, after my shower the itching got worse and spread to my stomach and chest.  It appeared that I was having an allergic reaction to something and as a result was experiencing hives. It was an annoyance and very irritating to be so itchy.  However, after a few hours of intense itching it seemed to go away.  Sadly, later in the day the itching returned, but in new places on my body.  The itching became so bad that I decided to go to the drug store and buy Benadryl and anti-histamine itch cream to help reduce my symptoms.  Again the hives stopped itching. Then on Saturday night the hives returned once again while I was working for SafeRides.  Again the intense itching became almost unbearable to deal with.  I eventually fell asleep late Saturday night and was able to sleep through the night without waking up.  Sunday morning, I started to break out in hives again. They did not show signs of improvement. If anything, they were getting worse.  Now it is Sunday afternoon and the itching seems to have stopped for now thanks to the Benadryl and anti-itch cream.  One of the side effects of Benadryl is drowsiness, though, which I am currently experiencing and am therefore having difficulty doing my homework.  

In regards to epidemiology, trying to find the cause and reason behind my hives is quite difficult.  When trying to determine the cause of a disease (hives for instance) you need to ask yourself/the person many different questions such as when did you first start to experience symptoms A, B, C, etc.?  What did you eat in the past 3 days? Did you eat anything different than what you normally eat?  Did you change the type of detergent you use on your laundry? Did you walk around in the woods or a grassy field?  These are just a few of the many questions you would want to ask to try and narrow down possible causes for the hives.  I myself answered all of these questions and more, and have not been able to pinpoint the direct cause of my hives.  In fact, I dumbfounded that I have hives because I have not had them since I was a little girl.  I am just “itching” to know what could have caused this type of reaction. 

Over the next few days I will continue to monitor my symptoms.  If the hives do not go away by mid-week I will go see a doctor and see if I might have some other disease.  For now it is a waiting game and I hope the pain and itching will soon go away without any medical help. 

Hallow-homecoming!

This past weekend JMU celebrated homecoming. All last week there were fun events leading up to the big game day on Saturday such as the annual passing out of the “Purple Out” t-shirts, pimping your ride with JMU spirit, and the pep rally on the Commons.  It was a time when students got to really show their school spirit and love for JMU and see alumni.  It was also Halloween weekend so there were festivities for the holiday as well.  In fact, many people were calling last weekend “Hallow-homecoming.”  There were many activities going on between Halloween and actual homecoming.  It was a fun, yet busy weekend!

Ducks swimming in the arboretum pond

On Friday, my boyfriend (who attends Virginia Tech), came to visit.  The weather was so nice Friday afternoon we decided to go for a walk in the arboretum and enjoy all the pretty fall colors in the trees. After yet another stressful week, it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of school and enjoy Mother Nature and her beauty.  Hiking and being outside is one of my favorite things to do to de-stress.  While on our walk we were able to see a few different types of animals as well.  We enjoyed feeding the ducks by the pond as well as seeing different types of birds.  We even spotted a ground hog crawling around not too far from us. In my opinion, there is nothing better then being able to listen to the trees rustle in the wind and hear different animals communicate.  Being in epidemiology I have become even more interested in the environment and how diseases can spread within the environment and between animals.  For instance, I did a blog in the beginning of the semester on an outbreak of dolphin deaths in my hometown, which sparked my interest.  I was also interested to hear about the spread of bird diseases in African from one of our guest speakers in class.  Events such as these are interesting to me and are not only important to study for the animal’s health, but even human health. 

Let's go JMU Duuuukes!

Next came Saturday and the homecoming football game! My boyfriend and I not only went to the game, but we also enjoyed tailgating beforehand.  While tailgating I was able spend some time with my older brother, John, who is an alumus of JMU, and also see other fellow alumni that I knew who graduated last year. The actual football game was fun too.  The Dukes won against Villanova and afterwards it was time to celebrate! Overall, the weekend was filled with fun, memorable activities, and a big part of what made the weekend so enjoyable was the beautiful fall weather!     

 

Injury Epi- How a Kitchen Knife Fell on my Foot!

In lieu of discussing injury epi in class last Wednesday, I deemed it reasonable to write my blog this week on an injury I myself experienced a little over a year ago.  In class we discussed how the word “accident” is politically incorrect because an “accident” implies that the act is random or unavoidable, when in reality there is a cause and effect for everything and almost, if not every “accident,” can be avoided or prevented.  Instead, of using the term accident, it is more accurate to use words such as “injury,” “car crash,” “collision,” etc.  So as for my “injury…”

In late August, summer of 2012, I had a horrific event take place -- I had a very large kitchen knife fall onto my right BARE FOOT. At the time I immediately went into shock, but luckily both my parents were in the kitchen when the event took place so they were able to assist me.  It didn’t bleed too much but, looking at the cut, my parents and I knew it was serious.  My mom took me to a Med Express where they asked me to move my big toe, and sadly I was not able to do so.  As a result, I was referred to a foot surgeon in fear that I had cut through to a tendon or worse, bone.  Again, I was lucky to have been referred to the doctor I was. His office was quite nearby and he was able to see me fairly soon.  An x-ray showed the bone was not cut  or broken, but he had me go in for an MRI that evening to get a look at the tendon before jumping into surgery.  Test results weren’t clear but he felt sure the tendon was at least torn and that surgery was in order.   My doctor told me this not only meant I had to have surgery, but that after surgery I would not be able to put ANY pressure on my right foot for the next 6 weeks, and that if I did I could easily re-injury the tendon, and have to start back at square one with a second surgery.  He temporarily stitched it up and three days later I had surgery where he discovered the tendon had been completely severed.   

Injured foot after surgery-- pretty gross!

Now let me remind you, this all happened in late August, about a week before it was time to move back to JMU for the fall of my sophomore year.  Knowing I would have to be on crutches for 6 weeks and that I could easily reinjure myself was extremely nerve racking.  I even debated taking off a semester, but with the support from my friends and family I decided to take each day as a challenge and came back to JMU on crutches.  Those next 6 weeks of classes were probably the most difficult 6 weeks of my life.  I was challenged everyday physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I was in pain often and felt depressed and hopeless. My arms ached from crutching around campus, heavy backpack on my shoulders, hopping up and down stairs in buildings with broken elevators, waiting for the disability bus that sometimes was very late.  With every little bump or stretch, I feared I had reinjured my foot.  While I had support from friends, professors, classmates and my family, it was still a difficult time. When I was not in class, I was bed ridden and felt trapped.  I couldn’t get to the dining hall or many other places, and was often alone.  Finally, 6 weeks had come and gone and I was off crutches for good!  I did, however, have to go to physical therapy for a few weeks to regain strength and flexibility in my foot, as the tendon was now shorter and very stiff from being immobile for so long.  Looking back now, it is just another page in my book of life, but it is certainly a more memorable one, and with good reason! 

Crutches didn't stop me from going to the football games!

Now looking at the nitty gritty of the epi triad with injury it’s time to see how my injury could have been prevented and avoided. The environment was the kitchen, the human was Jenna (me!), and the agent was the knife. 

That day, my parents had been slicing tomatoes for lunch and I went to grab a loaf of bread behind the cutting board, and knocked the knife right off the counter and onto my foot. The first thing that could have been changed was not leaving the kitchen knife on the counter out.  The second and probably more important thing, though, is that I should not have been barefoot in the kitchen knowing there are knives as well as other sharp objects that can be potentially harmful.  We were also all reaching around each other trying to make our own sandwiches.  We should have waited.  In the end, the injury occurred, but it is something that could have been prevented had certain factors been changed. 

Weekend Adventures followed by a not so adventrerous Monday

Well, I may have jinxed myself in last week’s blog when I boasted about not being sick yet this semester.  Today, I came down with some virus—I have the chills and have been running a fever of 102 on and off today.  I have no energy to do much of anything, I luckily took some ibuprofen, which has helped motivate me to write this blog as well as do some other much needed homework.  I am hopeful that this virus will work its way out of me quickly.  Enough about me being sick though… let’s talk about my weekend! 

As I have mentioned before, I am on the Club Swim Team here at JMU and this weekend we had our first meet! We got up early Saturday morning and rode buses up to the University of Maryland.  It only took us about 2 hours! At the meet I swam in the 200 Medley Relay, 50 and 25 meter Butterfly and 50 freestyle. 

Me swimming 50 meter butterfly!

My "shark" Erin and I reunited!

While I myself did not swim any personal bests or win my heats, JMU as a whole won the meet!  While at the meet I was able to see and visit with one of my good friends from high school, Cara, who swims on the club team for Mary Washington University.  I also was able to see my “Shark” or “Big,” Erin, who graduated last year from JMU.  She lives in Maryland and was home on Fall Break from grad school and was able to stop by and see everyone, which was awesome! Overall, the meet went great! It was over by around 4 and we left shortly after and arrived back at JMU around 7, due to some traffic we hit in Northern, VA.  When I got home, I was wiped out after my big day so I did a little homework and then put in a movie and called it a night! Then, on Sunday I was able to sleep in and in the afternoon I attended a SafeRides retreat where we played games and got to know each other better.  While my weekend was busy, I was able to still get homework done and have fun all at the same time!

"Goofy" team picture!

Now back to me being sick… One thought that occurred to me today, as I lay in bed ill was how and where I might have contracted this virus?  At the swim meet? At the SafeRides retreat? In class Thursday or Friday? From one of my roommates?  On the bus? The possibilities are endless.  At this point it does not matter…I am sick.  With that being said, though, I am going to do everything in my power to not let anyone else around me get sick by staying in my room as much as possible and washing my hands thoroughly throughout the day.    

Midterms: Where Sleep is for the “Weak”

As crazy as it is to say, last week was the official midpoint of the semester.  These past 7 weeks have flown by!  Like all semesters there have certainly been better weeks than others, but the midpoint is usually the hardest part of any semester.  Why? For one, you are beginning to burn out from classes and studying.  You are also usually filled with even more stress than normal and sleep tends to be on the bottom of your “to do” list because you have multiple tests all crammed into 1-2 weeks.  For example, last week alone I had 3 major tests and a quiz on top of my normal course workload.  Needless to say, I am still feeling the sleepless nights from last week this week. But it doesn’t stop there. This week I have a mid-term in epidemiology and a quiz. As if school wasn’t enough to keep me from sleeping, I am also involved in club swimming, SafeRides and Pre-occupational Therapy Association which all have meetings weekly.  I also recently started working at E-hall to help pay for school.  With all of these responsibilities it can be challenging to find time to sleep and stay sane.  What I like to do to keep my stress levels lower is to run or swim, but with all the midterms, I have simply not had time to do these activities. 

Thankfully, these sleepless weeks will soon be over and done with and I, along with my fellow classmates, can hopefully get back to a more routine sleep schedule.  Even though many claim jokingly that sleep is for the “weak” it is actually the opposite of that.  Sleep is for the strong and the smart.  As a Health Science major, I know how vital sleep is, especially in regards to staying healthy and alert in class.  From an epidemiological standpoint, lowering your immune system by not eating healthy, not sleeping or not practicing good hygiene leaves a person much more susceptible to contracting a disease. I am very fortunate that I do not get sick very often and in fact, have not been sick at all yet this semester, but during midterms I am always fearful that I will contract something from my lack of sleep and less than healthy due to my stress levels and busy schedule.