May 7th- Day 4

Well as I finished writing this post I accidentally closed the tab and deleted it so here goes take two...

Today was spent researching. Chris told me to choose a topic of my interest and look more into it. This was a difficult task for me because I am so intrigued by everything revolving around medicine so choosing one specific topic was a complicated process. I finally landed on the topic of ACL repair because although it is one of the most common knee surgeries in the US, there's so much about it I have yet to learn. Well I quickly learned that an enormous amount of research has gone into this particular subject and I was drowning in information. I decided to narrow down my topic and focus more on comparing Autografts (grafts taken from the patient in need of the ACL repair) and Allografts (grafts taken from a cadaver) and the benefits and risks that come with the two. Even with the narrowed topic there was still an immense amount of research done, hundreds of case studies and articles appeared on my screen. Hours flew by and I was still learning new things and I was amazed by how much research has gone into the different types of ACL grafts. With a much better understanding in the area of ACL repair I wrapped up my research for the morning and headed into school.
After spending a majority of my morning glued to the computer, it was a nice change of pace to be back in the training room with Chris this afternoon. I continued to practice my ankle taping, struggling to find the right angles to tape around, but my taping has gotten significantly better compared to my first taping job yesterday. A huge shoutout to David Windsor for allowing me to tape and retape his ankles most of the afternoon!

Take One

Take Two

Take Three

After taping ankles, Chris showed us how to properly wrap a shoulder with an Ace bandage which I caught onto much quicker than the taping. Once we finished up with that Chris went over wound care with Erika, Nathan, and I and then allowed us to practice our use of Steri Strips on our magic marker lacerations.
I finished out my day on the phone with the hospital and I was finally given the green light to spend next week in the hospital to continue with my original senior project!