All posts by Sammi Jean

Well to start with, I’m loving my job!!! But, these extra “temporary” hours at the other side of city at the larger facility where they run things differently are kicking my butt.  One long term side effect of going through chemo is exhaustion or fatigue, so I get tired easier than most people.  Forty hours a week plus easy to exhaust, no good.  But the residents are mostly wonderful, and the coworkers are trying to work with me, but it’s hard being the new one.

I laughed at one the other day, this young girl still in school didn’t want me to do nails because they might yell at me and she didn’t want to toss me under the bus, I laughed and said she shouldn’t worry, cause I interned at a hospital and while I didn’t do manicures I had to have them do arts and crafts, and we all know how people feel at a hospital in the first place much less to try and get them to think and try something new while on medication and in pain!  She just went ugh…but..but….  needless to say, I let her do nails and tried to start discussion while she painted.  A lot of the residents (in 90s) think I’m sweet and love my fun scrub shirts!  I’ve only been grumped at three times in one week and easily switched it around.  Too bad for all this tiredness though, even with my thyroid medicine. Hopefully I will adjust to the new schedule soon.

My new job is wonderful!  Starting next week for the next three months though I’ll be at two different facilities 40 hour a week total!  Woohoo!  Today after 4-hour shift though I had to take a nap.  My fatigue is still with me, and some days are unbearable.  Yay for long term side effects and “new normal”.  Time to stock up on mountain dew and coffee!  I really did get lucky with this job, my boss is wonderful my coworkers are nice, and the residents are so sweet! I’m already connecting with many of the residents, bringing out smiles left and right, and as this population is primarily dementia, the lighter stage individuals help me out with the later stage individuals.  All are sweet though, can’t wait until our activities truly start!  I’m hoping to get the new calendars signed off and shipped out Monday afternoon. Time to learn Yahtzee and canasta!  I have October filled with fun activities thanks to Pinterest. I even have some ladies who want to learn crochet, so many of these activities that are sensory based will be helpful as it activates other sections of the mind to help keep the mind ticking, stretch out its plasticity for as long as possible. So glad that I can be here for them.

Wow, 29 viewers in a few short hours!  Here’s a recap of my situation so you don’t have to scroll all the way back to wherever it is I posted my story (can’t believe I’ve done 45 since I started in Jan! With 499 views total!!
I was always a sick child, catching every cold.  You sneeze, I was guaranteed to get it.  By the time I got out of high school my immune system seemed to be a little stronger, but the pain became more frequent. (Had pain a lot with sick, but parents thought I was seeking attention) over the course of 4 years in college I had a procedure for endometriosis which gave me temporary pain relief.   Then it came back and got worse.  That is pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.   In 2009 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma large b cell in about 85% of my skeleton.  I went through 5 months of chemo and was very fortunate that the drugs took away the tumors and healed the bone!!  It took me awhile to process what I went through, I went back to school and graduated and continued to master’s and graduated!  I’m feeling better than ever. The pain stopped halfway through treatment and my family is closer than ever, I’ve worked on forgiveness and moving forward and understanding what I went through, how I’ve changed and where I’m going.

Summer is coming to an end, and fall is beginning.  I will be having my new job orientation starting Monday and was already called yesterday to ask if I’d like extra hours due to another employee taking maternity leave!  It’s so exciting, I can’t wait to meet both of my new bosses (two different buildings /locations within the large facility) and figure out my new schedule.  I bought a new date book so I can’t wait to start filling it in!  Considering where I was four years ago this thanksgiving the idea of it all is almost surreal.  Was I going to survive vs I’m a master’s graduate with job and internship! (internship slow to start but that’s ok).

I also met a drama therapist at my internship who was visiting, and we have kept in touch. For anyone else interested in the creative therapies and hemodialysis units, we are considering teaming up to start a research project!  No clue when or where yet but we are in the process of looking up grants and scholarships, and a potential music therapist to join us!

With all this employment excitement, I can finally take responsibility for my financial concerns and am that much closer to living on my own!  (Yay bills, car phone loans etc.)   I’m fortunate to say my bills from cancer treatment are almost if not finished thanks to my dad, but I have everything else to take over and loan repayments start in November.  I have been looking at other blogs though and wondered if any other viewers have questions of my experience with cancer.  As I have mentioned, the financial burden was horrendous, and I was very lucky to have my family support me in that aspect.  I would be glad to answer any questions in my next entry, either post them here or privately.

I have received the official job offer for life enrichment assistant!!! I will qualify for benefits and everything even with part time!  So instead of school shopping I bought a brand-new planner for all the activities I’ll be planning for my new job and new blouses!!!  Omg so excited. Bright and early tomorrow I get to fill out paperwork and either wait till sept 9 for orientation or start sooner!!!

Four years ago, at this time I was getting a handicap pass to go back to school.  The fall of 2009, I was in my final year of undergrad, my sister-in-law was pregnant with my little nephew, and I was preparing for an internship at a community center with an art therapist.  I was also in severe on-going pain, and needed the handicap pass to get closer parking on campus and other places.  My chiro was only minimally taking the pain away by that point, but I was determined to continue school, my part time in class aid job, and do my internship. Hell, I made it that far, right? What was another school year of pain when I could at least park closer to my destination.

Now, my brother is getting a divorce, I survived the pain, chemotherapy, my undergrad and master’s program, am interning at a local hospital chain with an expressive art therapy program, and today had an awesome interview as a life enrichment assistant at an assisted living facility!!!!!!!!

I thought the pain would kill me, but here I am stronger than ever finally reaching my goals.  It’s totally awesome!  On top of that since I’m back in state I get to see my nephews, last week me and the older one went to a snake show!   And the younger one learned how to use learning games on my iPad 🙂 yay for Elmo!  But he has also discovered our old big bike and soccer!  The older one enjoys frogs and reading about squids.  Oh, the joys of little ones.

Now that I’m finally doing art therapy, it’s time to move to next goals and not let my medical history haunt me from meeting my prince charming and giving my nephews some cousins!  Who knows, maybe Santa will help me out this Christmas 🙂   Yay for no pain and doing what I enjoy! (now keep your fingers crossed that I get this job, should find out by Friday)

Hey again, I just want to post a shout out to two friends who are making some spare gas money with their hobbies. http://www.etsy.com/people/kittycup , my old roomie and http://www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyPawsbyTrisha my other old roomie!  Both have amazing selections, crafty paws have been around a bit longer, so the selection is greater, but Kittycup has a nice variety of cards and decorations, and is slowly growing, so please take a look and send them message for custom made cards and decor!

Soo excited, am officially at my internship, just need to finalize my schedule, and today I got called for an interview!!!!!!  Tuesday afternoon I may have a new part time job!  And also made plans for an expressive art therapy card workshop that my friend and I are leading this fall! *Referring to the minion crafter who will for sure be commenting here 😉 * any who, such an awesome day, had to share!

Since I will be volunteering and receiving supervision, I started a new journal!

Every semester in my program we received a brand-new journal to use during our practicum and internship for self-reflection, questions, supervision notes, etc.  This time however I am trying something new, I am creating a journal via “altered book” method.  I raided half price books for some cheap books that had good illustration with decent weight pages and tonight I was finally inspired to start!

When this project was originally introduced to me back in freshman year I said, “no way am I destroying a book to make another book” (also wasn’t explained well in my opinion).  It was not introduced during my latest program, and now that I’m back in the Midwest, it’s what everyone’s doing!!!   When I first visited art therapy interns at my new site, they all whipped out their journals which were really altered books.  Same at supervision, and then at the latest open studio, a cancer patient shared with me her story, and her altered books.

Her story was very powerful, and she was working on a 3-book series using old medical books from the research library.  She incorporated words, images, modge podge, tissue paper, you name it she had used it.  I felt honored that she shared with me, not everything of course but at least her feelings toward the subject and let me leaf through her books, such a great way to release thoughts and feelings toward such a painful time in such a positive way!  Knowing what I know now about this project I totally recommend it.  It’s one thing starting a brand-new sketchbook with empty white pages, but it’s another to bounce off of other words and images prewritten to make it your own.  (If this worked, I included the first few pages of my altered book)