Since I finished my internship with the Padres, a few things in my life have changed so I wanted to share that with all of you.
Currently I'm still out in AZ, spending most of my time studying for my national board exam and preparing a presentation for the first year students about my time out here and the things that I learned. Its hard to summarize just how much I learned this summer, and I feel like only now that Ive had some time off can I really absorbed everything. No matter where I end up, or what I end up doing, this summer, and the players I worked with, will forever be a part of the kind of therapist I become. These players probably helped me more than I ever helped them. By gaining their trust and respect, I can walk away from this with confidence in who I am as a therapist, and the obstacles I can overcome to fulfill my dream.
In other news, I got into the orthopedic post professional residency that I applied and interviewed for in Long Beach. This is a good thing. I was very on the fence about this whole program, and I felt like the only reasons I was doing it was due to pressure from professors and classmates. It was a player that knocked some sense in to me. While struggling with whether or not to apply I was weighing my options with this player. He asked me, "Will it be good for your career?"
I answered "Yes."
"Will it make you better."
"Without a doubt. But I'm just not sure I want to be in school another year. And I don't want to live in socal anymore."
To which he responded, "Do you think I want to be in the minors? Look around, you think any of these guys want to be here? Hurt...in the minors....in AZ? No. But you do what you have to do to get where you want to be."
He was so right. And I knew at that moment that I really should be doing this program, and that this is where God wants me to be; Its my minor leagues. It will make me a certified specialist in orthopedics and will ultimately not only benefit me and my career but more importantly the people I treat. The acceptance letter was addressed to Dr. House; I thought that was pretty cool. It is a paid residency with mentorship hours from a specialist, and then I will be attending courses on the weekends. So yes, a little more school. Can you believe it? It starts in Jan and I'll hopefully be living somewhere in redondo beach but that is yet to be determined.
Since I've had a little free time I also have been doing a lot of reading, and as per a sugestion am currently reading a book by Josh Hamilton (OF for the Texas Rangers) called Beyond Belief. He was the first overall right out of high school pic back in 99. Plagued with injury his first three years he resorted to drugs, and through that experience found salvation in Christ. I haven't finished it, but for me it was such good insight into the minds of some of these players and what
injuries can do to their mind when there is an endless amount of expectations from teams and fans and a tremendous amount of money invested in them.... "The pressure I felt came from me; I've always expected more of myself than others have. So what was wrong? Why didn't my life feel as good on the inside as it looked from the outside? To me, the problem was incredibly simple: my back hurt, and nobody knew why. Ever since the accident I couldn't shake the stabbing pain I felt whenever I changed directions quickly or attempted to make an explosive movement. I could sense the doubts from the team about my back, and I began to wonder too. The pain was there, it was real, but nobody could find anything wrong with me. Doubt started to work its way into my mind too. Was I imagining it? Did I really want to play baseball?"
I read this paragraph a few times. These are some of the things these guys deal with everyday. In fact, a Broncos running back just killed himself after struggling for a long time with a knee injury. It makes me want to do everything I can to dig deeper, to find out why players are hurt, and to never give up on them. Its a good book, I look forward to finishing it. Just thought I would share....
So thats what I've been doing lately. Got a chance to go the Padre/Giant game thanks to the padres. It was quite entertaining picking up the tickets....they were in the player willcall for the padres but of course I was wearing giants gear; I had multiple people confused...it was awesome. Go giants!
In His Hands,
Katy
