Friday and adventure weekend

Friday began with a patient I had never seen before. She had one crutch and was hopping around in the gym. I asked a physio about her and he said she broke her femur and is now partial weight bearing. She had not had any gait training so I decided to take her for the visit and see what I could do. I used the scale to help her understand how much weight she was applying when standing and transitioning with a step through gait. After we did some parallel bar training for correct mechanics with decreased WB. Having her walk and during the gait step on the scale gave her more feedback. Continued to progress and finally went back to the crutch. Three of the physios stopped their treatment and watched the session. They were shocked how quickly her gait changed and improved. After that I had two of the physios work with me to see the three exercises we would do next (steam boats with theraband with upper extremity support, ambulation tie taps on 6inch high targets (to improve functional single limb stance) and matching seated on therapy ball). Improving sit to stand while taking some weight was harder. Every time she did it incorrectly I had her restart and try again. That did the trick and by the end of the session she walked out a different lady. This was one of the most rewarding treatment sessions of my time here because the results were immediate, you could see how proud she was of herself during the session, and the physios thought I was a miracle worker but showing them the techniques made them realize how simple it would be to do with all patients. 

After helping a few other patients I did an eval on a middle aged man with neck and mid back pain. It was nice to get mechanical pain again. I walked the senior Physio through the eval process we typically do. She said she really liked how thorough it was. After providing my diagnosis and home plan she told me what she would have done but now realizes how much more sense my treatment plan made for his impairments. We worked together to determine treatment plan in the clinic and how to progress based on how he presents. ( I decided that the hypo mobility of his thoracic spine was what we would target first based on presentation and she said she would have done cervical traction because it was neck pain.)

Worked on a few more cases before leaving for our weekend adventure. We got a Tro Tro to take us to Kakum National Park. 10 of us arrived and got to watch the sun lower over the rain forest 

We then made the hike to our camp site and a couple hours later set off on a 2 hour night hike through the forest looking for animals and learning about the vegetation, wildlife, and history of the forest. I spotted a bush baby high up in the trees and we saw some other animals but not clear enough to make out. 

After an interesting night sleep Samuel, our tour guide, woke us up at 530 to watch the monkeys jumping in the trees. We couldn't make any details of the monkeys, just shapes, but still awesome!! At 6 we set out on the canopy walk. 7 rope walkways attached to the tallest trees made up the 120 foot high adventure around the forest. It was a nice adrenaline rush to wake you up

Scrubs tucked into the pants because the ants were awful and had a solid bite. 

The pictures don't even do the rain forest justice. It was so beautiful and the sounds of the animals and insects were so relaxing. The shaking of the bridge with every step kept us from relaxing to much. 

We left the national park and headed to a monkey sanctuary. 10 years ago a Dutch couple came to Ghana and opened a place to help raise baby monkeys who's mothers were killed by hunters in the area. They now have monkeys, snakes, mongoose, Dinka, and large animals from the cat family (the one that makes the most expensive type of coffee bean from the movie The Bucket List)

We drove a little further and stopped at the crocodile cottage for a late breakfast. They rescue and raise crocodiles (another Dutch couple). For 1 Ghana cedi (33 cents) you can touch one of them.......

Auntie Mary trying to turn the crocodile around .....

.... Had to one up it.....

And when he was done being around us he got up on his own and left

Before noon I would say it was quite an adventure!!!!!!!!

We got back into our Tro Tro and continued to Cape Coast. When we arrived we got a tour of the Cape Coast Castle which was used by the British for protection and storing slaves during the slave trade. It was crazy to be seeing the other side of this history that we learn so much about in school. It really hit hard to see the dungeons and how the slaves were taken from their villages. Being inside the rooms, smelling the smells, and hearing the stories gave me chills. The museum in the castle was very interesting and had great information. They had a section about the influential Africans in America during and after slavery. It was nice to see that the people of Ghana are still able to see the positives of such a terrible part of their history. 

It was a beautiful and well preserved castle....

We had a nice dinner and music at a local hotel on the beach. A bunch of Europeans and Americans were there and we had a blast meeting other people and learning about why they were in Ghana. 

We got back from the trip early on Sunday and all had to do some hand clothes washing after the busy weekend. 

3 students left on Saturday and we are getting 5 new ones today. The only other guy in the house is going on his village experience this week so I will be the only guy in the house for a week..... This will be interesting