Matthew's Weblog

Prank

If you don't believe that Sherman can be fun, check out this prank that some Sherman students played on our philosophy professor, Dr. Bill Decken.

Thanks for being a good sport, Doc!

Activator Seminar

This past weekend I headed down to Atlanta again for an Activator Methods seminar.  Activator is a hand-held chiropractic adjusting instrument.  There is an elective course in Activator that is offered at Sherman, and the word on the street is that it will be offered again next quarter.  Admittedly, it is not the primary technique that I want to use in practice, at least at this moment.  However, it is a great technique, and there are many people that make up the Sherman student body and faculty that are interested in pursuing and using the activator system.  Consequently, we ended up with about 15 students making the trip to Atlanta.  Two of the seminar instructors were Sherman faculty members and another faculty member attended the seminar.  So, just when you thought you understood the "Sherman Package" I guess you realize that there other complimentary adjusting methods that you can learn about both at Sherman and at outside seminars.

In recent days I also had a chance to see a jazz concert at USC Upstate, only a couple of miles from Sherman.  One of the neat things about living in a "college town" is that there are many opportunities to enjoy free or inexpensive cultural events that are held at the other five colleges and universities within a few miles. 

XRI

It's official.  I'm now an XRI!   XRI's (x-ray interns) are interns in our health center that have additional training in x-ray procedures and work shifts in the x-ray department assisting other students with their films and providing tutoring services. 

If you ever come to campus you will notice that during clinic hours the interns have different colored clinic jackets to designate their areas of additional training and responsibility.  All interns get a light blue clinic jacket.  XRI's get navy blue jackets.  ACE interns, who have additional training in palpation and adjusting technique, have black jackets.  Patient Education interns have green jackets and they obviously have additional training in patient education. 

All three of the programs are great opportunities to learn more, give back to the school and pick up so many other benefits along the way.

A Day Off

I'm so behind on my clinic paperwork because I'm trying to get five outpatient files completed on some patients that were transferred to me by upper quarter interns.  The way things work with transfer patients is pretty nice.  You have to analyze the x-rays on the new patient before you can adjust them.  However, once you finish the x-rays they give you three visits to see and adjust the patient before you have to finish the rest of the paperwork as long as their plan of care is up to date.  I have several patients who are stuck somewhere in that three visit gap and I'm rushing to get the files done so that their care is not interrupted.

Today, however, is a day off for me.  The clinic was originally scheduled to be open today, but thanks to the construction on campus we will have no power so they decided last week to close it for the day.  That gives me a nice little break this weekend, but I'm off to the races again once Monday arrives.

Whistle Pig III

All of the votes have been cast for the new mascot of Sherman College (except for those of the possible super-delegates that may or may not exist).  The new mascot will be unveiled at Lyceum in May, and I personally plan on being there to see who comes out on top when all of the votes are counted.

I must, however, acknowledge the comments that I saw posted on my past blogs about Whistle Pig.  I can't help but wonder if those were posted by friends who are playing games with me or if there really are people out there that read this and cared enough to post such comments on my blog.  If the later is true, I'm absolutely flattered that this blog is that important to you. 

Though I certainly understand all of the points being made and have utmost respect for anyone who espouses either of those points of view, I don't think my jokes about the school mascot will discredit our profession any more than the division that exists within the profession itself does.  I mean, how many people really read this blog to form their view of chiropractic anyway and even if they do would it really matter if I joke about the mascot?  Having said that, let me give you a glimpse into how my mind works (this could be scary!!). 

I have always said that I don't really care what ideas anyone can refute; I only care what they have to offer.  Anyone can work to destroy other people and their ideas by twisting the truth or asking misleading questions, but it takes someone special to bring new, world-changing and innovative ideas to the table so that those who have nothing of value to offer themselves can instead try to tear the new idea apart.  I believe that the chiropractic profession as a whole has a lot of new, world-changing, innovative ideas to bring to the table, and advancing those ideas one person at a time should be our focus. 

I sincerely apologize if anyone was really offended by my previous blogs about WP.  Seriously though, lets take the energy that we are tempted to put into tearing each other apart over such silly things and redirect that towards our COMMON goal of advancing our profession and the world-changing truths that we have in our grasp.  I firmly believe that if we as a profession were to lay aside our differences (many of which I believe to be as petty as this one about the school mascot) and instead focus our efforts on changing lives with the skills we have our world would be a much better place.

In regards to the other comment, let me also clarify that the faculty, staff or administrators of Sheman College never have and never will tell me what to write on this blog, and to my knowledge they have never censored anything I or any other blogger has ever posted.  Admittedly, they may occasionally suggest topics for us to discuss (i.e. Lyceum) but we don't have to write on that topic, nor do they tell us what to say about it.  So, no one that works for Sherman even remotely suggested that I write about whistle pig; indeed I'm sure there are some that wish I had never done so.  In light of that, this is definitely not some organized, secret PR plot to create buzz about the new mascot.  Again, I'm flattered if you think I did create so much buzz, but somehow I doubt it.

As for me, I'm not going to say if I really want Puxy (AKA, Whistle Pig) to win or if I only jumped on that bandwagon because I needed something to write about, gave into peer pressure, thought it would be fun, had nothing better to do with my time, or if I quite simply have something gone awry with the wiring between my ears that makes me think that Puxy becoming the mascot of Sherman College is the most important issue facing our nation today.   I did cast my vote . . .  but out of respect for the whole democratic process (and to maintain an element of suspense) I will not tell you for whom I really voted.  Even if your vote only offset mine, I hope that you voted too.

Regardless of the outcome, the journey to find a new mascot has been a fun journey and I reluctantly admit that I can't wait to see what the result of the election will be, even if it is not Puxy.

Tenth Quarter (15 months from graduation)

This quarter is off to a great start, but looks to be at least as busy as past quarters.  I'm taking the following classes:  Clinic I, Pediatrics/Geriatrics, X-ray Review, Research Design Methods, Alternative Adjusting, Applied Technique, and the Gonstead elective course.  I'll also be working in the X-ray department of our clinic four hours a week and giving them four free hours as part of the XRI (X-ray Intern) program I've written about in the past. 

Outpatient clinic hit me full force right off the bat.  Anyone who is not a Sherman student or employee or in the immediate family of a Sherman student or employee is considered an outpatient.  Basically, that means I can pretty much see anyone that wants to come in and see me from here on out and this has opened up a whole new world of possibilities.  Trying to juggle several outpatients and my four "student patients" on top of everything else that I have going on is tough, but it is a great learning experience.  You will not hear much complaining from me about the busy schedule though; I'm glad to be one of the lucky ones that has the problem of having too many patients to squeeze them all in.  Every patient that you get your hands on is hopefully a chance to get extra practice AND make a huge impact in someone's life by helping them to express health and life to the best of his or her ability.  As with anything else in clinic, it is really the piles of paperwork and the things you have to do behind the scenes that eat up so much of my time, but it is worth it to be able to touch so many lives.  Still, working long days and coming in on most Saturdays is necessary in order to make it all possible . . . says the one who is updating his blog at 5:30 a.m.

Speaking of how busy life is, I'm off to do some reading for my Gonstead elective class and to do some further study on a condition that one of my new patients has, but I'll be back in touch in a few days to fill in some of the details of this quarter's events.

Gonstead Seminar and ChiroOne

It was a weekend of C's:  Chicago, Cold, Chiropractic, ChiroOne, Dr. Cox.  I just got back from a weekend in Chicago in which I probably learned more about chiropractic that I ever have in any given 72 hour period.  It was awesome and is a testament to the fact that there are tons of opportunities out there to learn about chiropractic in our free time.  So here's the story.

Thursday I visited ChiroOne with some friends from my class.  ChiroOne is a group of chiropractic offices and a program that is sort of like a residency for chiropractors where they can get additional post-graduate training and work experience in chiropractic technique, practice management, marketing, and patient education.  The business was originally started by three Sherman alumni who you may have heard about:  "The Chicago Three".  This was an invaluable learning experience for me, but there was even more to come once I was finished there.

Friday and Saturday I attended my first official Gonstead Seminar, and I must say that it is absolutely, head-and-shoulders, awesomely better than any other chiropractic seminar I have ever attended.  I have attended the Gonstead Unlimited club for some time now at 10:00 breaks and I even went to a Saturday seminar hosted by the club here in Spartanburg.  This weekend, however, really helped me to put together a lot of things that I've learned at Sherman, in club and at the weekend seminar.  It was a great opportunity to really focus in on the technique and theory behind one of the more popular chiropractic techniques, and I'm afraid that I may be turning into a full-fledged gondroid (a name affectionately - or not? - given to those who are passionate about this particular technique). 

Indeed, I learned so much this weekend that I'm planning on attending another seminar that the same group is putting on in Atlanta in a few weeks.  I would recommend that anyone who attends chiropractic college should get involved in similar activities to develop his or her chiropractic skills and philosophy even further beyond what chiropractic college itself provides for you. 

You don't even have to be in school to do so for that matter.  I strongly encourage prospective students to go shadow practicing chiropractors before they attend school, and this weekend I met a lady at the Chicago seminar who was learning chiropractic at the seminar while taking her prerequisites to start chiropractic college in August.  Though I'm sure some of it was over her head, she seemed to have learned a lot, as have others that have told me about attending seminars before they even started chiropractic school.  So the moral of the story is:  learn as much as you can while you can for student rates, which are much lower than what licensed doctors have to pay for the same training.

Having said that, Lyceum is just around the corner on May .  It is a great opportunity for Sherman students and potential students to be exposed to several smaller learning experiences similar to this for absolutely free on the campus.  Of course, there is a career day that same weekend and prospective students that come to that can attend the other presentations if they wish, but I've written all about that on this blog in past years and you can find all of the information on that on the college website so I'm not going to bore you with the details of that.  I'm really impressed with the schedule this year because there seem to be a lot of speakers that will be presenting on techniques (Gonstead, Knee Chest Upper Cervical Specific, Blair, Advanced Muscle Palpation, etc.) that we could choose to delve into in addition to the things we learn about the Sherman Package adjusting system.  I personally plan to attend most of the three days and may even volunteer to help out somewhere that day.

Next Quarter

Like I said the other day, I made it through last quarter.  It was a great experience because I was able to start up four student patients and get lots of practice giving "official" adjustments in the clinic.  For me, the whole clinical experience is really bringing everything together and a lot of things are starting to make sense.

This quarter I'll start seeing outpatients.  Outpatients basically include anyone who is not a student or employee of Sherman College or an immediate family member of either of the above.  I was fortunate enough to have five patients transferred to me and I look forward to providing chiropractic services to them over the next few months.

There is A LOT of paperwork that goes into starting up a patient, so prepare yourself for the hours and hours of behind-the-scenes work you'll pour into each patient's file before you ever even get to adjust them. 

Another thing you may need to know about clinic is that patients don't necessarily take breaks so you may be here during the school holidays and breaks seeing patients if you plan on keeping them.  They also don't typically only want to schedule appointments from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Since the clinic is open from 11:00 to 7:00 Monday through Friday and most Saturday mornings, be aware that you may need to be in the clinic late or on weekends on occasion if you plan to keep your patients happy, and thus keep your patients.   Of course, you can schedule substitute interns if you have to go out of town, but once again there is paperwork involved in doing that.  It would be nice if classrooms and restrooms were the only places at Sherman College where you sometimes had to do some paperwork to get out, but that is definitely not the case when it comes to anything in the clinic. 

Well, I'm off to finish getting ready for my Chicago trip but I'll be back with information on that in the next couple of days.

Thoughts on East-er

Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.

Mark 15:16-20

          A king took on a crown of thorns.  Knees were bent in "worship" for the purpose of mocking the Maker of all things. His royal purple robes were stripped from Him and exchanged for dirty human rags. Saluted, yet spit upon.  Bowed before, yet beaten.  Crowned, yet crucified.  This is the dichotomy of a loving and just God invading our reality.

          Ironically, a man named Simon was forced to take up the cross that God was bearing for him. Skull Hill was climbed and God was nailed to Simon’s cross, my cross, your cross.  God’s Son watched as the soldiers gambled for my sin-stained garments that had replaced His regal robes.  There between two criminals the charges brought against Him were nailed over His head:  "The King of the Jews."  They crucified Him for being who He was, yet He died for who I would one day be.

          They cried, "Save yourself and come down from the cross!"  He chose instead to save Simon, to save me, and to save you by taking that cross upon Himself.  All the while, two criminals for whom He died ridiculed the King. I’m sure He knew that I too would one day mock Him.

          Those words rang out like thunder.  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  A loud cry.  A last breath.  Darkness.  The curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom.  I can hear the cry of the soldier, "Truly, this was the Son of God."  But it was too late.  Indeed, it was finished.  It was over.  It was all in the past. The soldier had crucified God so that God could forgive Him for delivering such a deadly blow. Was he afraid?  Was he sorry? Regrets. Second chances. Again I hear him cry, "Truly, this was the Son of God."

          Would I have spit in His face or bowed my knee in mockery? Would I have stripped Him of His regal robes or driven nails through his hands and feet?  Regrettably, I would have.  Even worse, I have.  Yet He took it all upon Himself for me:  my cross, my crown, my nails and my thorns.    

          He made Himself nothing, yet became everything to me. He took the place of a slave that we might be free. He humbled himself by dying a criminal’s death on a cross so that a criminal could join Him in Paradise. 

           He forfeited His rights as God while the religious leaders took those very rights upon themselves and watched Him die, nay, fought to bring about His death.

          Yet on that dreadful and glorious day God died for the sin of the religious elite, for Simon’s sin, for the soldier’s sin, and, yes, even for my sin and yours. One hand reached to the left and clung to His Father while the other reached to the right so He could pull us near. Could it also be that one hand also stretched out to push our sins as far west as they could go while the other moved us East-er than we ever dreamed we could be?  East-er:  I guess that’s the point of this wonderful tragedy.  As far as the east is from the west.

          Saluted, yet spit upon.  Bowed before, yet beaten.  Crowned, yet crucified.  He died that we might have life.  This is the dichotomy of a loving and just God invading our reality.

Catching Up

Okay, it has been some time so let me take this opportunity to catch up.  Since I was last here:

. . . . I finished final exams and made it through ninth quarter.

. . . . I started seeing outpatients in the clinic (more to come on that one in the near future)

. . . . I finished the Applied Clinical Radiology class and am on my way to becoming an XRI (more to follow in the near future)

. . . . I have been to the dentist a few times for some recurring tooth issues.  For what it is worth, I got a prescription for pain killers and antibiotics "just in case" I need them.

. . . . I booked a flight to Chicago and am putting the final touches on plans to go there and visit the offices of some Sherman alumni and attend a Gonstead technique seminar this weekend. (again, check back for more in a couple of days.)

. . . . Lots of other things have happened but it is way too much to mention in one blog so check back in soon.