It was a good day in the speech world. I worked with a 32 year old young man that had a brain surgery that seemingly did not go as planned and now he cannot say a single word. Pretty much it comes out "naa naa." He has very severe apraxia (which is a motor planning problem), but we tried counting together and singing Happy Birthday and he was able to say the words about 80% of the time. He was so happy he started crying. I explained that things that are so automatic are easier to say, especially with a melody, but he was just so happy to say something that could be understood, even if it was counting to 10. I also worked with a 42 year old lady who had a large tumor removed from above her cerebellum which resulted in damage to some pretty important cranial nerves that you need for swallowing. So now her tongue barely moves and she can't even swallow her saliva and has been on a feeding tube for 3 months. She came to my office for neuromuscular electrical stimulation to hopefully improve her swallow, kind of her last hope. I'm hoping for the best with her, but I'm really not sure how it will turn out.
So despite my recent stress and overwhelming desire to be home with my boys, I can certainly count my blessings one by one. Days like today make me feel very grateful. And I feel fortunate to not have any fear of being out of work, in fact I have more work right now than I know what to do with.
My work situation will be changing again in the next month. I am telling Boulder City Hospital goodbye, it's just too much stress and too far for only 1-2 consults a week. I will be starting per diem at Centennial Hills Hospital instead and taking on work at a skilled nursing facility only 15-20 minutes from home. At HealthSouth in Henderson, they finally hired someone for the position I have been covering since November. So they will need me fewer hours there (hence the reason I am picking up work closer to home), but I will be supervising the new hire, so I will still be keeping hours there. So between those places I should get my 35-40 hours a week. And if I don't, I've had 4 other places call and ask me for help, so I think I should be okay! Thankfully I only have about 3 more months of full-time work, then I can start cutting back my hours, and be down to 2 days a week by the holidays. Light at the end of the tunnel!
Mark is on night shift tonight, so I am procrastinating going to bed. I think I may crawl into bed with a good book and fall asleep. Sounds like a good plan to me.
7 comments:
Rachel I know how you feel about going to bed alone. I hate it. I am glad it isn't too often here. I actually had some sleepovers with the boys in my bed a couple times because I hated the empty feeling so much. I am glad you are staying busy and that you can see the end. It will be nice for you to be home more.
I'm also procrastinating going to sleep too, even though Karl is already sawing logs up there. Not looking foward to the insomnia I have when I'm pregnant.
With 3 months to go the end is definitely in sight.
That will be great to just have to go to Centennial Hills! I can't stand driving!!! And you can't clock those hours!!!
Again-your work is so fascinating and looks like it can be so rewarding when things go well and you see your patients improving! Good for you for being so in demand as well!
It is such a blessing just to be able to communicate with each other. Your work puts a lot of things in perspective. You should make a paper chain until you can cut back hours. They are so fun :)
Rachel:
I can relate to having to sleep alone - Billy has been gone for a month and I won't see him until the middle of August. Sometimes I make the dog sleep in the bed just to hear someone breathing.
I love your work stories. What an awesome contribution you make to people's lives! Yay for a light at the end of the tunnel.
Meanwhile...we still REALLY need to get together again:)
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