My Version Of A Not So Great Day

Let me preface this post by saying that I know I have it easy. Every day at work I am reminded that I am healthy, I have clothes on my back, I have a job that provides me with a comfortable lifestyle, I have a family that loves me and cares about me, and that I typically never go without. This is usually in stark contrast to quite a few of my patients, who are obviously sick, may be out of work, might not have a family that cares about them, and may have needed many of the basic things in life.

I'm not complaining; just venting on the disappointment of today.

Today I got the e-mail I've been dreading. The e-mail was from the Journal of School Health and it informed me that my research manuscript had not been chosen for inclusion in the journal. For those of you who don't know, I spent a huge amount of time and energy in graduate school and 17 months after graduate school completing and preparing for submission my master's thesis on What High School Student's Know About Traumatic Brain Injury and Implications for Brain Injury Awareness Education.

I am disappointed my manuscript was not accepted for several reasons: 1) I devoted a solid 6 months of my life to surveying 336 students for my research project; all of it now for nothing. 2) I spent 17 months staring at my computer trying to figure out how to convey information about my study in print; all of it now for nothing. And 3) I am now no longer as passionate about brain injury as I once was, which is by far the most disappointing fact of them all.

Like I said, I'm not complaining; I could be far worse off. Even more than the disappointment, I think I am finally coming to terms with the fact that we all become jaded at some point in our lives. I'm disappointed that I spent all of that time working on my research, not that people won't get to see the research I did or understand why brain injury education is so important. That is jaded.

But, the good news is that now I'm passionate about other things...

The Magical Nose Pot

Jon has been sick lately...last weekend he had the terrible stomach bug that is going around and this weekend he has a head cold. Ever since we've been together, I have told him about the wonderfulness of the "nose pot", as he calls it. The "nose pot" is a Neti Pot.

A neti pot is used to clean out your sinuses. As you can tell from the picture above, it's not a fancy device, just a little tea pot you stick up your nose. Well, Jon has always thought it was disgusting (and in some ways I agree with him) and had refused to ever try it. But last night, he was so stopped up that he caved and tried the neti pot.

And you know what he said....."That is the best thing ever! If I would have known it did this, I would have tried it years ago!" But isn't that what I've been saying all along!!! It's a good thing I love him!

Best Seat in Town

So, I was at the hospital the other day and had to do a modified barium swallow study on a cute little old lady who had dementia. Now, people with dementia do say some pretty funny things, but this story takes the cake!

The cute little old lady is sitting in the modified barium swallow study chair, which is a tall chair that slides in between the radiology tower and the table (like being in a closet so small the walls touch your arms), waiting for the radiologist to come. Usually it takes the radiologist several minutes to show up, so I'm left entertaining my patients.

So, I'm making small talk with this cute little old lady when she says "I am so excited to be at this football game! I have never had such good seats for a football game! And, you decorate so nicely for these football games! I love sports; I played volleyball in high school. Oh, I am just so excited; I have never had such good seats for a football game!!!"

So what did I say? I did what any good speech pathologist does when encountering a patient with dementia....I went along with her story. Now, her nurse, who was there supervising, attempted to re-orient the cute little old lady several times, but with no luck. The cute little old lady just kept repeating her story! "I have never had such good seats for a football game!"

I don't think I'll be forgetting that little old lady anytime soon!

News From The Wedding Front

So, as you may or may not know, I am supposedly way ahead of the wedding planning game. I have all of my vendors booked, I have my flowers picked out, I have a dress and all the things that go along with it, and many other things I don't care to think about now. But, if you know me, that hasn't stopped me from trying to finish up wedding planning now. I want to have it all done and I want to have it all done now. What's the point in procrastinating? Anyway, I don't want to get started on my rant.

This weekend was a designated wedding extravaganza weekend. We (meaning I) designate a weekend every so often to focus on wedding stuff. Since I refuse to plan this wedding alone, my wonderful fiance, Jon, graciously puts up with me during these weekends and does a very good job helping me out.

Now, wedding extravaganza weekends rarely go well, and it usually takes every ounce of strength I have to make it through tear-free (didn't make it this time). Those of you who know me know I am a self-proclaimed organizational freak. But, despite that quality, I hate wedding planning. I want a beautiful wedding and a nice party afterwards, but all I really want is to be married to Jon. And wedding planning stresses me out! So, I'll just throw it out there that this weekend was a rough one. But, again, the point of this update is not to complain; it is to show you one of the good things that came out of this weekend!

The one last thing I needed to complete my wedding ensemble was a comb to wear at the junction of my head and my veil. I had searched all over for a comb that I like, but hadn't found one. And, I just couldn't stomach the $60 to $80 dollar price tags that came along with the ones I found. So, on a whim (I know....who knew I did whims), I dragged Jon to Hobby Lobby and blindly bought supplies to make a comb myself. Now, I don't want to toot my own horn, but I am super impressed with myself. See...

Tada!! And, the best thing....it cost less than $22 bucks and 2 hours of time!

Haven't had any work stories lately, have we?

As I pulled up my blog today, I realized that I haven't posted any work stories lately, which is the true purpose of this blog. Honestly, I don't have any recent funny ones, so I'll tell a sappy one today.

There are patients you treat who will always stay with you, even if they have passed on. For example, my denture man (see archived post). I was reminded of one of those patients today when I ran into his wife (CS is a small town...). Ok, here I go trying to be all sappy and this turns into a funny one, but I'll tell the sappy part first...

My patient, Mr. H, had Parkinson's Disease. Now, even if you're familiar with Parkinson's Disease, you may not realize what implications it has on your speech and swallowing (most importantly). In patients with Parkinson's Disease, the swallowing muscles, just like the other muscles of the body, become weak. Weakened swallowing muscles result in unsafe swallowing, in which food or liquid goes into the lungs, resulting in aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia is deadly. Most people with Parkinson's Disease don't die from Parkinson's; they die of pneumonia. Anyway, Parkinson's Disease also weakens the respiratory muscles and impairs a person's perception of speech volume. Thus, a person with Parkinson's Disease speaks with very poor breath support and a very soft voice.

So, I was working with my patient, and his wife of nearly 60 years, trying to make him more aware of his very soft speech. The following conversation ensued:

• Me: Mr. H, has there ever been a time where you needed to use your voice to get something and didn't get it because your voice was too soft?
• Mr. H: Well, yes.
• Me: Ok, can you tell me what happened?
• Mr. H: Well, we were getting ready for a trip and I was in the bathroom reaching for something in the tub when I accidentally fell in.
• Me: You fell into the bathtub?
• Mr. H: Yes
• Me: Were you hurt?
• Mr. H: No, but I couldn't get out of the tub.
• Me: So what did you do?
• Mr. H: I tried to yell for my wife, but she couldn't hear me.
• Me: So then what did you do?
• (Side note: Mr. H was a brilliant aeronautical engineer for the Air Force)
• Mr. H: I couldn't get out and my wife couldn't hear me, so I wedged my foot under the toilet seat (which was apparently next to the tub), lifted the toilet seat with my foot, let it go, and let the lid slam down. I did that about 10-12 times before my wife came to see what all the noise was about.
• Me: (Trying so hard not to laugh) So, you slammed to toilet seat with your foot so your wife could hear you?
• Mr. H: Yes
• Me: Well, I'm glad that worked, but don't you think that since your voice is so soft you and your wife may need a personal alarm button you could wear and push in just a situation like that?
• Mr. H: Well, I suppose that beats sticking your foot in the toilet!

Mr. H was the sweetest patient and had the most loving and caring family. He passed away a while ago, but I often see his wife working out in our gym. Whenever I run into her, I am in awe at the love she had for her husband for over sixty years and I can't help but remember that story!