Thanksgiving

I was hopeful that the title of my next blog was “Triumph” and that I mastered the steps that were giving me such difficulty.  But I have not yet mastered these steps, I’ve practiced and practiced and until I consistently walk up and down with minimal cane use, I do not consider myself triumphant.  I did have an interesting experience this week that I think is worth mentioning.  I was asked to speak to a group of 30 seniors at The University of Texas who are studying communications for adults with speaking disorders.  Because I attended three semesters at UT Speech & Hearing, a graduate assistant asked if I would be willing to share my experience here and how it helped me.  I gave a 20-minute talk with 10 minutes for Q&A.  It was organized in 3 parts:

1. What happened to me?

2. My experience at UT Speech & Hearing

3.  My life today

I think it went well.  My assistant, Katherine, attended and her roommate, Lauren, was one of the students in attendance.  Katherine asked Lauren for some feedback afterwards.  Lauren told her she said she loved the presentation and that the professor talked about and quizzed them for an hour afterwards.  I wish I could have stayed for that part!

I really enjoyed preparing and delivering the speech.  A lot of credit goes to Bob for helping me write and practice.  My favorite line he gave me as a close was:  “This talk is supposed to be about how to deal with adults in therapy.  If I can only impart one thing, it would be to, “Treat us like adults who have had an injury that is making us act like children.”

On this Thanksgiving Day,  I am thankful just to be here.

good days ad really bad days

I hate to be negative but today was a disaster.  I headed out for my final PT session and to get to my car I have to step down a 3 inch step.  I couldn’t do it.  Bob removed the “prop” I typically use to hold while I step down specifically to get me used to doing this on my own. I froze and have no explanation for this; my mind would not let my left leg go down. The fear of falling is minimized because Bob is right there to catch me. Bob said, I couldn’t go to therapy unless I made this step. Just as I was about to call the therapist, Casey, to say I couldn’t make it, I was able to step down.  Since this is my last therapy session until January I was supposed to maximize my time and get the necessary homework to have a home program until then.   She tested me on my 3 goals:

1.       Walk outside in the grass unassisted

2.      Walk up and down steps outside unassisted

3.      Walk unassisted, no cane, with a glass of water without spilling any water.

·        I didn’t do the first 2 but did fine with number 3.

·        That spells disaster to me. These 3 things should have taken 15 minutes but since I failed miserably, I used up my entire last hour. What a waste!

4.       Casey said: “I wouldn’t push you so hard if I didn’t think you could do it.”   I am extremely frustrated as a result.  I guess everyone has bad days and I need to shake it off and get my confidence back.  I’ll try.  When I think about the east coast Sandy survivors, my issue pales, and I’m embarrassed to even bring it up.

On a positive note it has been a good week from a cognitive perspective. e. g, Spanish, voting, and writing a speech to give to UT grad students in November.  But I don’t want to “sugar coat” the bad stuff because I need to improve.  

So I will shake it off, put one foot in front of the other and get over it ---I am even going to do it on grass.