Categories: uncategorized
Date: 20 October 2006 12:37:39
(sorry - farli's 'cabbages and kings' is on my mind, for some reason... what's that from? Alice in wonderland? Shakespeare? a poem?)
slept through the night, don't think i moved again... well, perhaps i shifted from my side to my back. but all the pillows and blankets were still ON the bed. that's indicative of a deep sleep, as far as I'm concerned.
was at school w/ coworkers last night until after 8 (parent-teacher conferences). i let them take the lead and write up a report... my portion was very informal - there was one parent that was very intimidating, and i handled him well. he is a good, strong advocate for his son (terrific!) but he also has a big, intimidating presence...and i could see the teacher start to waffle and become 'smaller'... so i looked at her and said something like..."can i jump in and talk about speech and language?" not knowing exactly where i wanted to go (because i didn't have anything written, and didn't really want to bring out his Individual Education Plan--IEP-- goals and review them, because we wanted this meeting to be informal...so i just started talking about the child's performance, what he benefits from, what i've seen him improve with...and I addressed all of his IEP goals, just not formally... "your son has achieved this goal with 63% accuracy on two occasions with a visual and tactile cue" ...more like, "you son is making progress - since the first time he arrived to now, this is what I've seen, and, as his speech pathologist, I'm trilled...do you see this at home, too?")
Dad had a test yesterday to determine why the heart stints that were placed a few weeks ago have not improved his heart condition. He had to swallow a camera or something so they could look at his heart... and the camera malfunctioned. He's going to have to do this again. However, the doctor was able to say there was considerable damage to the valve that controls blood-flow to the lungs to receive oxygen... and they will try to repair it (with a ring of some sort) or replace it with a human or bovine valve. So he does need to have open heart surgery... which means, probably, that he will continue to get worse because he is an EXTREMELY NON-COMPLIANT PATIENT...doesn't follow-through, doesn't take his medication, he's mean, and he does not do "rehab" well. Did I mention he was non-compliant? His regular doctor had some concerns about Dad having this surgery b/c she knows he's a bad patient...but after conferring with the cardiologist, they decided there was nothing else to do. So...not sure when the surgery will be scheduled (they still need to run yesterday's test again)... but I called my *new* boss (new to me, not to the school district) and gave her a heads-up re: my personal life... and I told her a brief description of what was going on so that when/if she gets a call from me saying I'm leaving town for X # days, she'll understand why. And I told her how I'd handle it with my students' parents, etc. Do you know what she did? She voice mailed me back, said we'd be in her prayers, and if I was going to be out for an extended period of time they'd look at getting me a substitute speech-path so i wouldn't have so many students to make up. ...they don't often get subs up where I work... that was really thoughtful. Anyway, now she knows and I can go and help my Mom if necessary... I've kind of already said goodbye to Dad (back in January) and I've seen him a few times since then. He is suffering so much...he has lots of other complicating factors - kidney failure, diabetes to name a few. He gets dialysis 3x a week... and he eats like a teenager and doesn't seem to understand how eating salt usually lands him in the hospital... he's pretty much a mess. So, anyway, what can I do? I'm over 900 miles away...and he's not a phone talker...and because he's in so much pain he's not incredibly pleasant to be around...which makes me think of my poor mother... i would have left him years ago (for a wide variety of reasons)...but luckily I'm just the kid. However, i will never, ever be in that situation. Ever. Don't they say that it's a wise person that learns from other people's experiences? i hope i'm always wise. Anyhooo.....this paragraph is getting TOO LONG... and i need to get ready for work. It's only a 1/2 day because we stayed last night for conferences. Adios. Caio. Later 'gator. See ya. After while crocodile. (the end)