Headache no more

I feel better. Love that Advil

I have a headache

I had a headache yesterday and cx a new cclient in am. I don't usually get stress headaches, but it would make sense that it would occur! Yesterday I was stressed about this client (adult) because I wanted to do PROMPT with him and I am really not ready to do that. Need more review and practice for him. Now I have a headache again. In my neck and top of my head. It is reminiscent of meningitis. I am a bit anxious. Took 3 Advil. We'll see. Send good vibes.

In the Trenches-for speech therapists

I am seeing a 2 year old little boy who has childhood apraxia of speech. Currently he often subs voiced for voiceless consonants. And of course at this age, and with everything else, he reduces consonant clusters.
He walks his sister to school with his Mom everyday and looks for sticks to play with.
So for big stick /BIG STIK/ (in phonetics) with a reduced cluster and voicing for voiceless you get /BIG DIK/.
That error is one that will get 'em into speech therapy every time!

word must be out i'm a liberal

well, words out atleast in the animal kingdom. i support gay rights-and they know. my female lab has long been interested in humping legs. mine. or other women's. never my husbands. i think it is because she is smelling hormone shifts or something. usually occurs when i am ovulating or having my period. we've thought of making some extra money by renting her out as an ovulation predictor dog. much cheaper than the fancy fertilitity stuff you can buy.
i also have and love, my guinea pig. it is a boy. i got another g pig boy that i am caring for. they are supposed to enjoy each others company. well all my boy did was madly chase and hump the other guy. causing the straight one to back his rear into the cage wall to avoid the mad-mounting episodes.
i've yet to get any input from the cat.

I Do All My Own Stunts

That's what it says on A's shirt. You can read it when he moves his casted left arm.

How to make your 1 armed husband nutty

Tie his shoes with double knots. It's just habit!

Update

Sat at 1:30 pm
Ki has recovered mo problem from the bonk on the head. Pops has splint/sling for 5 more weeks. He was thrilled to shower last week and is doing more now-to the point of getting bored. Evidently this injury/surgery is known for a lot of pain. He gets tired during the day, but nights are the worst. Every time he lays down he experiences pain. Not too conducive to sleeping. Not to mention he has to sleep proped upright on his back. So he is a bit crabby at times. But we are doing pretty well about taking good care of each other and not getting impatient.
A. has 2 more weeks in his cast. Right now he is working off a little sensory energy by spinning on the floor on his back like a break dancer.
Our good friends, Mama L and Daddy S have evidently caught the madness from us. They have a 5 yr old w/ special needs and twin toddlers w/ language delays. As if life isn't crazy enough-he broke his right (dominant) hand and she is laid out with a really bad cold from the kids. I need a picture of our 3 guys in their various splints and casts.
Shortly, I'm heading out w/ kids to see "Curious George"-should be fun. I'm looking forward to the movie.
The in-laws (brother and Dad) are here and are helping out in the way they can. That is doing yard work. So things are being trimmed and swept and mowed etc. This is good the yard needs it-always a consideration given I work from my home.
Work is busy. More cases and calls then I have time for. Lots of 2 year old boys!! Started teaching again this semester at State Univ. Same class as 1 yr ago-so that is helpful in terms of prep time. Still a time effort-but I just love it. I changed reader and requirements for the class to make it more functional. Many changes based on input from last years students on how I coulld improve the class. I hope the reviews at the end reflect this. Class is called "Advanced neurological diagnostics".
Picking up 1 or 2 private adult neuro clients while a colleague is out on medical leave. Should be good exp and some extra money.
Time to head off to the movie!!!

They say it somes in threes

One week since my last post. On Monday Pops had his apt with orthopedic surgeon who said he has a massive rotator cuff tear and needs surgery. He felt 80% sure Pops woud get a full recovery. Which leaves room for angst about not having a full recovery in a guy whose occupation is depenedent upon using his arms well. Currently, with no surgery he can't raise his arm to the level of his shoulder. Pops was very distressed at this news.
Th afternoon A. had a permanent cast put on his arm-3 more weeks with the cast on.
Fri am Pops had surgery. The kids and I dropped him off and then went to Pete's Coffee to kill sometime before taking Ki to Bab's house for the am and A. to school. I teach F am's 9-12 at the university. That morning felt extremely stressful-I was out of it and anxious with all that was going on. Vi, from Pops work, picked him up and drove him home after the surgery and stayed til I got there. I got home 45 min later. There he was propped up in a chair groggy and in pain after the surgery (general anesthesia, surgery with a scope). He has this wild wrap around cooling blanket on his shoulder that hooks up to an ice filled cooler to keep his shoulder cold and help control the pain. In addition to that is this compicated sling he gets to wear for the next 6 WEEKS. It has a full arm sling, a strap over his shoulder, one around his back and a wedge holding his arm out to the side. Really this sling makes it look as if his arm was amputated and reattached. It's called an airplane sling (I think)-that's because one is as wide as an airplane with this thing on. He is in exceptional pain. The kind where you keep moving your hands or feet in an agitated fashion. Reminded me of labor-except he doesn't get to pop a baby out of his shoulder after all this.
Now it is Sunday. Pops is in less pain. If he doesn't move around he is okay, though he continues to need the Vicodin. He moves from chair to bed to toilet and back again.The kids have been good about understanding that he is in pain and not to climb on him.
The kids and perhaps all of this left me feeling very irritable by lunch time. I told Pops I was going to go shopping alone and get the b-day present for the 2 pm bday party I'm taking the kids to-I needed a break. I finish my shopping in Toys 'R Us and head next door to TJ Max for a few minutes of shopping alone in an adult section. I was handling a great pair of New Balance shoes when my cell phone rang. It was home. Pops said I needed to come home, Ki had hit her head and was bleeding and he needed my help.
Evidently A. was pulling her in the wagon and it flipped over and she hit her head. Lots of bleeding. The neighbor gave Pops a hand. I arrive home to the family lined up on the front porch. A. with his arm in his new green cast and sling, Pops with a half bared hairy chest, bandaged shouder and wild-ass airplane sing, Ki screaming, ice on her head, and blood down the back of her shirt. Once she was settled and I realized I didn't think she needed stitches I almost broke out in hysterical laughter. This is some kind of black humor.
I decide with the kids to skip the party. I set up pillows and blankets for Pops on a bed, refill and hook up his ice pack, get him books and leave him to rest. Kids are now watching a movie. I am contemplating a nap. Ki says she now wants to go to the party-we probably could. But the blood in her hair might be distracting to the other guests.

Heavy

I participate on a blog w/ other "special needs" Mom's where we try to record what we are grateful for.
But right now I need to bitch, moan, scream and throw a fabulous pity party. I need to put down all the ways life has been hard in the last 8 years. Maybe if I barf it out I'll begin to feel lighter and feel more able to work to change the things I can.

I feel heavy.
My life is weighing me down.
My husband, Pops, got lab results confirming excessively high cholesterol-and a request from his MD to come in and discuss the need for medication to treat. He is only 41.
That night, just a few hours later-A broke his left (dominant) arm and required surgery due to the compound fracture. ^ weeks in a cast and no writing at school.
Four days later Pops was walking on a plank bridge and it broke underneath him causing him to fall and land on his shoulder. The ortho MD is 90% sure it is a rotator cuff tear (in shoulder) and will require surgery. This has a LONG and painful recovery time. Pops is a physical therapist and an out-of-commision arm means not working for 4-6 weeks, disability and a loss of income. That is of course if he doesn't lose his job. That seems unlikely (I mean how much of a jerk can you be to let someone go b/c of the same type of injury your business makes money on-but his contract says they can let him go after 30 days of being unable to work). He is at an MRI as I write. He is rightfully concerned and fearful about all of this. After surgery, and now I need to do more around the house b/c he is so limited by using 1 hand.
Pops Dad has surgery coming up, a biopsy of a growth on his tongue, to rule out oral cancer. Not a surprise in a guy who is a pipe smoker and has a history of melanoma. The original surgery was cancelled when they discovered a cardiac condition.
My mother's dementia (Alzhiemers) looms on. She can ask the same question 3 times in a 5-10 min comversation and never realize it. I need to get her moved up here. I just can't even see how I can fit that in.

I just need to continue while I'm at it, and talk about the past

Mom had emergency surgery last Sept and I was gone for over a week to her home town. I called on MANY people to help out with the kids-as then and now Pops only has 4 hrs of sick time.
Last summer Pops had pnuemonia (hence loss of sick time).
One year prior Pops Mom died, we took her off life support, after a she'd had a couple years of kidney failure and cancer (only 65 years old).
In the last 3-3 1/2 yrs I've had viral menningitis 3 times.
My beautiful boy has developmental delays-behavior is hard to manage at home. there is always more I should do for him.
My dtr had delays and qualified for services at age 2. Luckilly, most things have resolved. But after my son-it scared the hell out of me.
She was a high risk pregnanacy with some concerns requiring extra testing. That was hard.
My son had a twin who died at birth. I found out at 5 months she would not live and indeed could have died in utero and thrown the whole pregnancy into early labor. I was on bedrest for 2 months. He was a good birth weight, but needed to be in the NICU for a week.


This all reminds me of a friend of mine who had repeated events in her life, similar to me in that they were out of her control. There is SO much- that as an outsider you almost become immune. I mean of course she can handle it and she'll be okay-look at everything else she has handled.

I am depressed and need to seek more treatment.
My hair looks awful. And I not picky-it hasn't been cut in months.
I have gained so much weight -and continue to-that I have no clothes to wear. My weight is out of control.
I am irritable and unavailable to my children.
My house is such a mess with clothes and toys everywhere you literally need a shovel in my bedroom.
Every room in the house is a mess. And unless you've seen it you really can't imagine.
SO MUCH-I don't know where to begin. I am stunned.
Pops is home from MRI
more later