Warning this post may contain explicit language. Yes that is just the kind of week I had last week. I’m not saying that I don’t have bad week at other times but last week was a super shitty week. It makes me think back to a couple of weeks ago to the bird sitting in the middle of the road that tried to fly away as I drove along but instead bounced off of my windshield and it ended in a rain shower of feathers. That kind of shitty week.
I went into the field of Speech Language Pathology to help people. It started out that I was definitely going to work with children and more than likely work in a school system. I had ZERO interest in working with adults while I was still in graduate school.
It was a wonder that I actually completed an adult-based internship. I was in a Level 1 Trauma hospital working in the rehab unit. I actually enjoyed it. I was a little grossed out at the time with some of the dysphagia techniques, but eventually grew to love it.
It’s so easy to become judgmental and forget that we all had a beginning point in our careers. It becomes so easy to forget all of our screw-ups and not so perfect evaluations and therapy sessions. It’s so easy to forget those times that you thought you didn’t need an instrumental assessment because you already knew what was wrong with your patient.
Facebook groups have been a blessing for many and a source of frustration for many others. Comments come off as snarky and know-it-all, even when that’s not the intention. We often don’t want to hear about what we’re doing that wrong.
June is Dysphagia Awareness month. This is great, it really is. I love that we finally have a month. Dysphagia Awareness is so needed and so necessary in our field. We seriously need to have Dysphagia Awareness Day, everyday.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many patients I have that have never heard of dysphagia. When my patients have trouble with swallowing, they always tell me, I never knew that was a thing!
A while back, I wrote a post about the ISO device. Find the ISO post here. I still use this device with my patients in home health as appropriate. A few months back, Jolie sent me her 3 new models of devices to trial. I’ll have to admit that I really like the sleek new look.
I always like to reflect on my year and all of my accomplishments (or all those tasks I have to carry over from my to-do list. I also like to challenge myself for the next year and this year, I will challenge all of you as well!
A new year means new beginnings. Everyone always jokes about how the current year has beaten them down and they’re hoping for better times in the new year.
Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself in 2018! Make this your year to do the best you can for your patients.
I made it through another week to Friday! So, even though this post comes out on Monday, I’m celebrating! Unfortunately, some Fridays end up being my longest days!
Let’s jump right into this. After this post, I will definitely plan another post discussing my pros and cons of home health work.
