Why?

Today I went to the first of two days of the Australian Aphasia Association conference. The cool thing about this conference is that it's not run by speech pathologists or health professionals. It's by people with aphasia, for people with aphasia, and speechies etc are welcome to attend, but the focus is not on us.

Aphasia awareness is HARD. How do you increase awareness for a group of people with a communication disorder? You just keep at it, any chance you get. A lovely family member of mine said recently asked "Aphasia, that's trouble swallowing, right?" So close. Dysphagia is trouble swallowing and it's good that you made that connection. But APHASIA is my life's work, my passion, my main interest and it's not trouble swallowing. It's a communication disorder caused by acquired brain injury, most often stroke. It could be mild, with an occasional difficulty finding the right word. It could be very severe - someone might be able to say only one word (often a curse word - go figure!) or they may be able to say lots of words, but they don't make sense to the listener, even though the speaker knows exactly what they want to say.

This conference is amazing. I sit in the back of the room and listen to people with aphasia and their family members tell their stories. One man spoke about how martial arts has helped him with his balance, coordination and speech post stroke. He led us through several martial arts sequences as part of his presentation. A woman told us about her late husband, and how for 11 years he communicated by drawing stick figure pictures. A pediatrician opened the conference talking about his stroke and how he hasn't been able to work anymore as a doctor, but talked about what he has gained. A beautiful couple finished off the day speaking about their experience of giving, and how that has enriched their lives. The husband had a stroke 10 years ago and the couple had five young children. The wife said her main concern at the time was that he might have a limp. 10 years later, he is still in a wheelchair. When he speaks, it is laboured - it takes time, and there are pauses and hesitations, but he gets the words out. Last year they took a trip to the Philippines and saved a scrawny little dog, which led them as well to a young boy with autism who they have sponsored to go to school for the first time in his life. The love they have for each other is overwhelming. They don't feel sorry for themselves and they say that the rough times have helped shape their children, now mostly grown (the youngest is 16).

With my Phd, I get to interview these people. Often I am invited to their homes. They make homemade baked goods. They make me take things when I leave. They talk to me. They tell me about some of the hardest times in their lives. One man recently, when I was interviewing him (I know him from therapy and we have a couple of years of history) was trying to tell me many things, but is difficult to understand because he often uses non-words. I tried to use context and ask clarifying questions until I got what he was saying. At one point in the interview he was talking about how people don't know how to speak with him and he said "but you....love you!" It's taking the time to try and listen. I interviewed a lady last week. She is a lovely lady from Dublin. We spoke before the interview about family in Ireland and I told her about my dad's family in Dublin. When I was assssing and interviewing her, at times she would exclaim"Janey Mac!" which reminded me of my Irish family. Her daughter was there for the interview and emailed me afterwards to say that her mother had very much enjoyed the assessment and interview process and that my manner had put her at ease even though at times she could get tense speaking to new people. But this is not about me and trying to say that I'm so great and look at me talking to these people with aphasia. It's about them. It could happen to any of us, at any time. Who knows if there's a random blood clot lurking somewhere that could change any of our lives in a split second.

But anyway...why? Why am I doing this research? Not because yay me, at the end I can call myself a doctor. That's kind of fun, but not all that meaningful. It's because in this area research and AWARENESS are so important. I challenge all three readers of this blog, today, to go out and tell three people about aphasia. All I can do is try to make my tiny difference in this tiny area of life, which becomes massive to the people who are going through it. If you want an even bigger challenge - try to go to your doctor, or hairdresser, or anyone you need to make an appointment with and try to do that using only the words yes and no. And tell me about it! Tell me about who you educated about aphasia, leave a comment. I'd love to hear, and it would make me feel like my tiny difference is reaching that much further.

Time keeps on ticking...

And as it ticks away, deadlines loom closer! The end of the year always seems to disappear in a flash, and it's pretty much the end of September. I have to pull together my presentation for the Aphasiology Symposium. A good start is that a leading aphasia researcher has agreed to be on the discussion panel. I also went and presented to a community aphasia group yesterday and booked four people in for interviews for my research, which is HUGE! I have a Skype meeting soon to meet my research assistant who will be doing some assessments and interviews for me in Queensland, so that will be helpful. In November, Jeremy and I are going to see James (the band) in Melbourne which is handy dandy since I can tack on some interviews with people in Victoria and call it a research trip! I will also get to catch up with a few Melbourne friends, which is always fun.

Jeremy has had to resume studying for his practical exam which is at the end of October. Study study study. Not quite as intense as before - there is definitely some study fatigue happening. I suppose working is also a method of studying, since seeing patients and doing exams and stuff on them can consolidate learning. Random gripe: Jeremy has worked EVERY public holiday this year (and the majority of public hols are from Jan-Aug in Australia, and is also booked to work the October long weekend (aka my birthday weekend...ish) which means that he will have worked every holiday of the year. He doesn't has to work Christmas this year, but he worked it LAST year, which is the one year in SEVEN that his practice has to take the Christmas shift. Gripe gripe.

Hmmmm I thought I should update my blog but I really don't have much to say! Work fluctuates but I have my first day rehab patient in about three months, so that keeps things structured. A man at a nursing home asked me if I wanted a punch in the nose and then threw a banana across the room. It's amazing how strong people can be even when they can't get out of bed on their own! 

Oh yeah, last thing - I got a new car! New to me, at least. It's the newest car I've ever owned and it's pretty and bright  blue. It's a standard - I never thought I would drive in Australia, let alone a standard, but I had my clutchless standard little old Mercedes and then my standard Mazda so when it came time for car shopping I was really very okay with it! Ummm for anyone who cares about such things it's a Honda Jazz (which is the same as a Honda Fit in North America). It makes the drives back and forth between Adelaide and Clare much more enjoyable. I particularly like that the radio doesn't conk out halfway through the trip! It also has Bluetooth which I haven't really figure out how to work, but when people call me and I'm driving, I can totally be fancy now. I think the most important thing, which I may have already mentioned, is its blue-ness.

That's it for me, better get to work!

I have been informed that my league of adoring fans are displeased at the lack of blog updates.  I shall endeavour to improve at this task!

7.5 years into this crazy adventure and I still sometimes need a translator.  Learned a new term recently "larry" (or is it lary?) which apparently means bright and colourful. 

Jeremy was away on his own epic adventure for most of August.  I have yet to see photos from his Greenland hike!  Apparently it was definitely worth it, but I'm not sure he's in a hurry to do it all again (his feet are still recovering).  He also had the chance to catch up with his family in Canada (even the ones currently living in Africa!) and meet nephew Balin and niece Freya for the first time.  Not to mention, he was offered a ticket to see the Tragically Hip's second last show ever, which he gratefully and happily accepted.

I've been doing quite a bit of my own travels, although staying in one country.  I had my first ever trip to Canberra/Australian Capital Territory recently.  The Smart Strokes conference was held in Canberra this year and I was offered a scholarship to cover the conference fee.  I had a poster in the exhibition hall outlining my systematised review on self-management in aphasia and also gave a short oral presentation.  My main advisor, Annie, was one of the keynote speakers at the conference and we had the chance to catch up as well, which is always nice.  There was a presentation given by a lady who had a stroke about 6.5 years ago - she was a typist who became a pharmacist who became a  GP who spoke 4 languages and was an absolutely incredible woman and engaging speaker (she also had aphasia, I should note!)  I would outline her speech but wouldn't do it justice - let's just say it was fantastic.  I convinced one of my friends from uni, Jody, that she needed to do some professional development so she should totally come to this conference!  Jody and I decided to also spend the weekend in Canberra, since neither of us had been before.  I think we covered many of the main Canberra attractions - we did a tour of Parliament, saw old Parliament house, went to the National Art Gallery, saw the War Memorial, tried out some of the restaurants, and went to the Old Bus Depot markets.  I thought it was a lovely city, very sensible and easy to get around, and people weren't kidding when they say it's cold!

Before Canberra, I spent some time in Sydney.  The main reason for the trip to Sydney was to meet up with five friends from interstate and see ALADDIN THE MUSICAL!  Jen is one of my best friends and my first friend in Australia.  She is from Brisbane, but moved to Adelaide for 18 months to try something different.  Sadly (for me) she has now returned to Brisbane, but I got to see her in Sydney which makes me happy!  Lisa is a friend I met at university - she is from Ottawa and she stayed with Jeremy and I for a couple of weeks when she first moved to Australia for speech pathology.  After we graduated, she moved to Hervey Bay to work with kids with disabilities and she has since moved to Adelaide which is fantastic! Lisa and I have many of the same interests and she's always up for random events! Claire did intern year with Jeremy at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.  She was my Japan travel buddy and my hockey playing friend when she was living in Adelaide.  She moved back to Melbourne after intern year to pursue her dream of becoming a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon but we still keep in regular touch.  She is one of the hardest working people I know, while also being one of the most fun and bubbly!  Jane is another friend from Jeremy's intern year.  She and Jeremy bonded instantly over a love of meat and beer, and I got along with her right away as well.  She has the greatest dry sense of humour and is one of the most generous people I've ever met.  She recently moved back to Brisbane after three years in Adelaide to try to further her career and I think she should move back to South Australia.  Andy went to med school with Jeremy, Jane and Jen but we didn't know him until we met him in Adelaide, through Jane.  This year he moved up to Mackay (QLD) so that he could get some specific rotations such as anasthetics and ICU while he decides what he wants to specialise in.  Andy and I share a love of musicals, randomly bursting into song, and the Nightmare Before Christmas.  He is a wonderful person and I would be super happy if he came back to Adelaide as well!  So that's the gang...we had a great weekend in Sydney which included a delicious Japanese meal, yum cha brunch, shopping, Pokemon hunting, virtual reality David Attenborough trip to the great barrier reef, eating at a place called Tequila Mockingbird, and of course, ALADDIN.  The musical was spectacular - the sets and costumes were absolutely brilliant and the singing and acting were fabulous.  It did change some key movie elements but you can't really blame them when they're putting on such an epic show. Almost two weeks later, I still catch myself humming 'Prince Ali'.  All my pals left Sydney on Sunday, whereas I stayed until Tuesday to travel directly from Sydney to Canberra.

On one of my alone days in Sydney, I travelled to Penrith (near the base of the Blue Mountains) to interview a man with aphasia.  The man and his wife were such lovely people - and they had a  beautiful cat!  Their home was also just stunning.  The man dutifully went through an assessment and then let me interview him.  He is the first person I've interviewed so far with 'fluent; aphasia, where the person can speak fluently, and some of it will make sense but some of it will be nonsense words.  They know what they want to say and think that they have said it, but the listener can definitely end of quite confused.  Sometimes you have to try not to burst out laughing - like when he pointed at a car during a picture description task and said something like "And that's a whore!  Is that it?  A whore?  Yes, a whore!  No...not a whore...that's a CAR".  His wife says they spend a lot of time laughing, which is probably the best approach, really.

Gosh I have just been blathering on about anything and everything so I'll leave it there and get back to doing some actual work.  Other quick updates include Speech Pathology Australia awarding me a $10 000 grant for my research and I've also been accepted to lead a discussion forum at the Australia Aphasiology Symposium in October.  So things are going along pretty well with that stuff at the moment! 

Country lifestyle

Tonight we have been invited to dinner at Sue's.  Sue is a beautiful lady who was previously a teacher, but now works part-time at the cellar door at Sevenhill wines.  She is also part of the Barry family wine dynasty.  For interest's sake, here's a little Barry background from the Jim Barry website (http://jimbarry.com/)

Certain names resonate strongly within the halls of Australian wine history. Jim Barry Wines is one of those names. It was Jim Barry’s drive and community spirit that helped shape South Australia’s Clare Valley as a benchmark in the world of Riesling and cemented its place as one of Australia’s premier wine regions.

Jim Barry Wines has a strong lineage. Jim himself was the first qualified winemaker in the Clare Valley, graduating as the 17th student to gain a Degree in Oenology at the famous Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1947. Working for 22 years as winemaker at the Clarevale Co-operative, Jim Barry became a pioneer of Australian table wine and helped Taylors Wines establish in 1969.

Wife, Nancy, proved a driving force in the formation of Jim Barry Wines and sons, Peter, Mark & John were involved in the company’s rise. Peter Barry became managing director in 1985. Today Peter’s sons Tom and Sam both work for Jim Barry Wines as winemaker and commercial manager, while daughter Olivia is studying at university with an interest in joining the company. Current custodian’s, Peter & Sue Barry, are deeply proud that Jim Barry Wines is still family owned, with three generations of Roseworthy graduates.

The Barry family name is synonymous with the Clare wine region and their deep ties to the local community continues to this day. Jim Barry sadly passed away in 2004 and was recently honoured with a “Legends Hall of Fame” award at the 2014 Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend.

Sue, as mentioned above, should not be confused with the Sue Barry mentioned in the article.  Our Sue is Sue McKee (originally Barry), and the Sue in the article is her brother Peter's wife.  A little confusing!  Barrys abound in the Clare Valley, as Nancy and Jim had six children who now all have children and grandchildren of their own! 

But that's not the point.  The point is...living in a small town.  Or, more likely, living in a small town with Jeremy.  People seem to be drawn to Jeremy.  His friendly ways have definitely helped me make a few friends.  Our penchant for bike rides with friends around the valley has also familiarized some of the locals with us.  In the country, people just invite you over for dinner.  They genuinely want to get to know you. In Adelaide, we did make friends, but most of them are other 'transplants' - people who moved to Adelaide as adults.  In comparison, I have found the people in Clare to be extremely warm and welcoming.

For example, Jeremy's car needed to go in for repairs.  We have a lifestyle where we both absolutely need to own cars at the moment, there's no getting around it.  However, there is no car rental place in Clare.  No worries, one of the receptionists at Jeremy's work calls her friend at the Toyota dealership and he brings round a dealer car for him to borrow at $20/day.  A couple of weeks after Jeremy's car was repaired, mine completely bit the dust.  I called Jeremy to see if I might be able to get the same deal - again, no problems.  The dealer actually drove the car to our house, handed me the keys, and said to use it as long as I needed and drop it off at the dealership when I was finished with it.  I had that car for almost two weeks.  Imagine the hassle, headaches and cost of renting a car from a rental company in Adelaide?  That was incredibly convenient and they didn't think twice about it.  When I dropped it off, he said not to hesitate if I ever needed to borrow a car again.

Next story: Jen and Chris (who I had been staying with for the last 10 months in Adelaide) have gone back to Brisbane.  At one of the Friday night 'wine nights' at the local information centre, Jeremy is chatting with a group of people and mentions that we're a bit stressed about finding me another place to stay.  He didn't have an agenda, it just came up in conversation.  A few minutes later, a lovely lady by the name of Caroline (who is a retired senator!) approaches me and says she has a townhouse in Norwood (Ottawa equivalent = Glebe, Westboro) if I'd like to stay there during the week.  She says it's not very 'flash' (hahaha) but I'm welcome to use their place.  I will 'move in' at the end of July and will be paying a nominal amount of rent - they could easily rent this place out for at least 4-5x what I will be paying them.

It's very clear to me why Jeremy wants to stay here.  Decisions will have to be made at some point - will a PhD do me any good in Clare?  But it's pretty darn tempting to stay.

Dribs and drabs

 Jen and Chris are headed back to Brisbane in two days...the house is almost empty, with much of their stuff headed to Clare with Jeremy. The kittens are loving the new cat tree. We thought we would spend a weekend at Marion Bay on the Yorke Peninsula before they leave us foreverrrrrrrr so last weekend we rented a house (with a games room - pool, ping pong, darts, foosball!!) It was actually a decent day, despite what it looked like as we were leaving Clare to meet them - grey, dark, foggy, yuck. But as you can see from the pics below, nature turned it on for us! It was lucky Jeremy had some spare sunnies in the car, or it would have been a squinty kinda day for me. We went to Innes National Park and hiked to Royston Head for a picnic. Nature count = 5 emus and 3 wallabies.

Jeremy agreed to go if I read him his textbook on the drive...so I did. 6 hours round trip of non-stop Murtaghs. Otherwise, the picture below is an accurate description of his default position when he's not at work. Study study study!

Below is the lovely Bianca. Jeremy met her in Port Lincoln, and convinced her to move to Clare and be our friend! She's a midwife and also a hilariously fun person. This photo was taken on Clare Gourmet weekend, on our way to "Mad Bastard" wines of finery. I found this dashing hat in the backseat of our friend's car and it seemed logical to pose for selfies. Gourmet weekend is heaps of fun, but it's probably a good thing that it only happens once a year!

To finish off this random post, a picture of the view from Mt Surmon wines. It wasn't the best day for it, but I love this view and it's spectacular on a sunny day. On another occasion, Bianca and I ventured out there and ended up picking up two British doctors on the side of the road in the dark who were attempting to walk 5kms back to their accommodation with their wives and children. They had been at Mt Surmon as well and told the lady there they would get a cab, but then decided to walk. They were quite grateful for our good deed. I think this place would be excellent for a wedding...anyone keen? Bianca says she'll get married here, we just need to find the husband first ;)

Here we are, sitting in our living room in Clare, with cats and a fire and textbooks. Jeremy is a study machine...if he's not studying, he's stressing about studying! This morning his study buddy came over for a few hours and they watched Webinars and diagnosed stuff...I sat outside with the kittens and a book. Minnow continues to be a phenomenal escape artist and got out of her harness three times, so was put inside. Silly Minnow. Marlin was well behaved and allowed to stay outside. 

After the study session was over, Jeremy felt that he couldn't waste the sunny beautiful May day and proposed a bike ride to the OTHER end of the Riesling trail...the one without the wineries! Since I have recently bought a new (used) bike, I thought this might be a fun idea. We had a leisurely 22 km ride and came across a little family of kangaroos in one of the fields beside the trail.  We made it to the end, so I can now say I've done the entire Riesling trail.

What else...my advisor from Brisbane was in Adelaide for three days this past week. We got some good work done, and I brought her to a couple of favourite restaurants for lunch/dinner. I think she was sufficiently impressed! She is already talking about my post doc which is cool but frightening at the same time. I'll be heading out to Brisbane in July, so I'll get to touch base at the university and put together my poster for the Stroke conference in August. It will be my first time in Canberra, so that's kind of fun. Also we just found out that a friend from Ottawa has just gotten a job in Canberra with the government of Canada for the nex three years...so I'll know someone there! 

Otherwise...Jen and Chris are still in South America, and when they come back they will move back to Brisbane. SUPER SAD FACE. It was amazing to have them here for the last year and a half though. This means I'll have to sort out my living situation very soon! I have a few options in Adelaide, just need to decide which will be the least disruptive to everyone. We'll see what happens!

Sometimes it's just the best to have a rare weekend where you don't have big plans and you can lounge around the house all day and not feel like you're taking Jeremy away from his studying! We are meeting a friend for dinner tonight and having a hike/picnic tomorrow, but those seem like manageable plans. I should have brought my book club book to Clare...whoops!

I have spent much of the day in the backyard, enjoying the mid-Autumn 25 degree sunny day. The kittens were out here with me for awhile. They are allowed out with harnesses and leashes...no running free in the outdoors for these guys! Little Minnow is the definition of a "naughty tortie" though, as well as being an escape artist. She has perfected this hopping backwards/twisting manoeuvre and can free herself from the harness and then goes on a mad dash in any random directions. Usually she does it sneakily, so I'll be reading and then look up and notice her empty harness and have to run around the years searching for her. Naughty little Min. Her brother Marlin is much better behaved and doesn't seem to be able to escape his harness. I think we might need to find Minnow a better more effective model!

I got a new (used) bike and I get to try it out this evening. We're going to ride our bikes down to Sevenhill Pub for dinner. I even scored a free helmet in the deal, which is great since I have been using a pretty crappy child's helmet for the last few years...Hahahaha. Luckily have not had it tested even with the biking wine tours we like to bring people on.

You can probably tell from this post that there isn't much going on at the moment! A few days ago I made a spontaneous decision to get rid of several inches of hair. Right choice? Who knows, but it's nice to have a change after about 9 years!

Happy weekend!!

Here I am, sitting inside at my computer on a 30 degree "autumn" day.  We're having a few last warm days before the chilly weather sets in.  At least I'm sitting in a room with tons of windows/sliding glass doors and have the doors open so I can partially enjoy this unexpected weather!  It's that time of year where you can get dressed in the morning, and by noon you realize that a sweater and pants was reasonable at 12 degrees earlier in the day, but not so reasonable at 28...

I have had a break from driving to Clare, since Jeremy was in Adelaide this weekend after competing in the master's games in Murray Bridge.  I think he should enter the BIG master's games in Alice Springs in October this year which also happens to be the 30th anniversary.  It would be much more exciting to watch if he actually had some competition!  Hahaha.  We had the chance to have dinner and catch up with some friends, but it also means I haven't seen the kittens in almost two weeks and I MISS THEM!!!!!! Jeremy is actually back in Adelaide after work tonight for an appointment tomorrow, and it's nice to have some extra time together even if it's just a small amount.

Next weekend, Jen and Chris are coming to Clare with Chris' brother Sean.  J&C have lived in Adelaide since the beginning of 2015 and have taken part in a couple of Clare wine tours, but have not yet ventured out on bike.  Also, they have tended to go to the same wineries to cater to visiting friends (these wineries are the ones which also incorporate beer brewing so there's a little something for everyone...hahaha).  This time, we're doing the bike tour and on the list is Mad Bastard, Sevenhill (they have been to Sevenhill, but we thought we should show Sean one of the historic wineries in the area), Mocandunda and Jeanneret.  After these super exciting times with us in Clare, Jen and Chris take off to South America where it sounds like they're in for an amazing trip, including Machu Picchu and the Galapagos islands.  I'll be in their house at Prospect looking after my friend Sagan (their cat), and once they get back from their holidays...they pack up and move back to Brisbane.  It has been the BEST having them here for this time...it's just too bad it went so quickly!

Jeremy and I have little events here and there on the weekend, but he is still super focused on his studies so I'm trying not to invite him to too many things ;)  After Jen and Chris visiting, the next big thing is Clare Gourmet Weekend, which we have already booked a few tickets for.  It's a great weekend in the Clare Valley with everyone showcasing delicious food and drink.  Aside from these small events, I've been writing abstracts to present at various conferences, I've started to analyse some of my qualitative data, and I'm still recruiting for interviews.  My advisor will be coming to Adelaide in May, so I should probably have a few things to show her.  I just received an e-mail accepting my abstract for a poster presentation and 5 minute oral presentation at the Smart Strokes conference in Canberra and this morning I submitted an abstract for a round table discussion at an aphasia conference in London.  Eeeeeek!! ;)

Life of a speechie

Although I sometimes complain about the travel/time/distance/living situation, it's difficult for me to give up my job in Adelaide completely because I really just love it.  In the last couple of months, day rehab has been full, which means I see people twice a week (Tues/Thurs) for 45-60 minute sessions per patient between 9am - 1pm.  You tend to develop a relationship with these people, since you're seeing them fairly regularly.  We often laugh, and there sometimes might be tears (usually not mine!)  Sometimes you get repeat customers (e.g. they've come in for a block of therapy, had some time off, and then returned when their private health insurance says it's okay).  This time around, I've had a couple of patients who were completely new to me, one who I knew from day rehab previously, and one who I had met as an in-patient before Christmas.

One of the new (to me) patients had a stroke a couple of years ago.  He is only in his early 50s and has the best attitude of anyone I have ever met.  He has had pretty steady therapy, and although he hasn't been able to go back to work, he can drive, he volunteers, he has a supportive family and does a lot in the community.  He has aphasia and I think he has probably progressed a fair amount, where his understanding is quite good, he can write short e-mails, and get his point across verbally with pauses and some word finding issues.  We have been working on fairly high level stuff - conversation with background noise, narratives, giving opinions, etc.  A couple of weeks ago we were talking about a new article (about Donald Trump, hahaha) and we went through the content and then I asked him what he thought.  He paused, and his facial expression changed, and he got teary and said "In two years, no one has asked me that".  Kind of a profound moment.  Anyway, this man is just a delight to work with, always smiling and we often have a good laugh.  Recently he has expressed irritation with one of the organizations he volunteers with.  He has shown me e-mail communication where the person writing to him is sending long and rambling e-mails (which are difficult to follow even when you DON'T have aphasia) and he gets kind of lost and frustrated.  Together, we came up with a statement for him to send to the people he is in regular e-mail communication with.  Today I received an e-mail, showing me that he had sent the statement to a list of people in his organization and he had decided on the following:

Dear Fellow Board Members

I had a stroke, which has left me with a condition called Aphasia.

Aphasia affects communication, which can include speaking. I can read, understand, and respond to e-mail.

However, it is best when e-mail communication is short and direct.  Please don't waffle.

Thank you for understanding.

He added in the "please don't waffle" and also bolded and underlined key elements.  I loved it.  I will be sad when we finish up because he is so pleasant!!

Then we have another patient who was also new to me.  This was quite a challenge.  Lack of oxygen to the brain due to a medical even had caused some issues, but they were very very high level.  So, he could have a conversation, scored well in a high level cognitive communication assessment, but was adamant that he needed therapy/help because he wasn't functioning at his previous level.  The occupational therapist and I decided to take him on...and it was a lot of work.  Luckily he has a supportive and very caring partner.  Most of our sessions were spent...almost arguing about what the point of therapy was.  He definitely kept me on my toes, and would often change his mind about what he wanted to target.  There was a lot of...well, waffling!  He would say to the OT "You need to be more direct" and then come to my session right after and say "The OT is very direct"...these sort of contradictory statements were a normal occurrence.  We tried our best, but didn't really feel like we were getting anywhere.  At our last session, we had a very intriguing conversation which ended with me laughing hysterically, and his partner laughing so hard she was crying.  I ended up recommending that they read the book "The Rosie Project" - highly related to our conversation.  Yesterday at work, I found that they had come in and dropped off a letter for me with an invitation to their celebration of life party.  He wrote the letter, and part of it said "You were able to apply your professional training into the bigger picture of my needs.  This puts you into a small group who have actually helped me enormously".  It then went on to talk about the book, and how it had actually answered a lot of questions for him.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend their party, but it was beautiful and flattering to get the letter and invitation.

So, two very different patients - personalities/conditions/approaches/situations...but a constantly rewarding career.  So...despite the debt and the living situation and the driving...how can I let that go? 

Also - confirmation was successful, although the actual meeting was a story in itself! :)

 

 

La dee dee, a post from me!

Spring has sprung!  But wait, that's in Canada :)  It's autumn here, and the year is disappearing before my eyes.  April is rearing her head, which is okay with me.  April is quite pleasant!

I start April off not just with my mum's birthday and of course, April Fool's Day...but with my looming confirmation....DUH DUH DUH!

You might be wondering what a confirmation is.  As far as I knew, it was this thing that you do in the Catholic church in grade 6 when you are meant to confirm your faith.  Nope, this one is slightly different.  It is one of three 'milestones' that a PhD candidate must complete in order to successfully obtain the degree.  Confirmation is the first milestone.  Wikipedia can help with a brief explanation here:

A PhD confirmation is a preliminary presentation or lecture that a PhD candidate presents to faculty and possibly other interested members. The lecture follows after a suitable topic has been identified, and can include such matters as the aim of the research, methodology, first results, planned (or finished) publications, etc.  The confirmation lecture can be seen as a trial run for the final public defense, though faculty members at this stage can still largely influence the direction of the research. At the end of the lecture, the PhD candidate can be seen as "confirmed" - faculty members give their approval and trust that the study is well directed and will with high probability result in the candidate being successful.

Basically, this is where a panel decides whether I am allowed to even continue with my PhD!  I submitted a 149 page document to the panel two weeks ahead of time which included many of the components listed above.  In addition, the 'introduction' to the document is a literature review of the area of self-management in aphasia and took freaking forever to write...I pretty much don't want to ever see it again!  My panel will be on of the postgraduate coordinators and another expert in the area of aphasia who is not part of my advisory team - that would be cheating.

I'm not sure what they're going to say/ask me, but I do know that it took ages to put this damn document together, so hopefully it will all go swimmingly!  I didn't think I was nervous, but last night I had a nightmare about colour coordinated tables of information not being aligned properly (terrifying) and woke up feeling extremely anxious.  Normally you would face this panel in person, but since we are in different states, I will be doing it by Skype.  The future is now!!  Hahaha.  So this has been fairly all consuming and I'm looking forward to (fingers crossed) having it DONE AND DUSTED!  (and passed...it would be fairly humiliating to have them say I couldn't continue!!)

Jeremy has been consumed as well, with studying for his fellowship exam.  He will take this at the end of July - sadly no birthday celebrations for him as the exam falls either the day after his birthday, or the one after that.  However, he can't complain too much since right after to exam he will be flying to Greenland via Denmark to embark on an adventure and achieve a dream he has had since before I met him.  He will head to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland to do a nine day hike of the Arctic circle.  After the hike, he will have a short time to fly out to Canada and spend some time with his family.  Sounds a bit like the trip of a lifetime, and will be well-deserved after sooooo many years of study only to have another massive exam to fall right before his 40th birthday!  Everyone, please send whatever well wishes/prayers you choose into the universe as this exam is REALLY expensive and you have to pay the full fee again if you don't pass.  Eeeeeek!  I have confidence in Jeremy and I know that he is putting lots of time and effort into studying though, so that is definitely the most important thing. 

As usual, there are all sorts of events going on around here.  My diary keeps filling up, although I'm trying to let Jeremy have peace and quiet for studying :)  This weekend, after the dreaded confirmation Friday, I will drive from Clare to Adelaide on Saturday to meet up with my lovely Irish friend Maria who used to live in Adelaide but moved to Melbourne last year.  We are going to do some painting while sipping wine with a couple of other girls, which should be amusing and creative!  Sunday I have a goodbye dinner for a member of my book club who is leaving us and going back to her hometown of Woolloongong, NSW.  She always talked about how she missed it there, so it's not entirely surprising.  We might need to find a new member or two for our group...it's dwindling!  We have Sara, the dietitian, who is off in Italy working at her dream job currently, and now Amy is leaving as well.  Sidenote: the latest book we read for book club was Geraldine Brooks' "People of the Book".  She is a fantastic author and it was great to read one of her books that I hadn't already read.

Looks like it's about time to head to bed so I can provide excellent therapy to my day rehab patients tomorrow and then drive up to Clare.  Oh, one last thing - the kittens are extremely adorable and are already dominating our older cat (Mac).  He seems to be getting more tolerant, which is excellent and we're keeping the kittens as indoor cats and bringing Mac in overnight.  Everyone seems to be adjusting.  It's really fun to have two little curious kitten balls of energy and they love each other to bits...I'm really happy that despite my reservations I kept these two little guys together.

That's all for now, folks...watch this space, maybe next time I write an entry I will be a CONFIRMED PhD candidate :)















 

2016

We're lounging in the pool in the back yard and I thought it was about time that I wrote an update on here! I assume most people will have given up checking this by now, but you never know...

The last couple of months have looked a bit like this...

Pictures are in reverse chronological order.

Starting with the saddest, we lost another little friend. Sam was probably my favourite cat ever and it was stupid and senseless that he was hit by a car and died. He loved the country and he loved a wander, and we miss his cuddles and conversation. Not being great with sadness, we have adopted two little kittens. They can't replace Sammy, but they are silly kittens who love to purr, play and cuddle and they make us laugh. I think we have learned a valuable lesson bout indoor vs outdoor cats.

We have spent lots of time in the great outdoors. In Australia, it has been out and about recently in Clare and beach days on the Yorke peninsula. We have gone to movies under the stars (first pic), Shakespeare in the vines, and this past weekend took Lisa and her parents on a bike tour of the valley.

I went to Japan! It was really fascinating, awe-inspiring and tantalising! I went with my friend Claire, and we managed to cram in Tokyo/capsule hotel/robot restaurant/Alice in Wonderland restaurant/best cocktails/scenic views/shopping, Kyoto/temples/shrines/snow monkeys/imperial palace/tempura restaurant, Osaka/Osaka castle/SPAWORLD and Niseko SKIING AND SNOW into two weeks. Great fun and an excellent travel buddy.

Ronan and Adam came to visit! Adam saw his first kangaroo, and then he got to feed some. We had a whirlwind of hilarity in Melbourne, complete with hop on hop off, Ponyfish, Meat Maiden, Witches in Britches + dance party, and loooots of walking! We introduced Ro and Adam to the wonderful world of wine tasting in Clare and even stopped by a private winery party - ladidah! We spent New Years in Victor Harbor by the ocean, although we would have been better off in Goolwa or Middleton beach wise...ah well, I'll know for next time.

Jeremy is full swing into his 3/4 term of GP training. At the moment he is studying hard for big exams in July. Big expensive exams. So study is, as always, extremely important.

Fringe is in town at the moment, and I'm looking forward to checking out some fun shows.  Enjoy the pics!