Stroke survivors = inspiration

Today was the last day of the Intensive Aphasia Program - my clinical practicum placement for this semester. It was a really good experience - kind of like a summer camp, where everyone comes together everyday for three weeks and works really hard and even meets others like themselves, and then it's suddenly over. So, I just feel the need to process it and write a bit about it here.

Anyway, the program is for stroke survivors with Aphasia (a language disorder involving production and/or comprehension of language). It is one of about 5-10 in the country, so I feel pretty lucky to have been able to participate in it.

Participants (some of whom came from out of state) came to the clinic every weekday for three weeks and had one hour of individual speech therapy, one hour of therapy at a computer with language programs, 30 minutes of social time and one hour of therapy in a group or in pairs. Each student clinician (like me!) was paired with a speech-language pathologist (SLP), and we were in charge of two patients. My SLP and I would trade off patients - I'd see Patient #1 one day and then we'd switch the next day.

Patient #1 is really young (under 40) and had a stroke about 1.5 years ago. He was really good at getting his point across and even making jokes, even though he mostly communicated using one- to two-word utterances. Patient #2 is just a few years older than my dad, and he had a stroke about a year ago. At first glance/listen, he really didn't seem impaired at all. He has recovered really well and just has some word blocks here and there. We are doing post-treatment evaluations next week, so I'm really looking forward to seeing if either of them made gains at all. The average gains made for the past 7 years of the program has been about 12% improvement on a standardized test. We'll see where my patients fall next week...

So today, Patient #2 (who had kind of been grumpy about some therapy tasks, and I never really knew if he was happy to be there or not) thanked us all for the entire group of stroke survivors and told us that all the survivors had chatted that morning about how they all feel like they've improved during the past three weeks. Then they all clapped and thanked us for our help - it was nice and warm and fuzzy. Then some of the survivors shared some of their stories about the challenges of going to the grocery store or a restaurant and having to communicate with others who don't know about their stroke. It was really sad to hear about how hard it is sometimes and how rude some people can be to them. But it was also really encouraging to hear them talk about what they do to cope and how determined they are to get better. What an emotional morning - it was really touching.

I'm still undecided on what I want to do after I graduate in May. I have really enjoyed working with adults this semester, but I also kind of miss working with kids. I think ideally, I'd love to work in a hospital or clinic where I could work with both adults and kids, but I know the medical setting is hard to get into. And right now many hospitals are on a hiring freeze and may even be cutting staff. So, we'll see....

Maybe I can fit in some more observations at different sites to help me figure it out.

After doing this practicum, I am now inspired to read more about stroke survivors, especially biographies, such as:

• My Stroke of Luck by Kirk Douglas
• My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolt Taylor (Eric is currently reading this cause strokes now interest him a lot too - what a supportive husband)

Another good read (and movie) that I've already read: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

A week of cold weather

This is what happens at our house when it's cold for about a week and winter seems as though it has already arrived even though it's only the first week of October:

Go Twins!

Yay Twins! What an amazing game tonight! 12 innings and some really awesome plays! Kent Hrbek (my childhood hero) said this may have been one of the best games he's ever watched.

Eric and I had a good time watching the game with Eric's dad at his parents' house in Woodbury - they have cable. We don't. We will need to find different TVs to watch the upcoming games - maybe a sports bar one night, a friend's house another night? Tomorrow, I think I have to just check mlb.com while doing some homework. But this weekend, bring it on!

Anyway.... Let's hope they can keep up the momentum in New York this week!

Ode to Finley

Look at this face.

I love this girl.

This was taken after we got back from our honeymoon and gave Finley her French gift - a bib that says "C'est quand qu'on mange? J'ai faim!" In English: "When do we eat? I'm hungry!"

She looks pretty serious about her food here too. :)

Hope to hang out soon, Finney! I'll miss you this Thursday!

Here's a haiku for my niece:

Finley, you are cute.
Your head-bangs, giggles and snorts
Melt my heart. Love you!

Beautiful gals

I got to visit Karin and Jemma tonight (and also saw new Daddy John for a few minutes too). They are all looking great. Karin is so laid back and just seems like she's doing great. She said she's pretty tired, but look at this pic - doesn't she look fabulous?

I'm so happy for them and had such a nice time meeting my new little friend (who has tons of cute black hair!). Hope the rest of the hospital stay goes well, and looking forward to seeing you all at home soon!

Jemma Kay Pecchia

Welcome to the world, Jemma!

My friends Karin and John had a baby girl yesterday morning, and I can't wait to go visit them and meet her. Here is a pic I borrowed from Facebook (until I get to take my own pics).

Congrats, new parents!

Desktop pic

I love this picture. It's my current desktop pic at work.

When Eric and I began browsing around online looking for a photographer and getting ideas about what we liked, we found a guy who had taken some wedding pics of a couple, and their puppy was in some of them. I remember seeing one or two where the dog was in focus and the couple was hanging in the back, and I LOVED it!

I'm so happy that Danielle was able to capture this one just perfectly.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Honeymoon journal entry #8: Final entry

Yesterday, we slept in and then went to the Supermarche to buy some souvenirs, watches (we finally got watches!) and towels to cushion the wine we're bringing home with us in our suitcases. Then, we headed to the Gouffre de Promeyssac (a big cave with stalagmites and stalactites). It was pretty cool - our second cave we've visited together - the first one being in South Dakota last year. They didn't allow photos - sorry!

After relaxing a bit at home and cleaning up the house to get ready for our departure, we headed into Le Bugue for dinner at Le Restaurant Abrevoir (see pic below).


























It was located on Grand Rue in Le Bugue in this little hidden area of quaint streets and homes and a few shops. The food was AMAZING, even though I forgot the French dictionary that we had been trying to bring with us to restaurants to translate some of the menu options...

So, we ended up ordering some things we weren't sure of. And by we, I mean Eric. His meal was the big question mark. We knew it was "Rognons de veau" in a mustard sauce. Veau means veal, and I assumed "rognons" meant "little pieces" or something like that. In reality, he had veal kidneys in a mustard sauce! (We looked up "rognons" when we got home.) I tasted one, and it just tasted like smokey meat. Eric wasn't too upset about it at all - he just kind of wondered why all the pieces were a bit round and exactly the same size. :) Oops...

I had duck with cherry chutney and potatoes. It was so tasty - best meal I had the whole time in France. For an appetizer, we had risotto with asparagus and a cream sauce - that was sooooo good, but it really killed my poor sensitive stomach later, and unfortunately, we didn't have any Pepto-Bismol... That's all I want to say about that.

Today, Wednesday, we had to say goodbye to our sweet little cottage and LeBugue. Here are a few more pics of Le Bugue and our cottage.


















































We headed out of town around 10 am and drove to Perigeux, a larger city about 40 km away. There, we wandered around the Centre Ville (downtown) and the market and enjoyed listening to a band (with members of all ages) play different tunes (lots of Sinatra and old classics). We bought a pretty tablecloth for my mom as a "thank you" for watching Indy for these 10 days.

Then we had a little lunch outside (pizza and cokes) in a cute little square where there were about 3 different restaurants all with tables outside. This interesting gentleman came over to the area and opened up this machine in which you insert this paper and then turn a crank and it plays songs, which he then sang along to. That was fun - he sang that one song from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack about "les escaliers."

After that, we headed to Brive, and I have to say that I am very proud of my stick handling skills that I've developed during the past 5 days. The first day, I accidentally started in 3rd gear and I couldn't find reverse (until Eric helped us figure out you had push down). Well, today I had to drive around Perigeux and Brive, both cities that are busier than Le Bugue and have lots of hills and pedestrians and crazy drivers that do U-turns whenever and wherever they want. Well, we finally pull into the area where the Avis car rental place is, and there are hardly any parking spots on the street (and there is no parking lot). I successfully parallel parked while reversing up hill. When I got into the space, I shouted "I rock!" I feel much more confident in my stick skills now. However, some of those hilly back road, somewhat mountainous windy roads where you have to slow way down and then turn sharply and then step on it to get up the hill - those still freak me out a bit. I'd still avoid those if possible.

Anyway, now we're relaxing at our hotel across from the Gare (train station) in Brive. (We were really as close to the train station as you could get. This pic is the view of the train station from our hotel room window. We didn't want to have trouble getting there on time that early in the morning.:))

We leave for Paris CDG airport at about 6 am tomorrow.

* * * * * * * *

That was our last journal entry! That final night, we wandered around Brive for a while and then had dinner at the restaurant attached to our hotel. And we tried escargots for an appetizer! It was actually quite tasty - lots of oil and garlic and a bit of a seaweed after-taste, but I give it two thumbs up!

The next day, we travelled for about 24 hours straight and arrived home safely. My mom and Indy greeted us at the airport. :)

Monday, August 31, 2009

Honeymoon journal entry #7:

Today, we slept in again and then drove to Montbazillac, a little town south of Bergerac. There, we tasted some wine (Montbazillac is one of the most well-known vineyards of the region), bought 4 bottles to take home and then grabbed lunch at a little restaurant. The woman who worked at the Maison du Tourisme et du Vin (House of Tourism and Wine) was the nicest woman ever - she didn't speak much English so I was forced to really try to speak a lot of French and explain things if I couldn't think of the exact French word. I really enjoyed talking with her!


Then, we toured the Chateau (there are pretty much chateaus in every town) and took in some of the beautiful scenery (are you sensing some common themes of our trip yet?). The town is at the top of a hill, and it overlooks many rows of grapevines, rolling hills, sunflowers, etc.














Next, we decided to take a walk - the Maison du Tourisme et du Vin gave us a map and directions in French for a walk that took us right through some vineyards, next to some cute country homes and through some woods. It was HOT, but we had no idea until we got home that it was about 95 degrees! Knowing that makes me feel better for taking the short cut back to the car early. :)

Here are some pictures from our walk...

















































After our long day out in the heat, we headed to the Supermarket and bought dinner and some other snacks. We just ate a dinner of steak kabobs and salad (and bread and cheese, of course). Now, we're relaxing and drinking some Belgian beer (Leffe).

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Honeymoon journal #6:

Today, we slept in again until about 9:30. After a quick breakfast, we went to Castelnaud - a little village that sits along the Dordogne River and has a huge castle from the Middle Ages that sits atop the hill. The whole town is basically nestled into the side of a hill.

So, since I've killed the engine in our car a few times while climbing the windy hills (this happened on our drive to Sarlat...), I was too scared to drive up the road to the castle. Instead, we parked down below near the river and then walked up to the castle. It ended up being a great decision because the side streets were tiny and about as wide as a small European car, and they were made with little stones.

It was fun to hike up those roads and see the little houses and yards and gardens of the locals. The castle itself was very cool and gave us some nice views of the area.



















Taking in the views of the Dordogne River and the surrounding countryside














Eric standing in front of the Dordogne River and the village of Beynac



After our castle tour, we sat by the river and ate lunch. Then we drove a few km to the Jardins de Marqueyssac - which were considered overhanging gardens because they, too, were situated up on a cliff. They were impressive! Definitely worth the money and the trip! We got a good workout hiking around the gardens (it was more like a park), and then we were rewarded with spectacular views of the area, the river, surrounding villages, etc.

Here are some pictures from the gardens...










































































Then it was time to drive back to our house - we took a different route so I could avoid some of the crazy steep hills on the way home. :) We hung out at home (our cottage) for an hour or so and then headed into Le Bugue to find dinner. At 6:30, we were turned away from a restaurant because they don't start serving until 7 pm. So we wandered down the street and went into a shop that sold foie gras and wine. The shop worker was so nice - when he found out we hadn't ever had foie gras, he offered us a sample on some bread. Then when we asked if there are any specific wines that are good with it, he opened up a bottle and poured us samples of that! We tried foie gras de canard (duck) and d'oie (goose) and a white wine called Rosette to go with it. We ended up buying some foie gras and 2 bottles of wine. We were able to communicate completely in French - although I know my language skills aren't as good as they used to be.

Then it was time for dinner at Oscar Brasserie. We got to sit on a patio overlooking the Vezere River. The food was ok (this was the night I accidentally ordered a hamburger, and I thought I was going to get some type of steak...oops), but it was just nice to eat out and have such a lovely view. Plus, the whole meal only cost 27 Euros, and we got an appetizer, entrees, 1/4L of wine, coffee and dessert! We love it here!

Now, we're just home at the cottage relaxing and drinking some of the wine we bought.