Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. Mattie was pictured with Anna, his physical therapist. Anna was one of the special women in our lives and I truly valued her skills and abilities. I also appreciated her honesty because she was one of the only professionals who told me the truth about Mattie's disabilities and why he was unable to walk after his surgeries. The majority of children with osteosarcoma have one primary tumor and therefore need one limb operated on (or at least one at a time), but Mattie had three limbs operated on in two months time! Therefore, it was hard for him to have the strength in his arms to support the recovery in his leg. He couldn't use crutches and it was also challenging for him to use a walker. So in essence Mattie really never learned to walk again. Though he looks upright in this photo, Mattie couldn't really take more than a couple of steps without becoming winded and needing to sit down. Yet Anna tried her hardest to motivate Mattie, to build up his strength, and to give him hope and confidence to continue working. She tried all sorts of games and antics to accomplish these tasks!
Quote of the day: Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. ~ Benjamin Franklin
There is something quite lovely about Benjamin Franklin's quote. All I know is I have been doing a great deal of LEARNING this summer. At times, I feel like I can't absorb much more. I look at the computer screen and I what I am reading doesn't make sense to me at times because I am tired. I am very grateful though that the George Washington University gives me access to their library and all their on line databases. Without them I could not possibly do the research that I need to for this book chapter. I am not granted this permission as an alum, I am granted this wonderful gift because in essence I worked for the counseling department for many years. I view this as a gift that I am most grateful for, because there is no way the Foundation could possibly pay the fees for what I have access to. I literally can search any database and I can retrieve articles and get articles sent to me from anywhere in the Country! It is amazing the publications at one's fingertips and the learning one can do!!!
Some times I think.... will I ever have to use the skills I learned in graduate school? Then a project like this comes along, and viola, before I know it, combing through databases and doing literature reviews is right back on my to do list. It is just like riding a bicycle. It is a skill that once you develop, you never forget it. Or at least, I had a dissertation chair that drilled this skill into me for so many years, that I know I will die being able to research just about any topic and subject matter. There were days in graduate school that I was so fed up with literature reviews for my dissertation that I would be in tears. I still remember the nightmare of writing my chapter 2 (which is the literature review chapter of a dissertation). People say you can forget, I DON'T forget the pain, even from that experience.
Any case, I spent the day reading more articles, and wrote five more pages of the book chapter today. Again that may not sound extraordinary. But I learned with writing a dissertation or taking on any big project, the key is to attack it a little bit each day. In bits and pieces it eventually gets done. My hardest part was starting the chapter, but now that it is well on its way, my mind is turning and processing its development.
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