Tonight's picture was taken on August 6, 2008. Mattie was on a stretcher, being rolled to an MRI. In tow were Linda, his child life specialist, and Debbi, his sedation nurse. It was thanks to these two women that all subsequent scans were done sedated. Mattie's doctor did not believe me when I reported how frightened he was going for a CT or MRI. So thankfully one day, Linda and Debbi got to observe Mattie trying to get a scan done without sedation. It was horrific to watch. Mattie was kicking, screaming, and crying. He even hid under the scan machine. Unfortunately radiology techs have NO patience and therefore we missed our allotted time to get the scan done. Of course any delays of any kind, prevent treatment from happening. So we really needed a more humane solution and thankfully Debbi had it for us. Scans during cancer treatment occur often, it isn't a one time deal, so Debbi became an important part of our treatment team.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 36,414,121
- Number of people who died from the virus: 619,809
Since April, I have had Friday conference calls with a research team I am working with in order to submit a government grant. The grant proposal is due on August 18th. For five months I have been part of the process of brainstorming ideas, to putting something on paper, inviting two other non-profits to join in our project, and seeing this 15 page proposal come to fruition. It is a remarkable team and I am honored they consider me part of the team. It is my hope that this innovative research project gets funded in order to help implement the Psychosocial Standards of Care into practice. The unique part of this grant is a couple of things.... it will be capturing the family voice as well as the voice of diverse family caregivers.
Ironically I have worked with several members of this research team before, but to them I am just an advocate. Not that anything is wrong with that, but I do have skills. This project enables people to see that I do have a solid understanding of concepts, research, and writing. I think it is always interesting when people see you in another light. Which reminds me not to judge a book by its cover.
I left Peter home today, given that he wasn't feeling well at all yesterday. He is slowly on the mend, but running to the house wouldn't have helped him. In addition, the electricians are still at the house and they shut the power all day. I worked at the house outside in 100 degree weather. After about four hours of that, I had to come home. Thank goodness we decided to upgrade the electricity, because in the process, we found out the entire house was poorly wired. Wired, NOT by an electrician! Wonderful, and the number one cause of a house fire. So we are fixing this issue and in the process, I need to get a structural engineer to evaluate a beam before the wall can be sealed by up. Things never end on the Farm!
No comments:
Post a Comment