Tonight's photo was taken in November of 2007. Mattie and I went to visit Peter at his office and Mattie helped himself to Peter's markers. It wasn't unusual, regardless of the picture Mattie drew, that the sun was incorporated into his work. In so many ways, Mattie was a born artist. He simply knew that whatever he created needed to be signed by him. Next to his car drawing was his classic signature. All capital letters, except for the "I." The "i" was always in lower case with a cute dot on top.
Quote of the day: Love is the first ingredient in the relief of suffering. ~ Padre Pio
I have spent weeks getting ready for tonight's presentation that I gave at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. I was asked to introduce my audience to Mattie, the Foundation, and specifically the research of trauma and childhood cancer. I have done many presentations as Mattie Miracle's president, but my audience tonight was different! It was comprised of master's students in the field of counseling. In essence this was the population I used to teach prior to Mattie developing cancer. I spoke for two and a half hours and during that time: 1) I introduced the students to Mattie, 2) showed them the four minute video attached to this blog, 3) shared information about the Foundation, 4) highlighted many childhood cancer facts and the psychosocial impact of cancer, 5) covered the significant research on Medical Traumatic Stress, 6) brought the research alive through real life examples from Mattie's treatment, 7) highlighted a trauma model and discussed intervention strategies, and 8) had the students work on a case study to operationalize the model and interventions covered.
After the class was over, I snapped a picture of some of the students who were willing to have their picture taken. On the far left is Dr. Jean LaFauci Schutt. Jean and I both graduated from the George Washington University, and I was honored that she invited me to her class. Jean has been involved in our Foundation Walks, is a Mattie Miracle Supporter, and a blog reader. In fact tonight she told me that she was in Sea Isle City, NJ on August 5, 2009, when Mattie's prognosis became terminal. It was eerie for both of us, because as my faithful readers know I was just in Sea Isle City last weekend for a wedding. The connections we share always intrigue me.
I felt it was important to show the students the video of Mattie, because it makes the topic more tangible and real. It is vital that they understand that what we were talking about isn't some theoretic issue. Instead, it is an issue that impacts the lives and futures of children and their families. As I was creating this 54 slide PowerPoint presentation, I learned a great deal. Because what the slide show provides is a solid explanation for why Mattie and I developed medical traumatic stress. Medical traumatic stress is rarely talked about and you should keep in mind that NO professional in the hospital diagnosed this issue in Mattie. I diagnosed it myself after researching the symptoms I was seeing in Mattie on the Internet! I neither had the time or the mental strength to figure this out during Mattie's battle, yet his care team wasn't helping me. So I had to take matters into my own hands. Once I figured out that the symptoms had a clinical explanation and a NAME, I then educated Mattie's care professionals and demanded the attention of a child psychiatrist. Medical traumatic stress is defined as "a set of psychological and physiological responses of
children and their families to pain, injury, medical procedures, and invasive
or frightening treatment experiences.” As I explained to the students tonight, Medical Traumatic Stress doesn't only occur during diagnosis, it can occur throughout treatment and there after! For both the child and the caregivers.
The students asked very meaningful questions tonight and I was impressed in their interest. After all this is not a happy topic and it can be painful to hear and sit through. When the presentation was over, I was packing up my things and a student asked me whether she could ask one last question. In front of her colleagues, she asked me what it is like to see the video of Mattie and how do I care for myself after giving such a presentation. I frankly wasn't expecting this question, because in all my other presentations, no one was worried about me. In many ways it is a very profound question. The class also wanted to know if Peter and I have grieved the same way. So there was a lot to touch upon. Self care is important, but as I told the class, my self care is constantly evolving and changing. Since I need different things during each stage of our grief process. At the core however, I did tell them about the blog, and I do believe the blog is one of my main outlets for self care. Some may not view this as an ideal vehicle of support since I do not get feedback or input from my readers, but sometimes getting this commentary isn't necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment