Tonight's picture was taken on February 6, 2009. You maybe asking yourself, what was going on here?! This was a physical therapy (PT) session! Yes indeed, PT with Mattie was never boring. Thankfully Anna (Mattie's PT) learned quickly that she had to think outside the box with Mattie. In this line up, was Mattie, Jenny (one of Mattie's art therapists), Denise (Mattie's social worker), Jessie (one of Mattie's art therapists) and a PT intern. All of them were participating in Mattie's session. Getting Mattie out of his wheelchair and taking a few steps took a herculean effort. Having an entourage to cheer on Mattie made a huge difference in his level of participation.
Quote of the day: I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody. ~ Herbert B. Swope
Today I had the opportunity to chat with a woman who entered a doctoral program but never completed it. She didn't because she had issues with her advisor. Issues that apparently others also had with this person. Apparently the issues were so stressful that she reported her advisor to the department chair and the dean. Mind you this is a bright, tenacious, and creative woman we are talking about, so her walking away from her degree wasn't a personality flaw.
Unfortunately there are many, many other students like this woman who never get a Ph.D. Completing a Ph.D. program is not easy. My joke at the time was if I ever finished and obtained my doctorate, I was going to go on Oprah to share the hazing, belittling, and total lack of control a doctoral student has over his/her life! Certainly to obtain a Ph.D., you have to be bright, curious, and have the passion to pursue knowledge and contribute to research. However, these qualities are NOT what will get you through a program. On the contrary, for me personally, I found what got me through was being humble, the ability to work with difficult people, and to assess what I needed to do to please my advisor and dissertation committee. Unlike tonight's quote, the formula for success to obtain a doctoral degree is to please everyone! In fact, if you don't please your research committee, you could get stymied for years or even fail your dissertation defense! I saw that happen three times when I was in graduate school.
The whole conversation I had today, reminded me that when I did complete my doctorate degree in 2003, I started offering how-to sessions at professional conferences. Tricks that I learned to help other struggling Ph.D. students! These sessions were always VERY popular. So much so, that students asked me and my mentors to write a book. Which we did (see the link below, the editors dedicated the book to me and Mattie). Unfortunately while we were writing, Mattie got diagnosed with cancer. Therefore I did not have the time to be an editor, only an author. I may have left this part of my life behind, as I now focus on childhood cancer, but the ordeal, hoops, and hurdles I had to jump through to get a Ph.D. will never be forgotten.
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