I'm a speech pathologist and at work I often work with people who have swallowing problems. Actually that's about 75% of my day -- working with people who've had strokes or pneumonia or just general deconditioning that in turn affects their ability to swallow. We do a fancy test called a video swallow study in the xray department and take pictures of people (who have problems swallowing) eating and drinking barium. About once a month I get a real doozie of a patient that I like to call a 'head' case:
me: "So, what kind of problems do you have swallowing?"
patient: (about 50 years old) "I choked on the flavor of the day at work" (she didn't feel the need to explain more)
me: (knowing ice cream like the back of my hand, I knew what this meant, but I played dumb) "Where do you work?"
patient: "At Culver's"
me: "Oh, what happened?"
patient: "I was eating the flavor of the day and it had little pieces of chocolate in it and I started choking. Jason had to get Dave to help me."
me: (thinking this 'head' case is starting to get interesting....don't you think you could explain a bit better who Jason and Dave are --she's witholding some information here) "How long ago was this?"
patient: "about 4 months ago."
me: "What sorts of swallowing problems are you having now?"
patient: "I choke on chocolate, caramel and watermelon juice."
me: (yeah right, this is ridiculous that you're sitting in my exam room and going to drink barium because you choke on chocolate, caramel and watermelon juice?) "okay, we'll take some pictures of you swallowing and we'll see what we find."
Of course the exam was normal and the patient was shocked beyond belief that she has a 'normal' swallowing. After I told her she was 'normal', she proceeded to tell me about the phlegm in the back of her throat and the gallstones that are bothering her. I put on my fake smile and my fake voice of concern and told her I was sorry and that I recommended that she talk to her doctor about those issues.
And all of that cost her (or at least her insurance) about $600. She could have put that money to better use seeing a shrink!
It's never a dull day at work....
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells?
Our garden is growing with plump green CUCUMBERS!!!
They sure were yummy! This is the first year I've ever done garden and I'm happily impressed with my new-found gardening skills. All I did was plant some cucumber seeds and voila! Cucumbers were born.
I'm waiting on the tomatoes and the 3 stalks of corn......
Our garden is growing with plump green CUCUMBERS!!!
They sure were yummy! This is the first year I've ever done garden and I'm happily impressed with my new-found gardening skills. All I did was plant some cucumber seeds and voila! Cucumbers were born.
I'm waiting on the tomatoes and the 3 stalks of corn......
Monday, July 21, 2008
Things I learned on Vacation...
A couple of weeks ago was our first 'big' family vacation -- an airplane ride, staying in a 2 bedroom condo (1 room for my parents, 1 room for the 3 of us), going to Disney and lots of fun and activities. I've learn quite a bit from this vacation with a 3 year old and thought I would share it with all of you...
1. Buy your child their own plane seat! We were sitting next to a family that had a 4 year old and a 2 year old and they held the two year old on their lap -- let me just say that I am glad we weren't sitting in front of them!
2. Bring lots of treats, snacks, toys, etc for your toddler. Again, the family sitting across from us brought a DVD player and some goldfish crackers. What 2 year old is really going to sit still and watch an entire movie? It was a nightmare! We brought some new books and little toys, wrapped them in tissue paper and had a GREAT time on the plane ride -- we didn't even need the DVD player we packed!
3. Dads -- wear cargo shorts -- they are great for storing treats and little toys when you're waiting in line at Disney or out to dinner.
4. Pack water bottles and snacks with you -- we were able to take our snacks/food/drink in with us and then we didn't have to pay $6 for a bottle of water!!!
5. Go to the grocery store when you get there. We bought food for breakfast and snacks and saved money and energy at restaurants. Now, I LOVE to go out to eat, don't get me wrong. But, with a tired mommy, daddy, grammy, papa and toddler sometimes it's best not to try to fight forces and sit still at a restaurant.
6. Be ready to be exhausted when you return! We are still recovering from all the excitement and extra attention from Grammy & Papa!!
1. Buy your child their own plane seat! We were sitting next to a family that had a 4 year old and a 2 year old and they held the two year old on their lap -- let me just say that I am glad we weren't sitting in front of them!
2. Bring lots of treats, snacks, toys, etc for your toddler. Again, the family sitting across from us brought a DVD player and some goldfish crackers. What 2 year old is really going to sit still and watch an entire movie? It was a nightmare! We brought some new books and little toys, wrapped them in tissue paper and had a GREAT time on the plane ride -- we didn't even need the DVD player we packed!
3. Dads -- wear cargo shorts -- they are great for storing treats and little toys when you're waiting in line at Disney or out to dinner.
4. Pack water bottles and snacks with you -- we were able to take our snacks/food/drink in with us and then we didn't have to pay $6 for a bottle of water!!!
5. Go to the grocery store when you get there. We bought food for breakfast and snacks and saved money and energy at restaurants. Now, I LOVE to go out to eat, don't get me wrong. But, with a tired mommy, daddy, grammy, papa and toddler sometimes it's best not to try to fight forces and sit still at a restaurant.
6. Be ready to be exhausted when you return! We are still recovering from all the excitement and extra attention from Grammy & Papa!!
A new obsession?
We have a new obsession here at our house: Disney Cars!!! I knew the toddler liked the movie and the characters, but I didn't know it was becoming/has become an obsession. We took some of the little Cars characters with us on vacation (many more pictures to follow!), and daddy ended up spoiling the little girls with more cars. Here are Luigi & Guido, riding with us on the train around The Magic Kingdom.
Here, we even got to take out picture with Mater & Lightning McQueen at Hollywood Studios. They were kind of loud, the toddler wasn't too sure about them, so daddy had to hold her.
Here, we even got to take out picture with Mater & Lightning McQueen at Hollywood Studios. They were kind of loud, the toddler wasn't too sure about them, so daddy had to hold her.
Here, at Epcot the toddler is spending some free 'wait' time driving her cars around the water fountain. Those little cars sure came in handy when we had to wait!
Grammy got the girl this cool Cars book at Disney and we just opened it today -- what a WONDERFUL surprise for the girl -- she LOVES it!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Do you know Kasey?
Now we do! Well, at least we had a brief brush of fame today! As some of you know, my husband and daughter are NASCAR fans. Here in the Chicago-area there's a big race this weekend and some of the drivers are doing appearances. Today, we ventured out to meet the toddler's favorite driver: Kasey Kahne!
Daddy, the toddler and Kasey's car
Here we are, almost to the front of the line with our new Kasey hat -- waiting to meet him!
Daddy, the toddler and Kasey's car
Waiting over an hour in line to see Kasey -- at least the Dean's Food man was passing out free popsicles!
Here we are, almost to the front of the line with our new Kasey hat -- waiting to meet him!
AND HERE HE IS!!! (isn't he dreamy? click on the above photo to enlarge it and see his dreamy blue eyes!!) Kasey is signing the toddler's hat...
and her Kasey race car.
He was so well protected that they weren't allowing personal pictures with him, but you could take pictures, "as long as you don't hold up the line". He had people to do everything -- you couldn't even hand him your item -- a man took the item from you, passed it to another man who passed it to Kasey who then signed it and passed it to another man (that's the man's arm there taking the car out of Kasey's hand). That last man then handed the item back to us.....talk about impersonal, but at least we got to see him!
Oh, Tyler you may have some competition now!
Happy (belated) 4th of July!
I'm a bit behind this week on posting...for various reasons, none of which I will bore you with!
Anyway, on the 4th we enjoyed a local parade:
Then spent the afternoon/evening at a local minor league ball game:
and stayed for fireworks after the game:
Anyway, on the 4th we enjoyed a local parade:
Then spent the afternoon/evening at a local minor league ball game:
and stayed for fireworks after the game:
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Foot in the Mouth
Today, the toddler and I were running some errands getting ready for vacation. I wanted to pick up some new sippy-cups -- you know, the ones with the straw and not the valve-sort. My 3 year old is really too old for the valve-sort, but I want some sort of travel cup to take with us.
I found the straw-sort, but of course, the toddler found the Lightening McQueen and Mater ones!! She can't resist anything with Disney Cars on it -- great marketing by the manufacturers, huh?
Anyway, I decided to let her get the Cars cups and I also got the straw-type cup. As we were checking out, the conversation with the cashier was priceless:
As my daughter was putting the Cars cups on the conveyor belt:
cashier: "Oh, do you have a brother at home?"
(WHAT? Can't a girl like Cars?)
toddler: "yeah, his name is Pook" (our cat)
me: no, we don't have a brother, she's our only one" (what is it with complete strangers always asking me, "do you want more kids, are you trying to have more, she's an only child? -- I don't feel like going in on our struggles with a miscarriage and failed attempts at getting pregnant, so I usually just say, "she's our only one right now")
toddler: "I have a boyfriend, his name is Tyler" (the toddler loves to spill information about her private life with anyone who will listen)
cashier: "oh, are you going to share those Cars cups with your boyfriend, Tyler?"
(WHAT? You think she needs to share them with a boy -- PLEASE understand that my daughter likes the movie and characters from CARS and yes, she's a girl!!!)
me: "Tyler is 27 years old"
That last statement finally lead the cashier to keep her mouth shut -- I think she put her foot in there one too many times in a matter of 3 minutes.
I found the straw-sort, but of course, the toddler found the Lightening McQueen and Mater ones!! She can't resist anything with Disney Cars on it -- great marketing by the manufacturers, huh?
Anyway, I decided to let her get the Cars cups and I also got the straw-type cup. As we were checking out, the conversation with the cashier was priceless:
As my daughter was putting the Cars cups on the conveyor belt:
cashier: "Oh, do you have a brother at home?"
(WHAT? Can't a girl like Cars?)
toddler: "yeah, his name is Pook" (our cat)
me: no, we don't have a brother, she's our only one" (what is it with complete strangers always asking me, "do you want more kids, are you trying to have more, she's an only child? -- I don't feel like going in on our struggles with a miscarriage and failed attempts at getting pregnant, so I usually just say, "she's our only one right now")
toddler: "I have a boyfriend, his name is Tyler" (the toddler loves to spill information about her private life with anyone who will listen)
cashier: "oh, are you going to share those Cars cups with your boyfriend, Tyler?"
(WHAT? You think she needs to share them with a boy -- PLEASE understand that my daughter likes the movie and characters from CARS and yes, she's a girl!!!)
me: "Tyler is 27 years old"
That last statement finally lead the cashier to keep her mouth shut -- I think she put her foot in there one too many times in a matter of 3 minutes.
2 things I didn't know
I knew the toddler could count some in Spanish, but I had NO idea she knew how to count to 20 in French!!
Where have I been? I didn't know my toddler could ride her bike! It does help that it's a bit of a downhill slope here...she can't peddle back up yet.
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