[Mari]

Hi,
I saw tdoc earlier this evening with a 7:00 pm appt.
She thinks I need to see her at minimum about every 4-5 weeks -- so it was 4 weeks since I last saw her I think.

I still have a cold and brain is working slow.

She is encouraging me to focus on
1. following through with the dr appts.
2. finding ways to make work easier for my self (one suggestion was to let students write on the board since my spelling stinks worse than usual)
3. finding a place in my home for myself.

This last one is the hardest and most important.
I think she wants me find a place to do relaxation exercises and start to focus on myself and find my new footing /new strength. . . . . .
Since I am kind of lost right now, I need to really BE with myself.

She didn't say that way exactly, but that is what I understood.



=-=-
Tomorrow is
A. speech therapy evaluation and so on
B. pdoc appt


I guess that I will go to bed soon.
-->If I get results of speech therapy evaluation, I will share, but something tells me that I will need further appts. for full evaluation.


M.

[waves]

Dear Mari

i think your T is getting that you are lost and overwhelmed with stuff, and hopes to keep you "tracking" by seeing her once a month minimum during this bad spell.

good luck with your appointments tomorrow.

i hope you sleep and that it is restful.



~ waves ~

[Vowel Lady]

Mari,
Were you seeing the t-doc more often and something happened to cause you to change it to 1x a month? Were you ready to make this change or was it more due to boredom or finances?

In any event, personally, I think bipolar illness is so taxing, seeing a t-doc once a month, would be a minimum time to basically sort things out and get some good feedback for yourself.

Plus, take into consideration that you are working and have responsibilities there that require you to be supported.

How often do you go to the p-doc? Does this person also provide therapy?

It sounds like the advice she gave you was good...I do hope that you will not hesitate to go once a month and even consider going more often during times of stress.

[bizi]

She is definately on your team...and I think she sensed that you needed some guidance to sort thru this current set of stressors.I think seeing her monthly is a good idea. She sounds like she gave you good advice....you do need to find some place in your house where you can jsut be with yourself....learning how to take care of ourselves is not easy work.
setting limits and boundaries has always been a challenge for me...I still struggle with this. Asking for help is difficult as well. any chance that you could ask any of your team members to help you with team responcibilities?
Good luck with your appointments.
bizi

[befuddled2]

Mari,

It can be hard to have me time when someone is so busy with people all the time. Me, I have too much me time for myself. I wish you well. Bobby was helped a lot by speech therapist after his stroke. I can tell the difference in him. He sometimes still stuggles but not like before. I never could tell it in the beginning with him until it was brought to my attention.

[Dmom3005]

Personally my me time place is my couch it seems. I just seem to spend
most of the time on it.

I have to find a way back out my front door. For more than 5 minutes.
But I had plans for today till it decided to rain. And now I have a headache
a going by myself isn't something I'll do know.

I wish I'd just gone yesterday when I felt better and like going somewhere.

But alas there is always tomorrow.

Donna

[Mari]

Hi,

As part of her assessment, she gave me a three sentence story to read about a guy who was traveling to New York and had a flat tire on the way to the train station. He called his wife about the tire . . .
I did not focus very well.
Then she asked me if he got to New York on time and a few other questions.
I got those questions totally wrong.


=-=-=-=-

She asked me if I was keeping a daily planner to keep track of my appointments.
Not really.
She said that I need to reduce stress to help healing.
I told her I sometimes email myself my "to do" list and other reminders. She said that was good.


=-=-=-=-

She gave me some exercises for home to do with my tongue and a handout of words and expressions to practice.

Apparently "L" and "S" sounds are usual sounds to have to do in therapy. But I think the "S" might be the the same as it was before the stroke.

"L" and "N" I mess up sometimes.
She said that by working on "L" the "N" improves.



The braces make it harder for her to assess -- like the "S" sound she wasn't sure about.

=-=-=
I have two appointments with her next week.


M.

[Pamster]

Wow, I go to my tdoc like every three weeks and would go ever two if they weren't so heavily overburdened with clients. I hope that you start seeing benefits from tdoc's help Mari, its frustrating to see no real benefit and still stay motivated to keep on doing it. I hope it gets easier for you soon, you've been through so much this summer, I just want things better for you all around...

[Mari]

Hi,

I saw my pdoc/ neuro today for the first time since my stroke.

He had looked through my medical records and said that the hosp docs did a thorough job.
He explained a little about "lacunar strokes" and the "parietal lobe"

I see him in four months.

M.

[bizi]

Originally Posted by Mari

Hi,

I saw my pdoc/ neuro today for the first time since my stroke.

He had looked through my medical records and said that the hosp docs did a thorough job.
He explained a little about "lacunar strokes" and the "parietal lobe"

I see him in four months.

M.

I am relieved to hear they did a thorough job with you...that must be reassuring.
bizi

this was on wikipedia:
When no evidence of small vessel disease is found on histologic examination, an embolic cause is assumed, either artery-to-artery embolism or cardioembolism. In one recent series, 25% of patients with clinical radiologically defined lacunes had a potential cardiac cause for their strokes.