Overwhelemed?

Becky B. asked how we're doing this semester. She mentioned that she feels like a rock has been sitting on top of her the whole term, crushing her down.

It isn't that bad for me. In some ways my semester is going better than last. I arranged Linda's therapy to give me a bit more free time in my schedule. I started picking up Ellie a bit later from day care. And I just refuse to stress about things I can't control, like whether the president of the university is going to recraft the administrative structure of Truman (hint: she is).

That's not to say that I'm not busy. I have several capstone students this semester, and extra meetings with them have consumed the extra time I got from moving Linda's therapy. I've also tried to attend an informal seminar in the department (sporadically at least). I'm doing a lot of new things in my Calc III class (that I didn't get to finish last year when Linda's stroke came along).

Maybe I'm not overwhelmed because I refuse to be. I'm probably doing enough that I can't do everything well, but my students seem pleased with how our classes are going. I pushed my LAS Calc students a bit too hard at the beginning, but we seem to be settling into a good pace. I'd probably like to give my capstone students a bit more guidance, but part of the point is that they do a bit of synthesis themselves, so I'm probably balancing that better than I know. And my Calc III students deserve more quizzes than I've had time to give them.

Linda seems a bit run-down though. I'm not there for some of her therapies now (her speech therapy at Truman in particular) and that seems to make things a bit harder for her. She always feels like she needs a day off. It seems that having a morning off is somehow more time off than an afternoon off. It is the reverse for me I think. More flexible afternoon time seems to keep me less stressed. All of Linda's therapies are in the morning, which makes it my kind of semester.

It may turn into more of her kind of semester soon though. Her OT can't make morning appointments now, so they are trying to schedule us in the afternoon if possible.

In a slump

Dr. Seuss noted that, Unslumping yourself is not easily done. Linda is in a slump right now. She is unhappy with her speaking and unhappy with her walking. She has good times and bad times, but not enough good times. She's used to wowing people, and lately progress has been a bit harder. Or maybe she just isn't practicing as much as before; she did mention that could very well be the problem.

But it's no fun practicing when you feel like you're in a slump.

That's the nature of rehab in a way. As my friend Randy might have put it, Believe you me, you don't want to need rehab. It's constant work on things your aren't good at. Because when you get good at something, you don't need to work on it and you put it away.

It's worse than piano lessons (or some other instrument if you happen to like the piano more than Linda did). At least when you practice an instrument, you work a piece up from time to time. You get a chance to perform a piece really well and enjoy it (at least ideally). Rehab isn't like that. It's more like endless technical studies, the ones that make your fingers tangle. Your therapist knows the ones that do that too, and he picks them every time for the rest of your life.