Arizona, an Appointment and Child Life

Sorry for the delay, it has been a crazy past few days.

At last update I was getting ready for my trip to Arizona for the annual Child Life Conference. As I registered for the event, I saw that there was still room on tour of Phoenix Children's Hospital and I registered. As I prepared to get off the bus, I slipped, skipped three steps and smacked my head on the sidewalk. I felt a bit off after I hit, but was able to get up, walk to the nearest bathroom and survey the damage. I got a big hit to a forehead and another to my chin. I took 3 Motrin right there in the bathroom because I knew I was in for a MAJOR headache. I forget who, but someone there suggested I visit the ER just to be sure that everything was OK. I gave in, but knew in my heart it was the right thing to do.

Long story short, about an hour after getting settled in the ER, I started feeling sleepy and "out of it". I also vomited clots a couple times. I got an IV for Morphine, Zofran and fluids. They also put me on the monitor so everyone would know if I fainted or something. I don't remember much about the head CT except for shouting, "My head hurts, my head hurts" repeatedly. The child life specialist who accompanied me to the ER stayed with me until 6pm when another came to my side. I was surprised and relieved that a CLS stayed with me for so long even after my mom arrived ~3 hours post fall.

I was admitted to the PICU for the night. I had normal saline and D10 flowing through my veins. (I told them I had Mito at triage and told them I would need D10 after I vomited the third time, and they believed me!! I was so relieved. They also called my neuro/mito doc's office and spoke with my MD's fellow!! What a concept! Way to go Phoenix Children's.

I was feeling much better the following day and was discharged around noon. Thankfully, I was able to attend most of the conference the following day and one of the event coordinators registered me as a student member of the Child Life Council which enables me to use a lot of their exclusive member only features on their website, which is a BIG PLUS for getting all the guidance and support I need from the council.

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On Monday, I saw one on my doctors at MossRehab in Philly. I have had severe spasticity in my left foot and toes since my second stoke in 2001. I have tried three oral meds, Botox A and B as well as acupuncture, but none of these has provided adequate relief and so we are exploring the option of a baclofen pump which essentially delivers a liquid form of the oral med through a pacemaker sized pump in my belly or low back. Oral (tablet) Baclofen works OK, but not very well with my spasticity. Before going ahead and surgically implanting the pump, I need to get a test dose to figure out if this entire idea is even an option for me.

I will be admitted for pre-test dose festivities ;) on July 12 and go into the OR for the actual administration of the test dose on July 13. On the 14th, the test dose will work it's way out of my body and I will be back to baseline by the 15th. Depending on how the Baclofen test dose makes me feel, I may or may not decide to progress to the next step which is neurosurgery, yes neurosurgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to implant the device.

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If you recall from my last post, I was going to meet with the Director of Child Life today from St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. The meeting went alright, but I did not gain anything from the experience apart from meeting another Child Life Specialist. What was echoed perhaps silently during the meeting with her was that my next step will be to apply to practicums. I am not sure how many I will apply to but I'm guessing between 5 and 10. I also feel it is important to visit the hospital I am interested in so I can attach a mental image to the institution. I will have a better idea of how many practicums I will apply to once I return to Boston and look through The Directory of Child Life Programs published by the CLC. Unfortunately ther is no uniform curriculum for practicums/internships set by the council. Each hospital has their own program.

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Every summer I set a goal for myself to read 10 books from start to finish. My first book is The Female Brain.

Arizona Day 2

Mom and I arrived here in Phoenix AZ yesterday at 4pm (7pm Boston time). The temperature was 109. Soon after we arrived, we got settled into our room, went out for dinner, and went to bed soon after.

This morning I registered for the Child Life conference, became a member of the CLC (Child Life Council) and now I am eating lunch after checking my email, facebook, etc. Soon I will board a shuttle to tour Phoenix Children's Hospital and tonight I will sit to join a group of child life students and learn if the appropriate next step for me is a child life practicum.

Tomorrow is the first day full of learning!! After the keynote address I will go to Hit the Ground Running: A Panel Discussion with First Year Child Life Specialists, Lunch, and finally. Everything I Learned in Play Spaces I Learned in Preschool. Each "lecture" is an hour and a half. The keynote address is two hours.

I am so happy to be here for my second child life conference. I am so excited about my own journey towards certification that I have already marked my calendar for next year's conference in Chicago!!

Arizona Tomorrow...

Today was spent mostly lying around the house with a rather large knot in my intestines. Tomorrow my mom and I are flying to Arizona for the Child Life Conference and for whatever reason, I am nervous. I attended the conference last year when it was held in Boston and had a great time, but I guess perhaps it is the circumstances surrounding this conference that make it more important than it was last year. This year, I hope to get my name around and distribute some resumes. Depending upon who I meet and come in contact with could, in essence. define my plans for next year.

My mother called a friend of hers, which led her to call and speak with the Child Life Director at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. After a brief conversation with the director about my educational background, the director decided a good next step for me would be a practicum, which as far as I understood it, between a volunteer and an intern. Unfortunately, practicum hours not count towards certification, only internship hours count. Eh, I'm not complaining as long as I am stepping foreword and in the right direction. My mother and I will meet in person with the Child Life Director at St. Chris's next Tuesday. In Boston, I have the CLC's Directory of Child Life Programs which is essentially the bible if you are looking for practicums or internships and are not currently involved with an educational program for Child Life. The next deadline for practicum applications is Sept 5th for January start. I will likely at the very least apply to the child life practicum program at St. Chris's and CHOP (The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). As far as I know, Children's Hospital Boston (CHB), where I have volunteered for nearly five years does not offer internships/practicums to those not in an educational program, but I will learn soon enough.

Tonight, I went to my best friend Allie's house to watch Glee with a bunch of friends I went to elementary and middle school with. It was so nice to hangout with them because it seems like no matter how much time has passed between when we last saw each other it is really easy to pick up right where we left off :). About four of them, Allie included, will be moving to Boulder CO in August and I am really considering joing them, provided I can find some sort of work/child life related activity for me to do out there. If I have success in that realm, I will then need to investigate the medical care and the feasibility of obtaining it out there since I will obviously need to uproot 90% of my care should I move. Oh, the complications of having something chronic...

I am feeling the winds of change... I just wish they were blowing me more strongly up north back to Boston instead of swirling around my home town... Only time can tell....

FRESH Start

I decided to restart my blog. But then I decided, why restart when you can start from scratch? Last night, came the sudden realization that with the way things are right now I will be homeless with no where to go come August 31 when the lease on my first apartment ends. Needless to say, that is daunting because I am really comfortable in Boston and would only leave if had no other choice.

After graduating from Simmons College last May, I took one graduate non-matriculated course through Wheelock College which resulted in a withdrawal because I was in the hospital five times due to random new problems from my Mitochondrial Disease. I decided to register for another non-matriculated course through the same institution this spring, but the course did not end as well as I had hoped and once again, I was denied admission into Wheelock College's Master's in Child Life and Family Centered Care Program.

So now, once again, I am at a crossroads.

Yesterday, my mom and I went to staples and had some personal business cards made so I could take them to the Child Life Conference next week to give to various people I meet instead of having to write down my name, number and email address countless times. I also need my roommate Fawn to email me my most recent resume since I rather foolishly decided not to bring it home with me on the train. In other words...I was smart to leave it home in Boston because it can be a pain to deal with on the train and a hassle when I want it with me on a plane because it had to be removed from its' carrying case to ride in its' own bin through security to be turned on by TSA personnel. Oye! I just wish I had thought ahead and emailed my resume to myself before running for the train in the early afternoon on Thursday.

Last night I was thinking about the various ways someone goes about getting the 480 hours of clinic hours required by the Child Life Council (CLC), the governing body of Child Life Specialists. I believe most get obtain their hours through internships on their way towards obtaining their degree. I applied to one of the few graduate child life programs for the second time in March and, well you know how that went from reading the beginning of this post. Then I remembered reading something somewhere that said the hours could be obtained through direct supervision of a Child Life Specialist without having to go through graduate admissions. This morning I emailed my supervisor at Children's to see if she, or anyone else would be able to do this with me. I really hope someone there can since I have been there for nearly 5 years and know the people quite well. Hopefully she will get back to me tomorrow.

Apparently, summer has begun! How time does fly... For the first time in about 4 years I am not, I repeat, not taking a summer course!! Woohoo!! This summer will truely count. I am not sure why, when or how exactly this rather new summer "tradition" started but recently I have started to set a goal that I will read 10 books every summer cover to cover. Which can be hard sometimes, especially since sometimes it takes me right up until the middle when I decide I do not like the book and cannot continue reading.

Packing for the Child Life Conference must begin and end tomorrow because Wednesday mornning, its of to Arizona!!!