"Hi, this is Lauryn with occupational therapy. I'm calling about your mother..."Bittersweet is the perfect word to describe my day.
One of my first clients this morning was a woman with a diagnosis of a glioblastoma stage 4 (GBM), a nasty brain tumor that is difficult to treat. My own grandfather had the same diagnosis in 1994. Unfortunately medicine back then was not what it is now and he lived only a few months after his diagnosis. It came as quite a shock to my family because he was a very healthy guy: always worked out, ate right and no longer smoked. This was an interesting similarity between my grandfather and my client today. When I looked at her charts, her medical history was nearly spotless; the only "flaws," if you will, were her recent biopsies and radiation therapy. Prior to her evaluation, my fieldwork educator asked me about the client's past medical history and I told her, "I couldn't find anything." My fieldwork educator replied, "Nothing? Really?" and took the occupational profile to review it. She was shocked, just as I was. But then again, I don't think I was as surprised as she was because with my family's own experience with the GBM seemed to follow the same pattern. A perfectly healthy person one day, and a totally dependent person the next. The worst part was making the telephone call to the client's son to fill in the blanks of the occupational profile since the client has expressive aphasia, meaning she has trouble communicating what she is thinking. I could easily hear the emotion in his voice as he struggled to get each word out. And, of course, as each word entered my ear, the heavier my heart began to weigh in my chest. This was certainly not an easy phone call. Based on his answers, the outlook seemed grim for my client, and it took everything I had to remain calm and professional on the phone. It was an emotional phone call. As an empathetic person who is naturally inclined to "fix" things, this was one of the toughest experiences for me personally because there was nothing I could do except to remain professional while talking to the client. I tried to keep my voice steady, not stumble over my words, and keep my tone constant throughout the entire conversation. That was hard. But after I hung up, I realized I had done fairly well considering I was not expecting most of the answers I had received and I maintained my composure as best as I could in that situation. Nevertheless, this was a good experience to have at the beginning of this adventure. I now have a better idea of what I would say in the next situation and how to separate my emotions from the job at hand in order to get through it as professionally as possible. That will be one of my biggest challenges but I am glad I have time to work on that before I graduate. Sorry to end things on such a sad note. I will find a positive story from this week to share with you all. -Lauryn E. Hill, MOTS P.S. Check out the link below to learn more about glioblastomas. I learned the survival rate has increased for individuals diagnosed with this condition. In 1994, the odds were not in the person's favor at all and longevity was only a few months. www.curetoday.com/publications/cure/2016/winter-2016/brain-trust-cuttingedge-treatments-on-the-rise-for-glioblastoma
1 Comment
7/15/2017 07:26:18 am
My heart aches for your patient and her family, as I know yours does too, and I wish I could give you a hug right now. As I think you know, that's the same diagnosis that my dad had (and the same non-remarkable medical history too). I think you know this too - but just in case - I want you to know that the empathy and compassion that's so apparent in your writing is exactly the reason I moved into academia, in hopes that more OT practitioners will provide truly client-centered care as I know you are. Thank you for sharing about your journey! I know you will make a difference in the life of your patients and their families, and I am so proud of you.
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AuthorI am an occupational therapy student at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate competence in my graduate-level program through journal reflections pertaining to one of the four main competency areas. Through practice, I hope to become consistent at journaling so that I can help my future clients to the best of my professional ability. Archives
August 2017
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