Working Woman

I am officially part of the working world again!!! I saw my first patient in nearly 6 months!!! I get to score dozens of protocols for research!!! I have to wake up each day at 6:30 in order to walk the dog and arrive at work in Vancouver by 8 a.m.!!! Oh wait, that's the only part of re-joining the Rat Race that I am not a fan of. I long for you, sleeping in. That, and the fact I'm missing my 11 o clock date with Anderson every morning. Sigh. That pale-face-and-silver-haired fox ...

It's Day 3 as a true speech-language pathologist at the VA, and I am feeling oh so legit with my name badge, my own keys, and full access to the computer systems and patient files. I don't exactly have what one might call a "caseload" yet, but I'm working toward that. I did get dumped an inpatient in which nobody seems to want to work with. I saw him yesterday for 45 minutes, and I thought he seemed amiable and interesting. Verbose, greasy-haired, and injury prone, yes, but also cognitively impaired. Which means I get to rock out some APT attention exercises!!! See, this is love for a job. I'm hoping to get schooled quickly in the logistics and computer programs so I can amp up the pace around here. The Vancouver campus is a bit slower, in that my supervisor is less inclined to see swallowing patients, and more inclined for his research projects on reading comprehension and attentional lapses in OIF/OEF mild TBI patients. I'm down for both. I've been resting up awhile now, so I'm ready to roll.