Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Doom and Gloom

I'm feeling a little knocked around today.

One of the most sacred parts of my job to me is coordinating and performing evaluations for people who have ALS to get them matched up with communication devices that will allow them to stay connected with the world as their body turns against them. I recently coordinated one for a lovely woman who was doing everything she could, along with her amazingly strong husband, to do this gracefully. I heard today that she died this weekend at home from choking on her food. How terrifying.

I've been working with a gentleman for a couple of months on the clarity of his speech -- he told me today that he had been fired last week after trying to return to work (for two whole days). His supervisor couldn't understand him, and he wasn't able to perform his "essential job duties" including interacting with the public.

I made a grown man cry today by accidentally set him up to do something that was too hard for him. Ouch.

I did have to laugh though, when one of my clients today, who is living a pretty darn good life running a multi-million dollar company in spite of a severe communication impairment, looked at me after a long discussion/demonstration about prepositions and said sweetly and plainly, "I'm doomed."

I'm so thankful for the good things in my life. I'm going to go count them.

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