Speech Therapy

The speech therapist appointment went great. As always, the drive was a joy (road trip!) and it's fun to watch the changes between eastern Washington and the coast (often the difference between rain and sun, or green and brown).

I love being at the UW. In fact, I love being around the entire u district. I feel so safe, and protected.

At the appointment, I learned a lot about my cognitive deficits (and we tracked my insane growth...yay!!). It's still hard to reconcile the fact that speech therapy isn't about speaking, it's more like a cake that has speech as the icing and cognitive abilities as the layers.

I love it that I have an advocate that's trained and can help challenge me. I told my parents the other day that I feel like I'm back to 80%. I feel great about my growth and my abilities, but it was nice to have Julie open my eyes and challenge me, and show me how to recognize how I can improve. 

I know that I can function without therapy, but it's similar to the difference between losing weight by doing cardio or doing cardio and adding weights. I feel like my therapy is optional, but it helps me be the best "me" that I can. I'm not going to give up on my option to nurture my mind. Julie helps me figure out how my problem solving skills can be fine tuned, and how I can be more successful in the future.

Defusing The Situation With Laughter

Danny and I are heading over the mountains tomorrow morning for another speech therapist appointment. I already feel like I'm at 98% so it'll be interesting to hear what she says.

Sometimes, if didn't have such a short haircut I would almost think I've imagined this whole tumor episode. Well, that, and I have a different perspective on life which carries with me every day.

I just got off the phone with my brother, and we were discussing how amazing my recovery has been. There were times when I didn't think I would ever get back to my pre-surgery state, but I feel wonderful. The only changes that I can notice are the fact that I can barely retain information when reading, and I'm horrible at arguing.

When it comes to reading, I have to re-read each sentence, at minimum twice, probably on average four times. Secondly, I used to be able to debate, and argue things, but these days I'm not able to remember what we're debating or arguing (for the record, I'm not going to lie, I still give it a good effort). The good thing is that it works wonders for my relationship. So I guess maybe here's a shout out to the tumor. Maybe it's a Jess upgrade? Truly, Danny and I had an argument the other day and quickly, within my first words, I started arguing a completely unrelated point that made absolutely no sense. Which, in turn, made Danny erupt into laughter, and instantly defused the entire situation. Who can argue with a person that's laughing at their own inability to make sense. It takes the seriousness right out of it!