Friday, April 21, 2006

Family meeting

There was a meeting today between all the team (the physician, the speech language pathologyst, the occupational therapist, the physiotherapist, the social worker and the nurse on one side, and the family (the parents, the siblings, and the the new members of the clan) on the other side. The meeting was to inform the family of Jan's Prognosis to date. In brief:

-Her physio is going well. She is progressing rapidly. She will be able to walk with minimal aids, in the long term, probably with a cane. She needs to develop strength in both the right arm and leg. She tends to compensate with the left.
-The occupational therapist said that it is possible that she will not be able to teach in a classroom setting. A combination of verbal, motor and speech conections were affected by the surgery. She will regain much of these functions, but not the the previous level. This will be the result of long therapy.
-Jan has a high cognitive functioning which helps her to compensate and develop faster her language skills. She is a problem solver, if she gets stuck in her speech she will find another way. The SLT reminded us that communication is a two way street, we have to assist in the process when Jan gets stcuk. Steve will publish some of the ideas given. There is an attempt to give Jan some music therapy.
-The SW indicated that Jan is scheduled to vacate the premises on May 31st. After that, she will continue in out-patient therapy.
The majority of the team memebrs are very young (late 20s early 30s). the meeting was more informal than I expected, but it was a good chance to put for the first time all the pieces together.
The doctor told Jan that he was sending a letter to the Ministry of Transportation rescinding Jan's driver's license.
Lots of loss of independence and mobility for Jan. The result of the meeting was some hope for the skills she will get back, some realism about what will not come back, and a lot of faith from Jan's part that all of this is under control and was supposed to happen anyway.

Jan is home for the weekend.

-Fede








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