Busy
Seems like my life rarely stops long enough to think about posting something in my hournal. Classes started back this week, and things are a little easier than last semester, as I am teaching one fully online course this semester, so I only teach 4 classes in person. That basically means NO MORE NIGHT CLASS..and it's so worth it. Night classes suck. I've taught at least one night class for the past 6 semesters and I was tired of it. Im also well into my clinical practicum. I've finished 470 hours, only 530 more to go. I also am down to 7 classes in my PhD program. Those will take a while though, as I'm working full time at the college and also doing 25 hours a week of clinical practicum. One valuable thing I've learned is that I do NOT like working with children, which is odd because I like kids so much. My problem is I really can't be therapeutic with children, I just find myself wanting to play and tell them that it's all going to be okay. So, I now work 3 days at the adult clinic and only one day at the child clinic (where I primarily do one time psychological evaluations). Well, and of course the teen group home..which is strangely fun sometimes.
The rest of my life has been strange. Patrick FINALLY got back from camp, and brought me home a lovely present: an upper respirtory infection. It was worth it, I suppose. He had to go home though, as his father is terminally ill. It's tough when he goes home, because he's dealing with so much emotional difficulty.
The other bad thing is my sister. I dont really know where to start. She's been married for 9 years and has been trying to get pregnant for at least 5 or 6 years now with no success. She's seen specialists, had all kinds of strange procedures, and nothing has worked. Finally, she got good treatment and was finally able to get pregnant. At 6 weeks they told her there was no fetal development and she was going to have a miscariage. She went back a week later (after a lot of psychological pain) and the fetus was in fact developing. Oops...doctor's bad. Then, at 12 weeks she began sudden hemoraging. She went to the hospital, and was admitted, where 6 hours later they told her she was experiencing a miscariage. She grieved throughout the night. The next morning she went to have a DNC, and before they started they heard a heartbeat "in there." They rushed her to ultrasound where they found the baby was still there, and alive. After a few days in the hospital they sent her home, on complete bedrest. The bedrest ended after about 6 weeks when she was told everything was doing really well. Anyways, a week ago sunday she started bleeding again and went to the hospital. She was in labor (at 21 weeks). She had dialated to 5 and was having contractions. Luckily the sac had not burst, so the fetus was okay and not in distress. However, it was moving into the birth canal. The doctor in Ashland sent her in an ambulance to Lexington, KY, where a specialist was able to get the sac out of the birth canal and stitch closed the cervix. On top of all of this, she had a severe infection in her cervix and all over the membranes of the sac. So, they started treating that too. Two days after the cervix surgery she caught pnemonia. Sooo.... breathing treatments every 4 hours, 24 hour oxygen, IV antibiotics, etc. She had finally started feeling better monday (8 days after hospitalization) but then Tuesday morning started having contractions again and bleeding more. The doctors are getting concerned about the amount of antibiotics in her system, but her white blood count is high. It's beginning to look like she wont leave the hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. I'm asking every spiritual person to pray for her, just pray for a few more weeks. If she can get to 26 weeks the baby should have a fighting chance if she HAD to deliver. While all this is happening it's really made me think about God though. Seems so strange.... I work with all these kids that literally have been thrown away, unwanted by their parents. Yet all my sister has wanted is a baby. Seems weird to me, but I've also learned not to question such things. To be so "mentally fragile" sometimes I think my sister has done a hell of a job just hanging in there. I cant imagine.
The rest of my life has been strange. Patrick FINALLY got back from camp, and brought me home a lovely present: an upper respirtory infection. It was worth it, I suppose. He had to go home though, as his father is terminally ill. It's tough when he goes home, because he's dealing with so much emotional difficulty.
The other bad thing is my sister. I dont really know where to start. She's been married for 9 years and has been trying to get pregnant for at least 5 or 6 years now with no success. She's seen specialists, had all kinds of strange procedures, and nothing has worked. Finally, she got good treatment and was finally able to get pregnant. At 6 weeks they told her there was no fetal development and she was going to have a miscariage. She went back a week later (after a lot of psychological pain) and the fetus was in fact developing. Oops...doctor's bad. Then, at 12 weeks she began sudden hemoraging. She went to the hospital, and was admitted, where 6 hours later they told her she was experiencing a miscariage. She grieved throughout the night. The next morning she went to have a DNC, and before they started they heard a heartbeat "in there." They rushed her to ultrasound where they found the baby was still there, and alive. After a few days in the hospital they sent her home, on complete bedrest. The bedrest ended after about 6 weeks when she was told everything was doing really well. Anyways, a week ago sunday she started bleeding again and went to the hospital. She was in labor (at 21 weeks). She had dialated to 5 and was having contractions. Luckily the sac had not burst, so the fetus was okay and not in distress. However, it was moving into the birth canal. The doctor in Ashland sent her in an ambulance to Lexington, KY, where a specialist was able to get the sac out of the birth canal and stitch closed the cervix. On top of all of this, she had a severe infection in her cervix and all over the membranes of the sac. So, they started treating that too. Two days after the cervix surgery she caught pnemonia. Sooo.... breathing treatments every 4 hours, 24 hour oxygen, IV antibiotics, etc. She had finally started feeling better monday (8 days after hospitalization) but then Tuesday morning started having contractions again and bleeding more. The doctors are getting concerned about the amount of antibiotics in her system, but her white blood count is high. It's beginning to look like she wont leave the hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. I'm asking every spiritual person to pray for her, just pray for a few more weeks. If she can get to 26 weeks the baby should have a fighting chance if she HAD to deliver. While all this is happening it's really made me think about God though. Seems so strange.... I work with all these kids that literally have been thrown away, unwanted by their parents. Yet all my sister has wanted is a baby. Seems weird to me, but I've also learned not to question such things. To be so "mentally fragile" sometimes I think my sister has done a hell of a job just hanging in there. I cant imagine.