Are We Ready?

Last night was a Dr. M. Appointment. We never know what will happen or who will take the "floor." Last night primarily there was only a couple who spoke. The entire session felt as if a debriefing of the week’s events at work.

I don’t believe we stopped chattering the entire session. We barely waited long enough for Dr. M. to intercede with his thoughts. The more nervous of the speakers was myself (Corey), then later a tired Kate. She is much more calm and steady. We seemed to need to tell him all the important details of how the story had unfolded.

He was told as many decisions as I could remember. For example, the day had started upon arriving at the Center (on time) and Sister Flo’s voice had met us before reaching her door. She warned me with her facial gestures that there were already problems.

As the day turned ... Two of the four DSPs were absent, the other Q wasn’t coming in until 10, the two DSP’s who were there were each a half an hour late and the spare cog (the job coach) didn’t check in ... choosing to hide in the back eating her breakfast for the first 20 minutes. Fortunately, the secretary was on top of her game...

There are procedures for this kind of day ... The most important priority is that someone is with the clients at all times. So for a while, we had Sr. Watching the front while I covered the back three groups. At every turn there seemed to be some problem needing a slight coax or guidance.

At 10 am things had to be resettled again. The job coach needed to leave, the other Q was not in yet, and I had a 10 am intake meeting. Sr. Flo accepted the position of seeing the change through with us. She’s just the most gentle patient loving soul.

The intake meeting *sigh* one of the hardest I’ve ever gone through. The prospective client was very wild. She ran ahead three times rushing into various rooms. The mother had to argue and threaten to regain control. She’s very low functioning, doesn’t speak, loves to grab things and is very much like the younger Helen Keller. God save us! Hehehe. The DSPs were like, "Um, who gets her?"

Finally, the last hour of the day, we felt ready to sit down at our desk and clear it from the paperwork that had amassed. All others' problems were cared for. Please believe me when I say with all sincerity, I looked with great relief to the start of my first Qnote of the day. One down ... a gazillion left to follow.