Back to Work

Back in January, M had an accident at work. While the accident itself and resulting concussion were not serious, it caused an unfortunate side effect and M was left stuttering and stammering with every word he spoke. We spent three weeks going to doctors, having CT and MRI scans performed, talking with HR representatives, and just trying to figure out what was going on. The entire time M was off on Worker's Comp. leave because he could not perform his duties as a sale's representative.

A month after the accident we were sent to a neuro-specialist at the U of U. After a quick examination we were finally able to understand what had happened to M's speech. It's a rare anomaly called Conversion. Essentially, when the brain is injured it immediately starts to repair the damage. In conversion, the brain will re-route the damaged area through non-damaged areas. In M's case, the blow was to the crown of his head, but the re-routing happened to go through his speech processing area causing him to stutter and stammer.  M was sent to speech therapy for a month.

Now, two and a half months after the accident, M is finally able to return to work part-time. The neuro-specialist and HR reps. were reluctant to have him start working again because he still stutters and stammers when highly stressed, and his job can be highly stressful at times. However, M is determined to go back to work and forget this ever happened. He has been want to forget it since it happened back in January and is excited to go back to work.

I will say, it will be nice to have a larger paycheck coming in. Worker's comp. insurance does pay for his time at home, but it is only 66% of his salary. Things have been a bit tight. Other than the money, I have enjoyed spending so much time with M and having him help with J.

M and J have developed a routine that will be very difficult for J to loose when M is gone. Whenever it is time for J to sleep, naps and bedtime, he will fall asleep on or next to M. It has gotten to the point that J will not go to sleep unless M or I, usually M, are laying down with him. It's cute, but I do not look forward to crying that will ensue when M is not home...

10 Questions Every Mother Asks

For the past 10 months I have been a SAHM. I love it. It is hard and can be extremely frustrating, but it is the best job I’ve ever had. From time to time I find myself asking questions. Some are repetitive and some are just downright funny. Here is a list of my favorites.

1. Can’t I have five minutes to myself? And not in the bathroom.

2. Do we really need to watch this again? ‘Nough said.

3. How did you do that? These things don’t happen if I start pounding on the keyboard. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that for months.

4. Where did you find that? I didn’t even know we had one of those.

5. Why do you cry every time I go into the bathroom? You’ve ignored me for the past hour, why do you suddenly need me?

6. Why is there peanut butter in my ear? I can understand it being in your ear, but why mine?

7. Why won’t you take a nap if you’re tired? You know you’re tired. I know you’re tired. The neighbors across the street know you’re tired. Just go to sleep!

8. You’re ten months old, how can you destroy the entire room so quickly? I literally just finished picking up after you and now it’s a mess… again.

9. You’ve done it by yourself 50 times in a row, why do you suddenly need my help? Fine, I will help you.

10. How can you cause so much frustration and still be so cute that I forgive you as soon as you smile? I can’t resist that adorable smile!