Work Arounds

Brain cancer is...

...finding limits and then finding their work arounds.

We continue to reflect on our five months of GBM experience. Today we decided that, yes, we've discovered lots of new limits, but if the restricted skills are important, we find something more important than the limit:  Its work around.

Two examples:  Andi can no longer learn, retain, and retrieve from memory all her students' names impressively. (It used to be her super power.) Work arounds:  Name tents, practicing with labeled photos, and admitting the issue then asking for forgiveness.  Darrell can no longer spell all of the words he wants when he's doing email.  Sometimes even the initial letter is wrong.  (Even in Darrell's world, the word dog does not start with c).  In these cases, not even his typical tool, spell check, can help.  Work around:  Walk away and come back.

We spent lots of time thinking about what an important life skill that is, coming up with the work around. There's a lot to be said for resourcefulness.

But really, it's hard to care too much about such serious topics as long as there's still tuna at Panera, right? 

And speaking of finding one's limits:

Mousse is finally finished with puppy vaccinations and can go for walks.  Tonight he walked two blocks, told Zachary he was finished, and headed home. 

This picture is after the walk--not before.  He's happy to be home after taking matters into his own hands (or rather, his leash into his mouth).  How to know that the dog who lives with you is a Labrador? He'll be very careful not to overexert!   Know those limits, Man!