Tuesday, June 29, 2010
How, you might wonder, are these three things related? Well, they aren't... except they all happened to happen today!
First of all, WADT. I was supposed to take a picture of my friend and I today before we went to work after we swam this morning... but I forgot. So, I took one when I got home, with my camera timer. But it's still stuck on the camera so I will post it later tonight... when I get the motivation to get up off the couch. But today's WADT featured a blue skirt from Nepal and a black shirt that was probably made in china or Indonesia.
Onto The Best Sandwich Ever (yes, it deserves to be all capitalized). I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner that involved an avocado. Why, you may wonder? Because I had one in the fridge, and I wanted to eat it. So I decided to make a Cajun shrimp avocado sandwich. Note to you: this would be better as a wrap, but I didn't have a wrap... I had wheat bread. So that is what I used. Anyway, Here's how you do it.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Layer veggies and shrimp: I chose cucumber, tomato, onion, shrimp, avocado. You can choose a different order... it just might not be QUITE as good.
Now, for the last part of this entry. The serious part that is why I write this blog (contrary to popular belief, this isn't supposed to be about food...) As I said a couple posts ago, I am on a rehab rotation right now, dealing with a lot of stroke patients. One of the most common problems these patients are battling when they come to rehab is aphasia, or the inability to use language appropriately. There are many types of aphasia, and it's complicated and deals with lots of areas of the brain, so I will not even try to give a detailed description of how it all works (mostly for fear of messing it up). But there are a couple basic types. Receptive aphasia means a person can not interpret language; they can not understand written or spoken words. Expressive aphasia means they can not appropriately use words, even though they may know exactly what they want to say.
I imagine that being aphasic must be one of the most horribly frustrating things to experience in the entire world. Particularly for people with expressive aphasia who know what they want to say and may even think that the words that are coming out make sense, when in reality they don't make any sense at all. When Sarah and I drove around the country (another story for another post... or maybe a book... which you should definitely buy), we stayed in Illinois with a man named Wally. He'd recently had a stroke and was still having problems with his speech. He could say most things he wanted to, but it took him a lot of time an effort to get them out correctly. Every sentence was a struggle for him. In his past life (before stroke and retirement), he'd been a PhD chemist for a huge chemical and pharmaceutical company. He was smart... brilliant really. He was used to being successful and accomplished. And he'd been reduced to spending an entire minute to ask for a glass of orange juice. You could see the frustration in his eyes. I've seen many patients like that on my service so far this month. They try so hard to get words out. They think they are saying the right word, but to us it means nothing. We have a 25 year old patient right now who suffered a HUGE stroke when his carotid artery was occluded for an unknown reason. He was admitted a few months ago, and still has a long way to go in rehab. Until this weekend, he hadn't made a single noise. This isn't surprising since half his brain is essentially dead. But to all of our surprise, on Saturday he started speaking. When I saw him on Monday, he kept saying "chair". He wasn't really taking about a chair, but that's the word that kept coming out, and it was clear he was trying to say SOMETHING. We just couldn't figure out what it was.
My sister wants to go into speech and language pathology. God bless her. It's work that I don't really understand... kind of like a magic box you send people into and then come out making sense. Sure, you have to send them in a couple times a day for weeks to months. But still, it happens. Communication is one of those things I think we really take for granted, until it's gone. Whether it be hearing or seeing or speech, or the ability to understand, we don't think about how important it is until it's gone. Or broken.
I don't really have a great concluding take home message from this... other than think about what you have and be glad. Also, be glad I am not aphasic, or my blog might read "to the take a for me frog once her to the from a gone with what my how name to see the my?"
Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means it's bike ride a burrito day! It's been a while since my friend Chris and I actually made bike ride and burrito Wednesday happen... but it was a summer staple last year!
Until then,
Kari
First of all, WADT. I was supposed to take a picture of my friend and I today before we went to work after we swam this morning... but I forgot. So, I took one when I got home, with my camera timer. But it's still stuck on the camera so I will post it later tonight... when I get the motivation to get up off the couch. But today's WADT featured a blue skirt from Nepal and a black shirt that was probably made in china or Indonesia.
Onto The Best Sandwich Ever (yes, it deserves to be all capitalized). I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner that involved an avocado. Why, you may wonder? Because I had one in the fridge, and I wanted to eat it. So I decided to make a Cajun shrimp avocado sandwich. Note to you: this would be better as a wrap, but I didn't have a wrap... I had wheat bread. So that is what I used. Anyway, Here's how you do it.
Ingredients:Raw shrimp (tails on or off), thawed (about 8-10 per person is plenty)
Avocado, sliced
Tomato, sliced (I used cherry tomatoes, because that's what I had... I recommend something bigger)
Red onion, sliced
Cucumber, sliced
Ranch dressing
Blackening seasoning
Wheat bread or other carb loaded veggie and shrimp carrying medium
Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, toss the shrimp in a small amount of oil.
Add blackening seasoning to the shrimp and toss until coated to your taste.
Cover cookie sheet with foil and spread shrimp into single layer.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through.
While shrimp are baking, slice your vegetables.
When shrimp are done, cut tails off if necessary
Toast bread.
On bread, spread a thin layer of ranch dressing.
Layer veggies and shrimp: I chose cucumber, tomato, onion, shrimp, avocado. You can choose a different order... it just might not be QUITE as good.Cut. Diagonally. Because that's the only way to cut a sandwich.
Eat.
Get a fork to eat all the stuff that fell out. That's why a wrap might work better....
Enjoy. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.Now, for the last part of this entry. The serious part that is why I write this blog (contrary to popular belief, this isn't supposed to be about food...) As I said a couple posts ago, I am on a rehab rotation right now, dealing with a lot of stroke patients. One of the most common problems these patients are battling when they come to rehab is aphasia, or the inability to use language appropriately. There are many types of aphasia, and it's complicated and deals with lots of areas of the brain, so I will not even try to give a detailed description of how it all works (mostly for fear of messing it up). But there are a couple basic types. Receptive aphasia means a person can not interpret language; they can not understand written or spoken words. Expressive aphasia means they can not appropriately use words, even though they may know exactly what they want to say.
I imagine that being aphasic must be one of the most horribly frustrating things to experience in the entire world. Particularly for people with expressive aphasia who know what they want to say and may even think that the words that are coming out make sense, when in reality they don't make any sense at all. When Sarah and I drove around the country (another story for another post... or maybe a book... which you should definitely buy), we stayed in Illinois with a man named Wally. He'd recently had a stroke and was still having problems with his speech. He could say most things he wanted to, but it took him a lot of time an effort to get them out correctly. Every sentence was a struggle for him. In his past life (before stroke and retirement), he'd been a PhD chemist for a huge chemical and pharmaceutical company. He was smart... brilliant really. He was used to being successful and accomplished. And he'd been reduced to spending an entire minute to ask for a glass of orange juice. You could see the frustration in his eyes. I've seen many patients like that on my service so far this month. They try so hard to get words out. They think they are saying the right word, but to us it means nothing. We have a 25 year old patient right now who suffered a HUGE stroke when his carotid artery was occluded for an unknown reason. He was admitted a few months ago, and still has a long way to go in rehab. Until this weekend, he hadn't made a single noise. This isn't surprising since half his brain is essentially dead. But to all of our surprise, on Saturday he started speaking. When I saw him on Monday, he kept saying "chair". He wasn't really taking about a chair, but that's the word that kept coming out, and it was clear he was trying to say SOMETHING. We just couldn't figure out what it was.
My sister wants to go into speech and language pathology. God bless her. It's work that I don't really understand... kind of like a magic box you send people into and then come out making sense. Sure, you have to send them in a couple times a day for weeks to months. But still, it happens. Communication is one of those things I think we really take for granted, until it's gone. Whether it be hearing or seeing or speech, or the ability to understand, we don't think about how important it is until it's gone. Or broken.
I don't really have a great concluding take home message from this... other than think about what you have and be glad. Also, be glad I am not aphasic, or my blog might read "to the take a for me frog once her to the from a gone with what my how name to see the my?"
Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means it's bike ride a burrito day! It's been a while since my friend Chris and I actually made bike ride and burrito Wednesday happen... but it was a summer staple last year!
Until then,
Kari
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2 comments:
Bike ride a burrito day??? Are you sure about that lack of Aphasia? Sounds like Word Salad to me!
Hahahaha, I did that today too! I think I'm just learning to speak aphasic and know what I mean. :)
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