music, therapy, and me

Yesterday's day off ended up being a bit more painful than I thought it would be. I coughed and tore one of my oblique muscles. It hurts lots, mostly when I cough, but also when I twist my torso in any direction. This is a problem because I have to be able to assist with behaviors of concern, if we have any, and I don't know that I will be able to do so without significant pain. I was able to sleep with the assistance of a positioning pillow and eventually finding a position where I was relatively pain free, but this has added some complications to my existence. As a result, I am talking about what I know about music for pain today. This is not something that I know much about, other than some information offered in AMTA presentations a long time ago and personal experience, so note that my information may not be the most up-to-date. What I know is that we have found that people who listen to music before and after surgery often have less need for pain medication than those who...

I fell on Sunday, spraining parts of the left side of my body and bruising part of the right side of my body. I gathered together my bruised, aching self and went to work where I spent the entire day in pain because I had no liquid I could drink to take the Tylenol that I had in my bag (long story about why I had nothing I could drink). Kids kept asking for hugs and high fives and the like, and I had to disappoint them every time because even thinking about skin contact made me hurt. Today is worse. I woke up at 2:30 am in pain. I decided that I would be in a better position to serve my clients if I got all of this addressed today, so I am taking the day off to get to the chiropractor and/or the doctor to get myself checked over. I have a high pain threshold, so the fact that I am so miserable and in pain right now means that I really messed myself up. I can feel the after effects of my fall in all of my joints. Holding the guitar hurts. Standing hurts, sitting hurts, reclining...

There are times when my mind gets mired into specific trains of thought. This is one of those times, I think, and I am trying really hard to pull myself out of the quicksand that is inclement weather days into something else. I've been writing lots about the "me" side of this blog lately and not so much about the "music" and "therapy" parts. It's easy to do when your schedule gets messed up and all you see is more inclement weather in your future... Time to pull myself up and out. I love being a music therapist. I love working with other music therapists to help them get to the best type of therapist that they can be. I thoroughly enjoy working with music therapy students and helping them figure out how to become music therapists during their internships. I like doing these things both in person and via webinars/recordings. I love starting an idea, offering that idea to other people, and then watching that idea expand in ways I never would ha...