Apprehensions

Uncertainty would be the best word to describe the moment in time. I'm on the cusp of a promotion at work that should have been realized 3 months ago. Yet it lingers in the hands of the higher ups while they tend to the day-to-day fires with glasses of water as the only defense. As my corporate life remains in limbo so does every other decision that is linked to it. The wife is struggling with a reduced role in Ryan's care and upbringing. The more he matures, the harder it is for her to drop him off with a glorified babysitter. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with babysitters, but Laurie is a Pediatric OT. For 40 hours a week she's helping kids with developmental delay attain goals to bring them closer to their actual age in behavior. Simply, she plays with kids. And now someone else is playing with Ryan, so we think. Laurie's gut instinct is that Ryan spends most of his day in a car seat, in a vibrating chair, in the crib, you get my point. To most of us, this is appears harmless, but to an OT, especially one that specializes in pediatric development, this is sacrilegious. Everyday, Laurie picks Ryan up wondering if he got the interaction we would have provided him. I can hear the clock ticking in her head. My promotion would allow Laurie to reduce to part-time hours. This would greatly help, but that leaves the heady decision as to what to do with Ryan. We want to get him more interactive care, but the price a traditional daycare charges for part-time admission is only 15% less than a full-time rate. Laurie's frustration is further compounded by an underhanded political power play performed on her while on maternity leave. In her absence, her manager decided to remove her from the weekly pediatric feeding clinic, a respite from the daily grind of treating autistic kids. An overbearing speech pathologist with seniority applied pressure and and misinformation to orchestrate the removal of OT from the clinic. It isn't a personal affront on Laurie, but a clash of two disciplines and the protection of one's perceived responsibilities when therapies overlap. Despite being a 'business' decision, it wasn't handled with much finesse and Laurie is left with the knife still piercing her back. My promotion and the subsequent green light to pursue other employment and child care cannot come too soon.