Zoom meetings

are really not for the faint hearted. 

I have been trying to avoid them but I had three yesterday. The first was with a surgeon and the two teams with whom he will be working.

I am never too sure about surgeons. They can get very impatient with people like me, people who do not have the same in-depth knowledge of the arcane processes involved or the same appreciation of their skills. This was someone I had not worked with before and that did not help. I was not even in the happy position of knowing anyone on either team. 

They all checked in so that I could see these people in a faraway place and we went through the entire communication board I had written for them. I sat here not quite chewing my paws to the bone but worried as each new symbol came up that the surgeon, who seemed impatient, would lose his temper. There is always the worry that I am going to be accused of doing the wrong thing in a way that could kill someone. (No, it has not happened but the potential is there.) 

Everyone seemed tense until the end of the meeting and then the surgeon smiled as the camera switched to him again and he said,

"That's great! Fantastic effort everyone! Cat and R.... thank you for your help. We're ready to go tomorrow."

I could almost see the wave of relaxation go through the pictures on the screen.

I am now sitting here wondering how they are getting on. R..., who helped me write the board, emailed a short while ago to say that he was sitting in the observation area waiting to move in if there were any problems at the crucial point.  I won't hear any more though. I never do. I often wonder. 

The second meeting was much more mundane. I made a report. I answered some questions. It is not my role to suggest things to this group so I left them to it and just listened. Conversation does not flow in a virtual meeting like this. Strong personalities tend to take over even more in these settings.  I even wondered if I could sneak my knitting in - after all they couldn't see much more than the top of my head. 

And later in the day an email came through reminding me that an AGM was due a bit later. I had it in the diary but thought it was today for some reason or other. No, it was due in about an hour. I left the laptop on and did some other things and then checked in. 

It was late in the day and I nearly didn't bother. Like most people I do not like AGM's with their reports and their financial reports and their unfinished business from last year - or even years before. This time people were late too. It is something I am well used to by now because I work across massively different time zones. This time we were only meeting across the country but someone had to finish work at one side when others would likely have eaten their evening meal. 

In the end there were just enough for a quorum and I stayed on line to keep it that way. I didn't contribute much. I think I said "Great idea" at one point and "Yes" at another and that was about it. Instead I listened to people who use AAC (augmentative and alternative communication devices - in this case artificial speech) have their say instead. It was good to be able to sit there and know that they are more than capable of expressing themselves. 

Yes, I was "there" in the virtual sense and the meeting could go ahead but I thought of all the people I know who still cannot express their thoughts in any way. I am seeing K.... today. She is non-speaking but she has a wicked sense of humour. At the moment I have to rely just on her eye movements for her to tell me what she is thinking. I am hoping that one day we can chat via Zoom too.