Experiential Learning

I mentioned in class that I didn't quite understand why Kolb's Concrete Experience learning step was associated with feelings. Kristen's explanation of it being about fully "experiencing" the situation with all your emotions made sense to me.

Today, one of my dogs, Kisses, went in for surgery. She had two tumors removed. They had taken fluid from both, but they weren't sure if they were cancerous and said they'd know more once they got them out and sent them to pathology. But it was fairly unlikely that they were cancerous based on the needle aspirations they had done.

I got home from class and my husband updated me on her surgery. One tumor came out cleanly with no issues, but due to the location of the second one near vital organs, they weren't able to get the margins they had hoped for. While they won't know the pathology results for several days, the doctor said that what they saw did not look great, and now estimates it to be more likely that it's cancer.

Semira said today that we may react differently when the subject matter or situation is emotionally fraught, like a cancer diagnosis. And I can definitely see that. While trying to comfort my hungry, confused dog wondering why she has a cone and is banished to a crate instead of being able to snuggle with us on the couch, I thought about the learning that I was experiencing.

I definitely felt (feel) strong emotions about this, and am reflecting on the issue and what it means for our family, both emotionally and financially. I am taking tomorrow off work to look after Kisses to make sure she doesn't strain herself or try to lick her wounds. I have conceptualized some of my learning so far, like how she can get her head out of the Elizabethan Collar and that the bubble collar we got for her doesn't really work and she can still reach her wound. So we have put both collars on, since she can't get the cone off with the bubble collar blocking the way. That's the Active Experimentation. And I'm sure over the course of the next few days, we'll be learning more about the surgery recovery process, reflecting on it, making conclusions, and acting on the new learnings.

This is not an experience I would like to ever have to go through again, and I hope that the pathology results come back negative so our journey ends here. But that may not be the case, and we will learn, reflect, conclude, and apply throughout the process.