3 days in the hospital...

and more gratitude than you could ever imagine. Yes I had a little side trip to the hospital and I am now very thankfully home! I am still pretty much flat on my back but much more happier to be this way at home.

So what in the heck you ask? Well, Monday was a very interesting day for me. It all started with a very sensitive sore knee that I thought I must have slept wrong etc. I was substituting in one of my favorite classes for a half day and was doing quite well when I noticed my knee was really bugging me. As the morning progressed the area behind my knee began to hurt worse and my calf had a bit of an ache to it. As my day was finishing up I thought "No biggy" and worked it a bit hoping to losen up any kinks. Well, low and behold about a half an hour before my half day was to end I started to feel a little chilly. This did not sit well with me at all as I had a rather unconfortable episode of cellulitis in this same particular foot a few years ago and it was not exactly something I have liked to repeat. Ironically, I had just discussed this episode with a dear fellow from church on Sunday who had picked up a little friend on his way home from Tijajia on a Mission trip the previous week and had to deal with the same thing-cellulitis caused by a bacterial infection that entered into his foot by an open cut. Hum interesting, since I still recalled the wonderful pain which accompanied this, he and I were comparing notes.

Wouldn't you know the next day I would wind up with the same thing-go figure-in the same leg as last time-go figure. Unforturnately, I know it was cellulitis or a blood clot by 4 pm Monday as I noticed when I put my leg up on the exam table to be ultrasounded the beautiful tell tale red on my calf. As I informed the Ultrasound tech (once she ruled out a blood clot) that she needed to "grab a pen right now and mark where the redness ends because this thing is going up my leg before you blink". She reluctantly did it although she made some snide comment about my wanting her to play doctor and mark my leg. To make this already overly long day better, when she called the doc who ordered the ultrasound back they told her to have me go all the way back to my town where there was a three hour wait for a walk in clinic-Uh no. I pretty much became slightly baligerent at that time and gave her the list of events that would now take place once this lovely redness had reared it's uglyness. With a bit of contempt she checked the local walk in which had half the wait time and was right across the street. We opted for across the street.

By this time I had a raging fever and was really getting a bit tired of everyone dilly daling. Luckily when I told the receptionist what was going on and what the next steps of my symptoms would be she was nice enough to pass this on to the nurse, so they did do there best to get me in.

Mind you I had spent very little time with my leg up at this time with an ever increasing blood pressure and temperture. I loved the nurse who said "82 over 133, that's pretty good". I think she was having a difficult time understanding that my mom and I were telling the truth when we both tried to tell her that I have LOW blood pressure and that this was EXTREMELY HIGH for me. The nice thing was the triage nurse at this clinic finally realized that my leg was looking a bit swollen and that maybe sitting around all day in a wheelchair wasn't helping it much. DUH! Oh did I mention how painful it is to walk when this occurs.

Now we were looking at about 8pm and very little resolution. Up until this point I hadn't eaten since breakfast, nor had anything to drink this of course is just fantastic when you have a raging fever. (Not to mention people asking that same dumb questions over and over again). At least the walk in doc had some sense when he took some blood and realized-gee her white count is 203,000 and this infection has spread rather quickly up her leg. His thoughts-send me to the hospital. We were told that there was a bed waiting for me and everything was set-hum-that is a whole nother story for us to explore. Well, we got to the hospital about 9 ish, I think I finally made it up to the room and layed there barely coherent with fever describing the events of the day, symptoms, past occurance, past coarse of treatment yet again only to repeat it again at 12:30am to the on call doc that was supposed to have everything ready for me-HUH? As there were no doctor orders until after this joker finally saw me in the wee hours of the am, not so much as a Tylenal or even water was allowed. Warm blankets thankfully were so at least that problem was being addressed.

Since shift change came right before the doctor came, it was quite a while before his orders were written, IV antibiotics were ordered, water was given, oh, and did I mention water-and the nurse was wondering why she was having such a difficult time finding a vein and called someone else to put in my IV cathiter-Duh. Good thing I was so hard to understand by this point and too exhausted to fight. Well the IV was finally started about 1:30ish am on Tuesday morning-well more than 12 hours after this fun little adventure started. Then there was the adventures in the hospital but that's another story...

My leg is just starting to heal (with the type of infection I have, it literally "burned" my skin from the inside out so now it is blistering in some areas and turning black in others-I know it sounds so pretty). I can live with the "grossness", it's the pain with any pressure and the sever swelling that makes it tough. Since I do not take narcotics for pain, I tend to avoid as much pain as possible and go for the couch route with crutches for mandatory movement! hahaha

There has also been an interesting side affect of headaches, but that is more than likely remnents of the fever/infection. The good news is my fever is slowly going down and I should be normal before too long-oh wait, I guess that means I would have had to be normal in the first place =-) haha For this, Tylenol is my new best friend, happily it only seems to be really bugging me to much around evening, but then again-I haven't been home with a couple of goofy boys for three days so we'll see how things are going.

Stay tuned for more of the many zany adventures of my last three days...

The Power of the winning team and lessons from the losing team

Stretch is really a great football player. He has taken suggestions, practiced hard, and really began to hone his craft. I am really impressed at how much he has put into this. Unfortunately, his team has only won one game this whole session. With one more game to go, it doesn't look to be a very promising season. Personally, I am very proud of the effort and improvement the entire team has made! Funny the coach said it would probably be the second to the last game before they start playing as a team. He was right. Last Tuesday's game was incredible. The boys were playing as a solid team. Granted they still did not win, but they have bonded, supported, and really become a team. I had to smile when I overheard the coach telling the boys about one of their team members was having a difficult time in one of his classes as there was another student who was tormenting him and he was reacting and getting in trouble so he was disqualified to play in the game. The coach was asking the boys to help him out and look out for him so that when the person who was bothering him started in, they would help him make the right decision and walk away. The heartwarming part was that the two boys that have the same class with this boy, eagerly agreed to support him. WOW! Suddenly, I did not worry so much about my son and if he was making friends and getting along in school.
More importantly than winning a football game, my son has found a place at school where he belongs and has friends and teammates who will support and stand beside him in what can many times be a challenging time in life. Oh speaking of which-check out this link it is so Stretch at this point in his life.
So do I think Smiley has the better end of the deal because his soccer team is undefeated-I don't think so. Maybe it is Stretch and his losing football team that has gained more this year.
I don't know-weigh on this one and tell me what you think!

So I'm not a computer genius

But hey I do try...
I was so frustrated because Esther had a great post and I could not publish it because I could not get my computer to open up the window. Silly computer, I know I know, it's probably the operator, but I swear I did not do anything different and it all the sudden works again. Go figure. Anyway, I am exhaused, but happy. I have not taken a day off for about two weeks, have laundry piled up, the bathrooms need to be cleaned BADLY, but I have seen the kids I started off teaching this year at least once a week and gotten at least two dozen hugs a day from said cherubs.
My own kids are doing very well. Busy with soccer and football, jazz band and leadership. Man I swear if either one of them join any other groups or clubs I think I will lose it.
Life is good.
Check out this link-hilarious article
Don't forget to stop by Esther's blog as well. She has been so busy but happier than I have ever experienced her! Never Move Again

Monday, Monday or something like that

Can you believe I got a call at 7am this morning to work at 7:30am. Hum, NO! Normally, I could have done it but considering I just woke up, no. It was at one of the middle schools that I hadn't worked at yet so I wasn't too gung ho anyway.

I think that as I am already scheduled to work three days this week, I am not too worried about working today. Actually, I got some housework done, relaxed a bit, finished the laundry. All those lovely things I never get a chance to do. How do people manage a family of 4, a house, work, cook decent meals, not go crazy. Any suggestions other than hiring a maid-sorry out of my budget.

Stretch has his third football game tomorrow. He has turned into quite the football animal-he loves to tackle and for such a skinny guy it takes quite a few guys to bring him down. So far they have lost their games, but not for the lack of trying. We find it interesting that the coach continues to call the same plays even after they have proven to be unsuccessful. Any thoughts on this?

So Much for Getting Some Rest...

Well, I am so very excited that my dear friend Esther has enlarged her family by two. Check out her awesome blog page http://nevermoveagain.blogspot.com. I am anxiously awaiting their family to bond so I can meet Sissy and Lovey. It is hard to believe it took three years, many tears, many many frustrations, but in the end it was all worth it-what a blessing for this fantastic family.

I was looking forward to taking a few days off after my first full time teaching gig, but it was just not to be...believe it or not I got calls for the day after and the Thursday following my last day. Wednesday I took off, just to re-adjust to subbing/full time mom etc. and Thursday was Stretch's first football game. More on that later. I did fill in for my good friend the Kindie teacher Friday and Monday, then again yesterday for half the day-I love those little buggers! Got tons of hugs from her kids from last year as I had filled in for her many times once I had my certificate. REALLY LOVE THAT! Nothing like a gunormous hug from a 1st grader to make your day! I am loaded up all ready for Tuesday with my boys' 2nd grade teacher than it's back to Princi-Pal's school for Thursday and Friday. I think I like filling in at the same schools the best because you really get to know the kids.

Stretch's first football game was fantastic-wow he is such a good player-unfortunately the other team was HUGE! I think they must hold back their seventh graders or being in a farming community really does produce bigger kids-something though-I have never seen such big 7th graders. Sad to say they lost 21-0, but it was very exciting none the less. Oh well, there is always another game.

Quilting, Flowers and Adopted Grandmothers

I almost forgot that our "adopted" grandmother had asked if I would tie three quilts for her. Of course I said yes. I will post her beautiful work once I finish tying the last one. Of course she dropped a little bomb right after this...she told us she was tired of living alone-minus her cat, Snuggles of course-and was moving into the same elderly apartment building her friend (my beloved deceased Grandma B) had lived in. This is a huge relief as she just turned 93 in April and we have very worried about her living where she was. Halllalllllllloooooouuuuuuyyyyyyaaaa! One less thing to worry about.
I told her I would finish the quilts and bring them back to her once she moves into her new pad. She has already been to one of their socials and figured out she knows 3 people from our church who live there-have you ever seen a 93 year old woman excited! Quite a site. Anyway, as she will no longer have a patio at the new place-guess who gets her flower boxes! Yippeee now if I can only keep them alive. StraightGuy was not too pleased when we picked them up on Saturday-the back of the truck was pretty much filled. He even tried to pass some off on my mom, my brother, my ex-sister-in-law, strangers on the street, but alas, I caboshed that-these are my flowers darn it-adopted grandma gave them to me and I am so excited to have them-how dare he give them away. My poor mom said she didn't dare take any as she would end up with a crazy mad daughter on her hands. Oh well, hopefully I can grow a green thumb and keep them alive-I just wasn't ready to give any away until I have a chance to decide which ones I really want. Gee Whiz give me a day or two or a week to decide would you.

Where in the world is One Teacher...

I know, I know I have been gone for a bit and you have been wondering if I fell off the face of the earth. Glad to know that I am still loved and missed. lol Actually, a funny thing happened on the way to "Smiley's" school. I got a call from the HR director of the district I interviewed for the librarian job. She left a message saying that the principal of said school was requesting me to come in starting the next day (mind you this would be the first day of school for that district) to teach in the library. First thought, hum, now why would they want me to teach in the library when they just hired someone to do just that, hum. Don't mind me I was just a little baffled by this. I know the principal is not missing something in her brain so I figured the HR director had some screws loose-this would not be the first time I questioned the capacity of said director-Anywho, I called her back and said "sure, I would be glad to come in and to tell the wonderful requesting principal (gee it's nice to be wanted) that I would be at her school EARLY the next morning to get the WHOLE story.
Good thing, as I thought, Princi-Pal did have a totally different plan that somehow the HR director didn't quite understand-mind you-Prinici-Pal had been negociating this deal since May-an item I did not know about until further snooping had acurred later. The deal was they wanted a fourth specialist (ie PE, Music, Library, ME) that would teach STEPS TO RESPECT, this is a great safety/communications/civics curriculum that I had seen, purused, knew of buy had not specifically taught as of yet-no biggy for me. The assistant Princi-Pal (bless her wonderful heart) was frantically typing up my lesson plan while head honcho and I spoke that I would impliment with all grades focusing on the rules and consequences for the school-what I like to affectionately call "Guidelines for Success". Starting a curriculum from scratch is right up
my alley (I am just kooky, creative, and crazy enough to do it)
So off I trot to my little portable with a box full of student handbooks and a rubberband encased set of pencils-what every new teacher needs with less than 30 minutes to prepare for their first class of the year. Luckily, many of the students remembered my as "library lady" from the end of last year.
Needless to say, I don't know if I should be honored or worried that the first person the Prici-Pal team came up with when they were looking for someone who could "hit the ground at the last minute running" and make this work. I laugh now, but man what a whirlwind this created.
After speaking with the head HR on Tuesday night I immediately called my mom to ask her to move back in with us to help with "Smiley" and his school transport etc. Thank goodness she was home and not on a business trip! With her rolling into the driveway at 7:30am on Wednesday morning I was out the door and moving. I guess today was the first day I had to stop and reflect on where I have been and what I did.
After two weeks, which was the initial commitment, at least until the district would look at the enrollment numbers and tell Princi-Pal or not that she would have a 4th specialist for the entire year-I am sad to say the district said "NO".
Many, many people (kids, parents, EA's, teachers, admin) are very sad-especially the teachers who were not so gung ho to be teaching the actual STEPS TO RESPECT curriculum-were not happy about this decision, but alas-can't do what the district doesn't want to pay for, no matter how much a benefit it was to the kids. Once again, Princi-Pal challenged me to rise above my comfort level and take a new adventure that truly taught me more about who I am as a teacher and why I am so passionate about what I do. Yesterday was tough, but in the long run this is just not my year to have a full time gig and still meet the needs of StraightGuy, Stretch, and Smiley. I am however already scheduled to sub in one of the 2nd grade classes at said school so the kids won't miss me for too long!! hehehehehe