Update on Rheumatologist Visit

HUGE disappointment.  I really did not like that doctor AT ALL.  He was very "clinical" and not very personable - or caring.  I won't be going back to him.

 All he did was explain the results of the blood tests I had taken at the beginning of the month:

- Basically, all tests for arthritis and immune diseases (lupus,etc) came back fine. 
- Inflammation levels were 18 - compared to 49 when I started taking the Diclofenac.
- Anything over 3 is considered "high" and anything over 10 is considered "chronic inflammatory illness."
- He offered me nothing as far as treatment or diagnosis - beyond physical therapy!!!!

Oh, and the worst part - he told me my liver enzymes were elevated and I needed to stop taking the Diclofenac. 

I feel completely blindsided. 

Warning...Summer Vacation Ahead

My books came!

Some I have to read for a class and some are just for fun.  Each summer I order at least 6-7 books from Amazon to read while sitting outside. 

Yesterday, I started reading Their Eyes Were Watching God while sitting out for about a half hour or so...I did not apply sunscreen which was a huge mistake!  Usually, I always do because I HATE the look of a sunburn.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Ollie's nightly walks around the yard are a big part of summer.  He loves exploring the tall grass and weeds for critters.  He did find a bunny in there once - thankfully, it got away.

Our Green Acres mobile is primed and ready to prepare our garden for planting this weekend.

This morning I have an appointment with the rheumatologist (I am braced to hear him tell me the inflammation is allergy related) and then I need to go into school, turn in my staff binder and key, get the last couple remaining things out of my room...and summer vacation will officially begin.

I know it'll go by quickly - it always does...but then, so does the school year!

Update on rheumatologist visit:
HUGE disappointment.  I really did not like that doctor AT ALL.  He was very "clinical" and not very personable - or caring.  I won't be going back to him.

 All he did was explain the results of the blood tests I had taken at the beginning of the month:

- Basically, all tests for arthritis and immune diseases (lupus,etc) came back fine. 
- Inflammation levels were 18 - compared to 49 when I started taking the Diclofenac.
- Anything over 3 is considered "high" and anything over 10 is considered "chronic inflammatory illness."
- He offered me nothing as far as treatment or diagnosis - beyond physical therapy!!!!

Oh, and the worst part - he told me my liver enzymes were elevated and I needed to stop taking the Diclofenac. 

I feel completely blindsided. 

Weekend in Michigan

For the past few years my mom spends the month of May with us.  She loves coming into school and teaching.  When I taught 4th grade, she would take over teaching my U.S. History and also teach Wisconsin History.  She has continued to do this for the current 4th grade teacher and, this year, she also added a couple of 5th grade subjects.

The 1st and 2nd grade teachers used her as well this year to read with individual kids.  For some reason, though, I just cannot get her to teach any of my computer classes :/ She knows NOTHING about them. 

Anyway, since our school year is over, I took her up to Iron Mountain, Michigan (their summer home) this past weekend to be re-united with my dad. Even though Zack and I are going up there Friday, she didn't want to be away from my dad for another whole week...after 50+ years and they still enjoy being together!

The kids always love when grandpa takes us to Main Street Pizza for dinner.

C.J. --- this one is for you!!!

Yep, we played it!

Full Moon

7th Grade Done

Zack is finished with final exams and is now officially an 8th grader!

I wanted a picture of him on his last day as we were heading out the door and, of course, he had a basketball in his hands....

Poser...

I cannot tell you how proud of this little (big) guy that I am.  He completely took control of his schooling this year - the only thing I ever helped him with was studying for tests - and even that I would only do when he asked for help!

He has ended the year with all A's and B's... his school only gives out semester grades twice a year so, to be exact, he got 12 A's, 2 B+'s, and 4 B's!  He will be one of the 5 students in his class (out of 18) to receive an academic achievement award this year for getting all A's and B's all year! 

And he goes to a very academically challenging school!

Now, we can relax and enjoy our summer...

with this thing!

Last Day of School

What???Wait???Not possible!

Today, at 3:15, my school year ends.

Zack has finals tomorrow and then he is done also.

Goodbye until next year, Computer Room

Why I Do What I Do

These are some of life's "littlest" blessings while at the same time being life's "biggest blessings."

When you hear, in the news, the sacrifices made by the teachers in Oklahoma on Monday...how they used their own bodies to shield the young children from the flying debris...how they sang songs with the kids, rubbed their backs, and comforted them when they were the most frightened...it comes as no surprise to another teacher.

It is our natural instinct...our innate impulses...and I love these little ones!!!!

Dinner With Friends

Grandpa was here on Thursday night and since it is my busiest day at school...and since Zack had open gym basketball after school...and since Jerry was working too...we decided to go to our favorite pizza place for dinner.                                                 

Jon called his friend Matt to see if he wanted to join us, and before we knew it...the whole Holtz family was coming too...plus a friend of Emily's.

We had the greatest time - they are such wonderful friends.

Best friends since they were born

Emily and friend, Ben

Emily and Matt

The men at their end of the table...oblivious to anything else going on

Friday - Time to Serve

Today, at school, was our re-scheduled serve-a-thon.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't much better than the first time they cancelled it - it rained ALL DAY and the high temp was maybe 50*.

Most of the groups were scheduled to serve indoors so they didn't cancel it this time.  I should say all the groups except mine.

So I called an audible and decided to improvise.

The first thing we did was clean my Computer room. We were able to get everything all the walls and put away for the summer!

It looks so bare now - and I still have three days left.

Then we moved onto the art room and spent at least 3 hours cleaning that room.

They are taking a break in these pictures but trust me, they worked hard!

I was so proud of them because they, as a group, have a tendency...to put it nicely...get off task quickly and get goofy.

But they didn't...and I rewarded them with an hour of free time in the Computer room when they were done.

And it just melted my heart to see these two first graders walking down the hall hand-in-hand to report a recess problem to the fifth grade teacher.

Wednesday..Time to Lose It

Things have got to look up soon...right?

Please tell me that they will.

Today started out with my son telling me that he is out of money...me...to whom he owes $50.00.  Grrrr. 

I think I am most upset that he decided to empty his bank account yesterday and then proceeded to go out to dinner (at a sit down restaurant), buy his friend's meal, and then buy sodas for his friends later in the evening. 

Not the news I want to hear before I even leave the house and then have to proceed to give a "finincial resposibilty" talk to him on the way to school.

Most of my messed-up day was spent communicating with Valencia Community College in Orlando who won't let C.J. graduate because they don't have his High School transcripts!!!???!!! 

Um...nevermind that they were send via online back in January....or that I mailed a copy on May 4th that they myseriously haven't received yet. 

But here is the pip:  when I called to see if there was a different address that I should mail the second - or third whichever way you look at it - set of transcripts to...I was told that they could not access his records because he was not listed as an "enrolled" student.  Excuse Me????

How has he been registering for and attending classes for the past 2+ years if he is not enrolled?  Gotta love the great messed up state of Florida. 

Still no word on his status but I now have yet another set of transcripts that I will have to take directly to the Post Office and send via registered mail (=$$$$$)!!!

And the day is only half over!!!

Monday

Day off...day to get things done.

First on my list was a three way conference call with an insurance rep and a billing rep from the hospital. 

We have a $150.00 Emergency Room co-pay and all tests and procedures performed during said ER visit are covered 100%. 

Well...the detailed explanation of our bill had a $300.00 ER charge and then also charged for all the blood tests he had while in the ER.

To sum things up quickly, if Jon had been discharged from the ER before being admitted...we would have paid the $150.00 and that would have been the end of that.  BUT because Jon was a direct admit from the ER...all those charges get rolled into the bill and fall under our 80/20.

Oh how I love the medical field and insurance companies!  And incidentally, the detailed bill had me paying $4.00 more for one of Jon's pills than a whole months worth costs.

Anyway, these are the $60.00 shoes I got for just $15.00 from Scheels.

I can't get over how big my son's foot is...which is probably just average for his age...but still looks big to me.

Because it is finals week for Jon, he didn't have to be to school until 3:00 so I dropped him off, drove back to Oshkosh to pick up mom and Zack from school, stopped at Pick-n-Save to get some Pork Chops for $1.49/lb, then drove back to Neenah to pick up Jon.

We had time to waste in between so we waited in a McDonalds parking lot.

While we were waiting, mom decided to go in and use the bathroom. Ollie didn't like that too much.

Where is she going?

I'm waiting

And waiting

And waiting

Finally, here she comes...my booster seat is back.

After picking up Jon we came home for the evening.  I am seriously hoping for a more relaxed week than last week.  However, dad is coming back tomorrow for a couple nights again - so who knows.

Catching Up

Confession time...I LOST it on Friday night!  I felt like a pressure cooker who had reached its limit and was spouting steam in every direction.

After getting done at the Urgent Care with my mom, we headed home to make dinner before having to go back out to pick up her prescriptions. 

Oddly, that put me over the edge. I would have been okay had we been able to pick up the prescription before going home.

But  little temper tantrum over, I was feeling better by the end of the night.

Yesterday, it was hubby's turn to throw a tantrum (granted, it was much smaller than mine) and then, finally, we decided to put everything behind us and salvage what was left of our Mother's Day weekend.

And it was a beautiful Mother's Day - not the weather of course - but the rest of the day was. 

It was one of those "cool weather" weekends so yesterday afternoon everyone curled up with a blanket and we watched Wreck-it-Ralph.  Then last night we went to the mall to get Zack a pair of shoes (which incidentally I found a $59.00 pair of adidas shoes for just $15.00).  We ate at Fuddruckers before coming home. 

 Tuesday night was Zack's Spring school concert.  His choir teacher is one of the best I have ever seen and her concerts are fantastic.  We missed his Christmas concert because he was fighting the great fever virus of 2012 at the time.

So I was really looking forward to this concert. The theme of this year's concert was:

 I was barely able to get Zack to pose for one picture before we went in because his one track mind was on finding his friends.  Yes, my friends,  a photographer I am definitely not (shadowing covering his face and all).

It wasn't until we put his white shirt on before the concert that I realized his neck was so huge we could not button the top button - oops.

The concert was great...but not uneventful as the boy two over from Zack on the right fainted up on stage.

The oddest thing is not one single kid up there did anything but watch him.  Finally, two parents rushed up from the audience to help him off stage.  He was alright, thankfully, just over-heated.

After the concert, as tradition dictates, we went to Culvers.

And......It Continues

So...Thursday turned out to be the worst day of this horrible, terrible, no good, very bad, week.

It is my busiest day at school with two classes in the morning and four in the afternoon.  Yes...that is back to back to back to back classes for three hours in a row.  The last two classes are first and second grade which need to be logged on for and their assignments need to accessed for them. Let's just say, for the sake of saving time, that it didn't work out very well at all!!!! And it must have been 90* in there again.

We got home at 4:00 again and then it was unload and load the dishwasher, do a load off laundry, warm-up leftovers for dinner, and my mom and I were off to the Elementary end-of-the-year concert.

I can hardly believe I am typing those words "end-of-the-year."

Today was school again...leaving early to stop and get coffee on the way to school.  We also stopped at Burger King for breakfast, as is usual for Friday morning, and Jon was given a milk that expired on March 17th - lovely.  Luckily, I noticed the date on the bottle before he had ever taken a drink!

At school I spent 15 minutes talking with a rude hospital rep about a bill for Jon.  God forbid I should request an explanation of charges because Jon is over 18!!!! I am, after all, the one who is paying the bill. I was very kind - even though she wasn't - and in the end I won!  They will be sending a detailed explanation of services charged for to our address - addressed to Jon.  Fine! Done!

I left school at 1:15, drove to Neenah to pick up Jon, stopped at Shopko to pick up laundry detergent, back to school to pick up Zack, and then home.

Where I had just enough time to throw a load of laundry in before having to take my mom to Urgent Care...which is where I am sitting right now waiting for her.

After this, I am sure we will have to take a prescription to Wal-Mart and get it filled before going home to make and clean-up dinner...oh, yeah...and finish that load of laundry I thre in before I left.

Fun Times.

What is Time?

This week has been terrible - TERRIBLE! 

There hasn't been more than a few moments to even sit for more than a few seconds much less update this blog.

Don't believe me?  Here is a summary.

Sunday night my parents got into town and we met them for pizza, then it was home to unpack their car and play some cribbage.

Monday:
- took Mom, Zack, and Jon to school and then went to my appointment with the rheumatologist.
- got home in time to do a couple loads of laundry and empty the dishwasher
- drove to Fond-du-Lac and spent two hours in the dentist chair while he drilled my teeth down to nubs and created a bridge for my right upper...on the positive side, I now no longer have a gaping hole in my mouth.
- drove straight to the dog groomers and waited about an hour for him to be groomed. He is now rather shaved and rockin his Rocco look again.
- picked up dinner for Zack
- came home, ate, took a bath, did two more loads of laundry, and got things ready for school tomorrow
-pulled two ticks out of the dog (I mean really embedded ticks)
- picked up Jon at 9:00 in Neenah from a date

Tuesday
- got up, ready, and to school by 7:45 for a teacher appreciation breakfast (only I don't eat breakfast so I just visited)
- taught one class
- ran to the bank
- back to school to teach Zack Math and help him revise a story for English class
- taught two more classes
- left school at 3:45 and stopped at the store on the way home for food for dinner
- came home and took a quick bath
- made sloppy joes for dinner
- set the table and ate
- cleaned up from dinner
- got Zack ready for his concert
- left for his concert 15 minutes late
- sat through a 2 hour choir and band concert
- went to Culver's after the concert
- got home at 10:00

Wednesday
- up, ready and to school by 8:00
- ran to the Dollar Tree
- taught one class in the morning
- taught Zack Math and finished up his story for English
- taught three more classes in the afternoon (my room had to be reaching 90*)
- home by 4:00
- folded a load of laundry
-made hamburgers on the grill and corn
- decided that paper plates were better than real ones and potato chips were better than potatoes.
- took the dog for a walk
- pulled out three more ticks from his fur
- called Petco to see if we could get our $90.00 back for the flea and tick medicine we purchased last Thursday!!!!!! 
- took a bath
- called the vet to see if we could put new ticks meds on the dog - even though we had just put some on him last Friday
- went to Petco to get our money back and purchase Frontline instead
- picked up Jon from school at 8:15

BREATHE  BREATHE BREATHE

Tomorrow is my busiest day at school and then at night we may or may not go to the Elementary School concert.

I'll blog again when I get more than a few minutes at a tine to sit down.

They're Back for Summer

Mom and Dad are back for the summer!!!!

 Yeah!  

I miss them so much all winter.

Sunday night they met us at our usual pizza place, West End for dinner.

Two peas in a pod...these two are so much alike.


Glad you're back mom and dad

 

Random

Some privacy please

I'd like to take a nap

Over there looks like a good place to sleep

Excuse me...I'm outta here

On an un-related note:
I have an appointment tomorrow with a rheumatologist.  I am very much looking forward to seeing what he has to say.  I can definitely tell that the inflammation has increased while my allergies are acting up.    

More Trees

I can't believe that just a week ago our grass was still brown.  Now, it looks great and I am even thinking it will need to be mowed pretty soon.

And these trees - remember the tree inventory I did last year...can you believe hubby ordered more trees this year???? 

He picked them up on Monday afternoon...yeah, more trees to try to mow around,

First Night Downstairs

I am weird...yes, I will come right out and admit that.

I love being hot.  I love hot weather - the hotter the better.  My computer room at school stays an average temp of about 80* and many people come in and ask me how I can stand being in there - ha!  It's me, remember, I love it hot~

Except when I sleep...then I NEED it to be cold.  I need to be able to snuggle under the warm blankets and then pull them up and curl them around my head and chin. 

This creates a problem in the summer because, even with the air conditioning on, the upstairs stays about 5 degrees warmer.  So...even with the air set at 70*, it will be 75* in our upstairs bedroom.

yeah...so sleep is not going happen for me then.

My simple - but weird - solution is to throw a mattress down on the floor in the lower level of our house.  Down there - it remains about 5* cooler than whatever we have the air conditioning set at.  Perfect for sleeping.

Normally, I can make it to June without needing to make the move but with back to back days in the 80's this past week...I made the move on Wednesday night.

Sometimes, Zack will join me (as he did that evening) and, of course, Ollie always joins me because wherever I am - that is where Ollie is!