Well, we’ve kicked off the 2008-2009 school year here in Robertson County. This is always a busy time for my colleagues. At one point Friday I had to stop and laugh at myself--I was working with one person on a computer problem via text chat on my laptop, helping a second person on my cell phone, and dealing with a third problem over my land line phone. I was glad when quitting time came.
CHEMOTHERAPY. While I was going nuts at work Friday Vicki was with Pauline as she was getting her first chemo treatment. It went well. Pauline came home basically tired from a long day. Now that I have gotten ahead of myself let me catch you up. Wednesday’s visit to the Oncologist laid out Pauline’s treatment schedule. She is to have 6-8 rounds of chemo at three week intervals. They will periodically scan her (CAT and PET) to check her progress. She also goes in this coming Wednesday for a bone marrow biopsy.
As they were leaving the hospital Vicki needed to open the tailgate of the van to get something. When she did one of Pauline’s spare oxygen tanks fell out, nipple end down, onto her right foot. After trying to take a few steps she knew she was out of commission. Fearing her foot was broken she forgot all about picking up what was needed at Wal-Mart and took Pauline home. After I picked up the kids, fed them, and went back to Wal-Mart I took Vicki to the hospital to have her foot x-rayed. Fortunately nothing was broken, and she was significantly better the next morning.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. Jenna seemed to really enjoy her first day of school. She told me a lot about it while we were eating supper at Sonic Friday evening. Ben, on the other hand, gave me those typical one word answers that I used to give my mom after school (which I still do, much to her frustration). I think he had a good day but he simply wouldn’t say much. I earned everything he told me. Neither of them have any close friends in their classes from previous years.
Vicki and I feel really good about Mrs. Lilly, Ben’s teacher this year. Kim was a year ahead of me in school and I am glad she got Ben. I think she will be a great fit for him as a teacher. We were talking to her at Open House Tuesday night and were impressed with how her classroom creates a comfortable environment. At one point during the visit the boys got really quiet, something that makes alarms go off in the heads of parents. Vicki and I looked around and saw Ben sitting in the reading corner READING A BOOK TO NATE. If the gravity of this statement has gotten by you go back and reread the last sentence.
I am not ignoring Nate on his first day of school. He simply hasn’t started yet. Kindergarten has a delayed start due to testing. He goes in this Tuesday for his screening, and his first day of class is Wednesday, August 20.
YARD HELP. I have been telling Jenna all summer it is time for her to learn how to mow the yard. She has steadily resisted. I finally forced the issue, now she wants to mow all the time! I still do the rougher parts, like the ditches next to the road, but she has started doing the level parts. Learning to drive a zero-turn mower isn’t the easiest thing, but she’s getting the hang of it. What’s so nice is she frees me up to do other chores around the house. Now I can start catching up on a lot of chores I never seem to have time to do. And to her mowing is such a novelty she is always ready to ride the mower. Now if I can just get her trained on the weed eater....
Joe
