The Gift of Time

Today, my principal surprised me. She does that a lot. She is an amazing administrator who truly has the best interests of her teachers and the students at the forefront of every decision she makes. I've never had a principal who I respect so much and admire professionally.

Kindergarten teachers were given our Christmas gifts early today.....we got "the gift of time". This means that we were free to leave campus at 12:25 instead of 3:30. Another teacher on our campus covered our classes and we were kicked out. She said it's time for us to do something fun. Go shopping. Get our nails done. Take a nap. She didn't care as long as we left campus!

I left campus, had lunch with my wonderful husband, then ran a bunch of errands. It was truly a gift to have that extra time to run errands, grocery shop, get the car washed, and do a little holiday shopping.

I might catch that holiday spirit yet this year!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. There are so many people and things to be thankful for this year. We are thankful for our friends and family who care about us (and us them!). Enjoy your day!

Can anyone say MRSA?

Troy's infection on the back of his neck isn't cleared up yet. He has had IV antibiotics and has had a 10 day run of Keflex. The surgeon sent us to a dermatologist. She did a culture and a biopsy. Troy now has 3 stitches in the back of his neck and will have those for two weeks. She started him on antiobiotics for MRSA. That is what they are testing for but she wants to get a head start on it so surgery can happen as soon as the stitches come out in two weeks.

So, another dismal doctor visit. Troy is really getting depressed. Send good thoughts his way please.

B

10 Things You're dying to know

1. Troy's surgery put off yet again. Still has infection. Follow up in another two weeks.

2. We're not going to Scottsdale for Christmas. Based on the surgery scheduling, there is no way Troy will be well enough to travel. So, we will enjoy a quiet Christmas at home.

3. Thanksgiving plans include cooking turkey and all the trimmings at home.

4. We are all off this upcoming week and looking forward to some fun times like movies, holiday shopping, and naps!

5. I am taking a hiatus from my master's courses and will not be graduating in July as planned. Cancel the party.

6. Steven has grown another inch, made progress in so many areas, and recently broke a staff member's glasses. Ugh.

7. Megan has been sick with ear infection and sinus infection. She has been a sick girly and barely chokes down her antibiotic horse pills.

8. We are so looking forward to Chris and Melanie's upcoming visit!

9. It's starting to get really cold in the DFW area. Fortunately, we all own jackets, scarves, mittens and umbrellas. We are ready for it this year. Bring it on Mother Nature!

10. I forgot to post about our new doggy, Brody. We got him at the end of September. He's a 5 year old black lab and perfect for our family. We are so excited we didn't have to endure the puppy phase to get such a great pet!

And, that is the top 10 list of things you were dying to know.

B

Megan's Swim Meet

Megan had a blast at the swim meet this weekend! The team left school on a charter bus at 2pm on Friday. They rode down to the Houston area, had dinner at a hotel, and did a few activities before calling it a night at 9:30pm. Megan was assigned to a hotel room with 3 of her closest friends.....Lily, Gabby, and Katie. Turns out Gabby has only stayed in a hotel once. She spent the entire night awake listening to people in the hall, convinced they were trying to come into the girls' room. Megan said the door kept opening as Gabby would open the door to see who was outside. (I didn't even try to explain the safety issues with this decision since it was after the fact.)

They woke everyone up at 5:00 AM.......ate breakfast at the hotel and were in the water at 7am. The water at swim meets are kept especially cold because it supposedly helps swimmers swim faster. The meet ended at 3:00 and the team was back on the bus and headed to "Dave & Buster's". They ate dinner at the buffet, played a while, then boarded bus and got back about midnight. Coach said it was hysterical to watch these starving swimmers attack the buffet. The employees were scrambling around trying to keep the buffet filled!

Megan did great in her two events. She placed third in her first event and shaved 1.5 seconds off her personal best time. She didn't place in her second event, but did shave 3 seconds off her best time in that one. She's really becoming such a great swimmer!

We picked her up at midnight last night and she came right home and fell asleep. I imagine she will sleep until noon!

Troy's Surgery

We prepped for Troy's surgery today. We got up early, he went off pain meds as scheduled, we drove to Plano, they hooked him to the IV and put him in a gown. He waited for an hour. They rolled him back to the surgery room. Then, Troy's surgery was cancelled due to him having an infection on his skin on his neck. Evidently, the ice that helps to alleviate the pain caused him a bit of frostbite on the back of his neck. That is now infected.

They gave him an IV antibiotic and prescribed an antibiotic for 10 days. We will see the surgeon on Tuesday for his follow up. At that time, they will reschedule today's procedure for a time after the antibiotics are done.

Troy is, expectedly, down in the dumps. We are going to spend today getting him comfortable again since he had to be off all pain meds for 24 hours prior this morning's procedure. We'll regroup and go forward.

b

Hurry and end 2010

Well, the year has been long. It's hard to believe it's already November, but we are ready for this year to be over!

I haven't posted in awhile. I'm feeling down in the dumps with everything going on and just got tired of it all. But, I've gotten a few requests for an update so here it is.

Troy - is on disability for his traumatic brain injury and neck/spine injuries. His neuro psych appointment indicates that he has "mental efficiency deficits" and requires additional therapy. The brain doc said his brain just needs to rest. On Friday, he will have another nerve block done on the right side of his neck. All the previous procedures have been on the left side. Now that he has recovered from that, they will do the block this Friday. Then, they will schedule his RF for the right side sometime next week.

Betsy - is on disability for hernia surgery that occurred unexpectedly last week. The hernia got bigger and more painful and needed a fix since my intestines were involved. That explains the "squish squish" sound I could make my hernia make when I pressed on it. I am allowed to go back to work next Wednesday and am looking forward to being in a routine again. It was a difficult week last week with neither of us able to drive but we made it through and now I am released to drive again.

Megan - has been having some bleeding episodes again and is anemic. She started a new clotting med this week and we met with hematologist yesterday. The change in meds appears to be working and they will see Megan again in 3 months. She continues to thrive in high school and enjoys her swim team. They are traveling to Houston this upcoming weekend for a meet. Then, she has two more major meets the following two weekends. At least those are local and we can be there for that. Oh, and I finally got my coveted yard sign to place in the yard! It must be a Texas thing, but these signs are placed in the front yard and say "Home of a Flower Mound Jaguar _________". Megan's says Swim & Dive in the blank. But, there are signs for choir, band, football, cheerleading, drill team, lacrosse, etc. It's kinda cool!

Steven - he's the lucky man! All is well in his world! He is making it full day in school and is down to 2:1 ratio at school. They were having some difficulties with him riding the bus. Initially he didn't want to get on the bus. So, they used a home vehicle to drive him to/from school. Then, they worked to convince him the bus was okay and Steven started riding the bus. The next challenge was convincing him to get OFF the bus at school. That is still a work in progress, but is successful more often than not. We sent the microphone down to Abilene and will be testing it out tonight. Assuming it is successful, we will post info for anyone else who might want to skype with the little man.

The holidays are coming up quick and we don't really know the plans yet. (Yes, I know that is a new concept for me, but I'm okay with it.) At this point, it doesn't look feasible for us to come to Phoenix or the Phoenix family to come here. So, we may have a low key holiday season and rest up for the new year.

We hope everyone else is doing well. I'll update more after Troy's procedure on Friday.

Betsy