A Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend!  Friday night started with the tradition of "meet the couch"--this is a Fishgod specialty.  We are so tired by Friday night that we just park our cute little butts on the couch, eat dinner while mesmerized by the TV, and usually fall asleep somewhere in the middle of the first show.  Okay.  Maybe I'm the only one who actually falls asleep.  Whatever.

On Saturday morning, we got up and packed up for the jaunt to Abilene.  We stayed at one of the guest houses for families.  The house is great (but the beds are VERY uncomfortable)....alas, it is free!  The only downside is that we are not allowed to cook in the guest houses.  We can microwave, toast, or make coffee.  Evidently those don't count as cooking.  I decided that a crockpot is just another appliance and packed us up a roast with veggies and gravy.  It was heaven to sit down to a nice, warm meal after a long drive and cold weather.
 
Our visit with Steven was superior!  He was happy to see us, laughed alot, and was very interactive.  We took Christmas lights and window clings to the house for all the boys to help us put up.  It was a hoot.

Steven helping Mommy

Tyson and Abel BOTH have to be right.

Jason hanging window clings

We also have developed a routine of providing ice cream sandwiches for the boys and the staff each time we go down.  When we arrive now, the boys say, "Hi!  Ice cream?".  The more verbal boys ask every 5 minutes if the ice cream is ready.  One boy, who is non verbal, comes to me and uses sign language for ice cream.  It's too cute!

Abel the Manager of Light Hanging

We think the highlight of the weekend was seeing  Steven attempt to drive the car!  Yes, the kid can drive.  Who knew?

 

 

We were waiting for the Sonic girl to bring lunch and Steven was done waiting.  He just reached over, started the car, and attempted to put it in gear.  We were laughing so hard.  I even turned off the ignition and we waited to see if he would do it again.  He did!

Happy December

December is slated to be a very busy month for the Fishgods!  In addition to the holiday season activities, we also have two swim meets and two surgeries scheduled.

On Saturday, Megan will swim at a daylong swim meet.  We will attend, then head to Abilene to see Steven before he has surgery next week.  We will stay overnight and return Sunday late afternoon.

Steven will have his impacted wisdom teeth removed on 12/6.  He will have to be put under general anesthesia and will stay in the hospital at least one night.  We have met with all the professionals involved and relayed our previous experiences with general anesthesia so they will be on the lookout for respiratory distress post op.  I will be heading back down on Monday evening to be with Steven for surgery and a few days after.

 Grandma Jane is coming to Texas on 12/18.  She always said she would never come visit because of tornados!  Ha, we got her!  Troy is having spinal fusion on 12/22 and she is coming for that and for morale support afterwards!  We are so glad she is coming!

Troy's surgery will be on 12/22 and he will be in the hospital for 4-6 days.  Spinal surgery is obviously very involved so it will be a long recovery.  We are hopeful that this will alleviate some of his pain and 2012 will be a banner year!

We have decided to celebrate Christmas a little differently this year.  We will each open one gift at the hospital on Christmas day.  We will do our traditional Christmas dinner etc on 12/31.  Assuming Troy is doing wonderfully in the hospital, Jane and Megan will stay with him on Christmas Day and I will drive down for a quick trip to spend Christmas with Steven.  I may try to change that a little bit and have staff bring Steven up here for our family Christmas celebration on 12/31.  We just found out this is an option and will definitely take advantage of this while Troy is recovering!

So, that's life in a nutshell.  Yay December.

Not so great

My sister reminded me that I said would update the blog about our visit with Steven and Megan and her friends.  I'm not going to get into the details, but it didn't go as great as I would have liked.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

I'm so excited!!!

Today we are driving down to see Steven!  We even get to stay overnight!


An added thrill is that Megan WANTS to go see her brother and even invited a friend to go and meet him.  This is a huge step and we are soooooo excited at this new development.

We'll post details of the trip after we get home tomorrow night!

A Day in Dallas

Thursday was a day to remember!  My fellow teacher, Jennifer, and I went to a science teacher conference at the convention center.  We thought it would be an adventure to ride the DART.  We had no idea just what an adventure it would be!

The morning started uneventfully.  We rode the train with lots of other teachers who had the same great idea.  The morning workshops were good, but then they gave us a 4 hour break.  No workshops, no exhibitors, nothing to do.  So we ventured to the West End area for lunch.  That is when the fun began.

After we ate lunch, we still had several hours to fill.  We decided it would be fun to go get our nails done.  We checked our cell phones and located a nail spa .3 miles away.  We needed to cross the street so we jaywalked like all of the other downtown characters had been doing all morning.

Unfortunately, we did not see the police on the other side of the street.  They stopped us.  They asked what we were doing downtown, if we could pay $200 ticket, and if we had ever heard of a crosswalk.  Ummmm.  Ok.  So, we talked our way out of that ticket.  I'm pretty sure they were just amused to see two middle aged white women venturing into the city to get their nails done.

It had taken a while to get our bearings and figure out where we even needed to go.  Then, the police thing shook us up.  Then, we looked around and realized there was a very high police presence in this particular area and wondered if walking through the neighborhood was a very good idea.  We decided against it.  We went back to the safety of the convention center.

At the end of the afternoon workshops, we headed home.  We took the DART to the West End station to transfer to our train home.  Unfortunately, it was dark, neither of us had paid much attention that morning, and we got on a train heading further south into deep Dallas.  By the time we figured out we were going the wrong way, we were in "Deep Elum".  We got off at that stop to wait for the right train.

Deep Elum Station

We knew we had made a mistake as soon as we stepped off the train.  It was cold, dark, and we were the only white people around.....only women that we could tell.  There was a nice gangster trolling the platform while we were waiting for the train.  I decided to befriend him instead of standing for 13 more minutes in fear.  Good decision.  He was actually a very nice gangster boy.  I am sure his friendship saved us from further adventure when another posse of gangsters walked up 6 minutes later.

 We were thrilled when the DART showed up and we got on the right train.  A hispanic lady was already on the train when we got on.  She was very amused by us and commented we were "a little too pale for this neighborhood".  She told us to stay close.  We did.

We made it home safely.  But wow, it was an adventure!

Reality TV

Maybe this should be titled random thoughts at 4am?  Whatever.  I'm awake.  My mind is rolling.  It's kinda scary how it works--my mind that is!   I can be thinking about one thing and it leads to another and another and comes full circle.  Anisa understands this.  Her brain works the same way.  Our friend Shane used to say we need to announce rapid changes of subject with a beep sound so he could keep up.  Whatever.


So this morning I'm making a grocery list for Thanksgiving and real grocery food list.  Because those two things should be two separate lists.  Why?  Cuz I said so and I am the shopper in this family.  Anyways, I started thinking that I could make a grocery list while I ride the DART downtown to a conference today and tomorrow. Then I thought about juggling the newspaper, my coupons, and my coffee on a moving train.   I started thinking about Extreme Couponing on TLC.  Then, I thought about the reasons those ladies started couponing.  Some were because of job stuff, others health stuff.  Then I thought maybe I should do that.  I have more time now that I have finished my degree.  Maybe I should invest my time in trying to become a crazy coupon lady.  Which led me to various reality shows.  Maybe I could create our own family reality show.  I mean the Simmons, Kardashians, and Osbournes do it.  I think we are far more interesting and exciting than they are.  Which led me to thinking about the holidays and family.  That led me to Thanksgiving.  Which led me back to the grocery list. 

If we did create a reality show, I'm not sure what our focus would be.  We're rather comical like those crazy families in "wife swap".  We have medical issues and events like those "Trauma:  Life in an ER" shows.  We have lots of airhead moments and mood swings like those crazy people on that MTV show where strangers live together.  But, we're not strangers.  So, does that mean the focus of our show should be family?  And who would want to even watch a show like that?  A crazy family, medical issues, airheads, moodswings, crazy couponing.....what would we even call it?

Okay, so I have all those random thoughts out. Maybe I will be able to sleep another hour or so before I have to get up and go to my conference today.  And the grocery list is done.....both of them.

B

Hello November

This means the holidays have officially kicked off.  I am a little concerned about Target's marketing strategies because they had one aisle of Halloween, another aisle of Thanksgiving, and had already prepped 3 aisles of Christmas stuff.  I think they like all of the holidays......starting in August.

All in all, things are the same here.  Megan went back to school this week.  She's still easily tired, but is enjoying the social aspect.  It's amazing how smart she is.  She was out for 8 school days and is fully caught up in only 4 days.  We are so proud of her responsibility!  She is excited to begin swimming next Wednesday and even more excited coach put her in the meet next Thursday!

Troy's pain continues.  He had a spinal implant last week that was a last resort attempt to block the pain signals.  It was deemed unsuccessful and the implants were removed yesterday.  Today we will make the phone call to the surgeon to consult about what comes next.  Troy swears he heard the surgeon say he will do the fusion if the implant didn't work.  I swear I heard the surgeon say there were significant risks associated with a triple fusion and we would look at options if the implant didn't work.

Steven is doing pretty good in Abilene.  He is still giving them hell at school.  He really doesn't like his new teacher so he just walks to his old classroom next door and refuses to move.  I guess that's an improvement over the days when he would beat someone up to communicate his dislike!  He has impacted molars and will be having dental surgery soon.  I am awaiting that phone call providing details later today.

I'm doing okay.  I'm definitely worn out.  Last week was a difficult week at school and I took a mental health day last Friday.  My absence spoke loudly to the administration and some behavior management strategies and FOLLOW THROUGH FROM ADMIN have been implemented.  Today is a big meeting with all admin, interventionist, all fifth grade team members, and school psychologist to determine what we can do about the dynamics of certain kids in my class.  Somehow those challenging kids gravitate to me and feed off each other.  My principal swears this is luck of the draw-----I am convinced my luck consistently drives me to draw the short straw!

This weekend is a mellow one for Troy and I, but a busy one for Megan.  She has swim team photos today, swim girls sleepover tomorrow night, team breakfast on Sunday, followed by team paintball event.  I, personally, am looking forward to getting caught up on grading, laundry, and my shows that have been recorded on TV!

Have a great Friday!
B

MUMS the word!

Here is a lovely picture of some girls in Meg's class with their MUMS yesterday!

Here is a lovely picture of some girls in Meg's class with their MUMS yesterday!

Submitted!!!

EDD 580 ARP Final Draft.docx was submitted for the 'Final ARP Paper' assignment on Sat 10/15/2011 04:09 AM MST. Students can refer to the assignments section for submission details. 

Today is a big day!  After two long years, I have finally finished the program requirements for my masters.  Although I walked in the graduation ceremony in July, I still had to finish my 70 page thesis.   I submitted it this morning.

This means I get to have a life.  For those of you who haven't heard from me lately, I'M BACK!!!  I look forward to catching up with everyone, updating the blog more frequently, and spending some time scrapbooking!

Aaah.  This feels good.  A little out of the comfort zone.  But WOW!  This feels good!

Oh Mum!

It is HOMECOMING WEEK at Megan's school.  This means the Fishgods have to learn about, and participate in, another Texas tradition....wearing of the MUM!

Evidently, back in the olden days, boys would give their homecoming dates a real mum corsage to wear the week of homecoming.  This has evolved into parents or dates giving girls a MUM type ornament to wear on the Friday before the dance.  Oh, and boys are in on the scam too!  Boys wear garters on their arms.  Freshman year begins with a "small" mum.  The mum gets BIGGER each year.  Seniors are solid white, whereas lower classmen wear school colors. Turns out we missed this tradition last year and Megan was the "only girl in school" who didn't have a mum.  This morning, we gave Megan her mum.

As you can see, it is nearly as tall as she is.  It has ribbons, shiny sparkles, a little bear and even has bells that will jingle jangle all day long!  Isn't she cute!

Tomorrow is the homecoming dance!  Several of her girlfriends are coming over to get ready at our house.  We'll post pictures of that this weekend!

B

Outdoor School

I enjoyed the experience of taking 110 fifth grade students to outdoor school yesterday.  We return again today for the final part of the field trip.  It was a lot funner with the kids than it was being trained last month with just adults!




 The outdoor school has 6 trails that students participate in.  They spend 75 minutes on each trail doing science experiments.  My trail is the yellow trail.  We do a nature walk, pick up dead leaves, test the soil for nutrients, discuss photosynthesis, and how it is all related to the food chain.  I can't remember the last time I sat in dirt and played like that.

Plus, it is really neat to see the forest from the kids' perspective.  They see so much more than adults do.  They are fascinated by the simplest things.  It's refreshing.


In addition to the learning, we also have team building experiences.  The adults took on the kids in this one.  I don't know what its called, but the goal is to work together as a team to move your logs to the finish line.  Some of the kids did great.  The adults not so much.  Fortunately, nobody was injured.  The kids want to do it again today!

I tried to turn the picture around but haven't had enough coffee to successfully do that yet. Please turn your computer upside down to view correctly.


Well, I'm off to get ready for outdoor school again!

October already?

Hard to believe it's October.  Even harder to believe my last post was nearly a month ago!  It's been a busy month so here are just a few highlights.

We held Steven's birthday at Mr. Gatti's in mid-September.  The event was a huge success and we are thrilled that things went so well.  I will try to post some pictures of the party here shortly.


Megan broke her nose earlier this month and got a pretty good concussion in the hit.  She is scheduled for nose surgery on 10/19 to straighten things up and roto-rooter out the nose.  Troy offered to use his drill to do it at home, but Megan has decided she would rather have the ENT do the surgery!

We went to San Antonio last weekend for a swim meet.  Megan was initially scheduled to swim, but was not released by the doctors to swim yet.  We decided to go down and get out of town for the weekend just for a change of scenery.  We enjoyed the time together but had a hard time recovering from the drive!

Troy met with the neurosurgeon who referred him back to the spine doc for another potential fix before attempting a fusion.  The next procedure is a spinal neurotransmitter implant.  We had to jump through a few hoops before they can get insurance approval.  This past week Troy had an updated MRI and a psych eval.  He passed both and now we await insurance approval.  The doctor's office said it can take up to 6 weeks.  His pain level is pretty high, so we are hoping this can be scheduled sooner than that!

I started my final thesis course this past week.  The last six week course was incredibly time intensive and I was looking forward to this course being a bit easier.  Unfortunately, the syllabus is pretty full and looks like it will be just as labor intensive as the last class.  I will be completely done on 10/24 and that date cannot come soon enough!

For those who haven't heard from us much lately, please be patient for these remaining few weeks.  Between working, driving to appointments, my thesis, and juggling the demands of life, I just don't have the time and energy to keep in phone contact as much as I would like.  I look forward to having some free time in just a few weeks!

Betsy

Saturday Training

 I spent 7 hours at outdoor education training.  That means 7 hours of walking outdoor trails, doing science experiments, and visiting a wastewater facility.   The facilitator was ENTHUSIASTIC about science.  Politically correct way of saying she was over enthusiastic about every single science experiment we experienced today.  This was followed by margaritas at our house.  The district director of science came and joined me and my classmates at our house.  He seemed like that was a good idea.  We'll see when he comes to visit our campus on Monday!


Overall, it was a great experience.  The outdoor education facility is comprised of 5 trails where students do experiments and stations designed to stimulate their sense of inquiry.  Our school will be visiting the Outdoor Site on October 5th and 6th so today's training was a great opportunity to preview what the students will experience at our field trip.  I am so enjoying teaching this year and grateful for the chance to rekindle my love of being in the classroom.  Our science director, Jonas, said that he could see me fulfilling a district level position and that was encouraging!

B

Well, hell. Let's get it all done tonight.

Where do we start! Overall, we are doing okay.  We are immensely busy and find it difficult to catch up via phone with many.  But, we still think of everyone!

Troy continues to struggle with pain management.  He has been referred to the neurosurgeon to schedule spinal fusion.  We meet with him on 9/20 to get details.  Troy would like to wait until December to have the procedure.  Ideally, work would be slower during the holidays and I would be home to assist him in recovery.  We aren't sure the doctor is going to go for that.  And, I'm honestly not sure Troy can wait that long to get some relief.

The doctor recently made some changes to Troy's medication in hopes of better controlling his pain.  The pain is more manageable but the side effect is increased drowsiness.  It's a hard call either way because he is not well in either condition.  It's been a long year and he is worn down emotionally and physically.

He continues to impress me with his love and support and worry about our family.  Instead of worrying about himself, he worries about us.  We assure him that all is well and we will be here for him through it all.  I'm thinking we may need to develop some kind of mail brigade of funny cards etc while he is in the hospital to keep his spirits up.  I'll keep you posted on that as we know more.  Anyone who wants to start sending him funny cards now is welcome to!  I think he would enjoy it.

I am teaching fifth grade science this year and loving it so far.  The kids are sweet and no one has wiped their nose on me yet!  I'm trying to stay one week ahead of the kids academically and I'm relearning alot!  I don't think I could go on that show, "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" without some refreshers!

I walked in graduation in July and am finishing my thesis before the deadline of 10/24.  I will be so glad to be done with courses!  This last thesis course is very time consuming and I'm struggling to stay on top of things.  It is what it is and it's almost done! I seriously cannot wait to be done.

Nothing too exciting happens in our world except visits to the ER or scheduled doctor appointments.  We're okay with that level of excitement.  Some days are harder than others, but we are lucky to have each other to love through it all.

Someone asked me today what we are doing for Thanksgiving and I laughed out loud!  I said I didn't know what I was doing on Sunday so Thanksgiving sounds years away!  We are learning to take things one day at a time and not plan so far in the future. 

There.  You are all caught up.:)  I'm going to bed now! Good night!

Love,
Bets

Wow! Two in one night....Steven's update

Steven continues to thrive at the dorm in Abilene.  He continues to use his smile and sense of humor to wrap caregivers around his little finger.....which isn't little anymore!  He has undergone the typical teenage boy growth spurt.  He is now 6'2" and weighs in at a trim 210.  Gone is that little boy from years ago!  The kid has more leg hair every time we see him!

His classroom switched sites this school year and he has a new teacher.  His old teacher is in the classroom next door and has an adjoining door.  Steven isn't loving the change of venue and change of teacher, so he just walks over to his old teacher's room quite often and tells his current teacher "No." with a smile.  It will be interesting to see how she overcomes this with his size being what it is!

Steven's health continues to be great and he is monitored closely.  He has always taken a sedative to have dental work done and has now developed an immunity to the med.  His nurse practitioner called this past week and we discussed alternative meds.  I need to call tonight to see how his labs went today with the new meds!  He also continues to have all night parties with his roommates.  Steven and his roommate, Angel, are both known for their nighttime prowess.  The nighttime staff said they used to get a lot of laundry etc done during the night until Steven showed up!  Now, he's the life of the party!



Steven's 14th birthday is this weekend.  We are celebrating next weekend with a party at Mr. Gatti's pizza parlor.  It should be a fun day with all the boys from the dorm (and caregivers) to celebrate with us.

And that is Steven's life in a nutshell.

Okay, so it wasn't yesterday.....but here's Megan's update

Megan is doing great.  She is enjoying her sophomore year in high school so far.  She is taking advanced placement courses and is enjoying the challenge.  This semester she is taking AP Chemistry, Psychology, AP World History/Language Arts, and swim team.  She constantly amazes us with her ability to learn and comes home with new bits of knowledge she shares with us each day.  The other day she came home and told us about a psych case study about a guy named "Clive".  This guy suffered a head injury and has only a 30 second memory span.  She spouted off something about a particular part of his brain that was injured.  Evidently, his injury provided tremendous research opportunities that allowed researchers to identify which part of the brain turns short term memories into long term memories.  Since I can't remember what that is called, I believe I must be deficient in this particular brain section......

She had a rough start to the school year with an episode of her bleeding disorder flaring up.  She ended up missing a week of school and spent some time in the hospital getting infusions and some new medications.  While the entire event was difficult, some good did come out of it.  She finally has a team of doctors established that are working together, communicating with each other, and devised an action plan that is proactive.

The new plan involves Megan learning to self-infuse the factor when she needs it.  She has a new "practice" IV kit like the picture shown.  I think I'm more chicken for her to use it.  She's intrigued and can't wait to figure it out!

Swim team has returned with a vengeance.  She has "dry land" strength training 4 mornings a week from 6:00am-7:30am.  Then, they swim from 2:30-4:30 each day.  She is starving when she gets home each evening.  So, she eats, does homework, and goes to bed!

We just found out last night that her first meet is 9/24 in San Antonio.  So, we will be checking to see if Fred and Leslie want to connect and see our little fish swim!  Anyone else who wants to join us in San Antonio is also welcome!

And that is Megan's update.

Time flies by

Been a while since I posted.  Sorry.  Time is fleeting and it's literally flying way by me!  I'm going to provide updates throughout today on each member of our family.   So much to tell and update.  Too long to be just one post. 

I'm sure you will be eagerly reading today!  I'm heading off to take Megan to swim....5:36am.  I'll write more later.

B

Just for Dad

Dad,
As promised, I changed the background of the blog for you:)  Can you read this?

Love you,
me

PS  I got your mattress upstairs!!!!

Back to School

This week is back to school week for teachers.  Students start next Monday.  While Megan is enjoying sleeping in until noon, I am working hard at school preparing for my new group of students.

This year, I will be teaching 5th grade science.  For those that are worried, let me assure you by telling you two things.  First, the science program is very well laid out and I won't blow up anything or anyone by following the directions.  Second, be grateful I am not teaching math!



We have only been back for two days, but things are already better this year than last.  My new classroom is bigger, has windows, and is conveniently located.  There are 6 teachers on my team.  Three of us are new to fifth grade--in fact, two of them are first year teachers. 


I am learning how to keep track of my classes by color coding them .  We are on a block schedule so I only teach science to three classes each day.  The next day I teach the same science lesson to the other three classes.  I can't believe how much time I am saving in lesson planning alone!  This year, I have 106 students.....last year it just felt like 106 students!!!


All is well.


B

Chefs in the Kitchen

Today, Megan and I tackled the challenge of stocking up the freezer with ready made meals and snacks to gear up for school.  We are all focusing on increasing our protein and Megan has virtually eliminated meat from her food repetoire.....except for a rare steak once in a while.

We found some great recipes for  high protein meals, snacks, desserts, and even waffles!   Today we made and froze single servings of

Sugar Free Chocolate protein cake
Sugar Free Carrot Cake protein cake
Sugar Free Chocolate Raspberry protein cake
Southwest bites (crustless quiches with black beans, corn, green chiles)
Peanut Butter & Jelly bites (mini muffins, high protein and tastes like PB&J)
Zucchini bites (crustless quiches with zucchini, onions & bacon)

Tomorrow, we plan to tackle making frozen waffles, some frozen stews and soups, and maybe end the day with protein ice cream!

We are hopeful that we will be better about grabbing a quick breakfast from one of today's creations instead of going without breakfast on those early school mornings.

For anyone interested, I found many of the recipes on this website: 

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

When I went to her blog just now to get the URL, I saw her recipe for a raspberry cheesecake smoothie!  Yum!  I love the idea of eating these high protein desserts that are designed to help me shed the 10 lbs I gained on summer vacation!


And, I hope you are enjoying regular (although mundane) entries on the blog.  Please leave your comments if you love or hate the content so I know the blog is being read.:)

A day to remember

Troy and I drove to Abilene today to see Steven.  We had one of the most remarkable days we have had!  It seems like we are constantly surprised and impressed with the gains Steven has made!

We went to Mr. Gatti's for lunch.  Mr. Gatti's, for those not in the know, is like Peter Piper Pizza meets Dave and Buster's.  It's a pizza buffet, bowling, arcade games, bumper cars, and a ride that takes you up in the air and drops you down in increments.  To an adult, this is torture.  To a child, it is heaven.  To Steven, it was heaven on crack!

 We ate pizza on the buffet.  And salad.  And cookies.  And pasta.  And soda.  And then we found the pudding.   Life was as good as it gets.

Steven played the "I have to go to the bathroom" card which he frequently uses as a means of escaping whatever setting he is done with.

After the bathroom, Steven went into the arcade.  Unprompted.  Without bribery.  He tried to play the games.  He bowled and earned tickets which we promptly exchanged for tootsie rolls and bubbles.  He was in heaven.

Then, he saw the bumper cars.  He wanted on those cars so bad. Unfortunately, the cars were not yet open for the day.

We have decided to hold Steven's 14th birthday at Mr. Gatti's.  We talked to the manager and he even offered to open the doors an hour early so the boys could all enjoy the place without the extra stimulus of extra people around.  (one of the benefits of the school being one of the largest employers in town!)

Today was truly a day to remember.  Wow.

A summary of our day......

Jumped through hoops to get Megan's hardship drivers license.  We got all 34 hours of driving done.  We got all 32 hours of learning modules done.  We stood in line 5 TIMES at the licensing department.

Today, we went to get her hardship license.

They granted her a hardship license for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 3:30-5:30 to get herself to and from physical therapy.  Sounds great right?

Nope.

She rides the bus to school.  She rides the bus from school to swim team.  She doesn't have a way home from swim team to get a car to drive to physical therapy.  They won't allow her hardship exception to allow her to drive herself to school and to swim.  She can't get a ride home from a friend to get the car because they are still in the water until 4:30.

So, the hardship license and all it entails is useless.

Megan is disappointed and I feel terrible for her. But, we will manage and will continue to let her drive us around!  As least we get another year of her being forced to spend time with us!  Once she has her real license, I'm sure she will be gone all the time!

She will keep her permit until she turns 16 and will get her license next summer.

In the meantime, she will be the most well-trained designated driver in town.

School is out for summer!

Whew!  We made it through the school year.


It is hard to believe Megan will be a sophomore next year.  The year flew by for her.  She is looking forward to relaxing this summer and gearing up for the next school year.


I am surprised I survived this past school year.  It was a challenge to say the very least.  Next year, I am switching to teaching fifth grade science.  It is a big change but one I am excited for!




We have enjoyed our great company the past two weeks.  Ruth was here for a week and Dad and Bev have been here for nearly a week.  It will be weird when they leave tomorrow to be alone.  We enjoy their company so much and will miss them when they are gone.


We visited Steven this weekend and the grandparents were shocked and amazed at how much he has grown.  We had a very nice day together!


On Sunday, we went to the movies at AMC Fork and Screen.  It's a dine in movie theater.  Food was good, company was better, and movie was good as well.  All in all, a nice weekend!


B

Surgery, Seizures, and Sunshine

How is it that a month goes by and I can't find time to post?


Briefly, here's a brief summary of this past week.


surgery--Troy had surgery #12 on Friday and it was not successful.  This upcoming Wednesday, he will have surgery again as a last ditch attempt to avoid spinal fusion.  Needless to say, his spirits are low.


seizures -- Steven had a breakthrough grand mal seizure.  The cause is unknown, but could be related to his anti-seizure dose needing to be increased since he has grown so much or related to hormone changes in puberty.  Saw him yesterday and he is doing great.


sunshine -- 111 degrees in Abilene yesterday.  It was really frickin hot!


Megan is counting the days until school is out---as am I!  I'll try to post more to update during this upcoming week.  But, with a conference, a field trip, meetings, and university work, it will probably be brief!


Hope everyone is doing great!

Our Jammin Jag

We are so proud of Megan!  She has been selected as one of the "Jammin' Jags" and will be receiving a certificate at the award ceremony on May 9.  The letter we received states that a teacher has nominated Megan due to her exceptional skills in many areas and the awards are given only twice per year.  We don't know who the teacher is, but a copy of the recommendation will be included with the certificate. 

Megan has been working so hard in school this year!  She has straight A's, has made great friend choices, and is a young lady we can all be proud of! 

We are so proud of you Megs!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Update direct from Troy

I am cutting and pasting the email that Troy sent today for those that did not receive the initial email.

Hey everyone,

I just got back from the surgeons office and it’s looking like my body just doesn’t do well with steroids since they haven’t worked on my neck or back. So we talked about my back and he informed me that on the original mri, I have a disc tear around t10/t11. He said sometimes people will have a tear without any pain but others there may be fluid leaking which irritates the joints and tissue. He didn’t tell us about it before because he treats the pain and not the scan. So this next one will be an epidural and a massive steroid injection. He said one or two of these should take care of it as they will be using their strongest steroids. These are great doctors and they do everything according to protocol. They won’t waiver, skip a step or anything. He really doesn’t want to cut the nerves so we’re doing one or two of these and if there’s no relief then we’ll do a block test and then cut the nerves.

So there you have it, you know everything that I know!

Troy