Flower bulbs, psycho teacher, pain medication and one chocolate chip

The best (in no particular order)

1. Just before I got sick, I had purchased about 200 bulbs to plant. Every day, I see those bulb packages sitting, waiting for me to get enough energy to plant them. This week, my friend, Amy Darger-Stewart organized a bulb planting party. So Saturday morning, Amy and her husband George, Sue Ehlers, and MaryAnne McClelland all came and helped plant the bulbs. I have really great friends!

2. The general RS meeting was last night. As usual, it was great. My neighbor, Carol Van Gilst came with me. We went to dinner then to the stake center. We both are working full time this fall--both of us are usually at home moms--so we hardly ever see each other. We had a great time and enjoyed the broadcast. Carol has come to a lot of RS things in the last year or so. She is a great Christian woman.

3. I have been off controlled substances for pain for 9 days now. YAY. I feel like I am nearly back to normal.

4. I have taught/worked for 4 weeks now and only have 5 weeks left. Although I will be SOOO happy to be done, I will miss the kids. (well, most of the kids.....)

The worst

1. A couple of kids in my class will drive me insane by Nov 2nd. Almost guaranteed. (The rest are an absolute delight!)

2. I get to work about 715 am and come home from work about 5 pm . By the time I get home, I am so exhausted that making dinner is a joke. We only get a real, regular meal about 2 of the 5 days. Poor Molly. Last week I bought her a loaf of bread and a chocolate chip cookie from Great Harvest Bread to say thanks for being so flexible and non-demanding. The cookie (diameter is about 6"! ) had only one chocolate chip in it. Another worst item.

3. Back to school night at the high school (for Molly) revealed that she has 6 really good teachers and one teacher that is probably good, but is psycho. He assigns hours of homework every night, uses a college textbook and has arbitrary rules that make little sense, but that he will not change. (No, this is not an AP class or I would expect some of this.)

I think that is all for this week.

Finally on the mend....

Worst

1. Sicker than a dog for 2 weeks, I had to teach 5th grade while on Vicocin most of the time. By Friday, even the vicodin couldnt control the pain. It was so bad.....trying to hide from the kids that I was in so much pain.

2. BYU's game against Florida State. What can I say that hasnt been said on facebook? It sucked the life out of me, minute by minute.

3. Because I've been sick, I have two weeks of work to catch up from......cleaning, errands, quilt gifts, letters, etc. Its hard to get motivated to do it all.

4, Jenna lost her job. I worry about her not having classes OR a job. I'm worried about depression that comes from having nothing to motivate a person. I have enough grey hair. I dont need any more.

Best

1. On Friday, the Dr made things all better. I will spare the details. But by Friday evening, I had energy again. Saturday, I actually went grocery shopping, took Molly for an eye appt, and took her to buy glasses and sun glasses. That much activity is more than I've been doing the last two weeks combined.

2. I am more than a quarter done with my teaching. I've done one week of classroom set up, and two weeks of school/kids. I only have 6 weeks of kids left. And my class is a dream class. They are really amazing.

3. Visiting Teachers and a couple of friends brought us a meal the first week I was sick. Then Jen Bean brought the family a meal every night for the next week and a half. Every night! She is amazing. Amy Darger-Stewart looked out for me, drove me to and from school when I was too medicated to drive, ran errands for me and helped me out at school. These are two true friends. I am blessed to have them in my life.

kidney stones

Many years ago I started producing kidney stones. The first few were bewildering, and I thought I would die from the pain. After a few more, I learned to have percocet on hand all the time, to keep myself on meds, and that I could live through it. In 2005 I passed/tried to pass a kidney stone nearly every month. (12 that year, including on my anniversary, mothers day, memorial day, birthday, christmas, and nearly every other holiday.) Luckily, i saw a new urologist who put me on medication to try to cure me of kidney stones. It has been working great, until now. After 4 years without a stone, I got a doosy! 6x8 mm.

I woke up last sunday morning in pain. I thought maybe uti, maybe kidney stone (similar symptons at first). It was 3 am. Bryce needed the sleep for sunday, so i quietly drove myself to the emergency room. Quickly diagnosed as a kidney stone, the ER Dr told me that it was too large to be passed. But that since it was a holiday weekend, no one would do anything to help until Tues. Great. First day of school was Tuesday.

I got some pain control meds and Bryce picked me up. (Had nice, pain killing, controlled substances flowing thru my veins by this point, so I couldnt drive.)

Tried to recover, rest, etc for the next few days. Tuesday I started school, with plenty of medication to keep me going. Late that afternoon, the counselor took my class while I went to a dr appt. I convinced the Dr to blast the stone the next day. I arranged a sub for the 2ND DAY OF SCHOOL.

On Wed, the dr put me under and tried to blast the stone that was big enough that it had barely moved down the uretor. It popped back into the kidney. He blasted it there, but had to leave all fragments, that I am supposed to pass now. He put in a stint, which is nearly as painful as the stupid stone. I have to have that in for 10 days

So now, I am in constant discomfort, nearly always in pain, not passing anything at all, on vicoden 24/7 just so I can function. Teaching every day. Stressed out. And I think that life isnt so hot right now.

Even quilting isnt fun. This is the bad. There is no good. No quilts. Just bad this time.

a full week--past and future

Busy time. Maybe I will post more than three of each this week.

Bad-

1. Kidney stone! Used to have them all the time (in 2005 I had one a month!!!) but I'm on new medication and haven't had one for 4 years. I'm making up for it by trying to pass a large one. The ER Dr. says I cannot pass it on my own and need to have it removed/blasted. Unfortunately, it is a holiday weekend so no one will do anything but prescribe strong drugs. (and while that isnt good, at least i have medication to hold me off......) The pain started in the middle of the night, so I got up around 430 and drove myself to the ER about 5 am, letting Bryce sleep a couple of more hours. (Sunday is long and hard for him. He needed the sleep.)

2. School starts Tuesday. My room is ready, plans are written. I created a new behavior incentive plan called VISA Rewards. (created? borrowed?) VISA stands for V-value each person I-Integrity 100% of the time, S-Self-Discipline A-Achievement and Accountability. When they earn points for good behavior, they earn VISA rewards--free time and candy every other friday afternoon.

So why, with with such a brilliant plan is this (school starting tomorrow) a bad? See #1. I will teach in great pain and/or drugged up. Not good.

3. Even though I do nothing but drink clear fluids, I am gaining about 3 lbs a day. Granted, it is probably a lot of water weight, but that much weight is not going to all magically disappear when the kidney stone does. AAAHHHH

4. Daily migraines/headaches have started up again. (even before the kidney stone)

5. I had to miss church yesterday. (see #1) I only remember missing church 3 times in my adult life. Now 4. I watched a church dvd so I didnt feel as sinful. Then I slept.

Good--in no particular order.....

1. I got three new pairs of shorts and new top at Kohl's. The shorts are all long, baggy men's cargo shorts. One is Khaki and two are military green with hawaiian flowers. I absolutely love them.

2. School open house went well. Met 24 out of 25 kids and parents for all 25. Everyone at the school was really worried because GT parents have a reputation of being really difficult. Every teacher had a horror story. The principal and counselors were on alert. But except for three parents that questioned me a lot about my qualifications, everyone was fine. And even those three were ok. In addition--the three other 5th grade teachers are super nice and super helpful. That makes this a lot easier.

3. I started making a quilt that is the quilting group's fall project--homespun fabrics. And started making two cute applique quilts (primary colors with trains) for Shawna's twins. I have no idea when I will have time to work on them. But it feels good to do a little quilting.

4. Found out that while on percocet, you can also take 3-4 ibuprofen's at the same time. Now, that is information I can use!

5. Our home teachers brought in dinner yesterday. VT today and a good friend Tues. I am hoping for a miracle and am hoping I will pass the stone by then. Tomorrow I will call my dr and schedule a lithotripsy for as soon as it can be done....but hopefully after school hours. Pray for me.

6. The pet rats Molly was pet-sitting are now home for good! yay. They freaked me out.

7. I still have no calling or church responsibility. yes, this is a good thing. I have been working hard for a long time. If they still cant find callings for everyone in the ward, I will volunteer to be one that is temporarily calling-less. I love the freedom and lack of responsibility. It wont last very long, so I will appreciate it while it lasts.

8. After using a pc laptop at work now, I appreciate/love/adore my mac at home even more. They are so worth the extra money! And the cust service makes it even more worth it! YAY for macs!