Sometimes, Life gets Crazy

Last week was a whirlwind to say the least. This week was a full-forced slowdown for me.

To back track a little:
Last week we had the genetics appointment for Nathan. It went fine. The doctor asked that we get a few things done before she would decide to do the genetics test for the albinism. My concern was the vision change and all the signs that I had mentioned before, so she wants us to take him to the ophthalmologist again to have him specifically checked for the ocular albinism. If the ophthalmologist thinks it could be a possibility, then she will run the test. The other issue she was concerned about was Waardenburg's Syndrome. It too has to do with low pigmentation, but it affects the ears rather than the eyes. Something we haven't had formally checked yet. Hooray! Two more appointments to make.

I was able to get the hearing done on Friday. Basically the child has fine hearing...he just chooses not to listen. Apparently that is not uncommon in the male species. But, again she really just tested his hearing range and loudness. With my hearing issue unresolved...he could theoretically have the same issue with time delay that I do and thus has an understanding problem rather than a hearing problem. Anyway, that is another issue for another day. So with hearing checked and okayed...no Waardenburg's Syndrome to worry about.

All day Friday I started to feel just awful. I got worse as the day went on. Even my coworkers were concerned...as they found me face down on my folded up sweater sleeping on the pull-out of my desk during my break time. Which, honestly, I NEVER do. The fever started Saturday and continued through the evening. At 102, Randy sent me to bed (about 7 PM) when I could barely lift my head to eat something. Sunday was a little less of a fever but man I was exhausted. I had a very general feeling of yuck, a cough and a fever. I am a definitely not a "cold" person, meaning I don't get colds. I usually get bronchitis or pharyngitis or laryngitis...or one of those "itis" illnesses. I would get up to take laundry out of the washer, put it in the dryer, hang up a few clothes, and fold a few and be totally tired. So very unlike me. I thought for sure that I would be feeling better by Monday. Holy crap was a I wrong!! I woke up with 101.5 fever and a terrible cough. I called in sick to say the least. I got dressed and took Nathan to school (since I usually do anyway). On my way back, I called the doctor's office and made the appointment. I took Tylenol at 7 AM, and by the time I got the doctor for my 8:30 appointment it should have kicked in totally. I still had a temp of 99.9! Ugh. So I have walking pneumonia...like I said, I don't get colds. When I get sick, I really get sick! It is no wonder that I felt so miserable. I have had bronchitis enough to know that this did not feel anyting like what I felt before. The antibiotics have done wonders, along with my "liquid gold" cough medicine. It sort of tastes like banana...but not really. I love it though. Randy calls it my liquid crack. It works really, really well...I do advise being where you are for a while after you take it...it is good stuff apparently. :-) If you want to know what it is, email me and I will tell you. I am at least feeling better.

Nathan is officially 10!

Today is Nathan's birthday. I can't believe that he has been around for an entire decade...though there were times that we thought he might not make it that far...just kidding. He had his party this morning at the bowling place. Bowling places have certainly come a LONG way from when I was a kid. The party was terrific. He got a really cool real pin that everyone signed along with the opportunity for all 12 of them to bowl a few games. Some of the kids seemed like naturals! The adults partook of the fun a little too. I just couldn't resist one game. Nathan seemed to have a blast right along with Grayson. He bowled a game and then was done. He mostly hung out with another boy who came along with his older brother too. It was well worth the money spent. :-)

Tonight we are bravely taking three boys for a spend-the-night session. They will probably have hours of fun on the Wii playing Mario Party or even guitar hero. There will be games and chicken from Chik-fil-A. I want a party too darn it! I am thinking that for my birthday we will get the VIP room at the 300 ) the new name of the bowling place...do they still call them alleys? Oh no kids...only adults for some awesome rockin' bowling fun where they put on the black lights and fun disco decor.

An Eventful Day!

Today we had lots to do! Randy took Nathan to the local Ace Hardware to sell popcorn for the scouts. Apparently they did a marvelous job. Nathan is very good at being cute when he wants to be, so he just smiles and bats the long eyelashes. They spent about 2 hours selling and they sold quite a bit. While they were doing that, Grayson and I were at the Atlanta Parent Magazine annual Family Block Party. We were there to volunteer. I received a message this morning saying that they were going to be short-handed at the Camp Fire Boys and Girls booth (Camp Toccoa to be precise). It was right around the corner, so I decided to stop in and help out. I am so happy that I did. I got to make things out of clay with children while Grayson went from table to table grinning and getting all sorts of attention. It was pretty cool how he would walk off, but always come back to home base (me) about every 10 minutes. I was very happy with him today. Neely was there...she was my counselor-in-training when I was a counselor at Camp Toccoa back in 1993. She was with me in my cabin in Yoki for the summer. We had such fun back then. It was such a great experience for me and I met a few life-long friends there as well. I made picture to put on a button (on Facebook it is known as Flair).

Catching up with us!

Wow.

I didn't realize how much time could go by. Since I last posted we have been through the gammut of stuff. School, work, boy scouts, neighborhood gatherings, field trips, birthday parties...so much and too little time! That and I have to confess, I found Facebook. I know what you might be thinking and let me say, it is all true. I signed on because of my desire to get back in touch with my past students. Another teacher was talking about all of the students that she found from our school on Facebook, so I thought it would be interesting to see just who and what they were saying. Little did I realize just how much I would enjoy the darn thing. I have found students from my second year of teaching, that are now adults with families and real jobs!! Yes, I have been teaching for a really long time!

Most recently the boys and I did our yearly visits to the allergist. She filled out all the 504 paperwork for Nathan for school, which was good. I have the final meeting with the teachers tomorrow. The latex allergy is really difficult to control, not because people don't care necessarily, but we use so many products in every day life that are rubber that we don't even think twice about. I went out to the gym with the PE teachers last week to look at all of their equipment. I basically went through and told them what was fine for Nathan to touch and what wasn't. The easiest way for me to know usually is to touch the items. I have years of experience touching, calling, and investigating this substance. Our house is literally latex free. I have no idea if Grayson has the allergy because he is not exposed to it enough to ever know. We are cautious with him, but he has never experienced symptoms that I know of and therefore I won't make a big deal of it for him yet. He likes to tell people that he is allergic to latex because Nathan and I are. It really is cute the way he says it. But, back to the gym equipment. After touching many items I began to realize that my finger was hurting to look down and notice that I had welted and was having a reaction...that fast with so little effort. The PE teachers got a small taste of what could happen with Nathan. He now has an Epi-Pen because the allergy is one that builds over time and exposure. He is way more allergic to it than I am; imagine what would have happened if it had been him instead of me? Needless to say I went quickly to wash my hands and within minutes had taken Benadryl. The welting went down after about 30 minutes and I was a jumpy mess the rest of the day from the medication. It was an interesting day to say the least. I would rather it had been me than my child. Any day of the week! The allergist went ahead and put me on the Epi-pen as well. I am glad that she did. It was only a week after seeing her that I had that reaction. For me, that was the worst reaction I have had. But again the reactions get worse over time. Fun.