Doom, Gloom, and the Elephant in the Room

I sit here in my living room tonight with lot of stuff in my head. Some is good but I wonder if the worries will ever end. Sarah is asleep down the hall. She's moved in with me and it is very strange having a child here all the time. She's a fairly good child, if a bit spoiled. Our fault. Anyway, Mom asked if I would take her and I won't go into her reasons here but they were valid. I appreciate that she recognized the need and put Sarah first.

On top of other things, Sarah was having a very bad time at school. At the end of last year she was ahead of her class in all but Math and loved school. After a few weeks into the school year, she was a mess and hated school, the teacher, and was non-compliant. She was having headaches. She needed reading glasses. We held discussions with the teacher and the counselor and the principal and all were unsatisfactory. Basically, just make her do the work. Make her come to school. Of course, we did but it was getting worse. We asked about changing classes. They weren't willing to put her in a different classroom. When the teacher said she was fidgety and inattentive, I suggested that rather than putting Sarah in the very back of the class where she had her, she move her to the front to keep her focused and where she could see the board (another complaint of Sarah's). After another week, she still had not moved Sarah. So, as of three weeks ago Sarah was failing all subjects. Everything. Reading, comprehension, math, spelling. So, last week she moved in with me and started in a new district this week. She came home today smiling and giggling and saying she loved school. Her first papers have good grades.

I really don't understand some schools. It was obvious that the teaching style of the previous teacher was not appropriate for Sarah. Her 1st grade teacher had warned that she felt Sarah would not do well with that teacher but she'd not been allowed to have input in the selection. The fact that they wouldn't consider alternatives was just stupidity. A child doesn't suddenly start failing class work at which they excel. Anyway, for now, she's happy again and seems to be doing well. We were nervous that first day until we met the teacher. She's young and excited and shocked Sarah out of her shoes when she walked in and mugged for her. From that point, Sarah was caught and she loved this teacher.

I saw on the news that Ebola is now in Texas. I wonder how many stores that person visited in Dallas, a city of millions of souls who could now be at risk. Now what? We have this deadly virus on the ground. Viruses mutate and become resistant to treatments. How long do we think we can prevent a global epidemic when there are no longer any barriers to coming into this country? Poor Sarah heard me comment when I saw the report and I had to reassure her she wasn't going to die. But I can't promise that. We have a unrecognized virus in California and Colorado. It is in 45 states and it is killing or paralyzing children. We now have a second even more deadly and horrific virus in Texas. This one could wipe out this country. In a matter of months. Wake up, people. We've effectively brought about our own destruction.

Today I had lab work to check my vitamin D levels. As of 3-4 months ago my D level was 130. Toxicity is at 170, so they say. My doctor pulled me off D saying I was too high. Because she closed her practice I couldn't go back and have it checked again. I told my RA doctor last month that I believe my levels had fallen because I'm having unbelievable fatigue. I'm talking sit down and fall into a deep sleep for hours because I'm wiped out after 4 hours of any activity. The results were in by 5 p.m and my Vitamin D level is now 47. Still considered normal range (30-100). My concern is that it fell from 130 to 47 in less than 100 days. That's radical to me. It took me months to get it to 130. I felt very little fatigue at that level. It doesn't seem to impact the RA but the fatigue and brain fog have become almost impossible in the last several months. I've requested to start taking the 10,000 IU I was on before I reached the 130 level. See how that does and go from there. Obviously I'm not absorbing it well at all and it definitely had a huge impact on my ability to function. The RA medicine Plaquenil  prevents the absorption of D and I don't know about Methotrexate. My primary care doctor didn't know about Plaquenil and I suspect my Ra doctor doesn't know either.

I'm going to bed now. Have to be up early to get Sarah on the bus.

Happy Birthday!

At 5:09 AM on September 22, 1979, I was introduced to the most wonderful creature I had ever seen. For 35 years he has been one of the greatest loves of my life. 

Happy Birthday, Mike. I love you. You're the best son I could ever have asked for. Thank you for all you do for me. I'm so proud of you!

A Week to Regroup

I'll be heading home tomorrow from a week of vacation in Branson, Missouri. My sister and I joined my aunt & uncle there and we've had a wonderful time.  The days were sporadically sunny and mild. We've had lots of clouds and some rain. Today was quite cool. We caught a couple of shows, rode a riverboat, took a train ride, visited a fish hatchery, shopped, and just sat around reading and watching movies. I visited the tiny pool once and it was freezing and not really big enough to swim in, which is what I like to do. Oh, and we had the usual photo ops.

For the whole week, I didn't write anything, not even emails. I did check my mail and visit Facebook but for the most part, computer time has been less than an hour a day, virtually unheard of for me. There were a few times I thought I should try and write but it just didn't seem to happen. That doesn't mean I wasn't thinking. During our trip to the fish hatchery, which was actually quite interesting, I began to think about a possible NaNo story involving the hatchery. I realized after we left that I should have asked questions but I was too busy looking at the layout and figuring out exactly how this story might work. I have a couple of months to plan.

To tell you the truth, I've benefited from it. I just didn't think about anything much, just let myself take each day as it came. That's probably what a vacation is supposed to be like. Just do whatever, with no real itinerary and enjoy the moment. Yes, we planned things, but usually around breakfast. My uncle was ill a couple of times and we just stayed in and relaxed.


Friday will be a long ride back to Indiana and I'm hoping the weather will be nice. It has gone down hill rather quickly and it is quite cool tonight, in the 50's. I think most of the week at home is to be sunny and in the 70's so that will be good. I have lots to do when I get back.

Boring Week

A long week finally hits the mid-point. It has been hot and I've stayed inside except for mandatory excursions. My neck is a bit of a problem this week but I think I've caused it. I've been on the computer more.

On Monday Sarah, Mike and I went to the church Labor Day picnic. I've got shots from that here:

Nothing fancy, mind you. And not very good either. The day was overcast but there was a nice breeze that kept it pleasant outside. The property is really a beautiful place with lots of room for us to do things like this. The food was really excellent. I got one helping of Sister Connie's banana pudding. I got it before I got my lunch and a good thing. I was hoping for seconds and it was gone by then. I need to just buy the makings and make my own. Need to reduce it to a smaller size though. I'll look into that.

On Tuesday, it was my Sarah's 8th birthday. We had cake and ice cream at her house and I got her some new books. She's just growing up so fast. But still my best girl.

I'm really rather tired for some reason. I have not been sleeping well. Lots of weird dreams I can't remember. I had one where I was talking really weird... like a buzzing noise. That was odd and a bit disconcerting. It is all I remember about it, too. I didn't like it when I woke up from it.

I've managed to work out the kinks in two stories that I've been working on for two  years! That's a bit awesome. I don't mean I'm done with them but I've made some sense out of them, to me anyway. Now to get it down.

I'm having problems remembering to eat. I am usually sick by the time I remember to put something in me. It is very annoying. I don't really get very hungry. I ate regular meals when I worked because the clock told me to but sometimes I still wouldn't be hungry. Now, I don't have schedules driving me so eating isn't a priority... mentally anyway. I'm kind of sick at the moment because all I've had today is coffee. And I really don't want anything now. I've noticed I'm only able to go about 5 hours before I feel ill. But it isn't hunger, well, I don't feel hungry. And despite that, I'm not losing weight.

I'm going. I really have to find food so I don't pass out. What a bore the week has been.