Spring Sing

We were blessed with a visit from Jasper, Bennett, and their parents over Spring Sing weekend.

I wish I had blogged about that weekend before now - I would have remembered more details.

Anyway, they arrived late Thursday evening. I had expected the boys to be sound asleep for most of the trip and so had their parents. It reminded me of several trips I had taken with my kids.

It was about 1983 and we were going to Ohio. We had hitched a ride with a couple that were neighbors of ours in Searcy. They were also from Ohio and had generously offered to take me and my two little ones to Ohio. That was before car seats and we had the entire back seat to ourselves. I put our suitcases on the floor and made pallets with our pillows and blankets. It never occurred to me that my kids wouldn't sleep at all on the trip since it was nearly an 18 hour drive! We had started out shortly before their naptime. Not only did they skip thier naps, but they were wide awake - content with taking in all of the night lights as we traveled on and on. We eventually arrived in KY at about 11 PM and they were both still wide awake! We got settled in our room for the night and they both fell asleep pretty quickly.

Even though we had a very late night, they both awoke as usual at 6 AM. We were back on the road by 7 and they remained wide awake, through thier naps again. I am still amazed when I think about that trip.

Back the the weekend visit - healthwise, I was feeling really good - another blessing for which I am very thankful and I was so excited to see them!

I looked forward to waking up the next morning to see them both! We hadn't made any specific daytime plans and I anticipated a relaxing day of spending time with them. We had a great together and I was excited about getting to put them both to bed Saturday night while thier parents attended Spring Sing.

I retreated several times that day for a rest period - I wanted to preserve my energy for that evening. I still had abundant bonding and playtime with both boys.

Jasper was ready to be put down a little earlier than expected but I was able to hold him off. I knew he would go down easily but I was still amazed that he went right to sleep! I kept tiptoeing to the room and holding my ear to the door, but he never made a peep! After about 30 minutes, I opened the door and went in for a peek. He was sound asleep and he looked so precious!

Meanwhile, Bennett was playing with cars and half watching a video under Papa's watchful eye. I played cars with him for a while and then announced that we had 10 minutes until books and bedtime. He didn't protest much which surprised me a little.

It was time, so I tucked him in and closed the door. He lasted about 5 minutes before I heard the patter of his little feet and he jumped into the living room with a look of pride and satisfaction, along with a big grin and a giggle.

I wasn't too surprised at that point since Jennifer had prepared me. I tried to look stern and took him back to his room. I explained that he had to stay in bed - just like when mommy and daddy put him to bed. I confess that, at the time, I didn't know if my little speech would take. I gave him another hug and reached to turn out the light. He was fast asleep in a few minutes.

We had a great weekend together. I'll post a few photos tomorrow, since it's getting late.

Aren't grandkids grand??? As I like to say, they are a special blessing from God.

ELDA

ELDA is an acronym for a test I administered to four Hispanic students this week. During my down time, I hand wrote several blog entries. I am typing them tonight and will post them over the next several days.

The Craziness!

Public schools in all 50 states administer some type of benchmark testing. I don't know about the rest of the states but my particular state has some pretty ridiculous requirements.

The one that is the most frustrating to me is how the special education population is treated. Every student in my building (5th and 6th grade) is held accountable to scoring at the proficient level in reading and math. A student that reads at the 3rd grade level (or lower) is required to test on the same material as students reading at grade level or higher. In addition, if the percentage of special education students that score proficient does not meet the state requirements, our school is put on "probation" by the department of education and according to their policy - our school is in danger of being taken over by the state. Even though our school as a whole far exceeds the state requirements, if the less able students don't meet the requirements, our school will suffer the consequences. GRRRRRRR!!

The next thing is mostly an annoyance! The department of education sends 80-95 page booklets for every teacher that assigns them a very specific scripts to be read for each test session - Ok, that's reasonable. This "Test Administration Manual" is available online before the test and for years after the test. Even so, they REQUIRE that I shred every page of all 50 manuals they sent! Crazy!!! FYI here is the link that gives anyone access - no login or password needed. So if they keep it posted online, WHY DO I HAVE TO SHRED THEM?

Last of all, was their "rule" about when the counselors in my state were permitted to open the packages of student test booklets. They were delivered to us on the Friday before testing began, but we had to work on Sunday because if we opened the packages before Sunday, it would be a breach of security!! I had over 500 test booklets in shrink wrapped packages of 10!! I had to open the, inventory them, and divide them up for each teacher to pick up Monday morning.

There's so much more, but I'll stop here!!

BTW - I did hang my diplomas and license in my office today. It really felt good.

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Just Do It!

I've almost blogged about 5 times since my last post. The operative word is "almost" My plans and mental lists haven't made it to my blog . . . until now.

The last week or so I have been reorganizing my office and getting rid of many of the leftover files and supplies from when I was a classroom teacher.

One of my goals this week is to hang my framed diplomas on the wall in my office. I've been planning to do this for the last 5 years. At the beginning of each school year, I think that I'll have plenty of time. I put it off for a week and then two, and then it's the end of the year again and I have pack everything up.

Sounds crazy, but this is how it has gone. Until this year. I am hanging these frames tomorrow and I am very excited about it. I have two bookcases behind my desk and the diplomas will be over one bookcase and I'll hang family photos over the other book case.

It feels good to finally do something that I have been putting off for 5 years.

:)




The other things I want to blog about are:

Bennett and Jasper visiting Easter Weekend.

The crazy parts of the state mandated testing.

Skyping with Bennett and Jasper

My Counselor Assessment recently completed by my boss.

Look for some of these posts soon.

Mary Eary Farrell 1905-1952

Mary Eary Farrell was my maternal grandmother. She died the year I was born.

Obviously I don't remember anything about her. In fact, while growing up, I never heard any stories about her. I have been searching every free genealogy web site that I've found, without success.

The facts that I do know about her are that she bore 15 children, including one set of twins and she died after an infection or possibly cancer. Her youngest child was just a toddler at the time, not much older than I was.

As a child, or even a young adult, it never struck me as odd that I knew so little about her. There were so many family secrets that we didn't dream of bringing up, except perhaps in secret with a close cousin. Most of my cousins didn't know any more than I did even though we gathered weekly at Grandpa Joe's rural home and played in the dirt and the puddles.

It wasn't an especially large home, but it was comfortable. As I recall, the upstairs consisted of two large rooms with an open wall between them. There were beds and dressers and lots of child sized pallets on the floor. There were probably 4-5 bedrooms downstairs along with a large living room and and huge kitchen. We often looked up from our play in the back to see one of our aunts checking on us through the kitchen window.

One of my vivid memories is the giant (at least to me at the time) block of cheese on the kitchen table. Even with 60 or more cousins, aunt, and uncles, we could always run into the kitchen for a snack of cheese. Week after week, there was always cheese on the table and more in the fridge. I don't every remember running out or being hungry at Grandpa Joe's.

I think Colby cheese is still my favorite snack.

Project Geneology

My down time this past week has allow me to explore a variety of web sites and web programs that allow you to create a family tree.

I have settled on my favorite program and have input quite a bit of data. It's actually the most useful free online tool that I've found. I have traced one of my great-great-grandparents all the way to Ireland!

I connected with a distant cousin on Facebook. Her grandmother was a sister to my grandfather. She helped me quite a bit with that limb of our family tree.

I never before considered that I would be interested in my ancestry, but I have found it fascinating.

Spinal Headache

I am pleased to report that I didn't have to take an IV round of soludmedrol. The spelling doesn't look right but I think it's correct.

I had a spinal (lumbar puncture) last Friday and I'm still battling a monster headache. It was constant until Wednesday and I thought I had it beaten until I awoke this morning with it's familiar throbbing. Even when it lessons, a small movement of position seems to fire it up again. Since the ongoing headache ended yesterday, maybe this isn't even the same headache. Does it really matter? NO! Either way, it still makes my head my head hurt.

Actually, it's nearly noon and my headache has diminished. Praise God!!

My legs are improving as the days pass. I'm sure that my "headache mandated" bed rest has been helpful.

Illness or pain are the things that remind us to have a spirit of gratitude for every period and type of good health.

I am grateful for this moment,

this hour,

and this day!

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Here We Go Again

My legs have gone on strike again!

My right leg has been bothering me for about 10 days. I've had the sensation of numbness and the zapping (tingling and stronger) from my foot to my thigh. I feel the zzzzzzzz sensation from my entire foot up through my shin, and thigh. It hadn't affection my gait so I pretty much just ignored it and went on. It ached about half of the time and I remember thinking, "I've been lucky so far, because pain has not been a major element of my MS.

Yesterday, while I was sitting comfortably in an auditorium, I felt my left leg get very heavy and feel numb. Not numbness of the surface, but a deeper sensation - kind of like you have a heavy pair of soaking wet jeans on. It's an odd sensation.

I called my neurologist and he isn't in the office today. His nurse was very helpful and she talked to him and called me back. He recommended I go to the ER at UAMS or even here at the local hospital to have an MRI done. I've had my share of MRI's but it has been about 2 years since my last one. I don't mind them at all but I have decided not to go until tomorrow.

Why wait?

I'm hoping that this will just clear up. Numerous times over the last 8 or so years, I have experienced difficulty walking and it resolved itself without treatment. The main difference this time is that the "zapping" is in my entire leg and both legs are effected this time. My balance is so bad that I have to hold on to the wall to even stand up and my cain isn't adequate stability


Why wait?

The only treatment option used in the past has been steroids. I haven't had a major flareup since I became Dr. Archer's patient about 2 years ago. I probably had 5-6 courses of sterioids while I was seeing my previous neurologist in Hot Springs. The solumedrol was delivered via an IV and the dosage was 1 gram (yep, that's 1000 mg) per day for anywhere from 3-5 days. You may not know this, but that is a megadose! Steroids also contributed to my weight gain of more than 75 pounds over a 3 year period. The last time I had this treatment was about 3 years ago, and it wasn't even effective. Thankfully, I was able to lose all but 5 lbs of that weight gain since I haven't been on steroids. . . . . . . . I DON'T WANT TO TAKE STEROIDS!

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Measurable Snow

Did I get your attention? No? That's ok, I won't let that stop me.

It did get my attention, however, when I heard the news broadcaster say,

"Today there has been measurable snow in 49 of our 50 states". I changed the channel and heard the same report. Beebe had received 8 inches of snow the previous week and we had missed a total of 5 days of school.

Even so, I had to check one more source so I logged on to www.weather.com to see what they had to say. Sure enough, it was true. At least a part of all 49 states had snow that same day. That was last Friday, February 12th.

People all over Searcy were posting pictures on facebook, me included.

Hear me roar

It was December, 1972 and Helen Reddy's song had risen to #1. Why do I care? you may be thinking. Well, at that time, this song became an inward mantra for me. It began, I am woman, hear me roar.

I hadn't thought of that song for decades until a few years ago when my work peers and I were asked to turn in the name of one of our favorite oldie songs for a faculty meeting activity.

Before I even had a moment to think, out popped the words - "I AM WOMAN, by Helen Reddy"

My boss looked at curiously, and I even wondered myself where that came from. I didn't give it much more thought and the faculty activity never came to fruition.

Nevertheless, a year or so later when I was again asked for a song from my youth, I gave the same response. This time I decided to look up the lyrics, some of which surprised me. Others, however, resonated from a place deep inside me.
.

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Even at 19 years old, I was determined that while my life up until then had almost broken me, I would not give up! (Link to full lyrics)

Now, nearly 40 years later, the Lord has removed every single link of that chain that bound me. Bent by it's weight but never broken. He carried me up the hills when I tried to climb them on my own. He has led me through the darkness of fears and doubts.

Romans 8:28 I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

Give me strength, Lord
as You soothe my wounds
and I face life's current challenges

On the Bright Side?

I couldn't decide what to title this post. You see, I have been struggling with seeing the bright side for a while now. For the last several decades, my predominant perspective has been the "glass is half-full" and it didn't take effort because that was my natural outlook. I found it easy to see the positive aspect of most everything.

When I look back at my childhood, I think, "only a fool" could see or hope for good things ahead during those times. Back then, there wasn't much to look forward to, yet I hoped and I expected better times.

At first I thought I would just quit blogging -- after all, I'd practically done that already. I began to remove posts as I considered doing just that.

Then I decided that "going private" was my solution - That would allow me to express my feelings and not be exposed, or at least feel vulnerable to the entire world wide web.

By the way, I want to say thank you to those of you that contacted me. I liked the feeling that you wanted to continue reading or least keep up with my life.

Pretty funny huh? My following, like the majority of blogs, is just a small blip on the world's radar screen of blogs.

I'm not quitting or going private. I'm going to repost at least some of my story.

Going Private

I've decided to continue blogging but not publicly. If you would like to continue reading my blog, send me a message at one of the following.

Email me at: vcampbell@sbcglobal.net.

OR

message me on facebook.

Taking a Break

I have decided to take a break from blogging.

Your Child Is Born

Your child is born
and becoming a parent
changes you forever

In ways you didn't expect
and could never have predicted.

So tiny and helpless at first
depending on you
for every need.

This child grows and changes
while your love for them never wavers,
but grows deeper as the years pass by.

They need you less as they learn
to depend both on themselves
and on their Lord.

They grow up
and are on their own
or so they think.

They face life's struggles,
and while not there with them
you are and will always be
on their side

October Skies

I can't believe that November has arrived! My main memory of this past October is R A I N ! !

We only had 7 days of sun during the whole month of October! It was the wettest October on record at 19 different stations, including Little Rock! Even Searcy had almost 5 inches in ONE day last week.

I guess I just need to describe one of those days. Here goes. I was heading toward the office at school and suddenly saw about a dozen people with mops and brooms trying to push the water out the door. There were 3 custodians, the school nurse, the office secretary, two teachers, and a computer lab facilitator among others. It was about 2:30 and the kids were supposed to get on the buses at 3 PM.

Not gonna happen!

A rippling river of rainwater was rushing down hall from the cafeteria to the office. If I had not seen it, I wouldn't have believed it. That's a distance of about 40 feet.

One class that was returning from the gym had to detour to the other side of the building. When they came inside, it was comical! The teacher was in front of the line with her pants rolled up to her knees. The line of students that followed alternated between trying to roll up thier pants as they walked, or bending slightly forward trying to hold up the hem of their pants. Thier shoes and socks were soaked from being submerged in 8 inches of water outside. And just in case you think they were puddle jumping, that was on the sidewalk!

Many of the teachers whose classes were in that hallway had their students move thier books from the bottom shelves just in case.

After sending for several shop vacs and lots of mops, the floor was finally cleared of running water. Then the students made their way to the buses and teachers to their cars. What a day!

The Middle Wife

It was time for show-n-tell and Erica, a very bright, outgoing seven-year-old, came to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.

She held up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday."

“First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.”

She's stood there with her hands on the pillow, and the teacher was trying not to laugh and wishing she had her camcorder that day. The kids were watching her in amazement.

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom started saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!” Erica put a hand behind her back and groaned.

“She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!” Now Erica is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.

'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

"And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (Now Erica has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe.’

They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. “

“He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.”

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.

******************************************************

Another teacher sent me this story and I am still laughing about it. I couldn’t resist posting it here. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Pain Perception

• Human beings at large differ in how sensitive they are to pain. Much of the variation is apparently random. But gender matters. Women tend to hurt more than men do. Ethnicity can also interface with ache; some ethnic groups are more tolerant of discomfort than others are.
• In the past few years researchers have begun unraveling the genetic roots of these differences. They are also pinpointing social, cultural and psychological components that play parts in pain sensitivity.
• Assessing patients’ vulnerability to anguish may be essential to accurately judging the severity of their condition. It is also critical to deciding how to treat individuals’ pain. Revealing the molecular causes of individual variation in pain perception is already providing potential targets for novel pain medications.

One day as a child Billy Smith (not his real name), a resident of Newfoundland, could not take off his shoe. No amount of twisting or tugging would loosen its grip on his foot. The reason for his struggle eventually surfaced: a nail had pierced the sole and entered Smith’s flesh, tightly binding the two. Removing the nail freed the foot, but solving that problem only underscored a bigger one: Smith had not noticed.

Smith is among a tiny cluster of people, fewer than 30 in the world, who harbor a genetic quirk that renders them incapable of perceiving pain . “These humans are completely healthy, of normal intelligence, but don’t know what pain is,” says clinical geneticist C. Geoffrey Woods, who studied a group of such patients from northern Pakistan. They can sense touch, heat, vibration and their body’s position in space. Yet for them, root canals are painless, as are falls, fires and whacks on the head with a baseball bat. One woman with so-called congenital indifference to pain (CIP) delivered a baby without discomfort.



Link
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=i-do-not-feel-your-pain



DIFFERENT ARTICLE:
Link

http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/knocking-out-redheads/
Did you know that people with red hair need more anesthesia during surgery than other people?
Dozens of studies have shown that it takes about twenty-percent more anesthesia to knock out redheads than it does people with other hair colors. It’s all got to do with pigment, which are the particles that determine the color of hair and skin.
The amount of pigment you have is controlled by a hormone in the brain. Redheads have more of this hormone – and that matters because the pigment hormone is also involved with pain perception.
For some reason, because redheads have an abundance of this pigment hormone, they’re more sensitive to pain, which is why it takes more anesthesia to knock them out. But if you are a redhead, there’s no need to worry about waking up during surgery, screaming in pain. Surgeons and anesthesiologists are well aware of the phenomenon.
Medscape Link

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/487261

The Placebo Effect

I was amazed when I read this article in Neurology.

Doctors and scientists used to believe that a placebo, sometimes called a sugar pill, had the ability to change the perception of the patient but had no real healing effect. In other words, it had no medicine therefore it changed nothing physically within the patient.

Now they have learned that a placebo can have a physical effect on a patient. PET scans have now confirmed that some patients get better just because they expect to. This particular article refers to patients with Parkinson's, depression, and pain. Patients who received a medication and patients who received a placebo had the SAME changes in their brain on PET scans. WOW!

"It seems that the expectation of benefit activates the same natural pathways in the brain as medications. If we could harness these same mechanisms in the clinic, patients could help themselves without the side effects of medications."

That's pretty amazing, although I should not be surprised -- God created us and and in so many ways, our physical bodies are a wonderful and complicated mystery.

Here is the link if you want to read the full article.

I just started reading another article about red-heads and physical pain. I hope to post conclusions from that one soon.

Where have you been?

I have had several calls and more than several questions on FB asking me so I am writing this post to briefly answer the questions. I also wrote a note for FB.

Earlier in the summer, I was diagnosed with a stomach problem which left me pretty much restricted to a liquid diet. I blogged briefly about it before. I am allowed to eat any food that does not have fiber, fat, or spices. Some of the things that are allowable are: cottage cheese, no fat saltine crackers, jello, ice tea, water, chicken broth, white rice, and a few others.

I drank "Boost" and vitamin water for nutrients and of course the foods listed above.

My GI doc recommended a prescription that is not available in the US. The only drug available in the US had some serious side effects for many patients.

I visited my grandkids the last week of July and when I got home, my new medication was here in the mail. I started the new med and went back to work that Monday. By Wednesday I was extremely ill, which continued until the following Sunday. During most of that time, I was so sick that I didn't know day from night most of the time. I started to feel better and then worse. I went to my chiropractor on Tuesday and then to my Doctor on Wednesday.

I learned from my Doctor that this med can effect you neurologically as well as physically. In his words, "the medication sometimes does the same thing to your brain as it does to your gut"

He told me that I will have to wait it out and drink lots of water. I also learned that my potassium was extremely low. It was a 3 and should be between 28-38. That explained why my muscles hurt and I couldn't walk (my legs were bent under and I couldn't straighten them)

It also explained the sensory hallucinations I had been having and while that was a relief (knowing why), I still had to wait until the medication was out of my system.

It is now Saturday and I am just beginning to feel normal again. Yesterday I was feeling pretty good so I tried a few bites of banana and some avocado. That evening I started hurting again and the diarrhea started over. I couldn't believe that I had messed up and didn't look up the food content of banana and avocado - - - they BOTH have fiber!!

NEVER AGAIN will I eat something without checking it out first - even if I "think" I already know it's nutritional content.

At this point, I have missed 7 days of work and I expect to miss the next 5 days. I HOPE to be able to return to work by the 24th.

If you read this all, you MUST have extra time on your hands.

Thanks,

Vicky

PS. I had a WONDERFUL time visiting my grandkids and will post about that shortly.

Historic Moments

John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States.

I was in elementary school. I vividly remember an announcement over the school speaker system announcing that our President had been shot. I sat in the second row, third seat back. No one spoke a word. That is quite a feat for a classroom full of elementary boys and girls. Our teacher had started crying, and was trying to quickly wipe away the tears. We were stunned but we had no idea how serious this was.

School was dismissed and I walked/ran home since I live a few blocks away.

I was glued to the TV. (Yes, you younger folks, we DID have TV then) When it was announced by Walter Cronkrite, "From Dallas Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 PM central standard time"

He was visibly choked up and I had never seen emotion on a newscaster before - I my parents weren't home at that time and I just sat there, frozen.

(Link - If you are interested, it's toward the end)

I will never forget that moment. Kennedy's election coverage was the first I had ever watched and I viewed him as a very great man. He seemed young, even to me as a child. All of the other presidents I had learned about looked old.

I continued watching the news coverage every spare moment and I was again left speechless when Jack Ruby shot Oswald on live TV! (Note: This was the era before violence became commonplace on TV)

Link - If you are interested

Whether you are a young person, or older like me, you will have certain events burned in your memory. From that point on, I read every single newspaper article that I could find relating to President Kennedy.

Another related memorable event was when two year John Jr. stood like grown man and saluted his father during a memorial. A & E's biography of John Kennedy Jr. is in 5 parts, but the first view seconds of this video shows John Jr.'s salute.

Link

This video clip is not the one I saw live. The coverage I watched was a close-up of the family and John John stood their for probably 5-10 seconds in a motionless salute to the father he had just begun to know.

FYI: President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 Central time.