Barbie

Today (well actually yesterday - 8/31/2012) we got the news that Barb Deters (Dave's mom) had had a colonoscopy and it didn't look good.  Dave's dad had called for Dave and I answered.  Dave wasn't home so I took the call and his dad tried to tell me, but broke down in tears.  He chocked out, "Just have Dave call me."  When Dave called back, he got his mom on the phone and she was rather matter of fact about it all.  She told him that she had not been feeling well and she had been losing weight - therefore the colonoscopy.  The doctor did not like what he saw and had sent it off for a biopsy.  She has and appointment September 13th to find out more and discuss the options.

It seems funny to me that the one whose life is affected, seems to be calm and those of us who will be touched by what is going on seem to hurt.  I know when he started crying, I started crying.  It's tough.  Dave says his Uncle Bill (Don Deters brother) died of colon cancer.  That he had gone in for surgery and he never recovered from the surgery.  So probably what Donnie is thinking of in this situation.  Dave spoke the Word to his mom.  He said, "It could be nothing."  "We'll be praying."  And we are -- praying.

Dave and Joe have a trip planned home in October -- 24th to 28th.  So I'm so glad he is going home now.  You just never know with life and that is why we try to get back to see our families as often as we can.

Today is going well.  It is a Saturday.  Joe isn't feeling well (cold and sinus) so he's on the couch watching a movie.  I'm going to make him some hot noodles here in a minute.  Ben is upstairs playing happily and Jess is studying.  Dave is working and I am feeling so caught up, I am blogging.  It's a great feeling.  Ben and I did another science experiment.  I'll try to remember to post the video on here on another day.  We're learning all about water.  It's pretty fun.

Home School

So in Science we are studying water.  We have learned condensation, evaporation, precipitation, etc.  We have made a model Aquifer, and here we are "treating" water like a Water Treatment plant would.  We made our dirty water, then we poured it in a 2 liter bottle and Ben shook it - that was aeration.  Then we poured it into the two liter bottle wit the top cut off and put in some alum and watched "coagulation" and "sedimentation."  Then we made a filter with the bottle with the bottom cut off and put fine sand, carbon, coarse sand, fine rocks, and big rocks, and then we poured our dirty water through all of this and it came out clean -- that was "filtration."  We took the water we gathered and put it in the glass measuring cup and put some bleach in it to mimic "disinfection" or "purification."  It was a great visual and he really enjoyed doing this.  K-12 sent us all the soil, sand, and rocks.  We had to buy four 2 liter bottles and activated carbon (which I found at the pet store in the fish aisle.)  We do Science two to three times a week for an hour a day.  We were talking about water conservation and things like that.  I told him growing up in California we had to turn the water on to take a shower, get wet, turn it off while we lathered up and then turn it back on to rinse off.  Sometimes we could only water our lawns by the last digit of our address - odd numbers on these days, even numbers on the other days.  We had a well so we talked about that.  We talked about nucleur power plants needing water to keep them cool and he went on and on for about five minutes about a computer game he plays called Tech It and how there are nucleur power plants and how they can only be built by water, and if they don't keep them cool, the reactors go off, etc., etc.  So I was happy to hear that his games are imparting some knowledge also.

Joe has Mr. Constan for 7th Grade science and Mr. Constan received a $5000.00 grant which he used to buy Ipads.  Joe's class (first period) has been selected to use those iPads and see if "technology" helps bring a child's science grade up.  Joe says the media is going to follow them and Mr. Constan may follow this class to 8th grade and hopefully Mr. Constan will receive another grant so that he can buy more iPads.  In Farmington, NM (where the Special Ed teacher came from) every student had a laptop.  We have nothing like that here.  It's crazy.

Well time to get ready for our Friday home school - spelling test, vocabulary test, Literature Unit assessment, two sessions of History, One session of Science, and Spanish and oh yeah Math.

SCHOOL BEGINS

What a pose?  Right  This was taken on the day we registered Jessica for her Senior Year of High School.  It (school) now seems to have gone by so quickly. She has almost enough credits to graduate, but is taking a pretty full load anyway.  She is taking Calculus 2 at Colorado Mesa University where we went and registered also.  She is editor-in-chief along with another girl of the GJHS Orange and Black Newspaper, and swimming begins next week.  Never a dull moment.  Tonight we went to a meeting regarding a trip to China over Spring Break.  2800.00 covers it all.  She's quite interested.

Joe is in 7th Grade at Bookcliff Middle School.  Once again he enjoys all his classes and has good teachers.  His math teacher can be challenging at times and I've heard that about him, so I figured I'd just get to know him better.  That can only help.  I am volunteering at the school as I have time - helping with photocopying and any office work they need help with.  

Ben is in ;5th Grade at Grande River Virtual Academy, (home school).  We love it.  It's almost the end of week two as I write this and we are adjusting.  There is a lot of history, art, and science to keep up on.  I'm pretty good with grammar, literature, writing, and math.  He also has Spanish and is really loving that.  

I really need to keep this updated regularly, like daily, because Jessica got to go see President Obama speak at her high school.  She got to cover it for the Orange and Black.  Her principal called her and invited her and the other editor-in-chief.  That was really awesome for her.  Now she's working on attending the Presidential Debates in Denver on her birthday, October 3. If that all gets approved, Dave will drive a school vehicle and get to attend also.

More tomorrow.

Tennessee Vacation

From June 10 through June 15 we vacationed with Dave's family in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  We drove to Denver and then flew Frontier to Knoxville.  We rented a van with points and drove to Gatlinburg.  We got in Sunday night and settled into our hotel rooms.  On Monday we all slept in til like 10:00.  (dang time difference).  Breakfast was only until 10:30 so we got up quickly and went to eat breakfast.  We met up with Bruce and Lynn later and we all went the The Track and rode go karts.  Ben and I went to the arcade there for awhile.   We headed back to the hotel around 3:30 and the Flachs and the Brian Deters were arriving the hotel.  The guys immediately settled into some card playing so the rest of us walked into town and ate at Bubba Gumps.  The waiter did a great job taking care of all 16 of us and I'm sure the kids will remember that trip for a while.  Then we took an arial tram ride up to the top of the mountain and took photos and bought a gift.

When we got back to the hotel, the guys were still playing cards and having a great time.  The next day we all headed to Dollywood.  It was pretty expensive and hot, but the kids had a great time.  We headed to the resort from here and met up with the rest of the family.  It was our night to help with supper, so I baked a bunch of potatoes and made hot dogs in our room, then we all went and ate together.

Wednesday was spent at the other side of Dollywood - Splash Country.  Kathy, Lylah, Connor and I hung out by the splash pool for a while then Kathy and I went twice around the Lazy River.  I was getting pretty red, so after lunch I changed my clothes and stayed in the shade.  We hung out back at the resort that evening enjoying Kathy's sonic/vodka drinks.  They were actually pretty good.

Thursday, most of them went rafting and had a GREAT time.  It was hard to wake Ben up for this and he grumbled all the way out the door, but he enjoyed it.  His tour guide told them about how The Hunger Games had been filmed only 30 miles from where they were rafting and how they had brought in fake trees and blown them up during the filming.  He loved hearing about that.

We flew home on Friday - flight was smooth and the pilot even let Ben up in the cockpit before the flight - fueling his desire to be a pilot.  It was really cool.

The Power of the Tongue

Last night I ran the fellowship while Dave took the boys to JUCO.  Steve and Carol are in Seattle for the Ministry weekend.  So there were just 7 of us but it was nice.  Hillary taught on the power of the tongue.  Isn't that a great subject to be reminded of?

I got a call from the Dr. yesterday to up my prednisone so my heel would stop hurting.  They say I am in flare up.  Well I upped it yesterday and could tell a difference and I just took todays dose and it's beginning to stop hurting.  I'm so overweight but then if I can't move (walk, work out, etc.) because of pain, yikes!

Started the 17 day diet again yesterday.  It worked great for me in August right before school started and then with the stress of the job and the understaffing there were days we were lucky if we got to eat lunch.  So I am excited to see the results.  Prednisone works against weight loss, but it just means I need to be way more diligent.

Jessica is already at school working on the Orange and Black.  Joe and Ben are still sleeping.  There are two baseball games today - one at 3 and one at 7:30.  Joe really wants to go so I'll go with him.  I really enjoy it just could be getting things done.  But I know I'm blessing him big time.  Tomorrow there is only one game and it's at night.  Dave will go with Joe then.  Joe's friends all go, but they like to hang out and not necessarily watch the game.  Joe wants to watch the game.  I like that.  Ben goes but gets a little bored and the people in the stands tend to bug him with their rude comments, etc.

Today I am going to go through a big piles of jobs completed and get that in order and then work on the three file cabinets in the office and put a great semblance of order to them.  This may actually be a two day job, but I am up for it.

Monday is my next appointment with the rheumatologist.

The picture is from Pentecost weekend at Gunnison.  As my vice continues to lose it's grip I become excited about visiting Gunnison again.  It doesn't seem like a "chore" when I'm not in a vice.  That's a good thing.  Not sure if anyone will understand what I am saying, but I do.

The Vice is Loosening

It is May 30, 2012.  School has been out for almost a week.  Today I am beginning to feel the vice loosen.  Sometimes we get so worried about money and the future that we bite off way more than we can chew.  Although I absolutely loved the school job and getting to know the faculty at Joe's school, it was way too much for me.

As I did a year end slide show of photos for the kids, I was reminded that for the first three months we were understaffed by two aides.  So basically there was a brand new teacher to GJ and me for three months with 6 kids - one who gets physically violent.  It was so much stress and it was during this time that the arthritis began to kick in.

In November we hired two full time permanent aides that actually stuck with the job and that helped.  But also in November was Jessica's first surgery and I certainly didn't know what was going on with me, but I knew I could not turn handles any more.  I couldn't grasp anything, I could barely tie my shoes because my fingers were so swollen.  My doctor kept ordering tests and we kept trying things like cutting out sodium, but nothing was helping.

In December on the family trip I was in horrible pain, but also taking about twenty motrin a day which helped control it.  Finally in February I got in to the rheumatologist in Delta and immediate relief came.  I am on Prednisone and was started at 20mg.  I went down to 15 mg about 4 or 5 weeks ago and at that time I started experiencing pain in my right heel.  The pain has gotten worse and I was thinking if I can just get through school.  Well I thought my appointment was this week, but it's not until next week so I called yesterday.  They told me to go back up to 20mg.  I did today and can sense some relief already although I am a little worried about being on Prednisone.

This week is JUCO and we love going to watch.  But it wasn't allowing me to get anything caught up at home as every room in the house needs detailed attention.  Today I have been home all day and am making great headway on the office and I am feeling good.  Tonight we have fellowship so I still need to get three other rooms ready within a few hours.

With the school job being from 7 to 3:, and running kids to activities every night (just one kid, one sport), fellowship two times a week with 18 people's needs to take care of, and a full time business I felt like I was dying.  I don't ever want to feel that way again.  If I have to say No to everything including the fellowship just to get to the point where I read the Bible every day again, I will.  I'm done killing myself on others behalf.

I think the only possible person who can read this is Laura and I am okay with Laura reading it.  I think I have changed the privacy policies and Laura is the only one with access.  I hope I'm right.  I need a place to write and this is going to be it.

Well I must continue on.  We go away in a week and a half, so must get the best use of my time now.

April Fool's Day

Today is April 1, 2012.  My dad's favorite day of the year or so it seemed.  The best prank he got me on was when I was about 11 or 12.  I had a front bedroom and he came in my room at about 5:00 a.m. and said, "Patricia, Patricia, it snowed last night!"  I was like, "What?"  I wanted to look out my window, but he convinced me to get up and go to the back of the house to look out the back window.  Now mind you we lived in San Lorenzo, California - elevation 13 feet above sea level.  In my 22 years of living there it snowed once - and that was during spirit week in high school.  But he convinced me and I got up and went to the back of the house and looked out the window.  Then he looked at me with a BIG smile and said, "April Fools!"  Uuggghhh.  Now I was awake at 5:00 a.m.

He thought he was sooooo funny.  Probably made me who I am today when I think I am so funny.

I started the Nutri System 28 day plan yesterday.  Portions are quite small, but I did it.  I ended up eating 1500 calories.  I think that is a good place to start.  With all I have going on in my body, I don't want to start on a 1000 calorie a day diet.

I go to the doctor Wednesday.  I had slight side effects again.  Like last nigh my stomach was real distended again, but this morning it was fine.  I think eating better will help with all of that too.

Well, Happy April Fools Day!

Jessica is Editor in Chief

Today Jessica found out that she was made editor in chief of the Orange and Black for next year. GJHS has been really good to her. She did not make swim team captain, but she did make National Honor Society President and now editor in chief of the paper.

She can begin swimming again next week - April 1. Only breaststroke. We are getting clear with the surgeon on just what she can do. She gets the next two days off as T-CAP testing is going on.

Joe just got his report card and even with the new standards based grading he got all A's except for PE. He got a B in PE. This is REALLY good. He is playing GMLL baseball and is on the Oakland As. How cool is that - our home team!

Ben and I are planning to home school next year so we have him all registered for that. In light of that we went to Powderhorn to get him a season ski pass for next year. Really makes me want to lose weight so I can ski with him.

I am buying one month of Nutri System food and see how that goes. I still have to watch diet/etc. while we get medicine figured out. I took the 6 pills Friday night and on Saturday and Sunday I felt like a child from Africa whose stomachs are distended (sp?). Oh my stomach hurt just to touch. Saturday I was a little dizzy/fuzzy headed. Sunday night I had a few hives. So my body is still adjusting to the medicine. It is supposed to get better. I feel a lot better thought over all and have begun walking the dog every day for exercise.

Dave is doing well also. Tonight he has a well-deserved night off. This weekend he worked with Joe and Ben on planting a garden (I was doing office work.) It's really fun to have your own garden.

That's it for now.

Jessica's Shoulders

So I started to realize that my blog was available for anyone to see. Do a google search on Patty Deters and it takes you to my blog. I didn't like that so I changed the privacy settings to only those who I invite and then got out of the habit of blogging. So let's see what I can do to catch up. Jessica was content to wait until she could "kick" in enough swim meets that she could get her "letter." Well she was in so much pain, and the new coach agreed to let her letter without kicking, we moved forward with the surgery plans. Surgery #1 on the right shoulder was scheduled for Monday, November 21, 2011. This was scheduled during a whole week off of school. Because of budget cuts this was the first year we had the entire week of Thanksgiving off.

I was very nervous going into this surgery, just totally not knowing what to expect. Dave came and met me at the surgery center and we prayed a lot for Jessica. The surgery took about 2 hours, maybe more. We met with the surgeon afterwards an he said that the rotator cuff tear was so small that he merely cleaned it up. The bigger problem was how "loose" her shoulders were. Normally when he would put a scope in, it would go up and over the shoulder. With hers he said we have a term called "the drive through." The scope could go right through her shoulders. When she was asleep, he could easily dislocate her shoulders up and down and side to side. Most likely she was partially dislocating her shoulder with every stroke of swimming and with every time she tried to raise her hand in class.

He tightened her shoulder all the way around and said, she probably won't like me much when she wakes up. On I went to the recovery room. She was groggy and slow to wake up. At one point she said, I wonder when they will put the sling on me. Well turns out it was already on her. She had a nerve block in her neck that was totally numbing her right side. She couldn't feel anything nor could she move her fingers. The block was supposed to last two days (but it lasted four which was nice.) The surgery was a great success.

We had physical therapy appointments twice a week up until the next surgery which was Feb 1.