It has been tough here in the Mother Thing household. As I was telling a friend yesterday, Conor is the only one who doesn't have something big and possibly bad going on. Four out of five is not good.
So humorous deconstruction of reality. Let's go!
First up: Dave! Dave had outpatient surgery last week. In the interest of HIPAA, I'll let Dave share the reasons why, but it was NOT elective surgery. And while it was outpatient, he has had some significant down time. We expected that. Sort of. I must admit that when I came back to the recovery room, his state coming out general anesthesia was pretty pitiful. It's the first time I thought: How am I going to walk this 6'4" dude into our home and onto a bed. He went back to work on Monday. But Tuesday came home early with a similar look of pain and fatigue. He's working from home today. It's supposed to be a 2 week recovery and we're hoping we're about halfway through it.
Next: Me!! I had a bit of a breast cancer scare, although probably not as much as I thought it was. It started about 3 weeks ago with some serious pain in my breast. YES! You are correct!! 99% of the time, breast pain is NOT cancer! Breast cancer doesn't hurt! But the 1% of the time that it *is* cancer, it's very bad. I waited two weeks for my annual GYN visit and the doc scheduled me for a diagnostic mammogram which was a week later. I *really* wanted one ASAP and they moved it up to two days later. YAY!! Nothing on the mammogram and the radiologist was not amused by my coming in so quickly. I really don't care. Really. No one lost out on my getting in quicker. Doctor's advice? Stop poking your boob.
So, three days later....I SWEAR I WAS NOT POKING MY BOOB!! Instead, I was going "OW! This bra really hurts; let me pull it off the sore spot!!" and felt something. It wasn't/isn't a lump. Instead, it's more like a cord or a tendon or ligament. I haven't had biology since high school, so honestly, I don't know if one's boobage has ligaments. It doesn't. I did not sprain my boob.
Instead, Dr. Google suggests that I have "Mondor's Disease." Basically, a superficial vein in my boob has a blood clot in it and has caused the rest of the vein to swell up and harden. It is believed to be benign, sometimes painful, and rare. It is seen less than 1% of the time in breast clinics. There is really no treatment except waiting for it to heal itself.
So I called my OB/GYN to tell him about the cord I'd found in my boob, who gave me the same advice as when I saw him in the office: take ipuprofen and if it still hurts, he'll recommend biopsy surgery in 2 months.
Huh.
That's not what is going on. I am annoyed. I potentially have this rare but still benign problem and his advice is take two aspirin and call me in the morning? Ok. Fine. It's rare, it's benign, and he clearly doesn't believe me. Whatevs.
So then the Twinnies. This is the part that has been keeping me up at night and making me so anxious that just typing that caused my stomach to drop out. It is possible they could still be be promoted to 1st grade. Despite our wishes and their poor performance on standardized tests, their scores are low but within normal range. So they *could* go forward. Further, I feel like my emails about our comfort with them being retained got their care team in trouble, something I had no intention of doing. I'll be honest with you. Seeing all the other kindergartners graduate to first grade makes me sad. But they are not ready to go up. And I still believe holding them back is a good idea. We are anxiously awaiting the final word.
Also, don't email anyone in the public sphere. Just don't. Call. Unless you want your email to be part of a permanent record that could bite you or someone else in the butt, DO NOT EMAIL. DON'T DO IT. Unless you *do* want it in the permanent, public record, then feel free.
Blergh.
Summer school is over at the end of this week. I'm teaching two classes, one of which is a new prep. With all this other stuff going on!!! YIKES!!!
I hope the rest of the summer is boring and fun.
Oh, Anita - man, do I ever feel your pain! On SO many levels!!!
ReplyDelete1) I too had the dreaded breast cancer scare -- same presentation -- pain, tender to touch -- inflamed. Dr. Google of course informed me *fully* about IBC before I could get in to see someone. Honestly thought I would be a gonner before the next major holiday. But, say what? Clear mammo, so...mastitis???? You've got to be kidding me! It's been 38 years since I nursed a kid. Turns out post-menopausal mastitis is a little more unusual than IBC, but SO much happier to deal with. Whew. And whew for you and your "cord" thing too -- WAY better than the alternative!
2) The twinnies. Win that battle for them, Anita. You just simply need to. Had I known when #1 was that age, what I finally figured out from watching him and learning about kid readiness as we went along... He was at the younger end of his age group, but "ready" by all markers except his own internal time clock. At the beginning of 4th grade HE asked if he could go back and repeat 3rd. (!) Goddess bless his teachers and the wonderful school we were in. He repeated 3rd, jumped something like 4 reading levels during one summer thereafter, went on to eventually skip 5th (on the theory that if he wasn't ready at the end of that year he could repeat 6th but this way would not miss out an all the perks of being top dogs on campus if he was ready for 7th following 5th (are you still with me here?)) and has been a self-directed and self-confident lifelong learner ever since. I am still so grateful to that school!
It's been said that "Children bloom when they are ready".
You know them best, and it will surely be clear to you when they *are* ready. Give them that gift!
I know, I know...preaching to the choir. You WANT it for them. If the school is not supportive of that request, it must have something to do with either money or that it would somehow make them look bad if they failed to meet the needs of your kids. Hogwash! It's about your kids' self-esteem, not the school's.
You can do this!
Those sleepless nights? Been there. So worth it!
Hang in there, Mama!
"Speedy healing" thoughts to Dave, and good summer wishes to the entire Mother Thing family!!