Just Got Back from Spokane

10/27/2002

Writing an e-mail will kill many birds with one stone though I'll still need to make a few phone calls tonight. Wendi is at the hospital, Tina in Winthrop and maybe Gregg. Talking about "plans FOR Mom" is relatively easy but I find "talking ABOUT Mom" a lot tougher. Writing also puts it at a distance; more clinical.

Anyway, I left Spokane at 2:30, like Wendi taking an Alaska Airlines flight. (She came into Spokane last night.) This will allow her to drive to Winthrop behind the ambulance when Mom goes home. Where it stood as of then was.....

Dr. Nickels (oncology) says Mom can stay at the hospital as long as needed till we get the living arrangements up and running. We like Dr. Nickels.

Danielle Something-Italian-Sounding (Social Worker- Setting up hospice care). Things might be set up by Monday. Or, they might not. What she's in charge of setting up is medical instruments such a hospital bed, wheelchair and  the like. Nothing immediately required as she already has oxygen there. I think it'll happen tomorrow.

The Great Nurses at Sacred Heart- Jeanne needs to 1. Eat More 2. Move about more. I'm hoping Wendi can persuade Mom to chow down more food. Someone’s always lecturing Mom; it might work eventually. We (a nurse and I) tried to get Mom to take a walk but she was just too out of it to manage more than standing up straight  and taking two  tiny steps to  the left. I'm just  telling her over and over, "One step means one more paragraph". The two things she's REALLY interested in are reuniting with Benny the Dog Couch and getting  lots of writing done. She needs her strength and her mind to do the writing. J is working on making the computer set up more user friendly.

Speaking of Mom, due to our (well, Barbara's) complaining and griping, Mom's morphine dosage has been lowered. Last night, right after Wendi and I left her room (about midnight), she was given a 12 hour dose of morphine with the idea of fewer injections from the 1 to 2 hour doses she had been getting. Barb was quite alarmed at what a zombie Mom was this morning so the dosage  has been lowered. Mom seemed much more with it by the time I'd left at about 1:30 today.  Mom was very distraught at the prospect of Barbara going (and possibly me, too) but Aunt Barbara was going to leave shortly after I did. A very, very tough choice. Mom's also charged about going home and is ready to  go at a moment's notice.

Tina (Godsend) She's looking into home health care givers in the Valley.

Not having talked to her or anyone else in the past 5 hours, I don't know her progress. She was going to try to get ahold of Jeff to discuss a possible Mother/Daughter team who might serve our needs. She also keeps telling Wendi she can be in Spokane in 3 and 1 /2 hours.

Me. A bit frazzled. Trying to be less thinking/more action!

Wendi (Wife) Is staying with Mom. The only family member there now with her. She'll be "on duty" at least until Tuesday and has offered to stay longer if needed. On a side note, she was really thinking she might be pregnant and so was quite happy. Doesn't look like it though despite the few positive pregnancy tests (more were negative). Severe cramps have been a problem and because a friend of ours nearly died last month from an ectopic or tubal pregnancy, I didn't want to go but Wendi felt for sure it was just the onset of "that time of the month" and told me to hit the road. Besides which, she WAS at a hospital. Not something I want to think about.

JS (mom's cousin).  The  S Family  doesn't  hold that  high esteem among the Bs but I’ve got no complaints against J. He's been there  twice and promises to visit her in Winthrop. A standup guy in my book.

That's all the cast of characters I have any news on. In terms of the Plan For Mom, hospice will take care of the medical needs but we'll will need to provide the 24/7 care. Just playing around with the numbers last night, if we had a Home Care Giver work a 12 hour shift Monday through Friday, Jeff and Gregg could alternate evenings and Steve and I could alternate weekends. That  would leave Sunday afternoon till morning for one of the zillions of Valley folks who have offered to volunteer. (We don't want to use this resource up too quickly.)

This would give G/J some breaks while getting me and Steve in on the action and using the tons of volunteers to plug the holes. It's still going to be damned  expensive though. $2,400 a month at $10 an hour.  In theory, Medicaid will start picking up the tab once she's in the system but that'll be a month away at  least. Wendi says the Medicaid does pick up the tab retroactively  in some cases. That'd be super but we probably shouldn't hold our breath.

(Continuing to write unencumbered by consolations with anyone...) Wendi and I could cover 1 /3 of that without great hardship, even half for a few months. Realistically, Gregg's share could be made up of the biggest slice of the watch. Steve and I can't.

Anyway, those are my musings for now. Hopefully, someone's come up with a better plan. I think I'll start calling people.

Brian

A Gorgeous Day in Silverdale

6/9/2002

An odd thing happened today in the little town by the mall. Instead of rain falling from the sky, there was a large bright ball which made everything warm. Most peculiar…

I took advantage of this strange event by finishing the mowing started yesterday, going jogging, doing work (playing) on the computers and trying to watch all the rented movies and return them before 12:00. A full day!

The “work” was editing a PowerPoint presentation one of my fellow teachers put together. It’s of mostly photos of Clear Creek staff going about their business and George asked me to throw in some (hopefully amusing) commentary so that is what I attempted. I think it’ll go well with the exception of the picture of B the day custodian. Humor just doesn’t stick with that woman. Nice lady; we get along fine but her aura, her magnetic field or something, seems to deflect all forms of comedy. The word “shit” is almost always good for a chuckle but in this case it would probably just be viewed in poor taste.

The presentation is for our End of the Year seminar at the Island Lake Conference Center. The Center is just a large hall in Northern Silverdale (the swanky part of town) and Clear Creek has its year-end shindig there because it’s nice, close, and there’s NO DRINKING ON SCHOOL PROPERTY. The official business involved is deciding on some scheduling for next year, saying goodbye to the outgoing teachers, and hello to our new teachers (That is, new since the 00-01 school year.) After this point last year, the men folk all left and the women did who knows what. There seems to be an informal segregation between the sexes at Clear Creek which is odd as we have a much higher percentage of males (about 1/3 the staff) than other elementary schools. I seem to be the exception as I hang out more with women than men. (Wendi’s our social director and my closest coworkers are all ladies. Well, females.)

S and family stopped by last night. It was the first time they’d all been here since Halloween. I wish they’d come out here more. The girls certainly like coming out here and F always seems to enjoy chatting with Wendi. (This is true at any sort of Hardy/Berry gathering.) They certainly did yesterday, mostly about their moronic husbands. S works a lot and F’s not happy about it. He makes me look like a clacker. Then again, I have a lawn, molding, paved driveway, and other nice touches that the woman-folk seem to prefer.

(Wendi also talked pregnancy plans, so it seems the cat’s out of the bag.)

While the Sisters in Law were bemoaning their dopy men and talking house decorating tips, S, the giris and I were having a wonderful time playing Nintendo games on Wendi's GameCube. The adults had to drag us away after many hours to feed us at the local Chinese Restaurant. It was a nice time but I suspect on the trip back to Bainbridge, my older brother got an earful about all the things their home needs.

BTW (By the Way to the  non-tech savvy), they are going to Disneyland next week with perhaps a quick drive to San Diego too.

Speaking of tech-savvy, I got my first  post-graduation  transcript from Lesley University yesterday. lt lists "Master of Education” being conferred on  5/20/02. Doesn't yet feel real. Should have a party or something. Might get a few presents out of it! The only problem is  my  insane Sister  in law  is getting married weekend  after  next  and since  we're  not  lifting a  finger  on her  account, she1 s certainly  not  doing so  on my  account.  Granted,  I've been working on this degree longer than she has her relationship but that's neither here nor there.

Clear Creek sp/ed services end on Thursday of next week. This gives us special ed. teachers a chance to do all the end of year stuff before, well, the end of the year. It pisses off the regular teachers to no end but c'est la vie. We're actually ending later in the year than other schools. it Would be nice to get everything done: grades, testing, paperwork, storage, etc. done before the actual end of the year. Last year, it took me two half days to get everything squared away, Correction, two un-pald half days. THANKS, GOVERNOR! (This was only the fourth weekend of the year I didn't go into work but I couldn't leave without my grade book, plan book and math teacher’s manual.)

So anyway. I’ll really focus on getting everything ship-shape during the actual school year. It would be nice to spend time in a 5th grade classroom to get a feel for it. Granted, ANY class in mid-June is going to be off-kilter.

It’ll also be important  to  start  hitting any/all  book  sales that  come my  way  in the  future. Probably  my  biggest  expense next  fall will  be  coming up with a new  classroom  library  suitable  for  5th  graders.  "Frog  and Toad”     and "Arthur” books just  aren’t  big  with  that  set.  S seemed very surprised that teachers had to pay their own money to set up their classrooms. (That is, to do their jobs.) Oh S, so innocent…

Hearing F speak about her frustration (via Wendi later that night) over S’s killer work schedule makes me feel a wee bit better about my crummy old job. The pay’s low and the hours are long but at least it means something. When I start to teach well, it will make quite a difference. That really isn’t something S, J, or H could say.

Unfortunately, the fact that I could be making an extra 4-5 hundred per paycheck for the same work were we to move 90 minutes south or, much more bothersome, an extra thousand per month were we to drive four hours south (granted, at 1:30 AM) kinda takes the warming glow off it all. But I’ve traveled down this well-worn road before.

I took a few pictures yesterday but nothing spectacular. We’re still in the novice stage of digital photography. I’ll send you one or two once they’re on the computer.

Just about dinner time. I’d best go check on things.

Adios,

Brian