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Had to Share...

After school I am talking with another teacher about a kid from my room.  She taught him last year.  I was telling her how I was really concerned about his diet.  He is a MAJOR junk food eater.  She shared this story with me!  She has taken him and a few other students back to her room for lunch.  He pulls out a bag of generic oreos and starts scarfing them down.  She says, "Erion, is that all you are going to eat, cookies?"

His reply,"It's OK Mrs. Kemper, they are generic."

Apparently he thought generic equals low fat!

On the Town...Field Trip Style

Paydirt

I needed a night that didn't involve the hospital.  BADLY.  I told HH about this earlier in the week.  He did not disappoint.  We went to The Cheesecake Factory, and then to see Etta Mae at a local comedy club.  It was just what I needed.  At the comedy club I did decide that I wanted to stop by the hospital for a few minutes.  We went for about forty minutes.

Update on my BIL:  He has been moved to another hospital into the Hosparus (Hospice) unit.  This happened on Wednesday.  I LOVE it there.  It is very peaceful and the staff really want to help people who are in their very last stages of life.  His breathing is super shallow.  I've seen infants take deeper breaths than he is.  My sister is doing ok. 

We went on a field trip today.  I'll post pictures this weekend.

Snow Day

I knew there was a chance of a snow day, so I brought a TON of stuff home to work on.  Last night, I broke down and had to work at the hospital.  Before my sister turned off the machines, she didn't seem to mind that I graded papers and did school work while visiting with her.  Last week, I really felt that it was inappropriate to do anything but visit.  This put me way behind with work stuff though.  I was getting home at 9:00, trying to eat a late dinner, and work on school stuff for 2-2 1/2 hours.  ROUGH.  I have a bunch of deadlines approaching, and I knew I couldn't do that again this week.  I busted tail at the hospital last night.  I was marking papers, so it was easy for me to social and mark at the same time.

Last night on the way home I had a new experience that I'd rather not repeat.  We were going to a place about five minutes away where I had placed a baked ziti order.  Yeah, sadly, she knows my voice.  I've called her several times this past month.  The road by our condo is very curvy.  It's almost like we don't live in the city.  I was grading papers on the way home, because I was DETERMINED that my bag was NOT coming into our house last night.  HH was talking on the phone to his best friend.  We went around the first curve pretty slow, and all of a sudden I was DIZZY as all get out.  I think I experienced my first bout of motion sickness while reading.  I had to lay my seat back, close my eyes, and rest for about fifteen minutes.  I've always been a big car reader, and hopefully that is my last experience with motion sickness!

My BIL has not passed yet.  He was having bladder spasms for some time on Saturday night, and they have upped his morphine and adavan accordingly.  This seems to have helped quite a bit.  Yesterday wasn't without some good old DRAMA though.....my BIL's ex wanted to bring the kids up (6 and 9) to see their dad.  She wanted them to be able to grieve, and to see their daddy take his last breath.  (I can't make that up.  She is so messed up.)  Both facilities he has been in have strict under 14 visiting policies.  (He has always been in the ICU area.)  His ex told the nurse manager that they had been coming up each week to see their dad, so she approved the visit.  My sister found out, and went off.  There was a storm of loud pone conversations and text messages back and forth.  She didn't end up bringing them.  Chase (the boy who was in the car accident) is VERY observant.  He would want to see every tube, and ask a million questions.  Matt is also at the point where he looks gray, and is very much at death's door.  If this were going to be done, it should have happened before now.

My sister has requested that Matt's parents stop saying "see you tomorrow Matt."  While no one thinks there is ability to recognize voice, etc left (he is not responding to any noises), she just thinks it is time for them to stop saying that "just in case" he is hanging on somewhere deep inside.

In lieu of flowers, my brother, his wife, HH and I are getting a military flag display box that is personalized for my sister.

Here are some pictures that I've recently taken...

I discovered Cake Flour on Market this summer at the Farmer's Market.  They made amazing scones and Rosemary Foccacia bread.  I noticed they were not far from the hospital, and HH and I stopped in last week for some treats.

Here is my "mini" me:  She wanted to start teaching her own Guided Reading Group, and has been asking me for some time.  So, twenty minutes two times a week, I am letting her go to a third grade classroom and teach.  Here she is with her Vera Bradley bag I lent her, inside which contains her real plan book, and materials.  Love. This. Girl!

Some other faces that make me light up each day...

Going to go back to bed.  Later on we'll be heading over to the hospital.

We Are Going to See

the PEKING ACROBATS in February!!!

Update

Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers.  We've been up at the hospital every evening, and HH has been up for a majority of the time during the day. My BIL's vitals are slowing down.  He looks like he has lost ten pounds in the past few days.

He looks very peaceful.  I am very happy about this for him, and especially my sister.  We've even been able to share a few good laughs in the midst of a whole lot of serious talk.

I'll be back to regular posting before too long.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Almost Time...

4:00 AM the phone rings....

It is my sister.  Matt has had a horrible night.  She is sobbing, and she has finally decided to sign the paperwork to end her husband's suffering.  (His blood pressure shot into the 300s, then went into the 200s, and finally stabilized.  This caused several strokes.  My sister knew you can't recover from that.)  She signed the Do Not Resuscitate order, stop the feeding tube (other than pain medication, which will be plentiful), and is stopping the vent too.  The doctor who has been treating Matt signed off, saying he felt that her decision was in his best interest.  To cover themselves legally, the hospital has an independent doctor (with no ties to Matt's case) evaluate and sign that he agrees with the other doctors findings.  At 6:30, we were still waiting for this doctor to come in.  Once he has, everything will be disconnected.  His doctor anticipates with how stressful the last 24 hours have been that he will pass pretty quickly.

HH will be doing the funeral.

5 Things

I NEVER Want to Put In My Mouth

1. McDonalds
2. Any type of melon (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, etc)
3. cat/dog food
4. super spicy anything
5. cheap grocery store cupcakes

HH's Five Things He NEVER Wants to Put in His Mouth

1. slime
2. scorpion
3. poisonous spider
4. radioactive material
5. human feces

Back from NC

My newphew John...so cute!!!

John "playing" Scrabble.

New Years Eve 2010

I've wanted HH to stand in front of this sign and get his picture taken since I saw it last month.  This is the slogan for Bojangles Restaurant.  Seriously?  It's BO time?  Not so much!!!

We kept with last year's theme of seeing a movie on New Years Eve:

I would like to thank HH's brother for the AMAZING dried strawberries.  I have consumed the whole bag that I won, and I got home to find I had another bag that was delivered to our condo!

My hair is BEYOND needing styled and colored.  I am going to get it fixed Monday after work.  I cannot wait.