Twos Day . . .

Twos-day! 02/22/2022

OK, hokey, but I need to have some fun. Yesterday, the other new lady at work and I started training for food assistance. Which I’ve been doing for almost four months and she’s been doing for six. To say it is boring is to massively understate the case. However, we do get paid for it, so there’s that. I am enjoying my job though—it’s great to be able to help people in need of aid and to see that happen right away. As a teacher, I rarely saw any benefit of my profession borne out. Very occasionally, someone would say they were glad they read Of Mice and Men, or (less often) Romeo and Juliet. Or that they used something I had taught them. The rewards were ephemeral. With this job, they are concrete and nearly immediate, which is great for my down-trodden spirits. 

Robert is home from rehab (surgery 01/20/2021, in hospital until 02/01, then rehab until 02/11) and we’re all glad he is home. It wasn’t really the same without him. He’s glad to be home too, and has started doing some work—three to four hours a day for now. I know his bosses want him back, but he is still healing, so he shouldn’t push it. The worker’s comp insurance is going to pay for a metal railing for the front of the house and some bars and supports in the bathroom so that he’ll feel safer. I ordered and put together a bed frame that will support him and get his mattress/box spring up off the floor. Working well so far.

Ethan is very, very, slowly feeling better. He plays D & D on Saturday nights and DMs his own games on Sunday and Tuesday afternoons and Thursday night. It really helps him to feel in control of something and gets his mind of the still considerable pain he is feeling. I need to work with him to do some of the physical therapy for his back so that pain will be more manageable. 

Cathleen was told on Thursday (02/17/2022) that she would be non-renewed at her school this year. Though we believe it is body-weight related (all of the other teachers are young, thin women), we can’t prove anything. She’s written up her resignation and has started looking for another job. She really loved the kiddos and her fellow teachers and the parents seemed to like her as well. My hope is that now that she has a year of teaching (plus two years of subbing) under her belt, she get snatched up. Emporia would probably be a good fit, but maybe she can find something in Seneca or Sabetha or Horton. 

I’ve been battling a fair amount of depression and hopelessness, but I just keep on keepin’ on. Really, what else can I do? My family needs stability, calmness and someone who can keep the home fires burning, as it were. I do my best. 

COVID-19 seems to be going the way of the flu, in that it will be endemic and we’ll just get a shot every year. Johns Hopkins reports the US leads all other countries in both cases (78,620,973) and deaths (938,567), but 10,402,901,371 vaccine doses have been administered world-wide, so it seems we’ve started to realize that vaccines do make us safer. How about that? 

Stressed but blessed . . .

February 8, 2022

Good news, Robert is coming home Friday (2/11/2022)! Plus, Ethan finally got approved for his infusion and received it on the 5th. I hate to even think that things might be getting better—it seems like jinxing, but I don’t really believe in that. Our lives have been simultaneously stressful and blessed. I’ve talked about the stressful parts, but when I think of all our blessings, things don’t seem as bad. Cathleen has a job that she’s good at and enjoys (most of the time). Ethan is really enjoying being a DM for three groups of Dungeons and Dragons. He also plays one game on Saturdays, but I think his real joy is in leading those Tues/Thurs/Sun games. Interesting how much that skill is similar to teaching. Another blessing—Robert still has most of the use of his right arm, and his left arm will heal eventually. The worker’s comp insurance has been most generous in taking care of him—there’s no way we could have afforded the rehab hospital on our own. If he’d come home after the first surgery (1/20) we surely wouldn’t have known about the infection or the dislocation that caused the second surgery (1/29). I’m so grateful he had plenty of time to heal. 

My work has been very gracious about all the time off I’ve had to use to take care of family matters. Plus the insurance is very good. Robert’s work has been wonderful about not pressuring him to work while he’s healing, so that’s been good for him too. We both still have our parents to go to for help and advice, and they are near enough to see once in a while. Many good things. 

One of those good things is a healthy living program sponsored by my work. It seems to be very much like Noom, which worked great for me. This one is at no cost to me and I can use completion of the program for money off my health insurance premiums next year. It’s nice to know that they care about us being healthy—less expensive for them in the long run, I guess. My eating has been really out of control and I’ve not been exercising very much. Dog walks (thank God for Kyla!) are about the extent of it. Now that this program has started, and since I don’t have to leave for work at 7am, I’m trying to make a habit of getting up and exercising every morning. Then at least I’ll have accomplished something positive each day.

Robert's OTHER surgery

 February 2, 2022

That's right, a week after he had his second surgery on his left arm, my poor husband had to go back on the operating table and be cut open again. What happened is this. The surgeon, Dr. Fox, came by to look at the arm that he'd "fixed" on the 20th and as he changed the bandage, he dislocated Robert's arm. Just by touching it gently. He'd warned Robert not to jostle that shoulder, and he'd been VERY careful not to, but clearly something wasn't right. So they scheduled another surgery for Saturday the 29th to take out the long implant against the humerus and replace it with a longer one that would fit the socket better. Robert had been in the hospital the whole time.

After the second (really third) surgery, Robert came out feeling pretty good, with minimal swelling/pain and with no neuropathy in his feet. They cleared him to go to rehab and yesterday, February 1, they moved him into the PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Overland Park. When I spoke with him tonight, he was very tired, but in good spirits. He'll have three hours of PT/OT and other therapy to help him manage with one hand while the other one heals. 

In other news, Ethan finally got approved to get his Entyvio infusion (three weeks after he should have had it). There was a whole snafu with the Sabetha Hospital not sending in the request for approval back in November, when we gave them the new insurance. Dr. Datti's office have been fighting with BlueCross/Blue Shield since then, trying to get it approved. I called yesterday and bingo, bango, bish, bash, bosh (as Ethan says), it's all approved! I didn't even have to threaten to call a lawyer, which was my next step. Poor Ethan's been in pain for so long--it sure would be nice if we could get him into remission! 

One more thing about Ethan, he's been having great fun DMing two D/D games on Tuesday and Thursday and participating in one on Saturdays. It's really helped take his mind off his pain and has alleviated some of his loneliness. God bless his therapist, who pushed him to check into it!

Cathleen is doing pretty well, but I do think the stress of teaching is getting to her a bit. She can't seem to clear up the excema she keeps getting and it keeps spreading to new spots. She'll be happy to have Spring Break and then summer vacation. I'm so proud of her and her confidence in her teaching ability. The school and kiddos are so lucky to have her!