Tuesday, February 9, 2021

 Tuesday, February 9, 2021

 

            Before I went to bed last night, I got Judy’s surgery schedule. She was in Honolulu to get a tumor on her spinal cord removed. They were sure it was benign, but its removal was urgent because it was growing in an enclosed space within the spinal column.

            Judy has been a source of medical entertainment. She was diagnosed with colon cancer while Mike was still around. Then she had Covid, but that was only recognized because she lost her sense of taste for six months. The virus itself was just a bad cold in her case. Then there was the kidney stone attack. And can we forget the incident that nearly killed her? She had a small mole removed because it was annoying. She went to the beach within a few days, sat in the shallow water in the sand, and   . . . . an infection set in. Did she go to the emergency room immediately as her sister wanted her to? No. She made it there the next morning. The doctors said one more hour, and they didn’t think they could have saved her. She had full-blown sepsis. We nearly lost her on that one. And now we have this tumor. 

            As I walked, my concern for Judy triggered memories of Mike. I remembered deciding to let him go. At the time, it was a joyous decision. He was suffering so, and I was so out of touch with reality, well, long-term reality. I made plans to let everyone know about my plans to take  him off life support and let him die. We were going to ‘pray him out.”  I was excited. Today, I felt the grief for sending my beloved husband off to another plane and out of my life. I wept as I walked, those racking sobs that sound as much as laughter as tears. It felt like yoga for my heart. 

            I planned to present my revised version of the PowerPoint I had prepared for the Step-Up program to Laura this morning at 8 am after yoga. I texted her I had to cancel because I would spend all my time praying and meditating until Judy’s operation was complete. 

            Yvette texted me to say that she felt well enough to conduct the yoga class and participate. Yesterday, her back went out so bad it took her fifteen minutes to cover six feet from one spot to another. I don’t think she has ever had it that bad. From what she was reporting, she was on the mend.

            My phone binged a few times during yoga. When I checked, it was a video from Judy, all suited up for surgery on the gurney. She detailed her prep. She had to be wiped down from head to toe with something, iodine? She had her ‘party hat’ on already. It was shortly after 7, and she was due to be wheeled in at 7:30. She said the procedure would take between 3 and 5 hours. At 10:30, I called Paulette, her sister, on the off chance. No, no word yet. She called me back within minutes. Howard, Judy’s husband, had gotten the call minutes ago. It all went very smoothly. The tumor was easy to dislodge. She should have relatively little pain. Yay!!!!

            I was going to call Laura to get started on the PowerPoint presentation when Houston from Provision Solar stopped by to get the lay of the land and figure out where all the new solar equipment was going to be placed. Everything was easy and obvious except the placement of the batteries. No, they could not be placed against the side of the house facing the driveway behind my mother’s cabinet. Because there were cars in the driveway, a barrier had to be installed. I envisioned a wire grate placed over the batteries. No, cement pillars were legally required, you know, the kind blocking cars from driving up and into government buildings. Houston recommended that I get the propane gas ducts reconfigured to make the side of the building accessible. There are all these rules about where the batteries can be placed. Better safe than sorry.

            Finally, I was free; I called Laura. Yes, she was available. She said my current presentation was much better, clearer, and less dense. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

            She had told me last time that she was using my method with her student and had already seen some change. She also told me of a problem her student was having; she gave me a word she had a problem pronouncing. I showed her cross-body blending, backward build-up, and she needs to beat out the rhythm. This little girl was Latinx, and her Spanish was tripping her up. People don’t appreciate the difference in the rhythm pattern of English versus just about any other language. Carolyn Graham, a jazz pianist at night and an ESL teacher during the day, identified the rhythm of English as a jazz beat. Such a great observation. 

            In response to Laura’s questions about how to help her student, I sent her chapter 2 of my book. She asked me to send Chapter 3 as well. Even I am impressed by how much knowledge I have accrued over the years.

            I had my third session with A today at 3. I sent the link and heard nothing. I called the mom. It took two calls to get through. Oh, I was supposed to send it to her husband’s email. She hadn’t given it to me. When I finally got it, I sent it to him and called to tell him. I was expecting an immediate hookup. I called again. He was just getting A settled. Huh? It was already 10 after; he didn’t have him in place yet. I think we need to talk. I had someone else scheduled for 3:30. I usually have mom sitting at A’s side as I work with him; I hope she will learn from watching me. I wouldn’t consider asking dad. He just does the minimal amount and walks away. It may be he feels helpless. It may also be that he wants nothing to do with his son’s learning problem- and he does have problems.   I saw some progress with his word attack skills today, but his memory Oy Vey!.  Here’s another one with serious memory problems. He remembers some words: the, was, but can’t remember others: he, they, or for that matter a word he has seen two minutes before. As I wrote, I thought  I had to check a) if he remembered he had seen the word, b) if he had what did he remember about the word. 

    I had J next. He wanted to work on a math problem. We have fun working on them together. I started with some phonemic awareness exercises. I was a little confused about what I was doing. I got phases one and two of the procedure mixed up. He decoded one word. I should do one session to keep his audio processing juices flowing. 

            When we went to the math, I remembered to ask him if he was having more success copying the math problems. He said a little, but not really. What??!! Why didn’t he tell me? It took me a while to figure out why he was having problems. You’re not going to believe it. He was writing too slowly because he was making neatness a priority. The teacher isn’t going to see it. Just write it neatly enough for you to read your own handwriting. That did it. Teasing that one apart took time, but it was worth it. 

            We then worked on the problem we had been copying. J got part of it, but not the trick. He was just looking at numbers and guessing how to solve the problem. He didn’t think of “the story.” The story anchors the numbers in the concrete instead of the abstract. I showed him how to solve it using the story presented in the problem by illustrating the story, using people’s names instead of boos. I revised it again, using him as one of the characters. Then he got what I had to be done to solve the problem.

   I pushed the need to envision the concrete objects in a word problem. When doing math word problems, you have to move back and forth between the concrete and the abstract. So many people stay in one realm or the other. The key to my intelligence is my ability to move back and forth between the two realms with ease. It took practice, but I got good at it.

            I called the contractor we used when we had our house renovated to compliment him again on the fantastic job he did remodeling our house. When Houston was here, he admired the library. I had to show him the bathroom and kitchen, all done by Ken. He did a fantastic job. With other contractors, there was always some disappointment. With Ken, the work was always beyond expectations. We were so lucky!

     Because I was thinking of putting in a new bathroom in the library area, I asked Ken if he knew where the cesspools were on the property. He said you have to hire someone to find them; $400 a pop. I think we have two on this property. I heard that all cesspools need to be converted to septic tanks by 2050. That’s not so far away. Ken told me that you must convert to a septic system whenever a bathroom is added. 

     Well, right now, I need a plumber to reroute the propane gas line and tanks to the other side of the house, so the back wall is free for the solar batteries. Ken said finding a plumber to come work is hard these days. He can’t even get someone to come out. This is going to be a problem. 

            I called B later that evening to ask him if he knew someone. Now, I have two names. I will start calling tomorrow. Tomorrow, I also have plans to go over the PowerPoint Presentation with Dorothy and review chapter 3 of my book in preparation for sending it to Laura. 

             I finally made it out to the shed today to clean up some of the fertilizers the rats had gotten into and spilled. I got some of it done. I would have to wait till Scott gets the wood he stored in there out before I finish the job.