Thursday, May 2, 2024

 Thursday, May 2, 2024

    I scheduled an early appointment with Jean, my friend,  to do the water meditation.  Jean introduced it. We’ve been doing it daily ever since. We knew we would never keep it up on our own. We share when we speak. Another source of wonderful support. Each friend has their own unique contribution. I am one lucky lady.

   Today, we had a limited time in the morning. I called Jean several times. No answer. Then the time expired. We miss it every once in a while.

    Today, I had my appointment with Dr. Reed. It is always good to see her. I made an appointment to check a hard lump in my left armpit. I was pretty sure it wasn’t cancerous, but I appreciated a doctor’s confirmation.

    It started as a sebaceous cyst thirty years ago. It became encapsulated. I rediscovered it periodically. This time, I was concerned because it was hard. By the time I had my appointment today, it was smaller.  I applied MakesNoClaims (Intrasound Gel) daily, and it shrank.  Another doctor once told me, “Cancer never gets smaller.” It was good to have Dr. Reed confirm my diagnosis, but she did have some concerning news for me.       

  “Did I notice my LDH had risen by 50 points?”  No, I hadn’t noticed that.  My LDH count is always high, but so is my HDH.  My ratio is always good.  Had I changed my diet?  Yes. After my accident, when I shattered my shoulder and my elbow in a fall, had eight hours of surgery, two weeks in the hospital, and another three weeks under twenty-four-hour home care, I stopped taking my smoothy drink every morning, where I added ground flax seed to the drink. That had disappeared from my diet. Yep, that could have done it. I must find ways to include flax seed in my diet, with or without the smoothy.

    I worked with twenty-six-year-old S. We worked on a new story. When I worked on one she had already read, she could use her memory to recall the words without decoding. With a new story, she had to rely on the letters alone. She had to decode. She did well except when she hit a blending problem. Again, I can’t get her to use cross-body blending. It occurred to me that maybe she wasn’t resistant because of her ego. Perhaps she was resistant because neurological irritation.  Crossing the midline may be the problem. I will have to check. 

   Today, I arrived at Ulu Wini before the school bus arrived, delivering the children who live in the low-income housing.   I got a bit of work done on the updates before the kids got there. As I was typing away, a man came by. “I’m Chantel’s husband, Josh. She talks about you, saying what a great teacher you are.”  It is good to hear explicit praise.  I don’t need a lot, but a sprinkling of it feels good. 

   Fifth-grade LY came and asked to work with me immediately. She reads with fair fluency on grade level. As we worked, it became apparent she could use some help decoding multi-syllable words. I don’t think this is taught explicitly in schools, but many kids need it.  I could have used explicit instruction when I was young. My reading improved when I learned how to do it as an adult and was already a decent reader.

   I had to call second-grade MI over to work with me.  She benefits from my work but doesn’t initiate it. She had no idea how to determine the value of the numerals from their place, in other words, place value. After two sessions, she could consistently identify the value of a numeral up to the hundreds place.  Then, we proceeded to addition without regrouping. She couldn’t count-on. That’s when you start with the large number and add-on, instead of counting from one, as in 6 + 2 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) versus 

(6, 7, 8).  Today, we started with addition with regrouping. Not a clue: 75+ 15= 810. Back to the drawing board.  

   This poor girl has problems going blank when she doesn’t understand what someone is saying. Adolescent D had that problem. His was so bad I thought he should be checked for epilepsy.  But it’s past now. He doesn’t do it with me anymore and reports not doing it at school.

  After working for a while, I asked her if she wanted to stop. She was hesitant to answer. I think the kids think I’m setting a trap for them, and they’re supposed to answer, “No, I’d just love to continue.”  I tell them it is as essential to know when you can’t take in any more information as it is to pay attention for as long as you can.  Ingesting information is much like ingesting food; you can consume only so much in one sitting.

   I met with 2nd grade JTHA.  Wow! I saw a tremendous improvement in her reading. She took her time with each word, decoding it accurately.  I can appreciate how counterintuitive it is to work slowly so you can go faster. But that’s the way it works.

   Third-grade PH asked to work with me as I was packing up. I stopped to read with her. She just wanted to read to me, and she didn’t welcome any instruction. 

  Taisha from Provision Solar called. My under-the-roof and racks were all good and could be used to install the new 400 panels, replacing the 35-300 panels. She also said there was a change in HELCO’s return policy.  Currently, the energy points I garnered expire every month.  With the new policy, they would expire at the end of the year, although the percentage of return per kwh would be less.  Taisha said she thought this would be the better deal.  She said I could add additional panels, too. Before, La’a had told me I couldn’t do that. I was permitted to have a given number of KWHs.I would be higher than the permit allowed if I got twenty-five 400 panels to replace my 25 300.

    On my evening walk tonight, Lutz commented on my improved gait.I have been pushing through more with my right leg.  It means more significant involvement of my right glutes and stretch of my right psoas. I feel stronger with this small mechanical adjustment.

    In the evening, I continued watching Royal Pains on Netflix and uploading my entries to Blogger.com.