Kickball: Teachers vs. Students

Today, students watched the teachers play the softball and soccer teams in a game of kickball. This game took place during the last hour of the school day. The first three innings were against the softball team. The next three innings were against the soccer team, and the final inning against them both. I had a lot of fun. I kicked the ball three times and each time, made it all the way around to home and scored a run. The first time, it felt weird running. One of my kids was sitting in the bleachers by first base and laughed when I ran. I don't run.

Seeing our pitcher rolling the ball to the kicker was funny. Both teams scored homeruns, by kicking the ball so it would hit the back wall. Kicking the ball into the bleachers was an automatic out. I enjoyed myself and had a lot of fun.

The kids paid $2 today to dress down and go to the game, or bring in 5 cans of beans or corn or mac and cheese in the last two days. The student council is trying to collect 3,000 cans by next Friday.

Still No Blood Return

I had an appointment after school today to have my port flushed. (considering how my afternoon was, my blood pressure was good.) My port flushed without a problem, but still no blood return. Get this, when the needle is removed, that area bleeds.

The nurse has a theory about why it won't return blood. She called the doctor, nothing will be done now. A call will be put into Special Services to see what they think/say. I will get it flushed in four weeks. On January 3, I am to have blood work, if it doesn't return blood then, the nurse will try to access a vein in my arm for blood work, since this is to be fasting blood work. If need to be, I will go to Special Services the week of Valentine's Day to have them check my port and give me a certain drug, since I am to get a CT scan on February 17.

If nothing by then, we will start discussing what to do about my port. I'd rather have it replaced than try to have my veins accessed, when I know they do not work very well.

Teacher Merit Pay

For the last 10 years, off and on, there has been talk about paying teachers via merit pay only or in some form. I am totally against merit pay. On testing day, a student could be off, and fail the test, don't show growth, or maybe they were absent. Some students are just not good test takers, while some don't care one bit. This is what gets my goat. Teachers are judged on how well kids do, but if they don't care, then they will not try. Then why should the teachers get blamed for them doing poorly? Yes, sometimes, it could be the teachers' fault, but more than likely it is not.

Ohio is doing it right now, on a volunteer basis, but will be for sure in three years. Right now, just reading and math. There is an article about this, in today's Akron Beacon Journal. Go to www.ohio.com and do a search on teacher merit pay.

Port Check

My appointment was scheduled for 10 am, and was told to be at the hospital by 9 am for preregistration. I get there and was told that I was already pre-registered. They took info from my old account from last month and started a new one. So they took me early.

I had the same male nurse that I had last time, and he remembered me. He accessed me, and there was still no blood return. My port flushes nicely. They did the x-ray and even inserted some contrast. The doctor couldn't find anything that was stopping the port from returning blood.

I was giving the option of receiving the drug that begins with an R. I decided to get it, it is a small bag that is I got through and IV for about two hours. I was at the hospital this morning for about three hours.

Will see what happens on the 22nd when I go to get my port flushed. If there is no blood return then, will probably have to go back to special procedures again.

Port Problems, Week 2

I went over to the cancer center this afternoon. My port was accessed, no blood return at all. It was flushed, and then I was given the clot buster drug. After an hour, still no blood return, they continue to let me sit. (I got two classes of papers graded.) About 5:40, Tara came over to talk to me. She could've given me another dose of the clot buster drug, but didn't think it would work, if she did, that would've had me there til after 7 pm. Instead, the nurse in charge, tomorrow afternoon, will call next door to the doctor's office and have them call over to the hospital (specials) to schedule a time next month to have my port checked. I should know in the next couple of days. That means taking a day off school to have my port checked. There is something in my port that is not allowing blood return and it needs to be removed.

Problems with my Port

I was scheduled for 4 pm this afternoon to get my port flushed. After icing my skin above my port, the nurse inserted the needle, and flushed my port, but she got no blood return. I took deep breaths, lifted my right arm, then my left arm. I coughed and took more deep breaths. They put the chair back, so my head was lower than my feet. I sat forward. I got up and walked around for a few minutes. I was given some normal saline for a few minutes, but nothing worked. A call was put into my onc, and he said to give me the clot buster drug. First, the needle was removed and a different one was inserted, still nothing. I was given the clot buster drug a little after 5 pm. Three different times during the next hour, my nurse tried to get a blood return. Nothing, Nada, Zilch. No blood whatsoever. I was given Heparin, and scheduled for next Tuesday again at 4 pm. If it doesn't work next week, then I will get to spend a day at Specials over at the hospital to have my port checked.

Figures, that when I don't take grading in, my port doesn't work.

Jim Thome

Jim Thome, left the Indians after the 2002 season. Since then he has played for four other teams. Last month, we traded for Jim Thome from the MN Twins. His first at bat as an Indian was the last Friday of August, and he received a standing ovation. This summer, Thome hit his 600th home run. Tonight the Indians honored him. It was a nice ceremony. I got to see him bat on Tuesday, August 30th. Congrats Thome!

Lung Doctor Visit

Yesterday afternoon, I saw my lung doctor. I said in a previous post that I had sarcoid. I have not been officially diagnosed with sarcoid. My doctor said I have either sarcoid or the spots on my lungs (possibly nodules) could mean a tumor (cancer). he said are we losing ground just doing nothing? He is in touch with my oncologist, and he said my latest scans are good. I had a breathing test last month, and I do have a bit of inflammation in my lungs. I do have a cough at times at night. I don't have any symptoms. So for now, we are doing nothing. I really do not want to go on steroids, unless I have to. Steroids we be the course of action if I do have sarcoid. My next CT scan and lung test is Friday, February 17. I will see the lung doctor in March. For now, he is not going to schedule a broncoscopy.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the new school year. I am teaching seventh grade science. I have six classes of science and a study hall. I eat lunch during the first lunch period, but can not eat in my room, since there is a study hall in my class at that time. Today went well. I have one kid, who was with my team partner two years ago, when I taught fifth grade. I have this person in the morning. In the afternoon, I have a kid I taught two years ago in the fifth grade. What a surprise to have these two kids. My feet hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a good day. I have anywhere from 15-30 kids in my science classes. I don't have room for more than 24 kids. Will see how things pan out.

Indians Game #5

Mom and I went to the Indians game Tuesday night with a friend. We had four tickets, but only used three of them. We sat in left center in row H, eight rows from the field. Jenmar Gomez was brought up and Matt LaPorta was sent down to AAA. Gomez pitched and did a good job. The Indians scored in two different innings.

They got their first two runs by a 2 run double in the third. Jim Thome is back with the team. We traded for him from the Twins last week and he started last Friday night. He is the DH. He hit a single and was walked twice. We scored again in the sixth inning, but hitting two 2 run home runs. One was by Jack Hannahan. He hit another home run last night. The final score for Tuesday night's game was 6-2.

Scan Results

Saw my oncologist this morning to get last week's CT Scan results. They came back good. The lymph nodes are the same. The kidney stone is still sitting in the same place as it did during the last scan. I've had a kidney stone before, that was back in college and was not much fun. Love good news.

Indians Game #4

We took people with us to the game and our seats were next to our bullpen. I took a picture of Sipp warming up later in the game. I even got a picture of the bullpen catcher.

Yesterday, the Indians had a day/night double header. I was hoping that Justin Masterson would be pitching in the night game, but no, he pitched in the day game. We had to watch Zach McAllister pitch. I was not too happy to see him. He pitched on July 7 and only lasted 4 innings. He got thrown out in the fourth inning of this game. He did fine in the first two innings, but stunk it up in the third. He gave up five runs in the third. We made two errors last night. Zach should've not been pitching. He can't hack the majors, yet. Hermman came out for relief in the fourth inning. In innings three and four, we gave up 10 runs to the Mariners. The Mariners are in last place and we lost 3 out of 4 games to them in three days.

I am not putting all of the blame for the loss onto Zach. Our offensive was too good either. We loaded up the bases three times. Our batsmen seem to like to strand their teammates out on the bases. Do they want to go to the Playoffs? I sure want them to go.

Last night's game was not as boring as the previous games were. The wrong team was scoring the runs.

Two Tests and a Funeral

This morning I had a CT scan. I noticed that the pillow wasn't at the usual end it is on, where my feet goes into the machine first. My head went in first, because the doctor ordered my neck to be scanned along with my chest, abdomen, and pelvic areas.

The nurse prefers accessing ports while the person is lying down. I work better sitting up. The nurse had a problem with me sitting up, so I lied down and it was working that way either. The nurse asked for another person to come in, but before she was needed, she somehow got blood return. They taped it down that way for it to work.

After my CT scan, I walked over to a different building for a lung function test. This wasn't the complete test, like the one done in May.

I got up to school around 10:30am. Took upstairs to my room things that were in my car. Left school around noon for Dave's funeral.

The funeral was nice. Four people spoke, three pastors, and the Dean of Northern OH from IWU. Then Dave's sister and three brothers spoke. The service lasted an hour. Stories were told about Dave, verses shared. People laughed and cried. We caught up with those we hadn't seen in a long time. There were people there from Real Life when I was part of it in the mid '90's to those who are in Real Life now. It was a very nice service. Dave will be missed. He touched a lot of people here on Earth. He meant different things to different people. We have all been blessed to have had Dave in our lives.

Life is so Short

This afternoon/evening was calling hours for a friend I have known for 15/16 years. Tomorrow is his funeral. He's been gone a week. Back in 1991, I started going to The Chapel, to the college class during the summer and when I was home from college. I moved over to Real Life either in the fall of 1994 (when I was doing my Student Teaching) or in the winter of 1995. That is when I met this friend and his sister. Before I moved to TX, he led our Thursday night time along with another friend. Fun times. We weren't close, but we were friends. After moving back home 4 1/2 years ago, I'd see him periodically. He'd help teach the class on Sunday mornings, come to the Christmas party. In December of '09, I went to the calling hours for his mother. I was back there for his calling hours today. It was hard to see him in that casket.

How we all found out of his death, was a week ago. I was playing on the computer, and was on Facebook, there was a note from a friend announcing his death. It was a real shock to hear of his passing. When he went home that morning, he stood in front of God and heard "Well, done, my good and faithful servant." I know the choices I have made in my life. I know I will spend enternity in Heaven, but I've been thinking about will I hear that from God. God is good. God had his reasons for taking my friend home early Sunday morning, August 14, 2011. Rest in peace, Dave Wright.

Indians Game #3

Last night's game was the first of three for the month of August. For all three, we have four tickets for the game. A couple from my parent's church came with us. Last night started a three game series against the Detroit Tigers.We sat in right field. The seats were okay. Sitting in left center was better.

Justin Masterson was our starting pitcher. He did pretty good the first inning. We scored two runs in the bottom of the first. Justin allowed the Tigers to come back and tie the game in the top of the second. We did nothing in the bottom half of that inning. When I go to a game, I get into the game and can cheer loud. I get into the game at home watching it on tv or listening to it on the radio. Toward the end of the second, a guy from two rows down, turns around and asks me to be quiet. That is the first time that has happened. I didn't say anything back to him. I didn't think there was anything wrong with me cheering as loud as I was for my guys. Neither did my mom, nor who was with us at the game. If you don't want to be around loud cheering, then don't go to a game.

Right after the second inning ended, the grounds crew came out to put the tarp onto the infield. It got dark, with lightening, and thunder. On the jumbo tron, they showed cartoons and the White Sox game. After two hours and one minute, the game resumed. We went back to our seats, and felt a few drops, and thinking it was going to rain again, we went home.

I stayed up watching the game until the 11th inning. I went to bed. That was around 12:30 am. The game went to 14 innings and ended a little before 2 am, with bases loaded and our new guy getting hit by a pitch to walk in the winning run. Justin didn't come back out after the rain delay. The whole bullpen pitched at least one inning last night.

Cleveland Zoo

I went to the Cleveland zoo yesterday with friend from Real Life, part of . We had an enjoyable time at the zoo. Four people paid $4 to ride a camel. Went into the Rain Forest, and the main part of the zoo. We did miss a few of the exhibits, so we didn't see all of then animals. At the Elephant Crossings, spoke with a volunteer about the elephants. She showed us part of a tusk that one of the male elephants lost. It actually, broke off. I learned that the tusks will wear down depending on how much they use them. I never knew that. I took over 200 pictures. I tried to take a picture of the name plate of the animals I took, so that I will have their names for scrapbooking. Here are a few pictures of the different animals we saw.

Cpap Machine

Yesterday afternoon, after my staff development, I had an appointment at a medical supply store about the cpap machine that I need. The therapist showed me the machine and how it worked, how to put it together, and tried a couple of masks on me. The machine is calibrated between 5-20. The lower the better, and mine is at 8. One part is the dehumidifier, and I can only put distilled water in it. The machine is not that big. The jury is still out on whether or not I will take it with me when I travel.

I set it up last night, and it is to be lower than my bed, and it is. I found out, that I have to hit play on my cd player before I can put the mask on. And, I have to do this in the dark. It was uncomfortable laying on my left side (the way I normally sleep). Took me longer to fall asleep. I have to get used to it. My hair needs to be up with the mask on. I woke up this morning, so tired. With using it, I am not supposed to be tired when I get up in the morning. The machine is supposed to be pushing the oxygen down to my lungs, so I would be getting more air at night than I have been getting. It looks like it is put together correctly. If things don't improve, then I will call over to the store next week and talk to them about it.

Balloon Festival and Fireworks

This weekend was the Balloon Festival which kicks off Hall of Fame week at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton. There is no football game this year, due to the strike/close-out between players and owners, that just ended this past week. I went down to Canton last night to see the balloons take off and see a bunch more fly over. Some would get very close to the ground, to throw out something to see if it would hit its mark. I took a bunch of pictures. Some were a variety of colors, and some were different shapes. That ended about 8:30 pm after the parachute jumpers landed. Then I had to wait 90 minutes for the fireworks. I was told that these fireworks are usually very good. I love to watch fireworks. These only lasted 10 minutes and weren't worth the wait. I would be interested in going back down again.

I posted three pictures of hot air balloons and two of fireworks from last night.

Indians Game #2

Yesterday, was my birthday and the second Indians game that Mom and I went to this month. We have at least two more games next month, maybe a third game. We had great seats. We were in left center, five rows from the field. We had a good view of Travis Buck, who was playing right field. Buck made some good catches.

Bottom of the first, we scored one run. Fausto Carmona pitched last night. I had wanted to see Justin Masternson. Carmona did pretty good, better than he did the first half. The Angels starting pitcher had 10 strikeouts, while Carmona, only had 3 strikeouts. After we scored in the first, only zeros were put up on the scoreboard. It became a pitcher's duel. Carmona pitched six innings.

Joe Smith came out in the seventh and did a great job. Pestano came out in the eighth and gave up two runs. The score is now 1-2, in favor of the Angels. Sipp came out in the ninth and didn't allow anybody to score.

Bottom of the ninth, Travis Hafner hit a double and recieved a pinch runner. We tied the game at 2. Two outs and two on, Jack Hannahan came up to bat and was hit by a pitch, which loaded the bases. Jason Kipnis came up to bat. This was only his second major league game, and so far he has had no hits, with a batting average of 0.000. With bases loaded, Jason hit a single, got his first hit and RBI and won the game for us. The team rushed him between first and second base.

That makes both games we were at, where the Indians came from behind to win. Mom said we are batting one thousand (1.000).

Another Sleep Study

Yesterday, I was not allowed to drink any pop or eat any chocolate, because I had another sleep study last night. I slept better last night than I did the first time. I got up twice in the middle of the night, due to sleeping on my back. I went to bed after watching the Indians lose.

I was connected to all of the wires again. In addition, they put a mask over my nose, in order to push more oxygen into my lungs while I slept. It was very uncomfortable to try to sleep on my left side, so I spent most of the night on my back. I think I clenched my teeth more than normal because of the mask over my nose. The mask made it difficult to cough when I had to cough last night. I also thought air was leaking out of the mask quite a bit during the night. I don't think it fit the best.

I was not as tired when they got me up this morning, but after coming up and cleaning up, I went back to bed for another 2 1/2 hours. I will see the lung specialist at the end of September. If I can help it, I do not want to do another sleep study, but if I have to, will not be on a school night.