It Finally Stopped Raining Here!
Oh, it's been a rough week, my dear blogreaders.
One local weather forecaster called it "Seattle Week" here (please don't be insulted, Seattle-ites), meaning it pretty much rained every day. We've had thunder and downpours the last couple days, too. Water pouring in through my dining room AC (booooo).
On top of that, The Cat was really mopey Sunday and Monday. Picking at her food and just generally looking sad and tired. Tuesday morning rolled around with more of the same, so I called the vet and they said haul her in. They wanted a blood test two weeks into her chemo, anyway.
Naturally, The Cat complained about the trip. To my surprise, she had gained 3/4 lb. in about a month (yay, steroids)--but I was concerned she wouldn't be able to hold on to it if her appetite had started heading south again. Her doctor and I discussed what was going on with her medication. He always seems surprised that I have a little notepad listing when she took her meds, but honestly it's the only way I can keep them straight. I do it for myself when I have a prescription, like when I got sent home with lots of antibiotics in September. Anyway, he was thinking the chemo might be too strong, so he said hold off on her next dose (Thurs.) until he checked her white blood cell count. Maybe the dosage needed to be halved.
He also gave her a shot of fluids and a shot to settle her stomach--he thought her stomach might be bugging her and that's why she was picking at her food. Even though I was sitting in the waiting room, I could hear her giving the tech an earful about the needles. When the tech brought her out, I apologized that The Cat swore at her, and the tech graciously replied, "Oh, no, she wasn't swearing at all." Nice people.
First thing Wednesday morning, the doctor called to say that while everything looked pretty good on her test results, he thought it might be a good idea to give her a week off from the chemo. So she doesn't have to take it again until next Thursday. She was still pretty whiny and mopey on Wednesday, but by the end of the day yesterday (Thursday) she started to eat a little more.
Tonight, from where I'm sitting at my desk I can see the empty plate of second dinner on the kitchen floor. I think that her appetite is coming back. She's still a little leery of the Pill Pockets (aka meds) but I've taken to burying them in her food so she's actually getting them in. Whew.
In other news, I was at a workshop today, discussing I.T. issues with I.T. people from other school districts. (Do I have stories about the lady sitting next to me during the talks. I promise I'll share soon.) And of course the national-news-making issue with the high school laptops was discussed. Interesting stuff. We can't implement a lot of the stuff people talked about, but we did get ideas about certain products and also about improving our policies.
Back at school, however, my poor co-librarian--who for some reason was not told by our secretary that said secretary was also going to be out today (she told me in passing but I'm wondering if the cold war between those two continues)--was left to fend for herself all day in the library. She was trying to teach a regularly scheduled class with some of the little ones, and wouldn't you know it, the middle schoolers were behaving very badly during their lunchtime study period. Some kids got written up and some got banned for the rest of the school year (pretty much next week).
Only seven (7!) of my sixth graders who were eligible for extra credit (i.e. had finished the prior assignment in time to get it back with a grade on Tuesday, approximately 30) got the extra credit handed in on time. It was due today. (There's one class that meets only on Mondays, and because there was an in-service this past Monday we will not meet until this coming Monday.). Out of those seven students, probably only one or two of them really needed to do it. I told the Tuesday classes it was due today, so I'm not accepting any from them next week--only the Monday class has an extended deadline.
I still have two students who have not handed in the prior assignment. One has emotional problems and I made his supervising teacher aware of the assignment, so I know I will get it at some point. The other student has run out of chances with me. First, she knew exactly where it was--she kept leaving it on the kitchen table at home. Then, yesterday morning, she brings me a note her mother wrote claiming she lost her entire folder and its contents. I told her she had to start over and get it to me ASAP. She said she'd do it at lunchtime and asked if I'd help her. I told her I was sorry but I had lunch duty (had switched with someone because I normally do Fridays). I would leave her a copy of the assignment (again) with a written reminder of the news website she had chosen to use in class.
When I came back from lunch duty, the secretary informed me that this girl came in late (said she was finishing a test for another teacher) and then was being helped by a classmate. . . but it looked more like the classmate was doing the work for her. Regardless, she did not finish by the end of lunchtime yesterday. Nothing was handed in today. She's getting a zero because she has exhausted all her chances.
It's the end of the school year, and it is exhausting me.
One local weather forecaster called it "Seattle Week" here (please don't be insulted, Seattle-ites), meaning it pretty much rained every day. We've had thunder and downpours the last couple days, too. Water pouring in through my dining room AC (booooo).
On top of that, The Cat was really mopey Sunday and Monday. Picking at her food and just generally looking sad and tired. Tuesday morning rolled around with more of the same, so I called the vet and they said haul her in. They wanted a blood test two weeks into her chemo, anyway.
Naturally, The Cat complained about the trip. To my surprise, she had gained 3/4 lb. in about a month (yay, steroids)--but I was concerned she wouldn't be able to hold on to it if her appetite had started heading south again. Her doctor and I discussed what was going on with her medication. He always seems surprised that I have a little notepad listing when she took her meds, but honestly it's the only way I can keep them straight. I do it for myself when I have a prescription, like when I got sent home with lots of antibiotics in September. Anyway, he was thinking the chemo might be too strong, so he said hold off on her next dose (Thurs.) until he checked her white blood cell count. Maybe the dosage needed to be halved.
He also gave her a shot of fluids and a shot to settle her stomach--he thought her stomach might be bugging her and that's why she was picking at her food. Even though I was sitting in the waiting room, I could hear her giving the tech an earful about the needles. When the tech brought her out, I apologized that The Cat swore at her, and the tech graciously replied, "Oh, no, she wasn't swearing at all." Nice people.
First thing Wednesday morning, the doctor called to say that while everything looked pretty good on her test results, he thought it might be a good idea to give her a week off from the chemo. So she doesn't have to take it again until next Thursday. She was still pretty whiny and mopey on Wednesday, but by the end of the day yesterday (Thursday) she started to eat a little more.
Tonight, from where I'm sitting at my desk I can see the empty plate of second dinner on the kitchen floor. I think that her appetite is coming back. She's still a little leery of the Pill Pockets (aka meds) but I've taken to burying them in her food so she's actually getting them in. Whew.
In other news, I was at a workshop today, discussing I.T. issues with I.T. people from other school districts. (Do I have stories about the lady sitting next to me during the talks. I promise I'll share soon.) And of course the national-news-making issue with the high school laptops was discussed. Interesting stuff. We can't implement a lot of the stuff people talked about, but we did get ideas about certain products and also about improving our policies.
Back at school, however, my poor co-librarian--who for some reason was not told by our secretary that said secretary was also going to be out today (she told me in passing but I'm wondering if the cold war between those two continues)--was left to fend for herself all day in the library. She was trying to teach a regularly scheduled class with some of the little ones, and wouldn't you know it, the middle schoolers were behaving very badly during their lunchtime study period. Some kids got written up and some got banned for the rest of the school year (pretty much next week).
Only seven (7!) of my sixth graders who were eligible for extra credit (i.e. had finished the prior assignment in time to get it back with a grade on Tuesday, approximately 30) got the extra credit handed in on time. It was due today. (There's one class that meets only on Mondays, and because there was an in-service this past Monday we will not meet until this coming Monday.). Out of those seven students, probably only one or two of them really needed to do it. I told the Tuesday classes it was due today, so I'm not accepting any from them next week--only the Monday class has an extended deadline.
I still have two students who have not handed in the prior assignment. One has emotional problems and I made his supervising teacher aware of the assignment, so I know I will get it at some point. The other student has run out of chances with me. First, she knew exactly where it was--she kept leaving it on the kitchen table at home. Then, yesterday morning, she brings me a note her mother wrote claiming she lost her entire folder and its contents. I told her she had to start over and get it to me ASAP. She said she'd do it at lunchtime and asked if I'd help her. I told her I was sorry but I had lunch duty (had switched with someone because I normally do Fridays). I would leave her a copy of the assignment (again) with a written reminder of the news website she had chosen to use in class.
When I came back from lunch duty, the secretary informed me that this girl came in late (said she was finishing a test for another teacher) and then was being helped by a classmate. . . but it looked more like the classmate was doing the work for her. Regardless, she did not finish by the end of lunchtime yesterday. Nothing was handed in today. She's getting a zero because she has exhausted all her chances.
It's the end of the school year, and it is exhausting me.
Comments
CCR--Well, I don't want to wish every week away, but things are getting a bit more challenging as the end of the year gets closer. I am looking forward to the coming four-day week (no school on Friday).
RS--Amen to both!