Thursday, March 20, 2008

Update

Really it has been a very long time since I haver truely updated the blog. I have loaded layouts because that is how I was keeping my mind of the stuff that's happening in my life. Phyllis then brought me the Cross Stitch series of books by Diana Gabaldon & that is an even better way to plunge out of reality & into fantasy for a while. So here is what has been happening in my world.

In December Scott complained of a sore stomach & feeling bloated. The doctor didn't think anything much of it but Scott pushed & went in for a colonoscopy in January. The colonoscopy found nothing wrong & Scott still has the same problem.

Also in December my mum developed a lump on her neck. After Christmas she had it looked at & then biopsied. By the beginning of February it was discovered it was cancer. Later in February it was found to be colon cancer that had already moved to her lymph nodes. Mum will be starting chemo on April 10.

I have been to the doctor several times myself this month. My mole from my arm was removed & luckily it was a compound nevis, a mole that hasn't changed to melanoma yet. That cost me $150. I can't berlieve it can cost that much just to get a mole removed & checked out. I still have bruising around the area but it seems to be healing well.

Also this term we have had Brent's swimming sports. He loves his swimming & once he has worked out the breathing part of freestlye I think he will be quite good. He just seems to skim across the water & although his arm action looks slow he must have power in it because he came first in his race. He is also very good at backstroke. He started with his arm going out the side a bit but soon fixed it & came 3rd in that race.

James didn't have swimming sports because his class have not had much swimming practice with the school, due to Jellie Park being closed for redevelopment. So now his swimming sports are going to be fitted into the very busy 4th term of this year.

On Sunday it was the junior school service at church & Brent said a prayer.

This week we have had parent/teacher interviews. As you can probably guess with boys that are chalk & cheese the interviews were that too.

It started off with James'. What a bad interview that was. He was put under the bell that day because he spat at someone, not a very good start to the interview & the news got no better. James is a distraction in the class, he talks to everyone around him, distracting them & if he isn't being distracting, he's being distracted. His reading still hasn't caught up to where he was at the end of last year, he can't count to 20 let alone write all the numbers out correctly. He gets his d,b,p,q all muddled up & then his teacher told me he can't spell his name. He can actually but I really think he is lazy & doesn't give a toss. I am at my wits end with him because, as his teacher said, nothing fazes him. He gets punished but is smiling the whole time as if he doesn't care. I went for a run this morning & I think I have come up with a plan. I am going to pick him up from school, give him a chance to tell me how his day went & then go back, while waitinmg for Brent to finish, & ask his teacher how he went. Each day he is good he will get a star & after accumulating x number of stars he can get something he really wants (my guess is it will be sweets). I am going to have to hope bribery will work for him now although I have to say it never worked before. The problem is I don't know what makes him tick, I don't know what he really desires, I'm not sure he knows either.

Brent's interview on the other hand was pleasant. His teacher has been doing all sorts of testing & Brent is doing all right. The wonderful news is that after starting school not knowing what hand to write with & then needing to learn to write with it, he is now up there with the rest of his class for handwriting. Yay last year's effort of bringing writing cards home has finally paid off. He is reading at an 11 year old level. He is middling for maths & needs to learn his basic facts (surprise, surprise). Socially he falls into the controversial character. He seems to be a person that people either like or don't, but they respect him. He is liked for the same characteristics that other people don't like him for, namely his organisational skills. He has to learn that not everybody likes to be bossed around!

So that in a nutshell is what has been happening in my house for the last 3 months. We are staying at home for easter, hopefully we will get some sleep ins & get the garden cleaned up for winter. Maybe we can also make a start on wallpapering our spare bedroom, it would be nice to get it finished before mum starts chemo.

I hope you all have a wonderful easter.

6 comments:

Wendy @ Ramblings from the Sunshine State said...

Oh Katrina! Im sorry hun. Sounds like you are having a rough time. I will keep your mom in my thoughts. I hope hubby is okay too. ((HUGS))

Jenny said...

Oh my goodness Katrina what a time you've had! Can I just say that James sounds as if he has "second child syndrone" - doesn't care. I know I have to put more effort into my second child too, but it's not as easy as it was ith the first one. I hope that bribery works. Re-doing the ork at home might help, taking away TV/PlayStation/PSP time may also work.
I hope things go ell for your mom and I hope that someone can find the source of Scott's problem. Your mole removal may have been expensive but cheap in the long run
Just think - only six weeks to go for SC!

Roo said...

Wow there sure has been a lot going on for you all. Thinking about you with lots of hugs and healing thoughts all round. Take care of you in all this.

bahama97 said...

Just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking of you! **hugs**

Mel said...

Thinking of your Mum and you.

And poor James. He sounds like my Elliot 2 years ago. We finally had a breakthrough after seeing a great paediatrician who wrote a letter we could use at school. Ask the teacher to help you work on a strategy you can all use with him. We found Elli improved once the teacher decided to catch him doing something right (instead of something wrong) and showed him what to do when he got stuck with school work. Also the paediatrician said the PS2/computer games he loves are fine as he is really good at these and he gets a sense of achievement from them which is missing at school - just limit the time on them. It's heartbeaking isn't it?

Our older child is a perfect genius - charming, bright and social. Chalk and cheese.

Amy Marie said...

Wow {{hug}} I know things have been crazy for you, but i'll be thinking about your family often. And here's to your boys... I hope that James can find his niche.