Making a Tough Decision - Five For Friday

Happy Friday!  It's time to link up with Doodle Bugs for::

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2016/01/five-for-friday-linky-party-january-15th.html



Here's the background information:

*Last March, on Good Friday - after multiple visits and discharges from the hospital emergency room - my father was diagnosed with State IV lung cancer.  Since then, he's been feeling pretty well and living on his own.  He's had some setbacks but managed to rebound.  Here's how he looked on Christmas:






*Fast forward one week:  the calls to 911 and the trips to the Emergency Room began right after the New Year.  My father insisted on going home, and he would end up right back in the hospital.  The last time he went home, he lasted for 4 hours before calling 911.

Here's something I learned about these unsuccessful tries to live independently.  In the medical world, they say you "failed."  One social worker told me that if he "fails" enough times, he'll realize something has to change.

To avoid embarrassment on his last trip to the ER, my father "forgot" to tell anyone he was going to the hospital, and my phone lit up.  Eventually, I ended up calling his neighbor - the one who knows everything about everyone (these neighbors do come in handy sometimes).  He laughed and told me, "Oh, he forgot to tell you where he was going again." 

When I arrived, I told him that I was taking over, and he was going on hospice.





Two days later my father had a hospice consultation/referral.  When I left school that day, I thought my father might be going straight to the Hospice House because he was so weak from lying in the bed all day.  The nurse evaluated him and determined he was ambulatory so the Hospice House wasn't possible.  At that moment, I decided that he was going to come live with me, and I was going to take a Family Medical Leave.  I made this decision on Thursday, and I brought him home to my house the following Friday.


Last week was my first full week as a caretaker.  It was SO MUCH WORK!  On top of all the health and every day jobs, my father needed to go to his apartment in Winthrop because he needed "some things."  The next day he needed a chest ray, followed the next day by a thoracentisis (this is when the doctor extracts fluids from the lungs).  My brother came on Friday so I could go to school, but I felt so overwhelmed and out of sorts.  I am still hoping to go this Friday, but I'm still on the fence.



Now my house is full of an array of supplies:  hospital bed; oxygen and supplies; nebulizer; bath seat;...Of course, my father isn't thrilled or thankful about my decision, but I made this choice, and I'm going to see it through.

I now have a deeper appreciation for this quote:




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First Five For Friday - 2016!

It's Friday so it's time to link-up with Doodle Bugs for:


http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2016/01/five-for-friday-linky-party-january-8th.html


We have started to learn about non-fiction text features.  Today we practiced writing captions for this delightful picture of Gabi the Dog and my son, Andrew:


Of course, Gabi is not allowed on the beds, but when I'm at work....





Next week we'll be writing our own expert books.  In the meantime, we're making expert Powerpoints:



I love how Isabelle spelled Holyoke in the lower right corner.


We've been sharing our Sentence Powerpoints in the room.  Here's one of my favorite About the Author slides:



By the way, Mr. Slagmolen is also one of the PE teachers at our school.


In Science, we're busy learning about weather:



We watch the videocast of the weather every day and chart the weather.  Luckily, the weather has been changing during the week so it's much more interesting to chart.


We continue to work on nouns and prefixes:


I bought my first Powerball tickets.  They're saying the jackpot might reach one billion dollars!  I'll let you know if I win!

Have a wonderful weekend!
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It's January 1st! Time For Solutions or Resolutions?

Happy New Year!  I'm so happy to link up with Diana from My Day in K and  Jayme of Teach, Talk, Inspire! for their New Year's Resolution Link-Up:




School:  Every day I try to keep my desk neat, and every day I get so involved with teaching and helping the kids that my desk becomes disheveled.  I do clean up all the papers, etc., at lunch and leave my desk neat at the end of the day, but it will be my goal until I figure out how to keep my desk neat and orderly.  It always amazes me when teachers get rid of their desks.  Where do they put everything?  I'm so impressed by teachers who can accomplish this.

Personal:  I used to be very committed to lifting weights three times a week and doing abdominal work five times a week.  These exercises were non-negotiable....until I found excuses:  "Doing weights twice a week is just as good,"  "My stomach will look the same even if I don't do the exercises."  Today should be a weight-lifting day and an ab-workout day.  I need to stop making excuses....

Blog:  I would LOVE to write part of my Five For Friday post each day while the memories are fresh in my mind.  Then my post would be done on time, and I'd remember more details.  Next week, I'm going to try this out.


 Happy New Year!  Good luck with your resolutions!
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