Fifty-Five Phy Ed Teachers!

Today I co-taught CPR for fifty-five phy ed teachers in the Apple Valley School District.  We had two classes - professional rescuer for the middle school/high school teachers and lay rescuer for the elementary teachers.  If I had to give a preference of who I'd like to have teach my phy ed classes, I'd go with the elementary school teachers - they were a lot more fun and much better at CPR!  Just saying . . .

Like a Hangnail . . .

There are days that I'm just plain tired of having a concussion.  Like yesterday when I was already stuttering by 10:00 a.m. after a full night's sleep.  Or in church today where I was wearing sunglasses for like the 12th Sunday in a row because of the lights.  So this afternoon I gathered perspective.  Annie and I stopped on our walk at my friend Jana's house.  Jana has a brain tumor.  She's had it operated on three times.  She needs another operation.  The doctors won't schedule it "until" . . . and "until" is a very scary word because that means something has gone very wrong.

We sat in Jana's living room and went over the shared symptoms:  "TIred?"  Check.  "Stuttering?"  Check.  "Missing words?"  Check.  "Worse by Friday?"  Always.  "Light sensitive?"  Mmmhmmm.  "Memory?"  Sometimes.  Empathy was established.

Then Jana began to share what radiation has done to her eyesight.  She used to be my lending library and we read all the same books.  Only I can still read.  And she has more diagnosis than I have toes.  Her body no longer functions as it once did.  Nothing in mine is broken.  And she takes more pills in a day than I take in a week and one of them is bigger than all my pills put together.  And yet her faith does not waver.  She serves a big God. 

She has a brain tumor.  Really, I just have a hangnail . . . 

The Word Left Out . . .

This concussion still sends me for a loop.  There was one big life-changing word I left out of last week - simply because I didn't remember it until this morning!  The word?  Egypt!  We were asked by Sam's brother Steve to consider co-leading a group from International Messengers with he and his wife next summer.  While waiting for the details, we've tossed various thoughts around including, "Well, Egypt IS in Africa" . . . stay tuned!

A Word a Day . . .

I thought a "word a day" might be the best way to describe this week.  Let's see if I can do it!

Sunday - LUNCH - Matt and I went out for lunch at Five Guys because we could!  And we ate all the peanuts we could while we were there simply because we could!  We could never bring Micah there with her peanut allergies, but she and Sam were on the farm . . .

Monday - COLLEGE - Matt started college at Normandale today!  Where did those years go?

Tuesday - GAGE - is a three-year old who came over for dinner with his family.  Wow!  What a live wire!  But the high light of the night was definitely when we walked outside to discover Matt playing soccer with four-year-old Lucy!

Wednesday - RICH - Two years ago I was rear-ended on 35W and the insurance company of the man who nailed me thought I was due money for bodily injury.  Who was I to argue?  I told Sam if it was $50.00, we were going out for dinner; $1000.00 meant a new couch; and anything more was a new car.  We're thinking we'll be going car shopping whenever my car dies or next summer - whatever comes first! - because the amount was definitely over $1000.00!

Thursday - WORK - Micah joined Matt working at Applewood Apple Orchard and said she had fun!

Friday - GOPHER - as in the "Gopher Sports" Purchasing Department joined me at Sand Creek today.  I took them through the low ropes, sent them up the high ropes and let them fly across the zip line!

Saturday - FIRST - that would be Sam helping me for the first time ever (in over 24 years of teaching!) put up a bulletin board!  And he's much more of a perfectionist than I am - go ahead, read between the lines!  

Courage Kenny Rehab Institute

Sam and I arrived at the Courage Kenny Rehab Institute at 7:35 a.m. this morning and begin with paperwork for both of us.  By 8:10 a.m., we were in visiting with the neuropsychologist.  At 9:30 a.m. I started my testing with Kelly.  We finished at 2:30 p.m. after taking a half hour lunch break.  I've drawn pictures, read, remembered, didn't remember, did math, failed at math and got exceedingly more tired.  I mean, really, how many words are there that start with "S" that you can list in a minute?  Sam and I'll go back on September 4 at 1:00 p.m. to get the results of my testing and from there, determine if there is rehab for me.  One can hope . . . 

Maretta

Maretta joined my Water Safety Aid Class for First Aid today.  When I mentioned yesterday that an "outsider" would be joining us today, we had some fun trying to decide what a Maretta would look like.  Fast forward to the end of class today.  Laura turned to Maretta and said, "When we heard your name yesterday we thought you would be like sixty years old, but you're not.  You're very nice!  We're glad you could come today." 

It's all in the name . . .

I returned to work at ISD 196 on Monday, teaching the water safety aide class.  It was my first time back since June 18 and the first co-worker I ran into asked, "Why are you still wearing the shades?"  I told him I was just not healing very fast from my concussion and in fact, I was going to a brain injury clinic on Friday.  His response?  "Well, Scarecrow . . ."  and that has been my name ever since!