Palpable areas, dorsums, and ganglion cyst - oh my...

So, I met with the orthopedic dude today to go over the recent MRI. Basically I found out that it's not cancer and he has absolutely no freakin' clue as to what's causing these bone growths. They took some more blood to run tests for arthritis. He really doesn't feel it's that, but we might as well check for it. I'm on a predisone/ibuprofen regimen for the next bit, with a follow up appointment in one month. That is, as long as there aren't too many more new growths that show up before now and then. If, in a month, they are still there/bigger, then we'll move on to a hand specialist. I feel he's probably already looking up information about docs that might have some clue as to why a 37 year old would be suddenly sprouting new bone growth.

BTW - the ganlgion cyst that was found is not even in one of the areas bothering that hand. I had no clue anything was in that area.

Take care - Me

Follow up...

This is Speedy's email sent yesterday after being informed of my email.

Mr Principal,

The incident last year occurred when I went to the school for one the year end functions. I believe it was awards day. I was walking past the cafeteria and one of the workers ran outside and called me inside to pay the past due bill. I was 99% sure that the account was not past due so I asked what the charges were for. She replied that they were for the previous Friday when my children were not even in school. I questioned this so she went to the back to check. When she returned she said that the charges must have been for a previous day but was unable to produce any sort of documentation supporting the alleged past due balance. To avoid any more confusion I just paid the charges as I believe they were less than $5.00

I do not dispute the fact that we owe money now. I sent a check to cover the first and second week of school but I let the third week slip up on me. The point is that the cafeteria staff are rude and should not be hounding children for money.

Please have someone send me a statement for Rokimus and Moosie and I will gladly pay the bill. I will try to make every effort to send a lunch with my children from now on so that they do not have to bother the cafeteria staff.

Thanks,
Speedy

This is Mr. Principal's response to Speedy's email. I have not yet received a reply. We'll see what happens when I pick the kids up from school today.

Mr. Speedy,
I apologize for this occurrence. Believe it or not, I have no
jurisdiction over the cafeteria but I have forwarded this to the Central Office. Thank you for letting me know and I will do what I can to help with this situation. We at the Elementary office and staff absolutely adore your children. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience.

Principal

And, finally, Speedy's response to this one.

Mr. Principal,

Thanks for the reply. I knew you weren't over the cafeteria but I felt
the need to vent to someone.

The generalization that the cafeteria staff are rude is not fair. Both
of my children said that Ms Moneyhog was not rude when she kept Rokimus' money. Ms Moneyhog and Ms Server are always nice and I'm sure most of the other staff are as well. I'm sure that Ms Moneyhog was just following instructions but it doesn't seem fair that they kept his ice cream money to apply to his lunch balance. To my knowledge they don't let them charge ice cream or other treats to their lunch accounts. Last year we would sometimes send extra money for the special events so that they could share with other kids who's parents may not have had extra money
to send. If the extra .50 cents had been used to buy ice cream for a child that couldn't afford any that would be different.

Please let the Central Office know that Ms Moneyhog was not rude.... It's the policy that may need to be reviewed.

We are very happy to have you at this Elementary. We think you are doing a great job and your office staff is wonderful! We are also pleased with the teachers. We love Ms 2nd Grade already and Ms Wonderful 1st Grade .... What can I say she is absolutely wonderful. Going above and beyond doesn't even begin to describe the job that she does. Ms Stephanie, Ms Joy, Ms TAG all great... they love kids and their jobs and it shows.

Thanks again for all that you do,

Speedy

I am not feeling nearly as charitable as Speedy about this situation. While I do agree with his assessment of the principal, office staff, and 2 teachers listed, I wonder if that is actually policy for the cafeteria staff. I somehow doubt it. Overall, I feel that the public educational system policies are greatly lacking in many areas. I can tell you as someone who handles the accounts in a business, if I were to approach a child about their parent's overdue account, I & the business would get sued in a heartbeat. I certainly would not want my business practices to be so unethical as that, and this system has my children 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. Do I really want that type of behavior influencing my children?

Take care - Me

Random information...

Random, not necessarily earth-shattering. :)

So, the house is still not done. In a previous post I jokingly mentioned a Christmas open house. I shouldn't have joked. I'm concerned we'll not have it done in 4 months. We are living here again, though my beloved Mac is still inaccessible to me. The new part is pretty much complete, just lacking our clothing (still in the old bedroom), vanity mirror, closet rods, bathroom storage, some baseboards/quarter round, etc.

Of course, in recent times, my week time work on the house has been hindered with doctor appointments. You see, that pesky, nerve-damaging bone spur has grown back, in less than four weeks. And it's joined by a couple of new ones. So, that's two on the thumb, one on the back of the same hand closer to the wrist. I had the MRI today & yes I have a copy of the disc. I have to say that I'm much better at reading the scans of a pancreas, liver & duodenum than I am a left hand. So, I wait until next Tuesday when I see the orthopedic dude.

The kids are doing well. They are in the TAG program this year & that's their favorite day of the school week. They are currently lucky to be attending the public school system at all after today's experience in the cafeteria. In true friend of Marcus style, I give you my first letter to the principal this year.

Dear Mr. Principal,

I am writing to let you know what has gone on in the cafeteria today concerning our son, Rokimus. Rokimus informed me today that Ms. Rudeness kept his change of $.50 from buying the ice cream bar due to his owing on his lunch money account. I find this to be ridiculous on a couple of counts. First, that she would tell our children that they are overdue on their lunch money without contacting the parents first. Is the school now holding seven-year olds responsible for paying for their lunches? Second, that she would keep $.50 of change due back to my son from buying ice-cream. My son works hard for his ice cream money and should have received that change back. I cannot believe that this person would talk to my children in front of their classmates about financial issues. We have always paid the lunch accounts as soon as we get a notice that they are due. We do not try to shirk our responsibilities towards our children by not paying for their lunches.

This had actually occurred toward the end of last year and I told Speedy to let it slide. That surely they were just worried about end of year expenses. I see that is not the case, and I am very disappointed and upset that this would happen again. How dare she take this matter up with seven year olds? The responsible and sensible thing to do would to contact the people who actually fund the accounts – the parents.

I have thought about home schooling the children, and this is just one more thing that is leading me to think that may be the direction I need to go in.


Sincerely,
KnitforKnot

So, life's been a bit crazy. And through all of this, I still have the urge to pick up the phone and tell Mother about it. I understand that she's probably here, knocking me upside the head with a mallet trying to tell me advice, but I'm just not getting it. And I miss that. I miss telling her "Mother, just drop it. Put it in a bubble & blow it away."

Take care - Me

Six Months...

And it still hurts.

Take care - Me

Words of advice...

I cannot believe that it's been 3 weeks since my last post. Furthermore, I cannot believe that it's been over 5 weeks since I've lived in my house or slept in my bed. For those of you out there considering a possible remodel/addition, let me give you a wee bit of advice. Don't. Did you catch that? I'll repeat - DO NOT DO THAT! Unless you have unlimited funds, a trip-around-the-world vacation planned for an extended time while the renovations are done and a police/security team to guard while you're away, then get the idea out of your head. Why, oh why did I think our house should have two bathrooms and three bedrooms? We should have just added an outhouse and a lean-to with an airmattress.

Needless to say, at this point, I'm not sure when the house will be complete. We are still living in a camper. We may be able to move into the new part this next week. Hopefully. Very hopefully. That will only leave the kitchen, living room, playroom, office, hallway and two bedrooms to remain fixing. Not too bad. I'm thinking we may be able to have a Christmas open house. Maybe.

Take care - Me