Pardon the expression, but Patches blew out her butt again. We had surgery number 2 yesterday morning and so far everything seems okay. Apparently the massive poo was a bit too massive and undid all of Dr. Stoltz's handiwork. Luckily, he charged me nothing for the surgery, just for the drugs to knock her out and a refill of the antibiotics. The antibiotics always crack me up since it is the same stuff they always gave me as a child for ear infections, you know the pink bubblegum liquid.
When we picked her up yesterday afternoon, she was really out of it. When I looked at her, all I could think of was she looked really stoned. She spent most of the night looking at us like she had no clue who we were and attempting to walk around while veering wildly from side to side and falling down quite frequently. We had to put up the baby gate to keep her from falling down the stairs. She ended up laying down on my bed around 6 last night and apparently slept off any negative aftereffects of the medicine. Luckily, her appetite is returning and we are continuing all the medicine to make sure she doesn't get constipated again.
Speaking of baby gates, my niece Mellissa is coming back with me this weekend from Malden. My mom (who babysits for her) and her parents need a break. When your brother and his wife threaten to FedEx your niece to you, you know it's time to go pick her up. I'm sure much hilarity will ensue in the next week and a half. She comes back with me on Sunday and we keep her until July 2nd. I am going to get a taste of what life was like for my mother - taking classes, trying to do homework, and keep up with a kid who apparently feels like about 3 kids due to her curiousity and energy level. She's already packing her bags according to my mom. Mom says not only do they need a break, she probably needs a break from them too. I'm just glad I can keep her, or at least I'm crazy enough to keep her!
On a more historical note, if anyone makes it up to St. Louis this summer, I would highly recommend going the see the Lee and Grant exhibit at the Missouri History Museum. It's free on Tuesdays! It was really cool to see the artifacts on loan from the Virginia Historical Society. The exhibit does an excellent job of telling the stories of these two men, how their lives were intertwined, and how both were a product of the time and cultures. They have the originals of Grant's letter to Lee outlining the terms of surrender and Lee's farewell to the Confederate Troops from Appomatox Courthouse. Very cool, especially if you're a history buff. Kenny and I joke that our idea of a vacation or something cool to see can most often be described as "Nerd-tastic!" If there's a Civil War battlefield within driving distance, you can bet we're plotting our route. Plan on hearing of more of these trips in the future. We're planning on a trip to Shiloh this summer as well as a trip to Ft. Pillow. In August we'll be headed to Nashville for a Boy Scout conference. What am I most excited about (okay, besides going to the Grand Ole Opry)? All the historical sights. I plan to explore The Hermitage and Belle Meade to my heart's content. I can go on a guided tour with groups from the Conference, but I'm afraid I'll be rushed and won't get to spend as much time as I'd like going through everything. I know, pathetic, but at least I'm a cheap date. Give me a battlefield, a sandwich, a soda, and a numerous historical markers to read and I'm as happy as a clam.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
It's been like ER around our house....
I haven't posted because I've been too busy with a sick cat this week. It all started last Saturday afternoon. I noticed my cat Patch was walking funny. When I took a closer look at her, I noticed her rectum had protracted. This started happening with her about 2 years ago. The first time it happened, I literally freaked out. After a call to my vet, I found out that this sometimes happens in cats and that it typically goes back in all on its own. He told me if it didn't, I should rub some Preparation H on it and that should do the trick. Right.... my cat has claws, don't think so, doc! Anyway, I thought it would take care of itself in due time and let her hide like she always does when this occurs.
Unfortunately, it didn't go back in. By Monday morning, I was starting to panic. I called the vet and immediately got her an appointment. When we got there, Dr. Stoltz looked at her and said, "Uh-oh." Those are words I didn't want to hear. Instead of just a protracted rectum, we had now moved into the prolapsed rectum and that meant surgery. He then looked at Kenny and me and said, "I hope I can do the conservative surgery. I'll put her rectum back in her body, attach it inside with stitches, and then stitch up her anus like a drawstring to prevent it from coming back out. If that's not feasible, I'll have to amputate and that's the more extensive, drastic surgery." I'm sure the look on our faces was priceless. Hence I left Patch in Dr. Stoltz's capable hands and went home to wait by the phone.
The surgery went fine and he was able to take the conservative route, no amputation required. He told me I could come pick her up late Tuesday afternoon because she was a little lethargic and he wanted her to be more alert before she went home. I went to pick her up that afternoon and she was really out of it. He told me to continue her Duralactin medication that she takes for chronic cystitis, put her on soft food, and sprinkle said food with Epsom salts to make her poo soft where she could go without undoing his handiwork. Instead of Duralactin pills, they gave me liquid Duralactin to mix in with her food. She refused to eat her food. I tried tuna, but she wouldn't eat much of it with the Duralactin and the Epsom salts on it. In a fit of desperation, I tried to give her the Durlactin with a dropper. This made her foam at the mouth. Eventually, she started to nibble at the tuna, but we went from Saturday to Friday with her barely eating anything at all.
Yesterday morning, we took her in to have her stitches removed. When we got there, the news wasn't good. She had managed to chew out the stitches. While this wasn't the problem, Dr. Stoltz informed me that she was CONSTIPATED! His solution was that we needed to get her to go poo, but she was going to need some help. My first thought was, "OH GREAT! What's this going to involve?" While it wasn't as drastic as I was imagining, it still didn't sound fun. Dr. Stoltz put her on a product called Cat Lax (I'm not making this up). He told us that hopefully she'd lick it off our fingers or her paws if we smeared it on them. He assured us that this stuff, which comes in a tube like toothpaste, was stickier than peanut butter so the only option she would have for getting it off her paws would be to groom herself. If that didn't work, we were supposed to pry open her mouth and rub it on the roof of her mouth. Have I mentioned that she has all her claws and teeth? Envisioning being shredded and maimed by my pet, I reluctantly agreed and told him that we needed to switch back to powdered Duralactin. I was to increase the amount of Epsom salt I put on her food and even give her some mineral oil to "lube things up"( his words, not mine). He also proceeded to tell us that if she didn't go poo by Monday, we would have to try another option, such as a suppository or an enema! While I love my cat, this is something he would definitely be the one doing, not me or Kenny! We draw the line at administering some treatments.
We got her home and I braced myself for being soundly bitten while trying to administer the Cat Lax. I read the label and it has carmel and molasses in it and Patch loved it. I guess it's better than fish flavored cat treats because everytime we go to give her the daily dose, all we have to do is put it on our finger and she licks it off with no problem. I ended up giving her the mineral oil in a syringe that you use to give babies medicine. I expected she wouldn't take that well either, but she calmly lets me give her this and walks off like it's no big deal. While I was afraid that she wasn't eating soft food or tuna because of the Epsom salts, I discovered it must have been the liquid Duralactin that she didn't like because now that we're back to powdered Duralactin sprinkled on her food, she's been eating like she's starving (which she probably is after not eating for the better part of a week).
Dr. Stoltz told us that we were obviously going to have to check the litter box everytime she went in there to see if she did the deed. So, yesterday and today, Kenny and I have been checking the box on a regular basis and as much as I hate to admit it, it was like we'd hit the jackpot when she "worked things out". When I called home to wish my Dad Happy Father's Day and he asked me what we'd done today, I told him, "Oh, we just stayed around here waiting for Patches to poop." At this point, he got completely cracked up and then went on to ask me how things were going. Before I knew it, I was describing, to my father, what happened when Kenny discovered the results of her effort in the box! That's when it occured to me that my life has sunk to a new low and that we need to get out more often! Hopefully things will calm down and get back to normal around here, or at least as normal as things ever are in our house!
Unfortunately, it didn't go back in. By Monday morning, I was starting to panic. I called the vet and immediately got her an appointment. When we got there, Dr. Stoltz looked at her and said, "Uh-oh." Those are words I didn't want to hear. Instead of just a protracted rectum, we had now moved into the prolapsed rectum and that meant surgery. He then looked at Kenny and me and said, "I hope I can do the conservative surgery. I'll put her rectum back in her body, attach it inside with stitches, and then stitch up her anus like a drawstring to prevent it from coming back out. If that's not feasible, I'll have to amputate and that's the more extensive, drastic surgery." I'm sure the look on our faces was priceless. Hence I left Patch in Dr. Stoltz's capable hands and went home to wait by the phone.
The surgery went fine and he was able to take the conservative route, no amputation required. He told me I could come pick her up late Tuesday afternoon because she was a little lethargic and he wanted her to be more alert before she went home. I went to pick her up that afternoon and she was really out of it. He told me to continue her Duralactin medication that she takes for chronic cystitis, put her on soft food, and sprinkle said food with Epsom salts to make her poo soft where she could go without undoing his handiwork. Instead of Duralactin pills, they gave me liquid Duralactin to mix in with her food. She refused to eat her food. I tried tuna, but she wouldn't eat much of it with the Duralactin and the Epsom salts on it. In a fit of desperation, I tried to give her the Durlactin with a dropper. This made her foam at the mouth. Eventually, she started to nibble at the tuna, but we went from Saturday to Friday with her barely eating anything at all.
Yesterday morning, we took her in to have her stitches removed. When we got there, the news wasn't good. She had managed to chew out the stitches. While this wasn't the problem, Dr. Stoltz informed me that she was CONSTIPATED! His solution was that we needed to get her to go poo, but she was going to need some help. My first thought was, "OH GREAT! What's this going to involve?" While it wasn't as drastic as I was imagining, it still didn't sound fun. Dr. Stoltz put her on a product called Cat Lax (I'm not making this up). He told us that hopefully she'd lick it off our fingers or her paws if we smeared it on them. He assured us that this stuff, which comes in a tube like toothpaste, was stickier than peanut butter so the only option she would have for getting it off her paws would be to groom herself. If that didn't work, we were supposed to pry open her mouth and rub it on the roof of her mouth. Have I mentioned that she has all her claws and teeth? Envisioning being shredded and maimed by my pet, I reluctantly agreed and told him that we needed to switch back to powdered Duralactin. I was to increase the amount of Epsom salt I put on her food and even give her some mineral oil to "lube things up"( his words, not mine). He also proceeded to tell us that if she didn't go poo by Monday, we would have to try another option, such as a suppository or an enema! While I love my cat, this is something he would definitely be the one doing, not me or Kenny! We draw the line at administering some treatments.
We got her home and I braced myself for being soundly bitten while trying to administer the Cat Lax. I read the label and it has carmel and molasses in it and Patch loved it. I guess it's better than fish flavored cat treats because everytime we go to give her the daily dose, all we have to do is put it on our finger and she licks it off with no problem. I ended up giving her the mineral oil in a syringe that you use to give babies medicine. I expected she wouldn't take that well either, but she calmly lets me give her this and walks off like it's no big deal. While I was afraid that she wasn't eating soft food or tuna because of the Epsom salts, I discovered it must have been the liquid Duralactin that she didn't like because now that we're back to powdered Duralactin sprinkled on her food, she's been eating like she's starving (which she probably is after not eating for the better part of a week).
Dr. Stoltz told us that we were obviously going to have to check the litter box everytime she went in there to see if she did the deed. So, yesterday and today, Kenny and I have been checking the box on a regular basis and as much as I hate to admit it, it was like we'd hit the jackpot when she "worked things out". When I called home to wish my Dad Happy Father's Day and he asked me what we'd done today, I told him, "Oh, we just stayed around here waiting for Patches to poop." At this point, he got completely cracked up and then went on to ask me how things were going. Before I knew it, I was describing, to my father, what happened when Kenny discovered the results of her effort in the box! That's when it occured to me that my life has sunk to a new low and that we need to get out more often! Hopefully things will calm down and get back to normal around here, or at least as normal as things ever are in our house!
Monday, June 09, 2008
Some Resolution
As of right now, I know what I'm supposedly teaching next year. After I wrote my last post, I parked myself outside my principal's door and waited until he would see me. Actually, he tried to escape but I told him he had to talk to me sometime and if he wasn't supposed to talk to me because Central Office didn't want him to talk to me, then I was signing out and heading to central office to wait until someone would talk to me about my position for next year. He decided to talk to me and let me know what was going on with the whole situation/fiasco. Here's the main highlights of what transpired.
1. I'm no longer teaching Title I. I will be teaching academic at-risk 4th and 5th graders Communication Arts and Math all day in a regular classroom setting. I will have small groups of 10-12 students at a time, responsible for teaching all the GLEs, meeting with the parents, planning lessons, grading, etc. This is fine with me. Honestly, I think I need a change from what I've been doing for a while.
2. Here's where it gets interesting. The remaining two Title I teachers were informed that one of them would have to go teach Title I Reading at the Middle School for one hour. That went over like a ton of bricks. When one was told she would have to go, she stamped her foot and absolutely refused to do it. The other one informed them that she didn't want to do it and started scheming to find ways to get out of going to the Middle School. Her first idea was that the girl who took my place which was transferred to Central should have to do it. She was promptly informed that that young lady (who decided she wanted my Title I job even though I had more seniority) has to go for two hours to the Middle School (which she isn't happy about either). Her next idea was that the Art Teacher could go do it. She was told that the class must be taught by a reading specialist. Her next idea was that she didn't have the correct certification because her elementart degree only went to 6th grade. I took just a little bit of pleasure in informing her that she was certified to teach middle school because like me, her reading specialist certification is K-12. She then decided she wanted my academic at-risk job and fired off several rude letters to the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, and apparently a couple of School Board Members. This was on Thursday. By Friday, she decided she no longer wanted my job because it would be too much work, but the damage had already been done since she went ahead and e-mailed the letters.
3. As a result of the letters, she and the other Title I teacher in our building were called in for a special meeting last week where they were read the riot act for not being cooperative about meeting the needs of students, for being so hateful, for being insubordinate, for not following the chain of command by not talking to our principal, etc. When the demanded to know where I was (I'm not stupid, I made sure I was out of town when this meeting went down), they were informed that I wasn't required to attend it because I was no longer a Title Teacher and besides, I hadn't pitched a fit to get my way.
So what have I learned throughout all of the drama? One, be careful what you ask for because you just might get it, both good and bad. When all of this started in January, both of the Title teachers I worked with refused to leave Title I. My attitude was that I needed a job and would be willing to consider other teaching positions. Two, even though someone else may sometimes pull the "I'm a Schroeder and my mother was a Lakebrink, you know prominent founding families here" trick to obtain what you want (as did the young lady at Central who took my position in Title I), it sometimes backfires on you and you get more than what you bargained for. Three, you are more apt to come out ahead if you act in a reasonable manner and don't throw hissy fits and tantrums to get what you want. Oh, they got to stay in Title I all right, but now they have to go to the Middle School which is totally out of control. Four, I really need this summer. I need the summer to plan for the upcoming year and to not spend time with anyone from school. Quite frankly, I'm sick of the fighting and the backbiting and am enjoying not seeing anyone that makes my blood boil!
1. I'm no longer teaching Title I. I will be teaching academic at-risk 4th and 5th graders Communication Arts and Math all day in a regular classroom setting. I will have small groups of 10-12 students at a time, responsible for teaching all the GLEs, meeting with the parents, planning lessons, grading, etc. This is fine with me. Honestly, I think I need a change from what I've been doing for a while.
2. Here's where it gets interesting. The remaining two Title I teachers were informed that one of them would have to go teach Title I Reading at the Middle School for one hour. That went over like a ton of bricks. When one was told she would have to go, she stamped her foot and absolutely refused to do it. The other one informed them that she didn't want to do it and started scheming to find ways to get out of going to the Middle School. Her first idea was that the girl who took my place which was transferred to Central should have to do it. She was promptly informed that that young lady (who decided she wanted my Title I job even though I had more seniority) has to go for two hours to the Middle School (which she isn't happy about either). Her next idea was that the Art Teacher could go do it. She was told that the class must be taught by a reading specialist. Her next idea was that she didn't have the correct certification because her elementart degree only went to 6th grade. I took just a little bit of pleasure in informing her that she was certified to teach middle school because like me, her reading specialist certification is K-12. She then decided she wanted my academic at-risk job and fired off several rude letters to the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, and apparently a couple of School Board Members. This was on Thursday. By Friday, she decided she no longer wanted my job because it would be too much work, but the damage had already been done since she went ahead and e-mailed the letters.
3. As a result of the letters, she and the other Title I teacher in our building were called in for a special meeting last week where they were read the riot act for not being cooperative about meeting the needs of students, for being so hateful, for being insubordinate, for not following the chain of command by not talking to our principal, etc. When the demanded to know where I was (I'm not stupid, I made sure I was out of town when this meeting went down), they were informed that I wasn't required to attend it because I was no longer a Title Teacher and besides, I hadn't pitched a fit to get my way.
So what have I learned throughout all of the drama? One, be careful what you ask for because you just might get it, both good and bad. When all of this started in January, both of the Title teachers I worked with refused to leave Title I. My attitude was that I needed a job and would be willing to consider other teaching positions. Two, even though someone else may sometimes pull the "I'm a Schroeder and my mother was a Lakebrink, you know prominent founding families here" trick to obtain what you want (as did the young lady at Central who took my position in Title I), it sometimes backfires on you and you get more than what you bargained for. Three, you are more apt to come out ahead if you act in a reasonable manner and don't throw hissy fits and tantrums to get what you want. Oh, they got to stay in Title I all right, but now they have to go to the Middle School which is totally out of control. Four, I really need this summer. I need the summer to plan for the upcoming year and to not spend time with anyone from school. Quite frankly, I'm sick of the fighting and the backbiting and am enjoying not seeing anyone that makes my blood boil!
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