Health Care in the Military

When D was in the hospital sick he developed a hernia which made his scrotom swell up to about the size of a softball. It of course went down and when he went into remission they decided that since the hernia was not casuing any problems to just keep an eye on it. Well around the 14th of Feb. he was getting out of the shower and I noticed that his scrotom was swollen, not to the same size but still swollen, and bright red. I checked and there was no bite marks from something like a spider or anything like that, he had not scrathed it and he kept saying that it hurt. I gave him some medicine for the pain and by the morning time he was complaining that it was hurting to sit down on the couch. That Monday was a holiday so the hospital clinics are not open, going to the ER would do me no good because I would be told he needed to see his regular Dr. So on Tuesday morning I called the Ped's clinic as soon as it opened they of course had no appointments available that day. So I called on Wednesday morning as soon as the clinic opened and again they had no appointments available. Now so you know I can make appointments ahead of time but they need to be made about a month in advance! Anyways so by Wednesday I knew I just needed to get him in so we did a walk-in appointment. We sat in the waiting room with the other really sick kiddos for 3 hours before we got called back to see a Dr. The Dr. came in looked at him and said ok. It could be an infection so we are going to put him on anti-biotics. I explained that I thought it could be his hernia and I believe just to please me he went ahead and ordered an ultrasound as well. We went to radiology and had the ultrasound done, picked up the meds and went back to the clinic to give a urine sample. As we were walking out I saw the doc and asked if he would please call me and let me know what the results were for the tests. Given D's medical history I don't think that I am asking to much for someone to take 5 minutes out of their day and call me one way or another. I never heard a word!! My husband called his friends in the lab the next morning and found that the urine test came back normal. So probably no reason for him to be taking anti-biotics. But I still have no clue about the ultrasound. I am hoping that they didn't notice anything wrong but then what was the problem in the first place?! I hate our hospital, doctors, anything having to do with that place! It is so frustrating!

We have an appt with his oncologist on Tuesday so I will be asking him about it. His oncologist is in another hospital but D will be having another ultrasound done with that appt. I will keep you all posted.

School Improvements?!

In schools they take something like state tests every year just to make sure students are where they should be. A kind of way of keeping the teachers in check if you will. Just kidding. Anyways our school took their tests about a month ago and we recieved what is called the Report Card for our school. What I read has me greatly concerned about what my child is learning at this school. The link to check out the report card is http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/servlet/srcICreatePDF?pSchCode=348&pLEACode=260&pYear=2007-2008

Now when I recieved D's Report Card for this nine weeks it said that he is on 'Grade Level'. However according to the school report card our 3rd-5th grade students are well below the district heck even the state level of 'Grade Level' in both Reading and Math. So is D really on grade level and what exactly does that mean to the teachers at this school. I for one would like to know. It's not like as soon as they hit 3rd grade they all of a sudden get stupid. Some where along the lines our children are falling behind before getting to third grade. That or else our standards for 'grade level' go up considerably by 3rd grade.

Now we have some great teachers at our school. His Kindergarten teacher last year for one. She was great well her and her assistant. D was behind when he started school and they sat me and my husband down and showed us the extra steps they were taking in school and what we should be working on at home to get him up to 'grade level'. But the teacher this year it is like pulling teeth to find out what I need to be helping with at home other than his handwriting. He is a boy! His handwriting is never going to be great! It definetly needs improving but are you really telling me that is the only thing that I can do to help further my child along in his education?!

Now our school is under some kind of School District Improvement thing. I got a nicely typed letter saying we missed our yearly adequate progress targets for 2 years in a row!! Not 1 but 2 times now this school has been behind the curve. I didn't get a letter about this last year. They didn't have a school board meeting about this last year either! So what we just ignored it and hoped that the testing would go better for this year?! The letter also states that they will be revising the Improvement guidelines that are currently out and we will be in Impovement status "until all target goals in reading and math in grades 3 through 5 OR 6 through 8 or high school for two consecutive years". That to me says they are only going to worry about and work with the students in those grades but something had to have gone wrong somewhere along the way! Why would we not put things in place at an earlier age while we are trying to improve our schools? Does this not make sense to anyone but me?

Sorry about the ranting but thanks for listening or reading I guess. You all have my e-mail address let me know what you think! Love to all and God Bless!!

Winter 'Storm' in North Carolina

Well I know it has been a while and my Aunt Tanis reminded me that some of you do like to read this. I know sob, sob. I believe that I have sent most of you the pictures through snapfish.com. We did have a few days off of school due to our winter 'storm'. We only got around 2-3 inches. The boys absolutely loved playing outside even though we were not able to build a snowman.

What you can't tell from this picture is the fact that they flew down the street with their flashers on. I love Carolina drivers!! Also about 2-3 hours after taking this the streets had already melted and were clean and clear but they still cancelled school for the next day. North Carolina only has two snow plows...one for the mountain region and one for the rest of us suckers. I am betting that guy was wishing for another job that day.

Other than that not much going on here. Waiting for Andy to graduate and come home. Waiting to see if we are really staying in NC or if I am getting my way and we will be moving to Colorado Springs. Whatever happens, happens though. I am also trying to find the motivation to start working out and losing weight. The boys are doing great. N is working on workbook pages during the day and he loves feeling like he is doing homework. D is having a rough time with his handwriting. His report card was great except for his handwriting. So we are currently working on that. He is also having a rough time with spelling tests but I think most of that is hurrying and his messy handwriting. Well I hope this finds that all of you are healthy and happy.