My "getting squashed again" update

If I had known there was a difference between a screening mammogram and a diagnostic mammogram, I would have been worried. "Diagnostic" sounds so scary. The difference is the size of the paddle and the types of pictures they take.

Every woman there was doing the "diagnostic" stuff so we were all creeped out and worried together. A female bonding moment of sorts. One particular lady caught my heart and I really hope that she got news as good as mine.

It appears that my first mammogram showed 2 small spots on my right side. The radiologist thought they might be lymph nodes. The diagnostic mammogram showed the same two spots so I had to have an ultrasound done. The U/S tech and the radiologist couldn't find the spots which led them to believe that the "spots" really are lymph nodes. (From what I was told, lymph nodes look like breast tissue on U/S versus bad stuff that looks like bad stuff on x-ray and U/S.)
I go back in 6 months for a repeat performance of x-rays and ultraound to make sure nothing is "changing."

So, I am in circling mode. No huge red flags but no "You're clean. We'll see you when you're 40." either. I kind of wanted the latter but I'll take the former over the other available options.

Do those self checks and have that mammogram if you've been putting it off.

**UPDATE**
My regular old doctor just called to let me know that he is refering me to a breast surgeon for follow-up stuff. Minimally another set of tests in 6 months but possibly more. Now that I have a "finding" this new doctor will coordinate all my breast health care.

WOW. I have a foot health doc, a woman stuff doc, an eye doc, a plain old doc, and now the breast doc. I'm getting pretty specialized and running out of body parts. LOL

What's knit.

Here's A's acorn hat. ZooDad says it's a bit too feminine. (Ok..it is a bit girlish) But A likes it. It's (too) stretchy, soft, and just warm enough.

S is hamming it up as usual.

My other project (other than my unfinished socks) is making new Christmas stocking for the boys. I had planned to do a colored initial on each stocking. Actually I had planned to do their whole names but that's a whole lot of letters. So I scaled it back to initials.
Then I couldn't figure out how to strand correctly, so I went to a tone on tone patterning for the initial. In this picture you can just make out the purl stitches that form he letter J. In real life, it shows up a whole lot more.

I started this one Sunday. If I can figure out the kitchener's stitch, I'll have it finished my Turkey Day. We are spending a couple of days at MIL's so I can knit non-stop.
Specs....about 14 inches long currently. This picure is a bit wonky on perspective. The top band is about 3 inches wide and the heel is much smaller IRL. The top band is seed stitch on #6 circular needles and the rest is stockinette on #8 DPN's. The initial is just a purl stitch that I graphed out on a knitting chart. I used cheap-o Wal-mart yarn at 2.88 a skein. The $10 worth of yarn should make 4 stockings. I want to crochet a tree skirt then I should be ready to start on some Christmas presents.

Double your pleasure, Double your fun...

I'm here but I'm not here.
I'm getting ready for MIL's imminent arrival by mopping a floor that has been dirty for over a week and cleaning bathrooms.

MIL has her "eat a camera" test tomorrow. She has to spend tomorrow at the hospital I have a repeat mammogram tomorrow afternoon.
Yep, a repeat. Because it just wasn't nearly enough fun the first time. I have a "finding" that requires "additional imaging." Woohoo.
I'm trying not to be concerned because lots of people do repeat mammograms. The past family history keeps niggling up in my head but I'm doing my best to just let go of it and wait for God to take over.

So I'm knitting instead. I finished A's acorn hat in a day and I've started the 1st of four Christmas stockings. As J said, "They are just two pairs of big socks...that don't really match." These children have great faith in me.

If I'm not "here," Here's where I'll be...

I got the final date and hearing request form. As of November 30th, A will no longer have Medicaid. This means we have to stop all therapy until the beginning of the year. Hopefully by that time the school will step up and get their ball rolling. He qualifies but they haven't even started the IEP's or anything. If we don't have a start date by the end of the month, I will start legal action against them.

Speaking of legal action, If I'm not around this week it's because I am getting info together to request a hearing at the state level for Medicaid.
I have several salient points.

1. A's level of care has not changed in the 2 years from his initial approval to this denial. If that level was good enough for approval, it should be good enough for continuation.

2. He has shown progress. He's up from "untestable" to 6% in speech and from 1% to 4% in motor skills in general. So we aren't talking about a kid who will never reach full potential. He has an excellent chance of a productive life IF we can get the therapy.

3. We can't "get" the required 5 visits a week because the STATE limits us to 10 visits of each type of therapy a month. A has maxed out the ST part but can only handle half the OT load. Twice a week would kill him and me.
I even found my original notes WITH the name of the case worker from 2 years ago. We can subpoena her and the other parents in the support group if DFACS wants to backpedal.

I am defending against A's current case worker. She's on our side. All we have to do is convince the judge to come down on A's side
So I am putting together a book and having it bound. It will cover all of A's issues and the progress he has made in the past two years. I am including research to show that way the state has limited us at (10 visits) is counter intuitive to Apraxia treatment (5 days 30 minutes a day versus 2 days for an hour each) and also the predictions of future problems if these issues are not resolved.


I hate doing this stuff. I hate focusing on all the stuff he can't do and how behind he is.

I rather focus on what an amazing child he is and the fact that he read his very first sentences this weekend.

Cat. Cat sat. Fat cat sat.

No it's not fine literature but this is great, especially from a kid who wasn't even supposed to be potty trained by now. (He's potty trained AND reading.)

So if I'm not "here," I'm out preparing for battle. Me and A are taking on the whole world.

Cough, Cough

S started a gaggy cough this afternoon. Nothing serious, just occasional. But I have had enough experience with the random gaggy cough to know where that path might lead. I started the humidifier just in case but I'm doing my "croup-stay-away-dance" out in the back yard just for good measure. I also made sure we had ora-pred in the fridge.
Wednesday night.
That means we have one more day before it becomes a weekend issue. In Croup-speak that means odds are good that he'll get good and hacky by Friday. Oh, plus a family birthday party sweetens the pot a little too.

Or, his allergies are acting up and that means daily meds for the next two weeks.

Either way.
Joy.

Strange day

On the homeschool front, it was a good day. But it was odd in other ways.

Today was A's big therapy day. One hour of Speech and an hour of OT. That's two hours of waiting and "Waiting Room Schooling."
We often meet interesting people while waiting for A. Sometimes it's unruly and undisciplined kids. Other times it is grumpy old people and sometimes it is just nice curious people.

Today was a humdinger.

This older gentleman came in with a son my age who was being seen. He came right over to strike up a conversation with me. The conversation started out fine but went waaaaaaaaaaaay off center. He had lost his first wife to cancer and met his second wife due to his "dressing up."
What sort of dressing up you might wonder?
Well, he whipped out a picture when I didn't take the bait. A nice full bodyshot of him wearing a blonde wig, lots of make-up, a bright pink dress, and white 3 inch heels.

Oh my.

Eventually he asked about the boys and the schoolwork that we were doing. I told him that the boys were homeschooled.
That was just too much for him. He retreated to the other side of the waiting room to speak to his son about how odd WE were for homeschooling.
His son is apparently quite a tolerant fellow. I overheard him saying that he had heard that homeschooled kids turned out really smart.

It was kind of surreal.

Then on the way home down a very busy four-lane road, we watched a buck jump the guard rail and crash into the two cars in front of us. The people were fine. The cars were damaged. The buck spun on his back a couple of times before getting up and walking slowly off the road.
We talked about it for the rest of the trip home. The boys were sad to learn that the buck would probably die but it is best they know how life really works. They've gotten pretty good at spotting sugar coating, so I didn't even attempt to.

I didn't explain the waiting room guy though.

Get Squished!

Today is the day I have been dreading for the last two weeks.
Today, I get my baseline mammogram. I am beyond thrilled.

I know what you are thinking. You're thinking, "Sheila, aren't you a bit on the young side for a mammogram." Why yes, I am. I just hit 35 this summer. However, since I have a family history for breast cancer and since one member was diagnosed at 33 and dead at 35, I am actually a few years late.

So I double reasons to dread. First of all, it's no ice cream party and second...what if they find something?

I don't time to have a cold...much less something big. A takes up a large part of my worry and then I have to spread the rest of my worry out among various family members. I don't have any worry left for me.

So say a little prayer at around lunch today. I'll take a tormenting technition if everything looks all clean and dandy.

UPDATE***
It wasn't that bad. Mastitis was bad. That thrush infection that caused cracking and then went in deep...that was bad. The mammogram...not bad and quite short. I didn't get a bit of knitting done except to cast on for a new hat. (Alas the old hat, we barely new him. He was denied due to his colors and the winds of a a 4 year old's fancy.)
I get the report in a week.

Weekend recap

The boys are not aware that the weekend is over. They are begging to forgo schoolwork this morning to watch Iron Giant. No happening little men. Work...then play.

Let's see, the weekend.
Saturday we got up at he unholy time of 6:30 and dressed all the inhabitants, hooked up the scout masters trailer to ZooDad's v-8, loaded all the boys into my van, caravaned over to my mom and sister's town to pick up our Cub Scout Pack's popcorn. The Popcorn kernel was out of town and had entrusted that responsibility to us.
After loading up $4K of popcorn, we drown it back across town to a church where we were having a fundraising bazaar, unloaded it, counted it all again, and started distributing it to the various scout parents who came by. This kept us busy until 1pm. I knitted a bit. The boys jumped in the inflatable jumpers and ZooDad entertained another mom by sarcastically describing his morning's trip to Bo'Jangels for breakfast. Apparently he did a little employee training while waiting for our biscuits.
When we got hoe, we had lunch and a nap...generally wasting the rest of the day.

Sunday, I awoke at he unholy hour of 6 am and went to the grocery store. By 9 am, I was home, groceries were put up, and the children had all be fed. Yay me!
The kids played outside while ZooDad went into the office to get some stuff done. Then we all went to see Chicken Little. Cute, cute, cute movie but somewhat scary for the lady beside us. She screamed twice.
J was so adorable. He's getting to be a big boy and got embarrassed by the lovely behavior between two characters. At one point he covered his whole face and couldn't even watch.
M was oblivious and didn't even notice.
It was the baby's first movie. He did a great job and stayed in his seat and quiet for most of the movie. We always pick the same seating are each time. The row right behind the handicapped seats. I don't mind the people walking in front of us and it gives the boys a place to get up a stretch a little when they get antsy.
We got to see the Narnia Trailer and the Shaggy Dog and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 trailer. Those go on the movie list. Along with Goblet of Fire and Zathursia...or however it's spelled.

Cool. Movies to look forward to.

Booooooooo!

Here's the zoo residents on Halloween night.

J the nine-year-old with huge feet was a mummy. All of those strips are tacked in place except for the mask which has been "Wonder Under-ed."

Next to him is the baby. He's two and wearing my modified sweat suit. You can just see the purple wings that are sewn onto the back.

M, at age 7, is Luke Skywalker, not Anakin, not Han Solo, but Luke...the original Luke. I made the jacket and the "boots."

A (4) in is a turtleneck. It's hard to be evil and fashionable at the same time.

Also shown in this picture is my handprint covered fireplace door. (I wonder how it got that way.) On the left is a lovely basket that ZooDad brought back from Bosnia many years ago. It houses my yarn stash.
Below it are a stack of knitting books, and patterns.
On the very bottom are previous year's costumes which the boys wore Saturday night at the neighbors' party. More specifically, a Wizard suit, a dragon, suit, and a ghost costume.
On the right you can see S's talking lawnmower which must be nearby at all times. Thankfully, it has an on and off switch that S does know to use.

a rewarding day

Granted, if I measured it in the number of dirty dishes in my sink or the number of laundry loads finished...it would have been a total wash.
But on the "raising men" front, it was a grand success.

We started school late and did the bones, math, grammar, handwriting (fine motor skills), speech, and Latin. M started a new Magic Tree House book. He's easing into chapter books. It's not so much a problem with reading as it is a vision problem. Right now, he's not in glasses because we are still trying to get his eye aligned. But he has an astigmatism and all those words on a page...with no pictures...well, they just all run together. It's hard for him to stay on the right line and keep his place. Hopefully, that will all change next month when he gets new glasses.

J is still reading 21 balloons. He cam running excitedly to explain the professor's balloon to me. Once he said it was a hydrogen balloon, we took off down the rabbit hole to the Hindenburg and its tragic end. (Titanic of the Sky)
Then we dove into blimps in general and how they work and why we no longer put hydrogen gas in them. (Cool blimp site)

That led to a chemistry discussion on my Helium, a noble gas, is safer than hydrogen, a highly combustible gas. We also covered some buoyancy which led to displacement.

We had a late lunch of chicken noodle soup and crackers while the boys worked on their weekly Sudoku puzzles. Afterwards we baked 3 dozen cookies and the boys ate a few and played outside until it got dark.

When ZooDad got home, he was intrigued by the Sudoku puzzle so he and M did one together in a race against me after dinner. (I won!)
ZooDad loves that I am pushing the logical thinking right now. Thinking skills are most important in this household. The logic puzzle were the best thing I ever got out of my gifted "class." When you know how to think, you can figure out the rest.

Then I knitted, (That blue hat has been pulled out and started over. A decided he wanted the dark blue first and I would agree that it looks better.) and ZooDad and the boys went upstairs to work on Cub Scout awards. They finished all the work to earn their computer belt loop and pin.

3 B's...Bath, books, bed and it was time for my favorite show of the week...CSI.

Good day.

The lessons we teach them

S, who is two, was playing with a mega blocks truck and the little workman that accompanied it.
As he played, he dialogged his little fantasy.

"Man go to work. Man go home. Man go to Work. Man go home. Man happy!"
He repeated this over and over. His little man would get in the truck and got to work and then he would get out of his truck and go home and be happy.

I looked over at ZooDad and told him that our little two year old had already learned an important lesson. That a man goes to work to support his family then he comes home to be with them and this makes him happy. That working and being a provider then spending time at home is a worthwhile accomplishment. S has picked that up from watching his Daddy. Knowing that daddy does go to work away from us, but that he will come home and he will be happy.
What an amazing thing for a 2 year old to grasp!

Then I think of the two year old boys that don't have the experience of "man goes to work, man comes home, he's happy." What do they learn? Do the boys with absent fathers learn what men should do to support themselves and their families? Do they learn that they should always be taken care of because they only see their mom taking care of them. They never get to see the give and take relationship between a husband and wife. They sharing of responsibilities and the support given to make life more rewarding.
Currently 34% of all children born are illegitimate. If we assume half are males that means that 17% of all males born every day have no daily male role model. How do they learn to be fathers and husbands if they never see what a fathers and husbands do.

I don't know what to do about that. But I do fear what it will do for our society.

I sure am glad that my sons have learned those important lessons.
The man goes to work.
The man comes home.
and the man is happy.

Obligatory knitting post

I can crochet. In fact here's the beanie hat I just made for M. J has one just like it but it looks like camo material. J's doesn't have the eyelash yarn.


But crochet is limited. It has a great variety for texture but you really can't do the kind of stuff that you can with knitting. So I decided to learn to knit. So after a month of leaning stitches, pulling out rejected squares, and searching for the perfect toboggan hat...I finished my very first knitted project.
I'm rather proud of it for a virgin knitter.

I made it for A, but he rejected it because he wanted a beanie like his older brothers. Baby S loves it though. He puts it on his legs and stuffs toys in it. He pulls it down over his face like that kid from Fat Albert. It's just an all around cool hat as far as he's concerned.
Oh...the specs. Knitted on #6 straight needles and then seamed. (I crocheted it shut and the seam is nice a neat.

Now I have 2 other projects going on.
One is a hat for A. He chose the colors. I've just finished the ribbing and am about to add the stripes. 100% wool on #6 DPNs.


Here's the beginning of my socks. I did this last night at class. I am freaking out about the small yarn and the thin needles. I have to check like crazy to make sure I don't drop stitches. But it looks like it is going ok. I have 4 hours of class to learn to do the rest. Next week we do heels and the last week is finishing. Then I plan on making lovely socks. (I plan big.)

To recap the last couple of weeks.

Here's what's been going on in the zoo.

No cavities in anyone's heads. Yay us! The dentist eyes got big when J mentioned flossing on his own accord. Wow...kids that floss! There were threats to pull a baby tooth if it isn't out in 3 more days. (It finally got wiggly last night.)

Final denial for A's Medicaid. But the school has deemed him worthy of OT assessment. (That will happen in two weeks.) He can cut like a demon but has no writing skills. at. all.

Linda Blair is back. The van is currently sitting in front of the knitting store where she gave up the ghost (or maybe got one) after my sock knitting class. I'm reminded of a quote, I think, from the movie Major League. Something about "dance around with your hoodoo stick and shake your willy." Believe me if I had either and thought it would help...I would do it. It would be better than the dealership's approach.

I finished knitting project one. (A hat for S, I'll post pictures.) Started knitting project two (a hat for A) and also started knitting a sock for me. I also learned a new cast on, twisted German casting. (I was a thumb caster...practically a virgin.) It is complicated but stretchy. I have about 3 inches of hat and two inches of sock going. Everything is on DPNs because I am unable to handle those circular needles.

Halloween was a great success. One store bought costume and 3 made out of other stuff. We had Darth Vader (store) and Luke Skywalker. Then the Mummy and his trusty bat sidekick. Much candy was handed out, collected, and eaten. J was happy that everyone liked his mummy costume and knew what he was.

We had our yearly food drive. 9 adults and 20 kids collected 1050 pounds of food and $236. Then that evening my neighbor had a great adult party which happened to have a few kids. We got the ultimate compliment from a drunken pirate. "Man, when I have kids....I sure hope they are as cool as yours." (I thought they were supposed to be nerdy homeschool kids.)

Because I can't go anywhere or do anything else do tot he possessed van issue...today we have school and laundry. Maybe an unschool and a mostly housework day. I've been to the library. I have Climbing Parnasus and a ton of cool math, optical illusion, and caldecot winning books. J is giggling through 21 balloons. M is reading "A place for Zero" and A is obsessed with alphabet books. Thankfully, we have tons or I would be very sick of Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom.
I've got a nice pot of grits going and I might even cook some bacon. We've got plans for cookies this afternoon. And sock sorting.
If we are lucky we might just get 3 days of this before the hectic "go here, go there" starts up again.
Hot digitty!