Tomorrow is the big day. Michel is getting her head chopped open and her brain messed around with. Tomorrow is actually shunt day. Thursday they go back in again to fool around with the base of her brain. I think they need to do the shunt first to relieve the pressure in her brain otherwise when they do the other surgery her head will explode like a can of Coke that has been shaken up. Or something like that.
It just seems like something comes up every year around Christmas. It's always somebody is sick and needs to spend some time in the hospital. We picked up Michel's parents from Brooklyn yesterday. They will be spending some time with us taking care of the kids while Michel is in the hospital. If I say that they are life savers, that would be an understatement.
Since Michel is going to have her head shaved for the surgery, she went and got a short haircut on Saturday. It looks really pretty. Of course, it will all be gone tomorrow but hair grows back. Bald and with staples in her head... my little Frankenstein monster! I will be sure to post some pictures of before and after!
We did get some good news that I forgot to mention. Beth made the honor roll at school. I talked to all of Beth's teachers and they all said that they are happy to have Beth in their class and that she is wonderful girl. This is such a relief after the bad year she had at Our Lady of Mercy. Her sixth grade teacher was a disaster and whenever I asked her why Beth wasn't doing well I always got the same response, "Sixth grade is much harder than fifth grade." What a load of crap. Beth is doing great, loves her teachers, and has made a bunch of great friends. I'm sorry that I ever wasted my money putting Beth in private school.
8 comments:
All the best wishes to Michel and the family and prayers for a successful operation and a quick recovery.
"Chopped open" and "messed around with" ? Thomas, you are definitely hanging out with a lot of medical people.
This seemed a strangely appropriate fusion of thoughts fot the topic:
Liddy's Orange
--------------
The rind lies on the table where Liddy has left it
torn into pieces the size of petals and
curved like petals, rayed out like a
full-blown rose, one touch will make it come apart.
The lining of the rind is wet and chalky as
Devonshire cream, rich as the glaucous
lining of a boiled egg, all that protein
cupped in the ripped shell. And the navel,
torn out carefully,
lies there like a fat gold
bouquet, and the scar of the stem, picked out
with her nails, and still attached to the white
thorn of the central integument,
lies on the careful heap, a tool laid
down at the end of a ceremony,
the sheen of acrid juice, which is all that is
left of the flesh, the pieces lying in
profound order like natural order,
as if this simply happened, the way her
life at 13 looks like something that's just
happening, unless you see her
standing over it, delicately clawing it open.
-- Sharon Olds
Best luck.
On the good news topic: the right teacher can make all the difference -- and so can the wrong one. Being an involved parent is the best thing you can do.
- EFH
Tom my friend, my thoughts are with you and your family.
- Johannes de Jong
My prayers are with you and your family, Tom.
Private schools may differ as much from each other as a private school and a public school may differ. I'm glad that you and Beth found a school where she can be happy and excel.
Marilyn
My prayers are with you and your family, Tom.
Private schools may differ as much from each other as a private school and a public school may differ. I'm glad that you and Beth found a school where she can be happy and excel.
Marilyn.
Marilyn
All the teachers are not of the same calibre whatever the school, though having a good head teacher more than makes up for any lack.
My nephew and niece go to the same private school : she rabbits on every little thing that goes on - the teacher having a baby, who was off school and why, what was for dinner, what she did, and makes it easier for the parents to keep up with what she is doing every day. He lives in a dream world and every other month or so suddenly comes up with something astounding that he has been mulling over. In his case it's not so easy for the parents to keep in touch with what he is doing. I guess the teachers have the same problem.
I am glad Beth found a good teacher in a good school.
I forgot to add that the parents were actually set on putting them in a government school. It just happened that they visited the private school on 'open' day and the children sold the school to them by individuals going up to parents and showing them what they did during the year, some pointed to objects and said what they were called in French. This was nursery and their confidence won the parents.
When the money runs out they'll go to a government school but will be better for it, for their time spent here.
Post a Comment