If one person can change, that change could impact many:: Comments on my immune system, the last 6 weeks or so+, catching up & other mouth drainage!

Hey guys! I'm back to life!

I have been thinking of so many, many of you; especially those of ya'll that live in MS, LA, FL & TX coasts (i.e., in the wake of the recent Hurricanes) and have sent good thoughts your way!

Some short comments to my above Blog title. It has taken me over a week just to get this to save and publish on Blogger, so please forgive some of the off day info! I find this is the best way to get back into the blog world right now! I hope the jumping back and forth and novel-length will not send my readers wanting to pull their hair out:

I have just been put on self-injectable Embrel (IP injection for ya'll seasoned medical readers/once a week).
Had to wait to start Embrel after a 3 week period where I had to have 3 of 3 wisdom teeth removed (#4 never was)
Nearing the end of above mentioned 3 week period; I busted my a$ getting my house ready for Joey's 6-year BDay party (which would also mean, Happy Belated BDays to Luke E. and Zoe W.!!!) As a side: I will never feel quite as close to any females as I did when we all went through pregnancy together (the aforementioned children's Moms). We were all pregnant and serving on the MSMS Board at the same time. I was having my first, Alice her 2nd, and Cindy her 3rd. How we got through those days - I don't know - but every year around Joey's BDay, I always think of Cindy and Alice! Our children's birth orders did not turn out the way we expected, huh?!
Then, the night of my son's BDay party (which was on the day after the 15th), my 3 God-children, part of a family of 5, came to stay that night! It was a great time! Man is it always nice to be able to sit with someone in trust and share joys, ideas, issues, sadness, happiness, love, and even criticism (mainly, I ask for the criticism due to the 3 years I went through a period where my long term memory went to hell. It was from the near multi-system failure I went through somewhat after my hysterectomy -which caused a full-on ablation operation on every major organ the surgeons could see in my abdomen while open bec/ of my ovarian cyst/ball and endometriosis that came back with a vengeance after Joey was born, etc. etc - long story.)
I really had begun to miss my old self after so long I was certain to be unlike my old me ever again. I had mourned the lost of that person; feared that part of me would never return. After working my mind out like a jarhead, I am pleased to feeling closer to my old self; even looking more like my old self - just more wrinkles and an excess of 15-ish prednisone pounds brought on this summer. :) Real friends can bring about the best feelings in the world!
Parenting goofs, joys, and woes are fun to share with other parents that share the parent to parent equality when complaints and advice go back and forth. Of course, I can't always hear well and may have to ask for repeat info; but with patient friends - it is always a welcome. Especially from this particular parent that has a 14 & 3/4 yr. old girl, 8 yr-old boy with autism, and 7-year old boy. She is an angel to me and is one of my oldest true friends next to my precious MSMS friends. Even though she grew up around all girls as the big half-sister; all while being in a family full of women, she welcomes the "boy" advice - which is less than what she is able to offer over-all! :) Still, it's nice to be part of the conversation. I guess once I begin to bring up a new idea, she is quick to realize where I am going with my "what ifs"! ha ha She, like many, makes me feel like a major slacker. She home schools. She's (finally) found her male soul-mate and is engaged! Her life is NOW getting somewhere after losing everything to "Katrina". She's my hero in many ways.
Why she claims I am her Hero, I honestly don't know. To be honest, she is probably the only person that was 'there' with me after I had to leave MSMS. She has watched how ugly things could get for me and was not run off by any of it. She's just a true friend. Her kids feel like extensions of me. They are my blessed God-children and any time or resources I can give them feel like a privilege for me. This past visit, I was excited to finally give the ol' Saturn (that still looks & runs like a top!) for my God-daughter to have eventually as her vehicle this December as a permit driver! It was almost sad to see the Saturn go, but when the time came; it felt good to do! I had some good times and visited some great people/friends in that Saturn. I only hope it is filled with even better memories for 'Aunt Lolly's' family.
After talking about my parenting struggles with Lolly, I felt better as she could see descriptive woes I feel regarding times Joey is not motivated on school days that are the "repeat" unit information and having to work tirelessly on some-type of life lesson that ties to a book from the school library at his reading level as "a part-time home schooled" project, mainly since our public schools have no early programs for children younger than 3^rdor 4^th grade, is so time consuming for me – as well as tiring at times. It made my heart feel better and my nothing-more-than-a parent with simply an outside perspective trying to offer another point of view out of love helped me a lot. I am proud of Joey's full 1.9-2.9 reading level (to the end of 2nd grade; while only just starting the 1st). At first his teacher wanted to try putting him in a 2nd grade class just for reading. My response was, "UGH - NO"! ha ha I have concerns for him staying up to speed (which really means slightly ahead due to age) with his maturity for the 1st grade. He has caught up to date, but at his young age, certainly no ahead child - but I guess really well for a boy that is an offspring of mine! ;)
After a weekend of me joking about the differences between boys and girls and how that carries into adulthood (while we all swam in my bar-tended alcohol! woo hoo) made for a barrel of laughs I needed to have!
School started for Joey, first by a staggered entry day where I was contacted by the teacher immediately that evening. I'm thinking, what did my overly type-A child do?!!! I'll get to that in a minute... (At home, we have to keep things SO laid back so he will stop and breathe!)
Since working with Joey on how to be a "good citizen" crusade this summer; I thought, "Surely on the fake day of school he did not regress..."! Only to find just the opposite! At the end of Joey's K year, they took the top 25 of 235 students and did an AR test. Joey tested almost through the 2nd grade. Talk of him skipping 1st grade reading was brought up only for me to veto the idea due to his young age and immaturity concerns. It turned out, during the first fake day of 1st grade, he read through both reading textbooks and the teacher wanted to suggest some alternatives.
Right now, I want to be sure he knows what a subject, predicate; noun, pronoun, verb, and other proper punctuation/sentence choices are before he goes into 2nd grade, JUST for the X number of time for reading and homework assignments. That way, I am sure he isn't being sent out of the classroom without knowing key reading information. He's already got it and it's after a week of school. However, this teacher is really big on the Boys Town Social Skills. Her whole class must learn each and every one of the skills the first semester with her, whether they are "Boy" or "Girl". A side note, I LOVE this website and recommend it to anyone trying to find straight forward, logical ways to teach your boys how to socialize with more decency!
Trying to socialize a boy can be difficult; as many do not miss subtle changes in their environment alone, yet tolerate too many B.S. stories for too long without losing trust in who ever is trying to paint the rosy-picture of bi-passed answers to their questions. Most boys are what-you-see-is-what-you-get and expect more of a return explanation after they’ve reached a certain age. I cannot think of any major lie I’ve given to Joey once the veil lifted; only try to give him the best age-appropriate answer for the question(s) and try not to help him figure out enough to ask another one! My biggest lesson: Keep it short. If I try to explain things in too much detail, I just lose his interest and his patience with me for the homework period! When I need him to do something, I’ve learned the command prompt should be a motherly tone, but much quicker of similar responses to Gene’s questions/comments. If it is snack time and then homework is to be done, with another task after that, I must say very simply, “Snack, homework! You’ll be homework busy until 4pm. Four is if no goofing or complaining happen, then you should be done”. Any major diversions, I have to quickly let him know how much more of his afternoon time is slipping by. “Play time may have to wait until after dinner”. It is amazing how this simple communication can help him in his newly formed self-management skills we help police him for. By getting beyond straight to the point, he becomes more agreeable with1 - 6 pages of homework and at least 1 book (sometimes 2) to read! Now, when I was in 1^st grade, I do not even remember homework!
Naturally, now with the "no child left behind act" & it’s effect on our came about; even just the above-average school kid, according all major genres of education, report how these students, getting proportionally worse with increased aptitude, show they are not even motivated to want to do anything for themselves. They have had their ‘work’ handed to them, their parents unaware I do not want someone with his gift to be a lazy or unmotivated when he becomes an adult, but at the same time, he MUST know how to fit into society - it is one of the many reason's this child is in public school.
It was hard after taking cupcakes to his class for his BDay only to see his model student behavior and also his disinterest in participating in things he already knows, but only doing what he has to for the A grade.
Last year, he graduated with straight 100's. He loved it. Now, I am noticing less interest in certain types of homework and have finally been able to recruit Dad into this area to help. Thank God! Gene has always wanted to know everything as close to detail as possible when it comes to Joey's day and school-work. Now, he is more involved and he is a great at the things I could use his line of thinking on. He has also taken on a variety of things in the house to show Joey that men can do housework, too, especially when Mom needs a little help! :) We've weathered 17+ years now, and I am never short of examples why we belong together and why he is my soul-mate. Aww....I love my boys, especially my Man!
Naturally, nothing is always a bed of rose petals! Take marriage for example: Marriage is like planting a garden sometimes...it needs weeding, watering, proper light, soil (i.e., conditions) and before it ever gets going it has to be planted! After the growth, there is the reaping and the period where the vines die off to be pulled and the electric fence to be taken down. Once this happens, one may find ant hills occasionally take growth. Those years need more treatments. The years they don't take up after reaping, you merrily move into winter and snuggle up. I'm enjoying snuggling up and have more years than not. It was hard after coming here for Gene's family and hard for him to see that many weren't the parental/family units he thought he had. It was such a blow to each of us differently.
Now after also struggling for almost the same amount of time that we have been back here, I have finally been put on (after going through a long on and off of other many things for 'potential SLE or RA') Embrel for RA and have finally seen enough of a difference that I want to STAY here, now, finally.