WTF

Today I went to the rhumetologist and approached the subject of me having babies. In a nutshell he told me I should not have them. Evidently, I am on all the "messing up growing babies drugs" and I would be off too much medicine while trying to get pregnant and my body would flare up bad. He wondered if I could handle the pain. My JAR has mostly just got worst over the past two years and the drugs I am on are not really working like Dr. Rutstein wanted. He seemed to be worried about the stress on my body and all the unknowns that go with JAR and pregnancy Even if the pregnancy was good after the baby was born I would flare up and not be able to take care of the baby. For him it seemed like too many risks. At different times in my life I asked this questions of him and it was a lot of wait and see; some hopeful answers but nothing definitive. When I asked him today and he realized I was serious the answer was no. So essentially I was falsely hoping all along. I guess there are always second opinions, but I think I know in my heart they will say the same thing.

On the upside there is adoption and that is probably what I will do, but still a little part of my soul died today.

Good News and Bad News

Well, yesterday I went to the orthopedic doctor and he said that I am continuing to heal and that I can keep doing physical therapy and I will not have to do the surgery. That is the good news.

The bad news....I just found out today that they are going to eliminate the service learning position at UTSA and give all the job duties over to me. So, basically I do two jobs and don't get any extra pay. What is more disturbing is that UTSA would kill a program that was originally started by a student. Obviously, service is not one of UTSA's main priorities and I guess that just makes me sad.

Major Updates

Ok folks major updates ahead:

UTSA: Well, last week was the first week of school and it was super busy. I worked last Saturday doing this conference for students and the Sunday before MLK I did a workday with my VOICES students. So by the end of the week I was tired, but then it is kinda always like that the first week of school. It turns out that we are going to send students to New Orleans over spring break to help with hurricane relief efforts. I am excited about this trip and think it will be a humbling experience for the students that are going.

Nevil: The big news around here currently is Nevil Shed. He was one of the players on The Texas Western basketball team in 1966. They started black players which had never been done before and they won the championship title. The movie Glory Road is literally his life. Nevil even had some plot lines in the movie. Anyway, it was a good movie that the whole family could enjoy. Nevil is even on a Wheaties box and he is practically excited about that.

Physical Therapy: So the physical therapy continues. I actually look forward to the sessions which is weird. The folks there are nice and it seems to be helping a lot. I can drive now and bend my leg when I sit at my desk and have it not hurt. I can walk without crutches, but I have to remember to bend my leg when I walk. I also still wear the brace during the day. Tomorrow I go see the orthopedist, so we will see what he has to say on the progress. Dirk, the PT guy said he is a conservative doctor and does not usually do surgery unless he has to. So I might just have to do PT and never need the surgery. I am getting better but I also realize it is a slow constant process that will take some time.

Nephews: Sam and I went over to his brother's house to play the Dungeon and Dragons game they got for Christmas. We arrived about 6:00pm and stayed until 11:00pm! The next day we all went to Dave & Busters because Jonah got the highest score in his whole school on his TAKS test (the new TEAMS for those of my generation) Anyway, the nephews are cute and super excited about everything. Being a kid was cool.

Jeff: Jeff's dad sold the house in TN so now he can begin to look for a house here. Also, Jeff presented his work he has been doing for his Masters Saturday in CA to a committee and they seem to like it. Also, he presented some ideas to the paten board on Friday. Jeff and his professor are making a teaching model for surgeon students that simulates real skin, so the students can practice cutting in real skin vs. cadaver skin. Evidently the give, texture, etc. is all very different. Anyway, the model, method and idea can all be patented so Jeff and this professor get to publish the paper and might get dollars from the patent. Cool!

My first Christmas tree as a Slocum

My internet at home works so I am just now blogging Christmas. It was a wonderful Christmas both at the Slocums and at the Smith & relatives. At the Slocums we opened gifts, ate and played D&D with the nephews. So cute! At the Smith's we opened, gifts, ate and then went over to grandma's to open more gifts and eat more. It completely rocked! Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Mostly I just love spending time with family. Above is Sam and me with our first Christmas tree.

Kittens!

This site RULES!

www.kittenwar.com

You are powerless against its cuteness!

Cats are smarter than people think

Today on NPR I heard this story. 911 got a call, but there was no response on the other line. When they arrived a guy had fallen out of his wheelchair and the cat was by the phone. The guy said he tried to teach the cat to dial 911 in an emergency, but was never sure if it had stuck. Well evidently it did. Cats save lives!

1920s Name

Your 1920's Name is:

Verda Mozelle

What's" Your 1920's Name?

My Elf Name

Your Elf Name Is...

Giggles Twinkle Wink

What's" Your Elf Name?

pimps

pimps
Originally uploaded by sharis1974.

Here are Jeff and Sam wearing funny hats. Ocassionly, we just have crazy hat days and we try on each others hats. Really most of the hats are provided by me since I kinda have a colelction going. These two hats belong to Sam

Movie Reviews

This is intersteing. Movie reviews in 4 words.

www.4wfr.com

Deep Pictures

Ok everyone here is the deep picture of the month....

Here is a picture of Pam and I at UTSA making our Binky Blankets that were later donate to the children's shelter. This was last Wednesday at the DT campus. Anyway, we spent a lot of time chatting and it was a nice break from "work" even thought we were technically on the clock.

This last Friday was my birthday but I did not celebrate with the family until Sunday. It was great Shavonne and Steve sent me a Union Jack purse full of British candy. It rocked!

Mom and Dad got me a West London hoodie to wear. (West London is where the Theatre District is...West End!) It was so nice that everyone thought of me while they were away on the London Thanksgiving trip and I was here at home on crutches. I really do have a great family and I love them very much. More pictures below:

Well, I took Wed. off to hang out with Sam and got sick, throwing up sick that lasted until 4:00pm on Thanksgiving Day. So about 6:00pm, Sam and I headed over to Grandma's. By now I had kept Gatorade and chicken noodle soup down. The good news was Grandma, Aunt Neat, Neal, Uncle Robert and Aunt Debbie had not eaten yet. So I got to eat a feast after two days of barfing! I was glad to be with Grandma and crew. Gradama has a really bad ass balcony with reflection pool and we sat outside after dinner. I was also excited to see Uncle Robert. He had the same surgery I might have, so he out my fears to rest. He injured himself on his honeymoon, so you know that probably sucked. I also got to know Debbie more and I really like her. She was great. I am glad, in the end, I got to spend Thanksgving with family even if it was not the immediate family.

By Friday, I was tired so I skipped the British movie marathon for another time. Maybe around Chrsitmas.

This is my friend Sue's new baby. Alexander. Soo tiny and sweet.

Well, I went to the doctor today and it turns out I might also have a fracture in my knee. So I need a bone scan to figure that out to see if it suddenly happened or is it just indicative of my JRA. If I do have a fracture then I will need a stronger cast, physical therapy, and a super long time on crutches. Fixing the fracture could heal the tear, possibly. Depending if it is a fracture or what is up with the fracture then I may or may not have to get the surgery They did not have a copy of the MRI so they are working on getting that. None of this will even get going until after Thanksgiving. Of course I need permission from my Primary Care Physician to get the bone scan. The orthopedist will have to send the notation to them, which he has someone type up because he talks into tape recorders. None of this will happen before Thanksgiving since they close early.

So I just finished watching It Happened One Night with Clark Gable. It was on Turner Classic movies and they always have some announcer guy sharing interesting facts about the movie. Well, in this movie there is a scene where Clark gets undressed and he is talking about how a man undresses. Well first he takes off his hat, then his coat, then his suspenders, then his dress shirt and he is just bare chested underneath the dress shirt. Now, usually, men would have on undershirts under their dress shirts, but Clark is chattering constantly in this scene and he found it hard to do his lines, while taking off an undershirt. The director decided he could leave the undershirt out of the scene. Well, after this movie men just stopped wearing undershirts all together. This movie revolutionized fashion! In fact the men's underwear industry took such a hit financially, from men not buying undershirts, that they tried to sue Colombia Pictures! Evidently, things were bad for men's underwear for a long time until Marlon Brando revitalized the undershirt in Streetcar Named Desire. Then the men' s undershirt industry was back on top again~

Classic. I love little movie tidbits like that!

So I went to bed early last night, since I had a headache and pretty much slept through the night only to wake up once. So this morning I was up early; read Newsweek and then Sam and Jeff came home with a giant HDTV. I watched The Others on it; you know just to make sure it worked. Then we went over to the Slocum's for Thanksgiving. They are having it this weekend because Joe has the kids this weekend. Well Sam told his mom that he had the game at 5:00pm, so if they could make Thanksgiving early. Well she forgot, so we arrived early and just had dinner with the parents. The rest of the family and friends showed up after we left. It was still nice just to chat with his parents. The cool picture of the praying mantis was taken on the Slocum's front door. Nature RULES! After that we went back to our house and Sam's friends came over. We played Munkin Bites! and Illumanti. Both are card type games that make fun of role playing games. We played until about 10:00pm. Then everyone left, except for Clayton. Sam, Clayton and I played a video game until about 1:00am. It is called Call of Cathulu after the Lovecraft stories. You are a detective figuring out clues. It is from your perspective, so you run into scary thing and it kinda creeps you out because the video game is kinda real feeling. The controller even shakes when you get "nervous." Sam bought an X Box and some games with the money that he was going to use on the NYC trip. Hooray for used stuff on EBay. I will just put my London money away in savings, so I can use it for the NYC trip in March. Hopefully, I will go to NYC if I can find someone to go with my students on their spring break trip. Well all in all it was a good day.

Oh excitement~! The living room is clean now and looks great. Both cognac chairs are downstairs now. The house is shaping up.

Well is turns out I have a major tear in my knee. The ligaments and cartlidge are jacked up. I need surgery, but the arthoscopic out patient kind. I have an appointment with the orthopedic on Monday. So then he will schedule the surgery. The good news is that it is repairable. The bad news is I can't go to London with the family. So I am stuck here at home. Sam canceled his NYC trip to stay with me in case they do the surgery. So at least Sam and I are together for Thanksgiving. Grandma is out of the hospital now. She has high blood pressure and something is going on with her heart vale but nothing major. So they will just watch it. So I can spend Thanksgiving with grandma, Aunt Neat and Neal. So at least I am with family.

WTF! Well it turns out I am on crutches. Evidently, I twisted the ligaments in my knee, according to the ER. So for a while I could not get up the stairs now; I can. Been on these 'ole crutches a week and a half. Yesterday did an MRI. Still waiting on an orthopedic guy to read it. HMOs take their sweet ass time in helping you.

Turns out I will be spend Thanksgiving in London in a wheel chair. This way I can get around without the crutches since they tire me out quickly. So I was kinda sad and depressed about the crutches thing and loosing the independence of being able to drive but then.....


Sam gave me a sweet teddy bear to cheer me up and all was well