I haven't heard from Maj. Pat's wife today, but I did get an email from his brother in Kansas this evening saying that they had reduced the concentration of oxygen that Pat was receiving to 60% (from 100%)...and that if he kept improving, he might be able to go to a regular hospital room tonight. Please don't stop the prayers. This isn't the end of the battle--only the possible end of the immediate crisis! Pat has been treated and released before, only to have the problem recur. This has been going on since September. Frankly, I think the doctors are stumped. This man has never smoked. They have hit him with antibiotics and steroids, breathing treatments, bronchoscopies, cat scans, and even a biopsy...and the pneumonia persists. I feel a little bit better tonight knowing that he MIGHT be getting better, but it is a pretty helpless feeling knowing that he is in trouble and I can't be there. When they lived in Chicago, it wasn't that big a deal to shag up there to be supportive. They are now six hours away. Not as easy a weekend jaunt...
(Good news! Pat just called. He is in a regular hospital room now! They still don't know what the "bug" is that is attacking his lungs, but at least he isn't in immediate danger. Hallelujah!)
I've been working on the gradebook software at school, endeavoring to get the software to figure grades for me. It has taken a lot of help from one of the school secretaries, and some effort to input scores from my "hard copy" gradebook. The beauty of it is that I can check the students' grades at a glance, as long as I have all of the scores put in. The kids, of course, are always incredulous that their grades could be that bad. I have to show them.
Just to give you an idea of what I am dealing with, here is an example: Today, I had kids at the board finding subjects and verbs in sentences. (That is probably a third grade skill.) One young man found the subject in his sentence. Looking for the verb, he said it was "us". I said, "Have you 'us'ed' lately?" Okay...he figured that wasn't the verb. Finally, he tried "gave". Yes, that's it. Is it an action verb or a linking (state-of-being) verb? He decided it was state-of-being. I said, "When you GIVE someone something, isn't there some action? Shouldn't that be an actionverb?" He said...(are you ready?)...this isn't GIVE. It's GAVE." Aaaarrrrrghhhhhh!
I will be going to Muncie this weekend, weather permitting. Meg and Nathan got the newly-engined Taurus back today. Nate's father and mother paid the freight to have a rebuilt engine put in. At least they are back to two vehicles again. Nate's two-door Beretta is scary and just doesn't cut it anymore. I have flat-out given the kids my last two used cars when I got another. My cast-offs have served them semi-well...but I think my source for used vehicle replacement may have dried up. When my buggy gives up the ghost, I don't know where to go from here...
My sister reports that my niece is able to be on her feet a little now. She was involved in a head-on collision in November. She is doing okay. Just talked to her tonight. God is good!
Time for bed!
No comments:
Post a Comment