Cindy M.Ed.

The long and winding road to my masters degree is finally over. This month was our final class weekend. Everyone in the cohort presented their thesis and defended it. This was one of the most stressful weekends we have had. I think the entire cohort was extremely relieved to have the ordeal over.
I was amazed at the variety of projects and papers which came out of our cohort. One proposal was to start a geo-caching after school club which was aimed at helping our digitally wired students rediscover the great outdoors and reconnect with nature. Another paper discussed the possibility of putting together a slacklining group in Portland. Slacklining is a sport using a narrow (1") length of strapping strung between two trees and then walking, jumping and doing other tricks on this strapping. It is generally done only a couple of feet off the ground. Another paper discussed the need for beginning teachers to have good nutrition to help lessen the stresses found in the first few years of teaching. It is amazing to me that nearly 50% of all new`teachers quit within the first five years in the classroom. The title of that paper was The Tastiest Tools for Teaching. The project has grown into a cookbook which the student is now attempting to have published.
The whole experience of obtaining my masters degree has been wonderful. It was stressful at times, but I learned a great deal. I think the thing I most appreciate about the experience is that I now know I can do hard things. I am glad to have had the experience, but right now I am glad it is over. I do find myself a little lost not having a paper to write or a textbook to read. I am looking forward to reading a few book I have been putting off.

Kent Update

The rheumatologist tried to reduce some of the medication doses Kent has been taking a couple of weeks ago. After severalf days Kent noticed he was in more pain and the numbness started spreading again. We contacted the doctor and upped the doses again. It is quite a balancing act to try and weigh the pain of the symptoms against the side effects of the drugs. All these decisions are hard ones.
This week Kent went up to OHSU to see the neurologist for a follow-up visit. These visits are both enlightening and discouraging. The neurologists did some strength and numbness tests which told us that Kent has lost some of his strength and the numbness and nerve damage has spread slightly. The most discouraging part of the visit was the neurologist's feeling that the nerve damage is not going to be reversed. She was probably just trying to prepare us for what is to come. Kent was a little discouraged after that visit.
He is trying to stay positive about things, and he succeeds most of the time. He does have days that are hard for him.
We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers in our behalf.

Good News

Kent and I went to the cardiologist last week for a follow-up exam. The good news is that there seems to have been no permanent damage to his heart from the Churg-Strauss Syndrome. That is a big relief for both of us. Next week we will have appointments with both the rheumatologist and the neurologist. Kent may need another infusion of chemo, but we hope not.
I hope we have more good news after the upcoming doctor appointments.
Kent has been experiencing more numbness in his right hand and his right leg. It is probably because of the doctors have been changing the dosages of some of his medication. It is hard to know if the side-effects of the drugs are worse than the symptoms of the syndrome. I think the doctors will soon get it figured out. At least I hope they do.
Meanwhile, we appreciate all the thoughts and prayers you send Kent's way.

Similarities

Last weekend I attended my masters class. This time it was our creative movement class. We discussed and practiced many different ways to incorporate movement into our regular classroom activities. It was great to see how teaching second graders about the states of matter could also include movement. The teacher had her students (us) move like the molecules in a solid, then a liquid and finally as a gas. I am sure actual second graders would have been more creative in their interpretations. I presented a lesson on the layers of the earth, what they are made of and how they move. I asked the students to get into groups representing the Inner Core, the Outer Core, the Mantle and the Crust. They came up with a movement to represent their layer of the earth as well as a chant they could say while doing their movement which would include some information about what the layer is composed of and what sort of movement goes on in that layer. It was fun to see members of my cohort enjoying a science lesson.
The Sunday afternoon part of the class was when we presented our group creative movement project. Our cohort was split into four groups and we had to come up with a movement piece that reflected our similarities and our individual natures. When we first got into our group, I thought we were not going to have much in the way of similarities. However, as we started discussing who and what we were, we found many similarities. The project we finally came up with was a slide show with photos of ourselves and our ancestors and our descendants to some gentle music. We moved as the music was playing (I wouldn't call what we did dancing exactly.) One of our group read the poem by Robert Frost, Two Roads. After she finished we did what is called active stillness (frozen poses) while each of us told or recited a quote that meant something to us. It was amazing how well the quotes all fit together. We then went up on some risers in the space we were using and joined to each other with some beautiful scarves. We had many of our class feeling something special by the time we ended. I was amazed at how similar, not only our group was, but how much we had in common with most of the cohort. By the time we finished the discussion on our presentation, I felt we should sing As Sisters in Zion.
I find we are more similar as women than I had previously thought. We need to celebrate our similarity as well as our uniqueness.

An Update on our Family Situation

It has been a while since I wrote. Much has happened since then. My husband has been diagnosed with Churg-Strauss Syndrome which is pretty rare. Only 3 in 1,000,000 people have this syndrome. It is an auto-immune type of problem. In my husband's case it attacked his peripheral nerves in his hands and feet first. It was starting to spread up his arms and legs into the chest area. That is when we took him to the hospital emergency room and they sent him to the university hospital where he stayed in the neuroscience ICU for a little over a week. The diagnoses of Churg-Strauss Syndrome took several days and then they had to work hard to get his heart rate down from the 130 - 140 range to under 100. He had his first chemo treatment while in ICU. (He has had three more chemo treatments since.)
After he was more stable they transferred him to the immediate care area of the neuroscience floor. There he made progress and started to learn how to do things left-handed. He also was able to get up and take a few steps with the walker! It was great to see him starting to move around again.
When they felt he was ready, he was transferred to a rehabilitation center fairly close to home. I was very relieved when this occurred since I am not comfortable driving in Portland. It is a confusing city to drive in. At the rehabilitation center he started to work with physical therapists and occupational therapists to get back the use of some of his muscles. His right hand was affected more than his left. He still has tingling and burning sensations in his hands and feet all the time. He is taking a drug called Lyrica which helps with the nerve pain, but it is a gradual process. Regular pain meds just don't work on nerve pain. He is also on prednizone which makes life interesting in other ways.
My husband is home now and making some progress. It is almost always incremental, but it is there. He is now able to walk around our home without the walker if he goes slowly and is within reach of something to grab onto when he loses his balance. He has learned how to eat left-handed pretty well using some built-up utensils. (silverware with fat handles) He signs his name holding the pen in his right hand and using his left to guide the pen. He has transferred his computer mouse to the left hand and manages fairly well with it. We have a nice rolling walker for him to use outside of home. I guess there may be one little perk in this scenario. We had to get a disabled parking placard so we do get to park closer to most entrances now.
Kent still tires easily. He has a great deal of swelling in his hands and feet. The cardiology people are still trying to figure out why that is occurring. The rhuematology people are working to keep the other symptoms at bay. They are also in charge of his chemo treatments. The neurology people are interested to see how much of the functions of his hands and feet comes back. We are becoming very good friends with the people at the pharmacy. He is taking quite a few different medications. Fortunately, we have a nephew who has just graduated from pharmacy school and is glad to give us advice and information about what drugs have been prescribed. This has been a great learning experience for our family.
I am very grateful to be married to such a wonderful man. He has kept an optimistic outlook through most of this ordeal. He does have his moments of discouragement, but it usually occurs when one of his medication dosages is being changed. They warned us that might happen. All in all we feel we have been greatly blessed. We have had wonderful people from the Church and from our families come to help out. They have done everything from putting in a new toilet to cleaning my house. Some have come to give massages and work with the physical therapy exercises my husband must do. People have come to help with our children (one who is autistic and one who has Asperger's syndrome.)and have brought delicious dinners. Most of all people have been so good about including Kent and our family in their prayers. The power of prayer is amazing. We feel the comfort and love of the Holy Spirit in so many ways. This we are very grateful for.
My husband is a computer network engineer. He is able to do much of his work from home through telephone support and taking control of his customers' computers remotely. He does go on site at times. This really wears him out though. Hopefully, he will continue to gain stamina. We are grateful he is able to do some work still even though he is not functioning at full capacity.
It is like they say, if it doesn't kill you it will make you stronger. I feel that has happened with our family. We are closer now and we find joy in small things.
Life is good!

Crazy Weekend

I am home right now after spending most of the last few days at the neuroscience ICU with my husband. He has developed progressive neuropathy. That means his nerves have started shutting down starting with his feet and progressing up his legs. Then his fingers and hands started the same thing with the numbness moving up his arms and into his chest area. The doctors are trying to decide what is going on. They thought at first it was Guillain Barre Syndrome, but he doesn't have all the markers for that so they are trying to figure out what else is going on.
They did find that his heart is not beating as strongly as they would like and that he is getting liquid in his lungs from the back flow. That doesn't explain the numbness though.
I am so grateful for the kindness of friends and fellow church members who have stepped in to help with my sons. The one who is autistic needed a place to go where he was familiar with at least someone. Fortunately, Donna works in his classroom at school, so they are very familiar with each other. This was a great comfort.
I hope today the doctors will be able to do the tests they need to figure out what is going on with my husband. Most of the other people I talk to in the waiting room at the ICU have family members who have had aneurysms or strokes, so there are a lot of very tired and tense people in the waiting rooms. We do join together and try to support each other.
I am also grateful for medical science that helps keep people alive while the doctors figure out what is wrong. The nurses have been great.
I am sorry this is so disjointed, but I am also trying to battle a migraine.

Music to Poetry

At my master's class last weekend, the professor had us all close our eyes and listen to a piece of music. Our task was to visualize the music. She chose a classical piece by Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist. It was a peaceful and relaxing experience. Then we opened our eyes and wrote in verse form about what we had seen in our imaginations. Afterward we shared our poems with each other. There was quite a wide variety of images. Everything from an actual concert in an auditorium to dwarfs, trolls and elves marching through the Mines of Moria. This is my effort in that exercise.

When the Cello Begins

When the cello begins to sing
The swallows fly into the air
Dancing swiftly out of sight.

When the cello begins to sing,
The sycamore leaves sweetly sway
Waving merrily to the swallows.

When the cello begins to sing,
The sunflowers nod their shining heads
To the swaying sycamore trees
Waving to the swallows.

When the cello begins to sing,
The graceful deer leap up the hill
Past the nodding sunflowers
And the swaying sycamore trees
Waving to the swallows.

When the cello begins to end,
The sun sinks in the west
As the graceful deer disappear over the hill
The sunflowers cease to nod to
The now still sycamores
Waving good-bye to the swallows.

This was a wonderful exercise in listening and imagining. As a culture we spend very little time listening to our inner selves and connecting with the world around us. This exercise is a good one to try on your own, or with your family.

Relax and enjoy!