Cleaning and Moving

Thursday, 26 July 2007

Today is the first official teacher work day for the new school year. Still seems like summer, but since Hawai'i is on a year-round school schedule, our summer is always short. The kids come next week, and my room is hardly ready! Been busy this week going into my classroom at school and physically moving boxes and books from one classroom to the other. I'm moving to a bigger classroom, but it is already storage for band and P.E. equipment, so it's not quite a whole size classroom. Plus, there are big sized desks and furniture in disarray. Also, it used to be a 6th grade classroom, and there are still books in there from my very own 6th grade teacher! Yikes! Needless to say, it is quite a feat. I hate moving.

My mother-in-law and Auntie Stevie have both watched Chase this week so that I can go in and get stuff done. I've been working on report cards and need to orient my long-term sub Christina with stuff so that she's ready to go. I'll probably just go in for meetings tomorrow and Monday, then use my sick leave and take Leave of Absence for the rest of the semester. I plan on returning to half-time teaching ELL (English Language Learners) after Winter Break in January.

Tomorrow, we have a pediatrician checkup as he'll be one month old! We'll see how much weight he's gained since he was born, but from our calculations (Chris weighing himself on the scale, then weighing himself and baby on the scale), we think Chase is about 6 pounds. He's eating often and pooping often, that's for sure!

Well, gotta try and get a cat nap in before he wakes up.

Here's a very nice update from my friends Miya and Junji on their son Taiga.

"Aloha Everyone,

First of all, thank you for the overwhelming show of support that you have all shown us during this challenging time. We have no doubt that your prayers and positive thoughts have helped Taiga (and our family) get through this.

We are currently in the midst of our sixth week in the hospital, and I am excited to report that Taiga is doing well. He was recently released from the pediatric ICU and is now in the regular pediatric ward in the Carter unit at Kapiolani (on the second floor). We is alert, awake, and off of the breathing machine!

His muscles are weak from being asleep for over a month, but he is slowly regaining his strength. He is currently undergoing daily PT & OT to re-develop the use of muscles and coordination skills. He is talking and is getting better with each passing day. They just shut off his feeding tube, and he is now starting to eat pureed and soft foods like yogurt and mash potatoes. He is still slowly being weened off of his medication, and we are very hopefully that by this time next week, we will be back at home and resuming our everyday lives (as much as possible).

The doctors haven't identified the underlying cause of his illness, but they are working endlessly to figure it out. They will continue to treat him and run tests once we get out, and he will need to have immune/blood treatment consistently for the next several months as they determine the main cause of everything. They are leaning towards some sort of immune system abnormality, but it will take some time as they continue to monitor his progress. We are certain that the doctors will be able to do their thing to make Taiga even better than before. Overall, we are just grateful that things have turned out well and that we will be going home soon.

Thank you again to you all. We could not have gotten through all of this without your support. We really appreciate it."

Thank you and god bless,

Miya and Martin/Junji