AM I SMARTER THAN AN 11TH GRADER???

Hi Friends,

Well, today was an eventful day! I thought we'd get up early today and do school before the orthodontist -- but everyone was very tired. We didn't get much done besides breakfast, chores and personal hygeine before it was time to leave for Thousand Oaks. We left at 1 p.m. for our 2 p.m. appointments, and we made good time getting there. The kids took along their reading and math and Bible so they were able to get a lot done on the way to and from the orthodontist office, as well as in the waiting room.

Molly had a good report from Dr. Williams. Her teeth are beautiful, straight, and white, and she dutifully wears her retainers every night. Nate will be ready for his braces in about a year, and he will only need one phase of treatment for 18-24 months. Molly needed 2 phases, which equalled more time and more money. Cameron has nice, straight teeth, so we lucked out with him. But I can tell already that Isaac will need braces, too. He, for some reason, was thrilled to go to the orthodontist today. He viewed it as a special occasion and wore slacks, a white shirt, and a red tie. He also wore a black pin-striped hat. He looked quite spiffy. He also took his netbook in its case, and played it in the waiting room. So, he looked quite professional, too.

After the orthodontist, we stopped at Burger King for a snack (bribe) for being good! We were home by 4 p.m., and we met up with Cameron and Bill. The homeschoolers finished their work and were off to play with friends.

Cameron asked me to help him type another take-home final. This one was for his Film Adaptation Class. He was supposed to choose his favorite 10 films of the semester -- easy enough to list! And then he was supposed to write an essay on his 4 favorite films. He told me it needed to be one paragraph (His wishful thinking!) per film ---BUT when I read the teacher's information, it turned out to be one page per film plus an introduction and conclusion! And the essay needed to include character names, plots, quotes, etc. OK, this may be a little more work than planned? I calmly ask Cam to get out his notes, which he was supposed to take on each film as he watched in class. Well, it turns out he took notes on all the films except his favorites, because he got very sucked into the good ones. And Cameron, being Cameron, needed to do his actual 4 favorite films even if he had no notes or memory of them. His 4 favorite films were: The Five People You Meet in Heaven, It's A Wonderful Life, Harvey, and Billy Jack. So, thank goodness for the internet where we looked up summaries of the films to jog his memory, and we were also able to find out character names and quotes. Bill helped him again with a great cover page on the Mac. We started at 6 p.m. and finished at 11 p.m. All I can say is, now I am really invested in the English final and the Film final. Bring on the take-home exams, because I think I am smarter than an 11th grader. We'd better be getting A's.

Molly was sweet and did the laundry for me while I worked with Cameron, and Bill put the boys to bed. Of course, Isaac came down for me to read Flat Stanley, though -- because nobody reads like Mom. So, we had to take a short break!

Tomorrow - Thursday Cam has his finals at school. He will do 2 subjects per day. That means he is done at 12:30 each day. And on Friday, he has the day off as it's the end of the semester and that's a teacher work day.

Tomorrow I have to get my bone density test done, so I'm headed back to Thousand Oaks. The doctors are concerned that the many doses of steroids have caused more bone loss, in which case they will change my osteoporosis treatment to something stronger. I'm more concerned about my huge neck and lack of chin -- I am hoping the swelling will go down before they hype me up on steroids again!

I also managed to get an appointment with my UCLA specialist, Dr. Karpouzas, for Feb. 10 in the A.M. -- same day I see Dr. Cohen in the P.M. It will be interesting to see whether they agree or disagree on my next treatment plan. They should be able to make a decision then on whether I will do steroids/chemo in April (as originally planned) or sooner. Sometimes they agree, but not always -- so I have to weigh their opinions. Dr. Karpouzas is the Director of Rheumatology at UCLA, so he's definitely an expert. Dr. Cohen, however, has been treating me longer and knows me very well. He's also more conservative in his approach. You have to be careful, because all of this chemo puts me at risk for other types of cancer. As if the Lupus and other stuff isn't enough to deal with, right?!

Well, it's super-late and I'm off to bed. Itty Bitty Kitty is running around the living room chasing little legos. But she's the only one with energy. Everyone else is asleep! I'm sure most of you are, too.

Pray for good bones! My doctors make me feel like I'm 100, telling me to use the cane. If I fall, my "brittle bones" will snap :-(

More tomorrow...
Much Love,
Michele