Dutch Treat

Isaac has been back in the hockey groove for about 3-ish weeks now. We moved him out of Intro to Hockey into Mini-mites. With that, came an increase in time on the ice (2 days instead of 1) and one of those days is at Union, the local college that we’re affiliated with.

As it is, the mini mites are all thrilled to be on college ice. It’s big, it’s all sorts of seats (not just the bleachers), it’s warmer than our home rink and for the parents, there’s CELL PHONE RECEPTION in this one! There’s one other big draw-the kids get to walk the tunnel from the visitor’s locker room to the ice.

So, a typical Sunday at Mini Mites involves skill and drills. Lots of moving from station to station and even getting some instruction on the ice from coaches.

But today…well, the end of practice was anything but typical. We saw a few of the college players milling around in their Under Armor and that’s not a really common sight, but we’re at a college rink, with two VERY good teams (both men AND women!) and it’s to be expected. What wasn’t expected was what followed….

First the coach of the Men’s team came skating onto the ice-warm ups, whistle, stick and gloves…and began playing freeze tag with the kids. Then, a few of the players came out and began joining in the games and when the usual cross ice games began, the players joined in.

As the next few minutes wore on, more and more players came onto the ice, including the goalies. The fact that they were using mini-nets produced my favorite photo of all time. It’s a bit dark, but I call it “Big goalie in a little net.” (Sing it to the tune of the Chris Farley “Fat Man in a little coat” song.)

Then, Coach called them to gather up and paired off the college team with the kids. They not only got to shoot, but pass to a big guy.

Isaac decided he’d show off his “body stopping” skills…much to the giggle of the player he was working with.

Then, after a few minutes of one on ones, the coach called them to gather up again

and they did a all of the big guys passing (gently) to the little guys (and girls) and then the kids firing at the real goalies in the real nets! I know some pucks went in, but who knows which ones. All of the kids were celebrating with sticks in the air and laughing.

Then, after an extra 20 minutes, Coach Leaman gathered up all of the players, small and large and had the big guys give the kids a proper send off…

High fives from the entire team! For each kid! AND because they have their names on their helmets, they were congratulated by name. What a rush!

Thank you to the Dutchmen and Coach Leaman for a Dutch Treat that neither the kids or the parents are soon to forget!

1 year

This time last year, I was in my awesome CDE’s office attaching my purple pump to my body and beginning the journey of a pumping diabetic. After fighting tooth and nail with the insurance company, I was excited to go live and kicking with insulin and not saline. I remember that Thanksgiving dinner was really interesting, with people telling me that it seemed too much trouble to even think about, but I knew that it would be good.

I remember wondering if I would ever get used to the thing in my pocket or attached to my waistband (or bra in some cases) and wondering if this sucker was actually dispensing. I worried that I would break the mucho expensive item that was attached to me 24/7 now.

But, now…

I feel naked without it.
I’ve learned that female pj pants need pockets, and I wear until they die the ones that do.
I’ve learned that you can only pull a plunger so far before the entire resivoir explodes and you are totally covered in old band aid smelling novolog.
I don’t feel like I’m walking through glue in the morning.
I can detangle pump tubing from pretty much anything-even in the dark, using the screen backlight.

I know this pump has kept me out of the hospital a few times when I ended up on prednisone.

and

I know that without it, I’d be lost.

So, here’s to another year.

Thank the good Lord for Medtronic.

Mushroom Maybe

Last night, after a long, long, long day of me wanting to curl back up into my flannel sheets and say “Wake me up when Tuesday ends,” I went to a Times Union sponsored Mom’s Night Out. It was held at this amazing place called Creo.

I had stumbled onto this Mom’s night out through my fellow blogger and person who knows how frustrating the local school district can be, Jen. $20.00 for a tasting menu and some wine and a night away from the guys? I’m in!

We sat down and were treated to a card with the recipies for BOTH items we’d be eating, created by Creo’s amazing Chef Plummer.

Now, I’m not as picky an eater as other people in this house, but I totally have my list of “Oh, good lord no!” foods. Normally, mushrooms are high on that list, as I think they are the consistency of snot.

Yes, Snot.

So, when I saw a wild mushroom strudel on the menu, I was wondering exactly how I could avoid eating this as I’m not a mushroom fan.

Again. Snot.

I wondered how I could avoid insulting the chef, who created these dishes just for us and was hosting us.

So, I made a decision. I would do what I always tell Doug I’m going to do to him-Broaden the food horizons.

When the wild mushroom strudel arrived, I was tempted by the truffle oil and garlic cream sauce over top and dug in…

and….

yum.

No snot, no ick, no nothing. All I tasted was WONDERFUL!

Chef Plummer, you are a wonder. You made a mushroom hater actually enjoy them!

I still won’t eat them outside of this, but that’s another story.

How many Occupational Therapists does it take…

to try and rehab Isaac?

yeah, that’s the question,and I don’t have a really good answer. After the multiple fiascos last year, we went to a private OT so that we could try and bring Isaac up as close to speed as we could get.

So, at last check in with this whole mess, we were in a pretty good space with Miss A.

of course, that couldn’t last. Seriously. We had a good thing going, but it just CAN’T last. It’s the way our luck runs.

Miss A. left over the summer and we got Miss K.

Let’s start counting-this is OT #2. This is important. Trust me.

She lasted until about a month ago, when all heck broke loose and they tried to rearrange my schedule to meet theirs. Without asking me.

That went over well.

Yeah. And pigs are going to fly…

Enter Miss M. This is OT #3.

So, I figured we were settled. Then, Miss M. started showing up late. At first it was nothing huge, but then, when she started showing up 10-15 minutes late every session where we’d only get 15 minutes of good, solid OT with her, we had a problem. She also told us she was going to leave, because working in the clinic didn’t really work with her schedule and things, so she didn’t want to get too involved with Isaac and his treatment.

Okie dokie…..

Enter yesterday. I checked the phone messages and found that we had one from the place where Isaac does private OT, asking to change the time of the session to a time when we’ve stated on SEVERAL occasions that we are not available at.

Here’s where I hit the roof.

So, I got on the phone and called this morning and after a long conversation with the secretary, I got a hold of the head of the program. At this point, I think it was what was needed. I left a message for him to call me. The message he left on my cell phone showed that he really had no understanding of the situation. So, I returned the call and ran down the list of issues-

1. We’re sick of being jerked around time wise-it’s not about putting Isaac into the schedule. It’s about the fact that we’ve been through this one too many times…like all of August and September. I don’t think we had a week that we had our regular time at all.

2. We are tired of getting 30 minutes of OT a week instead of a full hour, not due to us being late,but the therapist being late.

3. This change of therapists makes 4 therapists in under 7 months.

Yes, 4 therapists in 7 months. How are we supposed to make progress with that kind of track record? Every therapist has their own ideas of what Isaac should be doing, and no two have agreed on exactly WHAT to do with him-is it writing? Is it sensory? What is it? So, please explain to me how we’re going to make progress switching therapists 4 times!

The director of the program was flabbergasted. Hardcore flabbergasted. He knew I had been to the coordinator over this, because our favorite intrepid secretary gave him a reader’s digest of the backstory.

I explained to the head of the program that the coordinator had told me that an intern that we really liked, and did well with Isaac would be coming on board as a full therapist. We just wanted to know WHEN this would happen, as we were told this would be happening a month ago!!

So, now, we’re in the hold mode. We’re waiting for #4, Mr. S, to come on board and put Isaac on his caseload,instead of dealing with late OT.

let’s see how long before we end up having to flip a gasket to get him back into OT.

Social Media ban

It’s been pretty quiet here.

I’ve got a lot on my mind, but I really can’t put it here, because I was told at work that there’s a ban on Social Media. I guess there was some very unfortunate incident and there were people badmouthing the school. The pastor took it to heart and put out a ban.

So, I can’t talk about what goes on at work anymore, and right now, that’s my life. There are other things, but it may be a bit quiet…

so, I apologize…

Wordless Wednesday-Halloween 2010