reaching out

I was diagnosed with May-Hegglin when I was 17 years old under some very interesting circumstances. I had an emergency surgery. My platets dropped to only 11,000 yet I had no bleeding out. The doctors were baffled and sent me for testing. Since that time my platets have never numbered higher than 70,000. I was tested for any and everything you could imagine and the Dr finally decided that I had MHA. Ok, the twist is that even though this is a genetic disorder, the tests on my family were all negative. So I was declared as a new mutant, yes wonderful for a teen.

I don't know another single person that has this disorder. The older I get the more questions I have. I will be turning 40 this year and I really would like to have atleast one person to compare conditions with. I have always bruised easily and I understand that part of the disorder but I have noticed that as I age common activities bruise me that didn't when I was younger. For example, some door knobs bruise my hands when I turn them, Bottles and jars are getting harder to open because of bruising, not because of strength.

I would like to know if that is normal and to be expected when aging with this disorder.

Recital

Kids today rarely get a chance to do some of the things that we and our grandparents did. One of those things is reciting poems or readings for others. I was delighted when Brandon had an assignment to do a reading for his class. He had to choose a poem to recite/read for his class. We practiced every night and I hope he did as well at school as he did for me at home.He has had a slow start in reading but now with medication to help his attention, I have seen him make huge strides in his progress. He isn't afraid to get up in front of others which is good for a future president.Here is the poem he chose:

The Toughest Boys in School

Don't mess with us! Don't be a fool!
We are the toughest boys in school.
So if you meet us - best behave.
We're big and strong and very brave.
Though I admit it's true to say
That we've been known to run away
From kids at school who call us names,
Who laugh at us and spoil our games.
'Cause even though we boys play rough,
The girls in school are twice as tough.

Bob Woodroffe

Reading??

Anyone who knows me, even acquaintances, knows that I hate to read. I can handle short news stories and magazines, but give me a novel and I will almost always scoff, roll my eyes and put it on the shelf. I noticed that many of my students were reading these huge, thick books. Yes, the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. So just like I did with the Harry Potter books (which I hated), I got the first in the series and started reading. Within record time I finished the first book and was hungry, or should I say thirsty, for the second and then the third. I am currently reading the last of the series, Breaking Dawn. I am mesmerized with the story and found myself making myself turn off the lights at midnight last night. Of course, it didn't do me much good to turn the lights off when my mind is still full of questions about what might happen next.

I have loved the story line and I will definitely look at the authors other books now that I have read these. If you haven't read the Twilight series yet, get them but have plenty of time to get wrapped up in a swirl of questions, intrigue and love.

WOW time flies

I started writing here on this blog one year ago. I thought it would be fun to share stories, vent from time to time and discuss all kinds of topics going on in this world. I was right. I found that I did enjoy writing little articles for my blog. So here I am at a new year and it has taken me 8 days to write my first one. Plus I realized I haven't told anyone about how wonderful my Christmas was.

So here we go. On Christmas day I was able to have some time with Brandon before he went to visit his dad's family for their annual Christmas breakfast. We opened presents from each other and had a beautiful time. I was given an present picked out and wrapped especially by Brandon. It was a rock from the yard, a big one. He told me that I could display it in my classroom since I teach science. We set up the Wii that he got from Santa and played a few games before he had to go.
After he left I got myself ready to go out and headed to the Atlanta airport to pick up Dan. The flight was on time and everything went pretty smoothly. We had a nice lunch at Waffle house, open 365 days a year and then headed to the house to play Wii and wait for Brandon to come back home.
On the 26th we had Christmas with my family, we had fun watching the magic of Christmas through all the little one's eyes. We had a big meal together and then played games til late in the night.
It was the best Christmas I have had in a LONG time. I have the best friends and family anyone could ever wish for.

Now as for New Year's resolutions.
I don't really make too many of these because they are so easily broken and forgotten. But this year I have help with really my only one. I have decided to read the Bible in chronological order throughout the year. I also recruited Dan for the task. We found a schedule and we are making sure that we are following the schedule and even discussing what we read for each day. So far we have made it a full week and I look forward to my time in the Bible every day.

I know that is the reader's digest condensed version but at least I got going for this year!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a great start to 2009!