Bellamaire my daughter gave me hope today - during her call my daughter shared her uplifting information on children - (my daughter was a high school teacher till she retired with all the difficulties Covid regulations put on the teachers) Kathamarie was helping a young friend by taking her daughter to the Chirldren's museum in Greenville SC - Kathamarie and friend live in NC near Hendersonville but the two cities are only a little over 20 minutes apart from each other -
Anyhow has Kylie, the friends daughter was enjoying herself, she made instant friends with two other little girls and of course the mom and my daughter sat together and gabbed - what was uplifting was all the wonderful advancement for families that Home School - it seems in their area of NC south of Asheville NC on down into Greenville SC 20% of children are now home-schooled - not only is there a website with appropriate curriculum that includes lessons but there is a community built around all these homeschooling families and where subject matter that is mostly geared towards the typical middle and higher grades is now taught by specialists where the children get together for a day every or every other week and the rest of their class is online but they all know each other - seems there are now all sorts of companies with both services and material for home schooling - the children are happy, passing any state-required testing, being prepared for either college or a trade and those prepared for college are easily being accepted because of their grades and experiences. Trade type classes are offered by parents or a special skilled parent will take on a couple of nearby students - on and on and the mom shared this close knit community has become her valued social connection - and yes, some are doing it to further their child's religious viewpoint however, most are seeing their child receive more individual help so they are no longer hanging-on only understanding well enough to pass a test and their children are not subject to time wasting censure of students with behavior issues.
Kathamarie remembers her teaching curriculum included information about Home Schooling but it was not shown to be this all encompassing - also in spite of the opinion included in her curriculum the stats then, now 4 and 5 years ago, said that by 2030 50% of students would be Home Schooled. After listening to the enthusiasm that Kathamarie shared as a result of talking to this mom, a passionate home schooler - and hearing how they are learning as we hoped without things like Critical Theory being taught front and center even I relaxed - there really is a future with what I call common sense along with US national values that come from our Constitution.
In fact that is something I really would love to see - maybe a Ken Burns documentary over several weeks where the US Constitution was read and explained - each amendment with brief history of the background on the amendment - but mostly to understand what it says and what it means - I'd love watching that on TV.
Well another case of hope actually realized and how prayer is unexpectedly answered - the saying is 'Hope is in the Unknown' - and that is how my answer to prayer became a reality - because I've been miserable physically for over a month - a lot of it came from eye issues and the meds not agreeing with me and not being able to adequately get information to the doctor through nurses that in their attempt to simplify issues only pass on at best half the information.
Well - I think I cracked the code
so to speak - happened by accident but seeing the results it all clicked. During the past month two eye meds were prescribed and the last try after 8 days shared with the nurse my bad experiences and what I had researched and possibly found a solution that there were substitutes for people that are allergic to the meds - on and on all this over the phone - obviously the Doctor did not get the full message including the fact the one med was causing me to upchuck all my food every day and so on my own I stopped and the other med was causing my blood pressure to go sky high and the doctor leaves me a message to continue and so I was convinced I shared too much for the nurse to synthesize the salient points. On my own I stopped and returned to my old med.
Well for my own guide I made lists on paper of my reactions - included, 3 days of my daily Blood Pressure while taking the one med and 3 days when on my own I stopped - and the reactions I was having to the basic med that had been there all these years that I simply chalked up to problems of aging - and then I listed the substitute meds I learned about that were supposed to be for patients that showed allergic symptoms. My research was mostly online sites for Doctors and so I had lots of words to look up and I stayed away from any sponsored web site because I knew their main purpose it to sell their product -
Well that is the ticket - first of all, my handwriting is awful - a combo of print and sorta cursive with a haphazard slant and spacing is not consistent - very few can read it but the nurse saw me referring to my notes and asked to read my two short pages of notes - I was doubtful but she said if she could read a doctors writing she could read mine - my notes were not complete sentences at all - just topical words that highlighted the issues - at first she was, no other way to describe it but combative that I was doing all this research and shared I was scaring myself - I assured her just the opposite - gave her a brief for instance, pain in my skull that was obviously a vein or artery and I was really scared I was immediately going to have a stroke - till I found a photo of the veins in your head -located where in my head and learned the name and learned no cause for alarm, it was a vein that yes, connected my eye and sinuses and the vein went over the head to the base of the skull and so I put an ice pack on it and not only did it stop throbbing but I could feel the cold down in my nose, sinuses and eye - a couple of more faults she found with my researching but I decided it was her way of understanding because, she not only asked to keep my notes but, was coping them into the communique she wrote out for the Doctor. Plus, best of all, I finally had the most helpful conference with the Doctor instead of the stand off Doctor, valued surgeon versus Patient that had been taking place.
Sharing all of this with my daughter it hit - that is it - today most people are glued to their hand held screens - talking and texting is more than half of communication and so nurses, like most are almost annoyed with hearing, especially from older patients that society has us all labeled as nincompoops but written, we, our demeanor disappears and the facts can be seen, compared to the language and information used in their profession and shared - so now I see, have communication written using brief talking points and that if a point is important they will ask for further information- you have no idea what a relief it has been all day to know my experience was finally heard and medicine choices explained and a change prescribed knowing what the change hopefully will accomplish and the reasons for the expense and what alternative can be tried if it does not work - on and on -
Finally, I did not feel like a head of cattle being guided through a chute to a box car labeled 'old person heading for whatever...' I came home and ended up taking a 6 hour nap I was so relieved - never get to bed tonight but I don't care - I cracked the divide that technology has created between a younger, now middle age person and us older people who knew most of our life before having our nose glued to a tiny hand held device that eliminates the human voice and the typical physical, facial responses between talker and listener, much less a conversation trying to gain information from someone you have preconceived notions of their reaction to life. And so if you have not before, my suggestion is to make lists for anyone you need to enlist their help and now I can even see the advantage in as simple as a retail transaction especially if there is a return involved - people today communicate best through the 'written' word compressed into talking points...
Come to think on it that is how Amazon does it - it used to be you had to call to arrange a return or exchange - now they have a simply list of reasons - you check one and there is a space for further comments - mash the button and you get your code to accompany your returned item - no human voice involved - for some not even at the delivery office. Wow and now there is book after book written about loneliness being the current mental issue. Ha back to the difference between TV big city RE agents and my I guess outdated experience as a Broker/agent. Not only does it make good entertainment but in practice they are out of their element having to converse with people rather than using their hand held device to communicate.
