The night before the first day of school

Well its the last night of summer break for my kids. Even though I started back to work last week on Wednesday tomorrow will FEEL like my first day back to work.

The start and end of a school year as a school nurse are the busiest. I couldn't get anything done without a legal pad and pen. Lists. I live by lists at work. Crossing things off as they get finished. And alarms. Phone alarms for all the times when kids are to get their medicines at school. Just in case I'm busy answering someone's request to verify immunization records, or fill a need for school uniforms, or clean up a skinned knee, or teach proper use of the rescue inhaler to a 2nd grader, or the many other triage situations that come walking through my door at the same time that student A needs to have his blood sugar checked and student B needs to take her daily medication and student C need his tube feeding started. If that happens, I mean, when that happens I'll hear the alarm and stop looking up the vaccine record, hand the bandaid off, make sure the inhaler got used properly, make a quick note so I don't forget and call a teacher to please send student A to the nurse's office.

All that will happen, and 15 other things that need to get done will remain on my list, and will be there the next day for me to pick up where I left off. I'm already tired thinking about it. Or maybe its the flexaril?

I started a treatment plan my dentist put me on last week to help with the constant pain I'm having from my damaged left TMJ. The damage occurred 19 years ago in a car accident when I dislocated my jaw. But the effects of 19 years of talking and chewing on that dislocated joint apparently has left me with NO cartilage or muscle in the area. Just bone to bone the CT scan shows.

What do you do for that? Apparently you start small with muscle relaxers, a mechanical soft diet, no gum, ibuprofen round the clock, heat packs, gentle massage and a retainer. We'll see how it works in about a month. I don't remember ever taking muscle relaxers before. I don't like having to take something that makes me sleepy. I sleep just fine and when I take stuff that makes me tired I wake up feeling like I didn't really sleep. There's definitely a difference between sleeping and being drugged! I'm fading fast. Better wrap it up.

After church I asked my boys what they remembered or learned. Connor said, "Not to get pressed into the worlds 'zeitgeist'????" (looking to me for assurance on pronunciation). My pastor likes to use words from other languages to explain concepts in scripture. I like that too. This word zeitgeist stuck with me and with Connor too. Ryland asked what the world's mold was. I said, "It's to think of yourself and what you want now." He responded, "Oh no! I better press real hard cause I think I'm getting squeezed!!!" Smile. Prayer ascending.

Quieted,

Sheila