650 Girls

Our girl A had a doctor’s appointment a few weeks ago. Several years ago, as in infant, she became very ill and had to have emergency surgery. Since then we have always kept an extra special eye on her health.

She has always been petite, and even early on she was projected to be a small girl, but we have been a bit concerned about her lack of weight gain lately. She’s a picky and light eater, and we have to encourage her constantly to finish her food. She seemed to have been making some progress, and this recent appointment was a check-up on her weight.

Meanwhile...our doctor’s office recently made a decision to pawn off the more routine work done by nurses to a less expensive group of workers they affectionately call the “650 girls.” These are young, inexperienced teenagers and temporary workers that get paid $6.50 an hour. One of these checked in A (used to be done by one of the nurses). The friendly 650 girl took A’s temperature, checked her blood pressure, weighed her in, recorded basic information, and led Michelle and A to a patient room to wait for the doctor. Michelle noticed that the girl seemed to be a bit unsure of what she was doing, and stumbled through the pre-appointment procedures.

The doctor came in and noted A’s wight loss over the last several months- about 5 pounds. She told Michelle she was concerned and ordered up some extensive blood work. About $700 worth of labs that should give us a more complete look at A’s health and identify any problems she might have.

The blood work came back, and the doctors office called. There is concern A might have something called Celiac disease. It’s a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in products we use every day, such as stamp and envelope adhesive, medicines, and vitamins. If she has it, it will completely change her diet and lifestyle.

The interesting thing, the doctor said, is that A only has 2 of the 5 symptoms (weight loss, and she's shorter than average), and one of the key symptoms- anemia- is not present. A’s iron level is fine which seems to indicate she has no problem absorbing nutrients. The doctor ordered a visit to a specialist and a rather invasive and expensive procedure to “rule it out.”

We know A is thin, but it just does not make sense that she is several pounds lighter than her younger sister- she just doesn’t look it. So, on a hunch, Michelle bought a new scale from Target. With the digital scale purchased and unpacked, the weigh-in began. According to the scale, A was actually 10 pounds heavier than the 650 girl had recorded. Michelle had a flash-back. She remembers seeing the metal bar on the doctors scale (there are bars for 100’s and 10’s and then that little sliding doohickey for 1’s) sitting on 50, not 40. So we think the pleasant and "inexpensive" 650 girl will cost our doctor a pretty penny when we send them the bill for A’s unnecessary blood work.

What a bunch of worry, stress and crap for nothing. Thank you very much.

Silent Communication

Yesterday I wrote about a high school football game I attended. Something I observed was left out on purpose so I could expand on it a bit. It was fascinating. The students I watched at the game, not including the players and marching band of course, were all doing one of three things.

1. They were engaged in animated conversation punctuated by dramatic hugs and fake cheek kisses.

2. They were looking around for the next person they knew in order to have more animated conversations and dramatic hugs and fake kisses.

3. Their heads were down, noses planted in a cell phone, and fingers flying in a wonderful show of dexterity and eye/hand coordination as they sent text messages flying around the airwaves.

They most certainly were not watching the game.

Even as I drove my daughter K to the game along with her friends J and D, the text messages were flying. They don’t seem to have verbal communications anymore. They sit next to each other sending text messages most likely to avoid parental oversight. Either that, or they are slowly losing the ability to communicate verbally, which, if you have heard groups of under 18’s talk, seems very likely.

It’s like some sort of weird science-fiction film where the young have evolved into higher beings that can communicate with each other without talking. The future is now.

High School Football

Last night I went to my first high school football game since the fall of 1983. Nothing has changed. The stands are filled with only parents, except for the far right side where the students escape parental supervision and act like crazy people. The cooler students wander the outside edges of the field paying absolutely no attention to the game, and the two school bands duel each other across the field with musical rifts that can barely be heard.

In the fall of 1983 I quit high school football as a junior. I had played 9th and 10th grade on the varsity squad at Ft. Meade High School in Ft. Meade Maryland. Our family moved to Gaithersburg Maryland half-way through my high school career, and so started a new school in 1982.

When I tried out for the Gaithersburg football team, I figured out pretty quickly that Coach Harvill had his favorites. Boys that had played for him a few years and spent every waking minute in the gym lifting weights. I just didn’t fit in. After reaching the half-way point of the one season I was on the team, and not having a single second of playing time, I quit. When I left our record was 0-4 without a single touchdown scored. By the end of the season it was 2-8.

I guess I would have been more understanding if the team was on a rip and the starting squad that had played together 2 or 3 years prior to my arrival was allowed to rein terror on the field, but no… the “starters” were horrible. I watched missed tackle after missed tackle that I imagined I could have made. It was torturous. I walked away from the “team.”

The only other time I was on a high school football field was 2 years later on graduation day. Since then, for 23 years, I haven’t had occasion to go back on one. Until last night. The memories came- great football games (at least at Ft. Meade), playing in the marching band during half-time in my football gear, rowdy cheers and celebrations after the victories (again, only at Ft. Meade).

With K now in high school, and the Friday night ritual an apparent must to keep pace with the social activities of peers, it looks like I’m in for a few years of this.

Ouch

Last night one of my daughters called me on the carpet. She took me to school. She laid me bare.

As I tucked her in she asked why we don’t pray anymore at bedtime.

She said she knows since I got this new job I've been really busy and sometimes at night have to get some “paperwork” done and don’t have time, but she misses it.

I had noticed, of course, that of late the regular, every single night, bedtime rituals had lapsed because of my work. It used to be like clockwork- short chat about the day, back scratch, prayer with each child individually, tuck in, kiss goodnight. Lately the 7 day a week ritual has dropped to…well…much fewer. Not good.

So, it was just kind of hanging there in the air when she asked the question. It took me a moment to recover. It was something that was bothering me in the back of my mind, but had it not confronted me yet. It did last night. I am recommitting to this important nightly ritual, even though its harder now as the four girls have 3 different bedtimes. It was easier when you could get a 4-for-1. Now bedtime is spread across a 1 ½ to 2 hour spread.

I will do it. It’s important.

Billing For 27 Seconds Worth Of Work

Problem- consulting clients requires great focus and attention to detail in order to track the work and progress made each day, week and month, and reporting those details to the client. How on earth do I do that if I get and need to respond to 150 emails and 30 phone calls a day across 8 clients that may take 8-10 hours in a day?

I’m considering coming up with a new system for billing. Instead of an hourly rate, either a fee by the second, or by the email.