Updates

The results from William's CT scab came back fine. His doctor suggested that he quit his job...too much heavy lifting, and he thinks he may have strained his neck which is leading to these headaches. I said "But you've had these headaches since we met." I wanted to say "Quit your job? Are you fucking mad?" Seriously, I am so stressed out financially...we've just had a $700 increase in our rent, so all dreams of buying a house in this city have gone out the window. I really should do a comparison post. Blue Momma sends me pictures of houses where she lives in Alabama and for $200,000 I could have a lovely 4 bedroom brick house. Do you know what $200,000 would get me in Edmonton? A freaking mobile home in Edmonton's "finest mobile home community." And actually, it was $235,000. For a fucking trailer in a trailer park! It's hard to be a poor snob, ya know?

Anyway, he had gone to the doctor because of these intense headaches. He has had them since we met 5 years ago, but they have certainly increased in frequency until they are daily and constant. The doctor put him on medication to treat pre stroke symptoms, and we scheduled a CT. We paid for it ourselves as he does not yet have his health care card, and insurance will not cover something that is covered by the government. We had the all is fine results back before the cheque had even gone through, and for a moment I briefly considered what would happen if I put a stop payment on the cheque but I guess $300 to give him piece of mind is better spent than $300 to find out something actually is wrong.

I did have a phone call from the trustee I emailed, but I was in bed sleeping off the effects of 40 hours of a massive bout of diarrhea, in which I lost almost 3 lbs and slept 6 hours over 2 nights. I will call her back tomorrow. I had also emailed the public school I was looking at for Liam for Grade 7 and the principal called me today and said they would take any student who was looking to come into the school. He is going to forward my email to the special needs co-ordinator. We did discuss that coding is different between the 2 districts and that they actually have 2 programs Liam may qualify for- The Literacy one, as well as one called Opportunity. I'm a little more hesitant about the Opportunity program as some schools combine it with a behaviour program. I really don't need him in a class with students who misbehave constantly. But I'll see what they say- I'd rather have him in that class than in a school on the south side.

I did a lot of web searching today and found a program in Calgary that is based on the book "The Gift of Dyslexia". They say that 80% of the people they teach improve 4 grade levels in just one week. I have called them to find out how much the program is, and while I am sure it is way out of our price range maybe I can take out a loan or something. Sell my first born or whore myself out. Something like that.

I am going to buy that book and read some other books I have on dyslexia (one is currently on my to be read bookcase) and try and remind myself that it really is a gift and not just a disability. I forget sometimes that most dyselexics are actually highly intelligent, and while I tend to think Liam is going to end up working for minimum wage because he can't read the reality is that a great number of dyslexics go on to teach, be engineers or psychologists, accountants and any other number of jobs that require an education. The funny thing is that while we are struggling to have him seen to in elementary and junior high, the LD program for University and college students is apparently amazing. And the lucky boy would qualify for all sort of grants that a regular student would not be considered for. I feel much better about this whole thing now than I have for the last two days.

I wanted to say thanks for all of your comments over the last few days. They really meant a lot. I loves me some free advice and good vibes!

On a final note, I am currently watching Lipstick Jungle and, holy Hannah, has Andrew McCarthy ever aged! Well, I guess Pretty in Pink was over 20 years ago. God, I am getting old.