In Which I Get Eight (Relatively) Undisturbed Hours to Read

Today did not go according to my plans, but it is all okay.

I had planned to do math on the whiteboard with T., because he likes working on the board. Per my plan, this fun math was going to get our lessons off to a great start, and we were going to have a Fun day of school and inaugurate a new era of positive attitudes and great achievements. Ed was going to pick up some library books for me after his morning doctor's appointment, and then I was going to go to the SuperWalmart and refill our food supplies. None of these things, except Ed's appointment and the books, happened.

Right after breakfast (the same raisin bran I eat every morning), the strange (and excruciating) pain around my navel that I've had occasionally for the last few years drove me to my LazyBoy. For a little while it was pretty awful, and Ed even offered to forgo his own doctor's appointment and take me in to see someone (which, if you know Ed, you will know is a great sacrifice), but after a while it was tolerable, as long as I didn't move a muscle. Ed was gone for quite a while, and I was immobilized, but T. and K. were eager to satisfy my slightest desire (except for my half-hearted suggestion to study some Latin vocabulary, oddly enough). They plied me with pancakes, cereal, orange juice, etc., but were, only slightly reluctantly, willing to let me lie motionless. Late in the afternoon, after Ed had gotten home, the belly pain got severe enough that I considered seeking medical assistance (imagine a hot iron being applied to the inside and outside of your navel), but the PA at the doctor's office said to go to the ER, and I didn't feel up to that, so we didn't. Anyway, I diagnosed myself, using Body: An Amazing Tour of Human Anatomy , and decided that it was a twist in the small intestine, which would work itself out, or a blood clot in the artery in that area (truncus coeliacus), in which case I was doomed anyway. A little while later, I started to be able to move without yelping, and by the time T. had ball practice at 6:00, I was well enough to potter around the front yard and supervise K. watering things. She really enjoys watering, but doesn't distinguish between watering my precious roses and watering the dandelions. I was glad that Ed was across the street with T. and so didn't hear her lovingly refer to the clover flowers she was watering as her "young-uns," as he has sternly forbidden any of us using this term, even in jest!

T.'s practice went very well, and some issues of inattention have apparently been resolved, at least temporarily. I am going to have another go at implementing that excellent plan of mine again tomorrow.

**As a special note to my darling parents, I am now All Better. And, I got to spend an entire day reading!