I need to blog about last Friday because there were just too many things that happened that day that must be accounted for. There are no pictures and it is long and is not creatively written, it is just my day at a glance. But if you want to read it, no one is stopping you-just be assured, I warned you before you started.
Its Raining Its Pouring
Friday was scheduled for our annual Pumpkin Patch field trip with 100+ Kindergartners. This is something they (okay we) have been looking forward to all month long, but when I woke up I realized we just might have a problem. It was raining-of all days!! Not much you can do but pray I thought so I did. I was fine with the rain I told Heavenly Father, but wondered if He might let it stop for a brief time in the afternoon so we could enjoy the pumpkin patch. And with that I was off to school.
I had already decided we would go no matter what and figured it would work out. Some of my co-workers and a few parents had second thoughts. It drizzled all day but I stood by the idea that we were going until about 30 minutes before it was time to go. It was still raining with no sign of letting up and the bus garage called giving us an out. They said the people at the pumpkin patch were willing to reschedule until Monday and that they would have 2 drivers available that day too if we wanted to. Oh rats. To make a long story just a little shorter after talking to a few parents and my co-workers and checking the weather we decided to just chance it and give it a go for today. Monday was going to be cloudy so who knew what that would entail.
The Lord was good to us! As we were walking out to the bus it stopped raining. We spent 45 minutes at the pumpkin patch without a drop of rain and successfully made it back to class-dry and happy. (On a side note Monday was just the opposite: it was dry all day long except for the time we would have been at the pumpkin patch and it was windy, cold and pouring down rain-good thing we didn't wait!)
Red and Itchy
Because it was raining we had indoor recess and I decided to test kids on math concepts instead of having a lunch break. Usually Cedelia and I go for walks at lunchtime but she had to supervise a class so I decided to be productive. I called little Stevie* (name changed to protect the innocent) back to test. As we were working on number recognition he said "Teacher look at my leg" and proceeded to pull up his pant leg. It was red and splotchy with patches of red raised skin and patches of white skin running up the entire leg. Humm-it didn't look right so I sent him down to the nurse to have him checked out.
Shortly after that she sent him back. When a child is sent back from the nurses office I naturally assume that if it was bad she would have kept him and or called home but when that doesn't happen I naturally assume the child is fine. So not giving it much thought we proceeded to get ready for our field trip (see above).
We cut into a few pumpkins when we got back from the pumpkin patch and then it was about time to go home. All of the sudden I looked over at little Stevie and noticed he had 3 small red blotches on his face. Ut oh. This isn't good. After my EA and I looked at his chest we realized this rash or whatever it was was spreading. His body was beginning to be red and raised with white parts in between. I quickly sent him back to the nurses office and proceeded to get the other students cleaned up, packed up and out the door so I could go check on this little guy.
By the time I got down to the office they had already put him on the bus and were calling a few numbers for his parents with no success. I was upset. They didn't know what was wrong with him and hadn't communicated with anyone to keep their eye on this child in case he got worst (which he already was). The nurse thought I was just worried about what he had being contagious and said "well he's been around kids all day so the bus ride shouldn't hurt anyone". I hadn't thought about the other students, I was concerned about him! It was moving upwards and at a fairly quick pace and they hadn't let anyone know.
I left the office unable to think of anything else. I called the bus garage asking them to radio his bus driver to let him know what was going on with this boy and to ask the driver to keep an eye on little Stevie. The transportation director said the boy would be home in 20 minutes so I got off the phone and tried calling several more numbers. We were finally able to track down his dad via his cell phone at work. He didn't seem to understand the potiential severity of the situation or seem overly concerned but said he would call his wife and let her know (who was also at work). We then found out that Stevie would be going home with just his 2 older brothers, the oldest of which is 12.
I tried to focus on finishing out my day but couldn't think about anything else. Finally writing down a couple of addresses and a few phone numbers Cedelia and I went off to see if we could track down this kid. Long story shorter we finally found the unnumbered house and no one answered. The neighbor told us the bus wasn't there yet and wouldn't be for several more minutes making what we thought was a 20 minute bus ride into over an hour bus ride for that little guy. When he got off the bus his condition was much much worst. His breathing wasn't labored but he was breathing with his mouth open and his body was now completely covered with red splotches.
His brother was concerned that he was going to get in trouble for being home with the kids alone and kept saying "but I'm 12. I can watch them." I assured him that I didn't doubt that on normal days but also that I wasn't going anywhere until an adult came over so that someone could drive him to the doctor if need be. (His parents weren't scheduled to be home until somewhere between 5:30 and 7:30.) Realizing that I was serious the brother called his dad, again, who told him to call his mom, again, and then finally after several more minutes his mom arrived home from work. We showed her his red and blistered bottom and told her we thought he needed medical assistance to which she agreed. Phew. We had done our job, covered the nurses job, and placed the child in the care of his mother. We were off.
I am very thankful for that nagging unsettled feeling that something wasn't right. I am also glad for the rainy day that had me pulling kids to test. I'm not sure Stevie would have shown me his legs in the midst of all that chaios if I hadn't been working with him one on one. (The update: mom took him to the doctor that afternoon and was given some cream. It still didn't go away all weekend and on Sunday they took him to the emergency room where they gave him a shot. They still don't know what caused it and he has been out of school for a few days. I will be glad when he is back healthy and happy.)
Crash!!
I was then off to our primary program practice then off to Wal-Mart before I went home. When I was leaving my old home teachers wife was in the entry way telling the worker that she had locked her sons keys in the truck and needed to get them out. Was there a locksmith in town? The man said there was but that he only accepted payment in cash and that it was $200. For that she said she would break the window to which I said "Mona, I can take you home. I can't do anything for your keys that are locked in the car but I can take you wherever you need to go." So we loaded up her stuff and were on our way to see if her husband could help-well almost.
I was backing my car out of the row and looked up just in time to see a big red van starting to back up also. I stopped but was not able to back up more or pull forward and was hoping that he would see me and stop. That was not the case and he crashed right into my passenger side of the car. Ohh. Not my newish little car. He pulled forward and we got out to survey the damage. To our surprise his bumper had hit my tire rim only and although paint was rubbed off his bumper and my tire rim was scraped up we called it good and were both back on our way in no time. Phew. That was a close call.
Mona said it was because I was doing a good deed that's why it wasn't worst than it was. Whatever the case I was very thankful no real damage was done and when I got home that night I was very happy to be there. It was time to relax after a day like that.
