Dr. Morgan,

As I know you are well aware, many of the parents who received this School Messenger message this evening are confused and more than a little upset. ( https://asp.schoolmessenger.com/m/?s=rCyxf2UHv5A ) According to this, our entire SIC, PTA & countless other volunteers have been completely wiped out. No one I’ve been in contact with this evening is willing to pay $25 for this EVERY YEAR. I admit this is complete hearsay, but I heard the staff at Doby’s Mill was asking certified police officers who were dropping off their children to leave the building because they weren’t on the SLED list. Really? They’re police officers for goodness sakes…their background checks – complete with fingerprint checks – are much more reliable than the “honor system” background checks that are required from volunteers. (“Honor system” because it assumes the person filling out the form is providing accurate information.) The same holds true for anyone in South Carolina who is a Concealed Weapons Permit holder – Concealed Weapons Permit holders must submit to a background check complete with fingerprints & a copy of a government issued ID.

Also, according to that message, this policy was voted on by the school board. I looked through school board minutes back to March 1, 2011 posted on the district’s web site & I have not been able to find any reference to this policy being discussed at any of the meetings. The only reference I found to “volunteers” at all was in the March 15, 2011 Vice Chairman’s Report: “Mrs. Jones wanted to say she has witnessed caring individuals who willingly volunteer to help in our schools. She is impressed with those who are willing to enteract [interact] with students by reading to them.  In light of what has happened in Japan, she wanted to express her appreciation not only to the teachers and school staffs around our county but also the parents and volunteers.”

What does the district think is going to happen to all those wonderful volunteers if they are required to pay $25 to volunteer? Literally thousands of hours of assistance to our schools will be gone.

• - Test monitors for state mandated testing – gone
• - PTA & PTO members who raise funds to help teachers purchase classroom supplies so they don’t have to pay as much out of their own pockets – gone
• - Volunteers to staff book fairs so the media centers can purchase books & other library supplies – gone
• - Volunteers for various “Field Days” – gone
• - Chaperones for field trips & sports trips – gone
• - Volunteers to help out in the office when it’s short staffed – gone
• - Volunteers to help teachers in the classroom with countless tasks – gone

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Blaney PTA alone contributed over $28,000 in expenses directly related to mentoring, academic enrichment, books & supplies for the media center, school beautification, office/classroom supplies and school outreach (not PTA outreach). The year prior that number was approximately $20,000. I’m sure the other PTO & PTAs throughout the district have similar stories.

For many of us, it’s not so much the $25 (although yes, we are a bit put-off by that). But consider this – you’ve just paid an Incident Fee of $30 per student just to attend this “free” public education institution, an additional $25 per student if you have children in SEAGUL, $25 per student per sport in Middle school ($50/student cap), $50 per student per sport in high school ($100/student cap) and $60 if your student parks at the high school AND you know you’re still going to have to pay possibly $100 or more in field trip fees during the year so your student isn’t left out of learning opportunities (and yes, my child actually DOES learn on her field trips), well, that $25 is essentially a slap in the face to those of us who do volunteer 100+ hours AT the schools (I’ve put in hundreds more outside the school in PTO/PTA related volunteer time). AND WE HAD NO WARNING THAT THIS REQUIREMENT WAS COMING.

Let’s also consider that according to the SLED web site, background checks for 501(c)3 organizations is only $8. There are TWO (that I know of) 501(c)3 organizations associated with Kershaw County schools that COULD apply for the Charitable Organization Exemption through SLED to get background checks for $8 each instead of $25. I do not know about the Doby’s Mill PTA, but the Blaney Elementary PTA was not approached to request assistance with this.

Please understand, I am all for protecting our children, but sometimes things that are done with the intent of “protection” begin to border on absurd.

Thank you for your time,

Sherra Scott
Concerned Blaney Elementary parent & PTA member

Being left alone with my thoughts isn’t always a bad thing. I’ve come to some realizations about several things today … why I feel the way I do about certain people & time periods in my past.

But then I get to thinking about other people who have been in my life and I realize just how much I miss them. Not because they are no longer in my life because they have died, but because for one reason or another, they are no longer in my life – generally due to some sort of falling out between us. Some of those people I do not “miss,” others I realize I miss terribly – mostly the “flesh & blood” relations I was very close to before the falling out.

I do not know if those people will ever read this. Hopefully we will be able to patch things back together at some point…because I miss you.

Moving on to this afternoon. The clutch cable I bought for the lawn tractor last weekend had come in earlier this week. So, off I went to switch out the clutch cable. I get the mower deck removed (with a little help from J.R. for some muscle), clutch cable replaced, mower deck re-installed & started the tractor to test out the mower deck. Yay, the blades turn! But, alas, they do not stop when the attachment lever is disengaged (which is why I replaced the clutch cable – a $30+ part plus shipping…(stupid internet told me to replace it). So, back to the tractor manual and exploded parts diagrams. What is this? I don’t recall seeing this spring in the diagram on my mower deck! An idler spring appears to be missing. Great, super, awesome, sigh. I look up the price from Sears…sweet…only $2.91…plus shipping of $7.99. So, I call around to some small engine places thinking they may have one since, according to the Sears web site, this spring is used on 474 mower models. Nope…no one local has one in stock. BUT, one cool dude told me if I can find the size of the spring I should be able to use a general use spring from the hardware store of the same size. Wonderful…the parts diagram and the Sears parts site do not HAVE the spring size. Fortunately, another search of the ‘net using slightly different search terms nets me dimensions!

Off to Lowe’s we go in search of a spring and a kitchen sink sprayer.

After some searching, we found a 2-pack of springs I think will probably work. If not, it was only 3 1/2 bucks for 2 springs, plus I can take them back. We also found a replacement sink sprayer that says it’s universal and fits all faucet brands. Excellent. Cool, let’s go eat dinner and go home to fix the sprayer.

Kids are in bed, remove the broken sprayer and attempt to install the universal-fits-all-faucet-brands-sprayer. Hmmm…doesn’t fit. I try all sorts of different ways to get the darn thing to work, but it simply doesn’t fit. So, I think maybe I can just swap out the existing hose since I WAS able to get the sprayer to install on the replacement hose that went with the replacement sprayer that was under the sink from this morning. After some fumbling around under the sink trying to see what the heck I was doing & figuring out how to disconnect a hose that doesn’t screw on I finally got the hose off. Great…awesome…NOT! The replacement hose screws on, the original is a Delta quick-connect hose and the piece it attaches to under the sink doesn’t have ANY threads, so there’s no way to screw the replacement hose onto it. GAH!!!!!!

So, I have to re-attach the original hose and broken sprayer just so we’re able to use the kitchen sink.

You’d think I’d have learned by now that if the original plumbing fixture is a DELTA that NOTHING that says UNIVERSAL will fit. I’ve run into issues with sink stoppers, sprayers, and various other items throughout the years.

Yep, if I were a big drinker I’d probably have a drink. I guess chocolate will just have to do.

I was doing some reading today, and ran across this list of abilities that are affected by the working memory difficulties experienced by people affected by ADHD.

No matter how high a person’s IQ is, if they are affected by ADHD, they WILL have more difficulty with their “working memory” (if not then they don’t have ADHD) than a person without ADHD. Fortunately, there have been great strides in ADHD research & treatment/management in the past decade. As I find resources on the ‘net I try to bookmark them in my Delicious bookmarks. Please feel free to check out (or subscribe to) my ADHD related bookmarks.

I’d love to hear about your ADHD experiences! Feel free to comment below.

I can do nothing & just live with it. It’s not “life threatening” – I won’t die from the PSVT episodes, but it’s very annoying at the least and can be quite inconvenient depending on when, where & how long they last.

I can continue with the meds for a while to see if there seems to be any difference. (I got an app for my iPod today to track symptoms since I can’t remember from one day to the next & it’s a pain in the butt to write them down – I’d much rather just tap a couple of things & let the iPod time stamp it for me!)

I can opt for a cardiac ablation procedure. At this point I wasn’t too thrilled with some of the statistics that were discusses, so I’ll definitely need to do more reading & pondering before making a decision on that.

Otherwise, I’m not restricted on anything. I can continue with my Adderall. The doc said that he hasn’t seen any problems in his patients who take both Adderall & Toprol/Metoprolol. The Adderall did not cause the PSVT (that has been going on for the past 18 years – at least – and I’ve only been taking the Adderall since November and I hadn’t taken the Adderall for 4 days prior to this last major episode). He said if I have an SVT event that lasts for more than 2 hours I should go ahead and go to the ER to have it stopped, but otherwise,

I’ve got a follow-up appointment with the doc in 3 months. He wants to do an echocardiogram at that appointment to take a look at the structure of my heart, but he said the EKG today looked fine. At this point I’m just going to continue with the Toprol & do my best to remember to record my symptoms. Boring stuff…

Problems with my heart are nothing new for me. I was diagnosed with a heart murmur when I was in the 5th grade. I was told at the time the heart murmur (due to a defective heart valve) was caused by Rheumatic Fever I had when I was 2 and that it was the kind of murmur I would not grow out of and it was highly suggested that I have heart valve replacement surgery.

The heart murmur diagnosis explained why I passed out so much during physical activity (once even during one of my birthday parties). So, my physical activity was seriously limited – no more PE class, no basketball, no running, nada… Time went on and I never had the surgery. Every time I went to the doc my mom would always ask if they could still hear the murmur – every time they could still hear it.

I moved to Virginia when I was 18. Shortly after I went to the doc to figure out once and for all if I needed to have the surgery (since my then husband was in the military I would be able to have pretty much anything I needed to have done for free at Portsmouth Naval Hospital). They could not find the heart murmur. Strange, but true – it was gone. Relief.

Fast forward about a year. I woke up suddenly (middle of the day – I was working night shift) with the feeling that someone was laying on top of me. I was difficult to breathe & my heart was racing. After a few minutes I realized it wasn’t going to stop. So, I told my then husband that I needed to go to the hospital & I dragged myself into the shower real fast (I had to sit in the tub because I couldn’t stand) & threw on some clothes. We rushed off to the hospital. Unfortunately we got stuck in some serious traffic. What should have only taken us about 20 minutes to get to the hospital took us almost 2 1/2 hours. They rushed me in & hooked me up to the EKG machine. It didn’t work. It was detecting my heart rate (217), but not printing the rhythm out like it was supposed to. UGH. So, as they were trying to figure out why the machine wasn’t working one of the nurses stuck an IV needle in my arm. That was just enough shock to my system to convert my heart rhythm back to normal. Of course, just a few moments later the stinkin’ EKG machine started working. Unfortunately, they never got my irregular heart rhythm documented.

A visit to the cardiologist & a Holter monitor study later they still didn’t really find anything – but I was put on beta blockers for a year. That sucked – I wanted to sleep all the time. Nothing like that episode happened again for several years – even through the stress of a divorce & move from Virginia back to Oklahoma.

The next time it happened I was living in Hawaii. I was at a study group & it hit me again. After a few minutes I knew I needed to be seen, so, stupidly, I drove myself home then had my husband, J.R., take me in to the clinic. Right as we were almost there it stopped. But, we had them check me out anyway…nothing. GGRRR… It did happen a few more times while we were in Hawaii, but they only lasted a few minutes, so we didn’t even bother leaving the house.

Years pass, and no incidents. Even while I was working at the prison in a high stress environment I only remember it happening once or twice, and again, they were only a few minutes. It always seems like they start when I’m relaxed – not when I’m involved in any physical activity or stressed.

The past, oh, 6 months I guess, I’ve had a hand-full of episodes – mostly very short lived – a few minutes. One was a little longer – half hour or so. But this last one was not my normal episode.

Like I said earlier, my phone rang about a quarter to 1 Sunday morning. Wrong number I’m guessing because it was an out of state number & they didn’t leave a message. Anyway, when I woke up I realized my heart was racing & it was difficult to get a full breath. JR was working (night shift) and the kids were in bed, so I just tried to relax and go back to sleep, since I knew the episodes normally passed in a few minutes. I was able to doze off and on the rest of the night – but very restless & needless to say, not comfortable at all. JR came home & went to sleep. I didn’t want to bother him. When I heard the kids get up, they started playing the Wii. So, I got up and came in to lay on the couch, hoping a change of venue would help me relax more and maybe I’d be able to catch a nap. No such luck.

So, I dragged myself into the shower & washed my hair so I wouldn’t feel so gross. I figured while I was in there I’d try shocking my system with a cold shower to see if that would work (since plunging your head in ice-water is actually a medically recognized way to shock your system back to normal). Again, nope.

So, I laid on the bathroom floor for a while – I don’t know how long. Then I got up and laid down in the bed with JR. Finally, around 2:30 P.M., I woke JR up & asked him to take me to the hospital. I called around to a few neighbors to see if they could watch the girls – of course, being the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, no one was answering their phone. Last ditch effort – calling Brianna’s best friend’s mom – SUCCESS. She rushed over to pick up the girls. Of course, right after she got here, one of the neighbors came over. I chose to go ahead and let the girls go with Brianna’s friend’s mom since I knew they’d have a great time over there and would be way less likely to be worrying about me.

While JR was getting showered & dressed I tried to call TriCare to let them know I was headed to the ER – of course, they’re closed. Typical.

We finally left the house a little after 3:30. Since JR knows the EMS folks in town pretty well, we drove past to see if they were in. They were, so we had one of them give me a quick once over, just to make sure I wasn’t just having a panic attack or something. The paramedic listened to my heart & lungs & then highly suggested we get to the ER because he suspected I was in SVT. So, off we went. This is totally silly, but JR’s wondering out loud about the quickest way to get to the hospital – since we hadn’t been since Delaney was born almost 3 1/2 years ago. I looked at him and said, “You’ve got a GPS!” (I bought him the GPS to use in his patrol car a couple of months ago). So, I plugged the hospital in as the destination – it decided to take us via the scenic route, but it actually was faster.

We finally get to the ER (in JR’s police car & him all decked out in his uniform, since he was supposed to work that evening) a little after 4. He filled out the forms and came to sit down with me. A few minutes later they called me back & hooked me up to the EKG machine. The nurse took one look at the printout, ripped it out of the machine & high tailed it out of the room. A few seconds later she & and another person came back in saying, “We’ve got to get her out of here & into the other room.” So, into the other room I went and the room quickly filled with people – complete with a “crash cart”. I had all sorts of things stuck to my chest for various monitoring. I didn’t realize it at the time, but they had also had the pads stuck on me for the defibrillator (just in case). They quickly told me they would be putting some medication into my IV port that would stop my heart for a few seconds allowing it to hopefully return to a normal rhythm when it restarted. Of course, they had the defibrillator pads stuck on me in case they needed to shock me. THAT was a freaky feeling. Having your heart stopped but people are still telling you to breath, just keep breathing, all while you’re grunting & trying to breathe. After what seemed like forever, but I’m sure was only about 10 seconds, I felt my heart beating normally. It was such a relief. The conversations after that seem to all get jumbled together, but I do remember asking to make sure that they actually did get the irregular rhythm documented this time. They said, they indeed did. I remember I started crying at that point because it was such a relief knowing that I REALLY DID have something wrong and that it was not documented.

And, in true fashion, after everything was over and we knew I would be fine, JR joked that he should have just tazed me and I would have been fine. He also knew I was fine when I asked for my iPod and immediately checked to see if the hospital had an unsecured Wi-Fi connection (they did) so I could update my social networks.

They kept me there for a couple of hours just to make sure I didn’t have any other reactions to the heart stopping medication. One of the first nurses that had seen me came in to check on me once and said that it was nice to see that I wasn’t gray anymore. I was very tired, and my chest was still very sore from my heart going nuts inside, so it was hard to take a “full” breath, but my blood oxygen level was 100%, so I was getting plenty of oxygen – it just still hurt to breathe. I was finally relaxed enough that I was able to sleep.

After we got home and ate something, the girls came home & JR headed out to work – 2 1/2 hours later than planned. I had the girls sleep in the room with me (on the floor, because neither of them can keep still & I didn’t want all that activity in the bed) just in case something happened & I needed Brianna to make a phone call for me. I slept like a rock. But, I’m still a little tired today. My chest only hurts when I try to take a BIG breath & earlier when I had a small case of the hiccups.

I need to call to make an appointment with the heart hospital in Columbia Tuesday when the offices open back up, and I also need to let my regular doctor know what’s going on. I don’t know if this is going to mean a change in the way my ADHD is treated, but I’m not going to take my meds “just in case” until I talk to my doctor. And, in case anyone has thought about it, I had not taken my Adderall since Wednesday, so it’s highly unlikely that this was in any way related since this has happened many times long before I started on the Adderall. Plus, once it wears off (within a few hours), it’s out of your system – it doesn’t linger.

I’m very thankful for all my friends, who’ve shown concern. I’m very touched. Thank you all.

Then, I get home and fed the dogs – Delaney dropped Jackie’s dish & food spilled on the floor. I went to heat up my coffee (since it went cold because I slept late) and when I put my sugar in I forgot to wait a couple of seconds & it “boiled over” the cup & I had coffee all over my counter.

I still have to shower & get dress, but first I have to upload shopping cart product updates & website changes for a client first (HAS to be done this morning). After I’m done with that and dressed I have to load Delaney up & go pick up prescriptions for me & Brianna at the doctor’s office then run them to the pharmacy to get them filled. Oh yeah, and we need milk.

Wish me luck with the rest of my day – I hope I don’t slice an artery when I’m shaving my legs this morning. <sarcasm>

It was also my 2nd day on my increased dose. I didn’t do much that required concentration today, so I can’t make much of an assessment for myself. Basically I only took down the Christmas tree, cleaned the kitchen some, watched a movie with the family, cleaned the play room & the girls’ bedroom & closet.

The sweating seemed to subside later by early afternoon, so it wasn’t so bad. I’ll update again tomorrow when I’ve had a full day’s worth of meds. Plus, I’m seeing my therapist tomorrow.