It has been a bit of a stressful week. My Dad has been having some medical problems, and he has had a few tests and exams, and even went to the ER because he couldn't get a doctor's appointment right away. But so far the doctors haven't found anything to explain his condition. And he is not getting any better. I also feel that my Dad really needs a complete physical and so far the doctors haven't done a thorough exam. He did have an MRI of his brain which they say is fine, and some blood work and a urine test, (both fine). But he had these tests after several return visits to the doctor's office and the ER. And only because I had my mom ask for them. He does not have a fever and his blood pressure and heart rate seems fine. So no one can seem to find anything wrong with him. He has a neurology exam scheduled,  but not for another 3 weeks. I spent Friday by the phone trying to talk my mom into getting him admitted to the hospital after she called my in the morning frantic with his condition,  but apparently the doctors don't see anything they feel is serious enough to admit him. I was very shocked to hear that after my mom and dad returned to the Henry Ford Emergency Room on Friday, hoping for a hospital admission, they were turned away. The ER wouldn't even look at him. Mom did get a doctor appointment that same day, and the doctor said the only way Dad can be admitted to the hospital is through the ER. As my brother Dan asked-Is this Obama Care?  I am hoping I can talk my mom into trying to get my Dad an appointment with the neurologist sooner than 3wks. Perhaps the neurologist can have more influence on getting further testing completed. I even called the doctor's office and left a message with the front desk on Friday in Michigan to let them know that he really needs to have a complete physical, and still I don't think they have done enough. I know at the Retirement Community where I work that we have to admit residents to the hospital frequently for a complete work up when they have had a decline. Even I had a complete work up in the ER with a CAT scan of my brain, EKG of my heart, chest xray, and blood and urine work up when I had my allergic reaction to the antibiotic.  And they even asked me if I wanted to be admitted to the hospital overnight. I had to tell my parents to return to the ER just to get a urine test because it wasn't done in the doctor's office!  I am extremely frustrated and will keep trying to get someone to listen sooner than later. In the meantime, we are praying that someone can figure out what exactly is going on.

     In the meantime, life is still quite busy around our house. I took Scott to his Boy Scout meeting this past week after dropping Allison off at her SAT class. Tom was not available as he was asked to be a guest speaker at a class at Johns Hopkins. It is quite nice since he gets paid and he only speaks for a brief time.

The Scout leaders and boys were a lot more attentive at this weeks meeting in getting things done after I complained about how disorganized they were for the past several meetings. I think they are back on track(still no word on how to find a Dog Care Badge counselor or the status of our membership).  Scott also started up his swim lessons on Saturday morning. And Tom got him to gymnastics on Friday night. They spent all day today working on organizing his Science Fair presentation which will be held this coming Thursday. They had to redo part of the experiment as Cookie decided to eat part of his presentation. Tom and SCott had some homemade glue made with milk drying by the fireplace which Cookie apparently found interesting(and tasty). I spent one morning cleaning up the mess as it made her sick. I tried to explain to Tom that " Yes  Dogs do eat your Homework"!  Including science experiments.

I am  glad that Tom will be in town this year for the Science FAir as things did not seem to go quite as smoothly last year without him supervising. He also went in to Scott's school on Weds afternoon to see if any kids had last minute questions on their presentations or experiments, but since no one showed up, he stopped in to the Lego club to see if they needed any help setting up their robot.  They are also going to present at the Science Fair. The teacher who runs the Lego club decided she needed to work with the younger kids, and so she left Tom with the middle school kids. Tom was not prepared and did not know what she wanted, and basically ended up babysitting for an hour. Since Scott is really the only one who knew how to program the robot, the two of them tried to explain it to a few other kids on the team. Scott is going to be a busy boy on Thursday when he has to present his own experiment and help out with the Lego Club presentation.

Allison on the other hand was busy preparing for the SAT(real test this time) which she took Saturday morning. She had to rearrange her work schedule for the entire month of March due to her incredibly busy schedule.  She had to work Saturday night since her SAT testing ran into the afternoon work session. She did not have to go in until 6pm, so Tom took her out  for a celebratory  "I survived the SAT" lunch. SCott had his best friend SAmmy over late in the afternoon for a play date after finishing all his homework and studying, so after I took Allison to work, we all decided to go see the John Carter movie. It was playing at a theater near Allison's workplace, and it got out just when she got off work, so that was very convenient. By the way, we all loved the movie. The story was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I had never heard of it. The only John Carter I knew was the doctor on ER. But I did think ER Burroughs wrote Tarzan. Tom did not agree, but I looked it up online when we got home. And yes he did write Tarzan. As a matter of fact, Mr Burroughs bought a ranch in California which he called Tarzana and after which the town of Tarzana in California was named! There is also a Tarzan Texas named after his famous character. Anyhow, we all loved the movie-it had everything(Star WArs, Cowboys and Aliens, a big mix of everything). And it was funny! The only problem about being out late on SAturday was having to turn our clocks ahead one hour. It was very late when we went to bed after dropping Sammy and his bike off to his house.

And that made getting up Sunday morning even tougher since Scott served the 9am mass. Fortunately, not as many people showed up for the mass. The Saturday night mass was packed though!  And on Sunday afternoon Allison and I attended a High Tea held by her mentor for Shadow DAy at the mentor's house near Hopkins University. She was putting on the tea as a fundraiser, but Allison was her guest. She had a lot of posters with photos of scout activities including her day with Allison. She also had pictures from her days as a scout along with her sisters. We even had a GS council member show up who reported that Allison was one of 100 girls that applied for the opportunity, and was then narrowed down to 12 interviews. After which only 5 girls were chosen and Allison was one. We also enjoyed the tea so much that I think I will organize one for my scouts and their moms for Mother's Day.

Here are photos of the High Tea. Allison is next to her mentor, Jeannette Partlow in the plaid skirt. She is the President of the family's Chemical Company, and works along with 3 of her younger sisters. Her mom is seen on the far left of the group photo. She told us the story about visiting the White House during King George's visit(the same king from the movie "The Kings Speech") in 1939 as a girl scout. 

Well, it is time to go glue together SCott's science poster.  

By the way, I am pushing for Mom Bozyk to get my Dad into a neurology appointment sooner than 3 weeks. She plans to call the doctor back tomorrow.

Kathleen