Well it has been another hectic week. I was on the phone with my parent's doctor Monday night. She gave me a call and told me she had done everything she could for my Dad, what else did I want from her. She was also very nasty about it and said my parents were disturbing her office. When I questioned her about looking further into possible cardiac issues-a possible blockage in the brain for my Dad's change in behavior and thinking, she said the two had nothing to do with each other. I was shocked. I was also shocked that she said they don't hospitalize people for changes in their cognition. She felt he was perfectly fine when she saw him, but I tried to explain to her that his behavior was fluctuating(improve and then get worse). Even during the day. And that all these changes had occurred within a two weeks time. She did not want to hear from me. She even went so far as to call herself an Ahole because I questioned her limited medical exam of my father. Needless to say, she was very rude. I did get her to schedule Dad an appointment with a neurologist however this past Friday. He did not have one scheduled, just an appointment next month at a memory clinic. And mom talked with someone at that clinic who said there was something on the MRI that the Dr did not mention or talk about or missed.

So off went Mom and Dad to the neurologist on Friday morning at downtown Henry Ford Hospital. Unfortunately, mom cannot explain to me what the neurologist said and she currently cannot find the MRI report. And Dad mumbled something about blood vessels and bleed, but says it is normal aging and he is feeling and doing much better and as far as they are concerned, that is that. So I still don't know exactly what all happened. The neurologist wants to do a sleep study/EEG and DAd does not want to because he will have to spend the night in the hospital hooked up to lots of electrodes on his head and he doesn't think he can do that. I would just be happy if he saw his cardiologist to make sure he doesn't have any blockage in his carotid arteries leading to his brain. He has had 6 stents in the past for clogged arteries, so it would not be impossible for him to have a blockage going to his brain as well. He is not interested. Mom is working on him. And they don't want to sue anyone, which I am happy to do-like the ER that turned him away, or the doctor that seems more annoyed with them bothering her. They did agree to stop seeing her and plan to write a nasty note to the hospital. I would prefer the doctor be removed. It didn't sound like the other staff were too pleased with her-mom said the technician at the memory clinic didn't seem to have a very good opinion of her. I actually met this doctor when my mom took my grandmother to see her. I was about 15, and I really didn't like her then and I certainly don't like her now. So I guess we will wait and see. I did think that my Dad sounded a whole lot better and clearer when I spoke to him over the weekend. 

Meanwhile, we were still pretty busy back here in Baltimore. Thursday night was Scott's SCience FAir organized by Tom and the school 8th grade science teacher and sponsored by Northrop Grumman. I managed to help the boys get their poster boards together and kept the dog from eating anymore of Scott's milk and glue samples. WE had to drop everything off on Monday so the school could check out the presentations. The Lego club wanted to set up an exhibition table too, so we made them a poster as well. Scott usually can't compete for the overall awards since Tom is a judge and runs the fair, but he did manage to win 1st place in his grade level. Tom said his experiment should have taken 1st place overall-the judges agreed. But Scott was happy with his 1st place ribbon, and Tom got him an Itunes gift card. His experiment involved milk and turning it into plastics and adhesives, like glue. Actually the 8th grade science teacher was very impressed with SCott's presentation. He really thought that Tom probably coached Scott through the whole thing and did all the work for him, (he actually thought about disqualifying Scott because Scott was bragging about how great his experiment was and that he was going to win).  But the Science teacher was quite surprised to hear SCott's accurate explanation of his experiment and agreed he did a fantastic job. So Scott was not so far off on his bragging rights(he just needs to practice humility!)

So Thursday night we were busy with the kids Northrop Grumman SCience Fair. On Friday, I volunteered to  work all day with SCott's class at the Junior Achievement Business World. The kids traveled to the facility which is like a big kids museum full of little shops like Papa John's Pizza and Bank of America. The kids had been practicing writing checks and interviewing for jobs for several weeks beforehand. SCott was an Engineer(for Northrop no less). I was working at UPS. Myself and another mom supervised 8 kids. WE had an extremely busy office and I was on my feet all day. Each company had a CEO and an accountant, and all the businesses had to pay off their leases, pay their employees and make money. EAch company got to sell a  few products(usually some type of souvenir from the company they were representing). OUr UPS sold supplies to all the other companies to make their products, plus we made and sold candy grams. The kids did a terrific job and I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. But I still managed to get out Friday night with Allison to do some clothes and shoe shopping. She needed an outfit for school for Interviews. Her class is practicing writing Cover Letters and Resumes(which she already started last year when she applied for several girl scout opportunities).  Now the kids are going to practice Interviewing and the girls are supposed to wear skirts and blouses and dress shoes.I pretty much collapsed into bed on Friday night.

But SAturday morning, St Patricks Day,  I was up bright and early with Scott so we could head out with the boy scouts for a road clean up. WE only managed to get in an hours worth of work and then had to leave for Scott's swim lesson. Afterwards I had to take him to the uniform store to buy some school pants. The weather has really warmed up, but the principal is sticking to her April deadline for the kids to switch to their spring uniforms-shorts. Scott could not wait that long. He is down to one pair of pants, so shopping we did go. It would be nice if he could still wear them next year.  While we were gone, Tom took Allison to work and then washed and waxed his car(in between visits from the neighbors). Afterwards, Tom picked Allison up and dropped her off to the movies for her first "date" night with a boy from school. They saw "John Carter" but Allison did not like it as much as Tom and I did. While she was out at the movies, Tom and I went over to our neighbors for dinner to celebrate St Pattys Day. Tom then had to run and pick her up after the movie got out. (It sure will be nice when she gets her license!).

On Sunday afternoon we had tickets for the whole family to see the Broadway play "The Addams FAmily" like the tv series. It was fun and clever. I think the kids especially liked it. AFterwards we all went out to dinner with one of my raffle gift cards at Carrabas. I then ran into Kohls with Allison after we ate and she found her shoes and a scarf to wear for her interviewing outfit. Yeah.

We were also busy with choir and piano and gymanstics and more piano since Allison missed two classes studying for the SAT.  And I finally got back to the dentist and had another crown put in place. So far this one has lasted more than 1.5 days! (Still can't drink real coffee though).

Scott is busy with standardized testing for the next two weeks, so yeah! no homework. Instead I will keep him busy with boy scout projects. I think we found someone to assess his dog care badge, and the troop is working on his Communication badge and Citizenship badge. Next weekend he is going camping, and our neighbor's son is going to join Scott's troop this week. So hopefully Tom will have someone to play with at boy scout camp when his DAd starts helping out(I hope).

I am including a few photos of SCott at the Science FAir. The medal he is wearing around his neck is made out of milk. He is also posing with the Northrop Grumman sign at JA Biztown, and you can see from our flowers that spring has come early to Maryland.   It has been in the 70s and looks to stay that way. Just so we don't invite any of those nasty tornadoes like they had in Michigan over the weekend.