I'm setting the stage here, just stating some facts, trying to get a clear picture of what's going on. My fingers are thinking out loud, so this may ramble a bit. (As opposed to most of my posts, when I ramble a lot.)Have patience, or don't read; whatever you wish. It doesn't matter to me.
This is the final week of classes for the summer semester. I have two final exams this week, and one more writing assignment due in economics. In statistics, my quiz grades have been dropping. I was making A's there for a while, but the last three or four quizzes have been B's and C's. The frustrating thing about that is that I think I understand it, but the quiz grades show otherwise. I got a B on the last test. I want an A. I always want an A.
I had a 1:00 appointment with my psychiatrist this afternoon, but wasn't able to make it because I was at home talking to the kind police officer who came by to "do" a report (or whatever those things are) on Sproing and Diva. Investigate a new claim? Process a new complaint? Whatever works, that's why he was here. Yes, I said "new." This has nothing to do with the vandalism of last week, or the $300 theft. I think the theft victim isn't going to file a complaint. We'd have heard something about it by now, I think. Besides, he was visiting from out of town and has gone back to Arkansas now. Have I gotten off track with this paragraph? Time for a new one.
The poor, sweet little old lady who lives next door (on the south side) filed a complaint against our children. I don't blame her a bit. They are vile little scamps. This neighbor is not the one who had $300 stolen from her home. That neighbor lives on the north side of us. The south neighbor didn't have any one specific complaint, but a series of little things that have added up over the months (nay, years). I don't remember what the officer called this complaint. Not vandalism, since it's mostly just mess, nothing broken enough to consider it vandalism. I don't know. I think this paragraph is bogging down, too. Next!
Oh, here's another item to add to the things-currently-causing-stress-for-Java list. I got a text from Twitch yesterday. One of the other three guys with whom he shares an apartment thinks that Twitch's twitches are maliciously intentional. A brief review: Twitch, age 18, first quarter in college, has Tourette's Syndrome with accompanying tics. Hence the name "Twitch." He does. And it's annoying. His apartment mate "J" thinks Twitch is doing this just to annoy, and doesn't believe that it's a medical/neurological condition. (Medical? Neurological? Other? I don't know.) Twitch told "J" that the tics bother him as much if not more than they bother everyone else, and he can't really stop them. I'm not sure what will come of all this, and I'm not going to get involved if I don't need to. This is one of those things Twitch needs to work out on his own. I talked to my dad about it yesterday, though, and he recommended that Twitch go to the school counseling office (or something like that) and see about how best to work it out. I intend to pass on that recommendation to Twitch. Otherwise, I'm staying out if it.
So, everyone else is out of town, and I'm here alone with Diva and Sproing. They are under house-arrest (per my command, not by order of the legal authorities) (yet) and obviously cannot be trusted to be left alone at home. (One may wonder if it's safe to leave them here with me, but that's a blog post for another time.) I have statistics class from 10 - noon, Monday through Thursday. So, last night I called my sweet boy S (see side bar, cast of characters) to see if he would come stay with them while I was in class. He was available, and willing to help out. Bless his heart! He and C are currently without transportation, so I put the kids in the truck and drove over to get him this morning. It was so good to see him! It's been a while. He follows the blog, so he knew what has been going on.
We got here and I showed him around a bit, showed him the room they used to occupy. It looks very different now. Light had her way with it. That's the room she and I share now, with my office taking up some of the space. Anyway, I told him what the kids could (not much) and couldn't (a lot) do, then left for class.
All this while I have my father-in-law (FIL) on the brain. I'm waiting for a text from Superman to tell me when he goes into surgery. During class I looked at my phone to see if there were any messages, and saw that I'd missed a call from home. Hmmm. S knows I'm in class, and wouldn't call unless it was something serious. Still, I didn't check with him until class was over. Alas, he called because the nice police officer wanted to talk to me. When he couldn't get me, he called Superman, who of course couldn't rush right over to take care of things, being, as he is, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The officer left, promising to return between 12 and 12:30. Do you remember the part about me having an appointment with my psychiatrist at 1:00? I probably need to see my shrink right about now.
However, I have a legal responsibility at home, so I came home to wait for the police officer. When he still wasn't here by 12:20, I called the shrink's office to reschedule. Unfortunately, their phone line is closed from 12 to 1 every day, so I couldn't get through. I won't be able to get through until time for my appointment. If I don't call in advance to cancel my appointment, I get charged for the visit even if I don't show up. I can't call, because they don't answer their phones. I had no clue before 12:00 that I wouldn't make it to the appointment. I had arranged with S to be with the kids so I could see the doctor. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!
The police officer got here around 12:40. We talked. He listened to me (!) unlike the young buck who showed up last week. This guy is a little older, and the father of 4 children himself. The whipper-snapper who came last week is young, and (I asked today's officer) has no children of his own. Last week the young guy wouldn't listen to me, and essentially blamed me for my children's behavior. Stress.
Aside: To my dear, most beloved regular readers, I am about as honest and forthright as I can be on this forum. I have chronicled the misadventures of these children for the past 1.5 (or so) years I've been writing this here bloggie thing. I believe I have established that I do not condone their mischievous or criminal behavior. I actively discourage it. I punish them for it. From your perspective, is this a true and accurate statement?
Picking up where we left off...
Today's representative from the city police force was a kind and patient man. He let me explain our situation, about how we've been trying to get help for the kids for a couple of years, about how they have been under psychiatric care with counseling for at least two years, and that we are in the process of seeking further, different treatment for them since (obviously) what we've done so far hasn't had the desired effect. I told him that I had taken away everything except their bedding, including their clothes so that they wouldn't sneak out of the house. He seemed surprised that they would sneak out even when they were grounded. He was nice, he sympathized, he encouraged us to continue in our efforts to get help for them. We will be apprised of the court date, and yada yada yada. I thanked him very much.
I just got a call from Superman. At 4:45 FIL was out of surgery. The doctors took the whole kidney, which made the surgery easier. FIL is doing well so far, is in recovery, awake, etc. The oncologist filleted the kidney and found that the tumor was very very close but not invading the renal artery. It was a very aggressive tumor, had doubled in size since they first found it two months ago. Superman said it was the kind of tumor that has a casing around it (none of this means anything to me, but I'm relaying it anyway, just in case) and is not likely to have metastasized. Taking the whole kidney was the right move, though.
FIL had an ablation (?) to his other kidney two months ago. There were some smaller places in that one, and they zapped 'em with a probe. I have a lot less information about that, obviously. At any rate, there may be enough of a problem with his kidney function now that he might have to go on dialysis, and he is very much against that idea. We won't know for a little while. I don't know anything else.
Let's return to our previous discussion. After the police officer left, we drove S home and came right back here. The young criminals went back to their rooms. After taking a few minutes to reflect, I went to talk to each of them individually. I'll tell you about those discussions in the next post. This one is already way too long.
