8th grade education

The following is purported to be an actual 8th grade Final Exam in the United States in the year 1895. I have no reason to doubt that. The source of the editorial comments is not given.


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8th Grade Final Exam
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895

No hand held calculators, no internet, no TV, no cell phones, no i pods, no electricity, no cars; so is all the new technology really helping?

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.


8th Grade Final Exam:


Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie", "play", and "run."
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7. 7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.


Arithmetic (Time, 65 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt U.S.


History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.


Orthography (Time, one hour) (Do we even know what this is???)

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate letters, and lingual.
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-, pre-, semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, and sup-.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.


Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of: Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.




Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? This also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers, and I failed the 8th grade test!


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Here's where I disagree with the editorial comments. Without a comparable 8th grade test for 2008, we cannot say "This also shows you how poor our education system has become." The world of 1895 is certainly a different world than that of 2008, at least in California. (Maybe it's not in Kansas. ) For starters, post Declaration of Independence U. S. history covers almost twice as many years, population has quadrupled (75 million to 300 million), and the United States has gone from a relatively unimportant developing nation to the most powerful nation in the world. This test appears to reflect the concerns and needs of a person getting an 8th grade education in 1895. If you could pass this test, it would only indicate that you'd be fit for 1895 life.

This test is sort of like the recent TV show "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" There are things that 5th graders learn so that 6th grade will make sense to them but that we forget by the time we're out of high school. If a 5th grader knows something we've forgotten (or didn't learn because it wasn't in the curriculum back then) it doesn't mean we're dumber than a 5th grader, just in a different time-space location. And in the case of this test, it shows one of the potential dangers of time travel.

Another List

Carolyn shared with you her top 10 list of things she was grateful for. She is indeed a listmaker. Note the list on the right of all the things she would like to get done during her CONVALESCENCE! Sometimes I'm surprised to not find a list "Things to do during surgery"

I suspect that when she gets to the pearly gates to discuss things with Saint Peter, she'll pull out her list and say to Peter, "Well, 8 out of 10 on my list isn't bad considering all the health problems you threw at me the last few years."

Then she'll pull out another list and continue, "Now, while I was waiting to see you, I've come up with the following things that need work around here....."

Post-op Progress Report #14

It's a TOUCHDOWN!!

Metaphorically, that is. The Pathology report came back with the confirmation that Carolyn's tumor was indeed lymphoma rather than adenoma. Thus, in having the rarest type of stomach cancer, she has one of the most common, and most treatable type of cancer overall. All the lymph nodes examined tested negative for cancer cells and the boundaries of the tumor and stomach removed also show clearly negative for cancer cells. The only "bad news" in the path report is that the tumor had, in fact, infiltrated through the stomach wall and into the surrounding fatty tissue. This fact will have to be evaluated by a medical oncologist and a plan of adjunct therapy agreed upon. Carolyn has an appointment next Thursday with Dr. Wu to do exactly that.

The actual reason for the appointment this morning with Dr. Herr was to have the stitches (er, staples) removed. Carolyn had a cut from the top of her rib cage to her navel which was held together with carefully placed staples.

With a fancy medical staple remover, Dr. Herr removed the 39 staples in less time than it would have taken me to remove that many staples from a collection of papers. Only one of the wounds bled. Carolyn says it feels so much better not to have so many staples in her chest and belly. This wound looks so much better t

Cub Scout fund raiser

A couple days ago Ed and his family were involved in a fund raising yard sale for the cub pack that Ed leads and his older two boys are members of. And when I say involved in it means that they got to host the sale and watch as all the cubs' parents brought over everything from junk to nice pieces of furniture.


Our only part was lending one of the shade structures, eating a couple of hot dogs, and donating $5 to the cause. I understand they made about $300 so I'd say it was pretty successful.

Of course, while the merchandise was on display and in the sun, all the adults were in the shade enjoying a bit cooler breeze there.

And the boys were playing with their DS game computers while keeping one ear open for customers or their Cub leaders giving them assignments.

Mystery object

What is this object? It is about 16 inches long and the shaft is about 3/8 inch wide. This is a close-up of the flat shaft.






On a whim, we bought this at a local hardware store. We thought this might just work. Although we've had it lying around now for 5 or 6 months, I tried it out recently and it really worked!

What does it do? It fishes out hair caught in the shower drain. Our drain had gotten so bad that we had an inch of water on the shower floor by the end of a shower. It drained fairly quickly so we knew it wasn't a permanent clog. I inserted this thing into the drain and pulled out enough hair to re-cover a naked rat (in fact it looked sort of like a dead rat). Drain runs completely clean with no water backup.

And I think it cost less than $3.

Welcome to Shell's blog

Thanks to Kristi for letting me know about Richelle's blog. (I'm probably murdering the spelling of both names but that's the danger of having more than one way to spell your name. Corrections are gratefully accepted). If you visit Shell's blog at http://thecrazycookies.blogspot.com/ you'll be impressed at what a photographer we have in our family. I just wish we were a little closer!

Post-op Progress Report #13

As many of you might have imagined, Carolyn is handling her convalescence as usual - by working. The doctor told her she could do what she wanted as long as she paid attention to what her body said. For Carolyn, that means resting when she gets tired, working when she gets antsy. Her stitches appear to be healing properly. She expects to have the staples removed this Friday.

Her biggest problem is getting used to the small stomach she has now and the diet she needs to follow to avoid "carbohydrate dump". If you have advice, hints or suggestion about post gastric-bypass diets please email her at carolynl@surewest.net .

Thanks.

Welcome, Lynette

I am trying to collect the addresses of all the family member blogs out there. I managed to find Lynette's while searching for sites containing the name "loveridge" as we soon will be introducing a Wiki for collecting family stories. (more about that later)

Lynette has a delightful blog at http://theloveridgefamily.blogspot.com/ filled with fun pictures of her family. Visit her blog then tell her I sent you.

Reading for fun

Jake is reading for the fun of it. And listening to him read, it's obvious that Phonics have risen in popularity. He reads each page by sounding out the consonants and vowels as he comes to them. Thus a word like "trip" will come out "ttttttt rrrrrrr iiiiiiii pppppp, then trrrr iiiii ppppp, and finally trriiippp." He likes to read for guests such as Grandpa and Grandma.

But the main thing he enjoys (almost as much as reading) is marking the chore off on his chart. Whatever reward Mom has picked out, he knows that each check mark brings him that much closer.

Surprise letter but still nice to get

n a further attempt to identify why one of my legs is swollen compared to the other, I recently had a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvic area. I had kinda forgotten about this test since it would likely be a while before the results came back. But while Carolyn was still in the hospital which was followed by a letter from my doctor that said,

"Good news. The recent CT scan of your abdomen and pelvis was normal. There was no evidence of cancer."

Funny thing was I had no idea exactly why the doctor was ordering this exam. But the result was good anyway.

Portrait time

Every once in a while we'll bug our kids abouot getting a newer family portrait or at least new pictures of the grandkids who are growing so fast. Lately they've been bugging us about getting a new portrait since the last one (except for the one in the park) was taken at Philip's wedding reception. Carolyn had probably been looking around for good deals but to me it came as a total surprise when I overheard her on the telephone saying, "Sure, we can be there in 30 minutes. See you then." And before I could ask, "Exactly WHERE can WE be in 30 minutes", Carolyn was saying, "We need to bring 3 changes of clothing and be at the Arden Fair Mall in 30 minutes. We're got a sitting appointment for our portraits.

We actually made the time set but it wouldn't have mattered if we had been 10 or 20 minutes late. First off, a young woman did a makeup and hair styling job on Carolyn. We liked the makeup, hated the hair - all sorts of little ringlets around the head. Carolyn took care of that.

The photographer was really fun and easy to work with. Not only did he insist on traditional poses but he also took a lot of non-traditional shots. Because the shop had to stay open until 9:00 and there was nothing else to do, the photographer just kept shooting and shooting. I think there was something in the neighborhood of 70 or 80 pictures taken with about 55 selected as proofs. From those we picked the photos shown above.


Interesting how photo studios have changed their marketing to respond to the digital camera craze. The seven photos that we selected were provided on a disk for us along with a release of the copyright which allows us to make prints through whatever outlet we've chosen like Costco or Walmart. We were also given the little booklets shown above just in case we'd like to order more poses.

I recommend Glamour Shots if you can find a photographer as good as Chad but be prepared to be disappointed that you can't afford all the excellent poses you'll have presented to you. Hey, if they can make me look good, they can do it for anybody.

10 Best Things

Today's Blog Post has been turned over to my dear wife Carolyn:

10 Best Things About Being Home for the Hospital

10. I’m alive and feeling good (well, at least for someone who has a 12 inch line of staples down my tummy – as staple jobs go, it is great).

9. Off the waist pants that hook below the staple line.

8. Hydrocodone/acetaminophen also know as Vicodin (takes the edge off the soreness).

7. An incredibly generous visiting teacher who cleaned our house and put clean sheets on the bed – I love fresh sheets on my bed.

6. Coming home and seeing all the beautiful flowers that have been given to me during this illness. Laura had artfully arranged them on the kitchen counter. I love flowers and have a wonderful mix of potted and fresh cut. Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers.

5. Having an easy to digest dinner provided for us by dear friends. It was so nice not to have to think about what to fix but to have it all ready. I even twisted their arm a little to sit and visit for a few minutes.

4. Ignorant bliss. The final biopsy reports aren’t back from pathology yet so I’m not certain regarding the stage of the cancer.

3. The outpouring of support via visits, phone calls, cards, e-mails, thoughtful gifts, prayers and faith given on my behalf. I am completely overcome with all the support. I want you to know it is very sustaining. I feel so incredibly blessed.

2. Dr. Herr, the surgeon who doesn’t pull any punches. He is a careful and cautious doctor. He sent me home, said do what I felt like doing, get out in the sunshine, go for walks, don’t worry. He will let us know when there is something more to know.

1. I’m alive and feeling good. I’m home with my sweetheart. I can look forward to more days to live and thrive. Thank you God.

Carolyn

Post-op Progress Report #12

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Carolyn's home but the excitement and effort has taken a lot out of her so she needs to nap for a little while. She'll be more alert this evening.

Post-op Progress Report #11

8:30 am, August 22, 2008

She's coming home!

The doctor has cleared Carolyn to be discharged today around noon. She can't go back to work until at least the end of September and she'll have to be careful to not lift heavy loads or eat unreasonably for the next few days. But she's on her way home!!

Still no word on the pathology report for the biopsies of last week.

Post-op Progress Report #10

3:30 pm, August 21, 2008

As I walked into Carolyn's room this afternoon, she held up her arms and said, "Look, no tubes!"

Indeed, they had removed her IV hydration tube, and her abdominal drainage tube. She can now walk all around without pulling her IV pole along with her. Not only that but she felt good enough, and free enough, to take a shower and shampoo her hair.


But the real stunning thing, as I looked at her hand and saw what was in it, was that she has been place on solid foods. In fact her tray resembled a typical lunch we might fix for our grandchildren.
Carolyn was eating slowly and with lots of breaks in between bites. Having not eaten good solid food for about 3 weeks, she said the hospital food was wonderful.

Plans currently call for her discharge from the hospital shortly after noon, tomorrow, Friday, August 22, 2008. She welcomes you to come to our home for a short visit, or give her a call at 916-485-0150. If you're planning to come for a visit, please call ahead to make sure she's here and available for visiting.

Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes.

Post-op Progress Report #9

5:00 pm, August 20, 2008

I don't remember when a half eaten bowl of soup and an empty juice carton looked so good to me. Of course the reason they looked so good was that they were on Carolyn bed table and represented he progress back to a normal diet. This morning they x-rayed her abdominal area while pumping barium contrast media into her stomach to see if all the pieces of her digestive system were hooked up and working like they were supposed to and without any leaks. The radiologist and her surgeon agreed that everything looked good to go. So her diet was changed from "nothing by mouth" to "clear liquids". According to the dietitian, the next likely step to to "liquid diet" and then "full soft foods".

You'll notice from her picture that she also has gotten rid of the nasal tube that was there to drain her stomach as needed. She is really glad to see that go. She's still on schedule for being discharged some time this weekend.

Post-op Progress Report #8

2:00 pm, August 19, 2008

Dr. Herr, Carolyn's surgeon dropped by to say that everything is on schedule. They're planning on having Carolyn drink a delicious cocktail of barium contrast media either this evening or tomorrow morning so that they can take some x-rays tomorrow of her new digestive tract and see if it's all working as expected. Assuming that it is working correctly with no leaks or other problems, they'll remove her NG (nasal gastric) tube as well as her IV line. So tomorrow at this time, God willing, Carolyn will start learning how to use that small stomach of hers.

Carolyn sends her love and thanks for all the support she has gotten. She says, "Keep those prayers coming! I can feel their power in helping my body heal." She would also like to apologize to those who have called only to have the phone ring, ring, and ring. She's requited to walk around the nursing unit three times daily and go to the bathroom when necessary. So she just isn't there to pick up the phone. Her number IS 916-973-5878. If you get no answer call back 15 minutes later.

Be careful how you say it

I'll try to tell this without mentioning names so as to protect the innocent.

A few weeks ago one of our daughters in law (DIL) received a gift of a baby jumper for her young son who was just getting old enough to enjoy sitting up. This particular jumper was chosen because it included a vibrator to sooth the baby and help him go to sleep. Our grandson loved it.

A few days ago, the vibrator stopped working and it didn't appear to be the fault of the batteries. So our DIL began a search of the Internet to try to find a replacement vibrator. Soon, our son heard coming from the computer room shouts of "No. Stop. I don't want to see this! How do I stop these pop-up ads!?" She had unwittingly tapped into the adult "marital aids" market and the pop-up ads were coming up faster than she could close them.

Post-op Progress Report #7

10:00 pm, August 18, 2008

You know, I don't want to disappoint those of you checking in every couple of hours but I just don't have the means to measure Carolyn's progress in such minute increments. And even if I could we'd probably see things as overlaid graphs that are going up and down with a general trend of upwards. Nor can I hope to entertain you with philosophical meanderings or lyrical poetry so that you're glad to have taken a few seconds of your life to 'check in".

I guess what I'm saying is that the first item of my blog will continue to give the most recent status of Carolyn's health condition but that status report may not change daily. In the meantime, our regularly scheduled programming ("the musings and amusings of a grandpa") will resume as the second item of the blog. When there is a significant change in Carolyn's health status, that may indeed be my scheduled item for the day.

Good day!

Post-op Progress Report #6

12:30 pm, August 18, 2008

Carolyn has already got up and walked around as she's supposed to do each shift (3 times per day) and sat up for a couple of hours. She's determined to go home on time or even early, if possible. The surgeon had said she would have a 7 to 10 day post-operative stay so the earliest discharge date is this Friday and the latest next Monday. Not much happens over the weekend anyway. She had also already shampooed her hair. Her bladder catheter is to be removed this afternoon.



The surgeon was at her bedside this morning, bringing her up to speed on what he'd said . He said that about 2.5% of cancer located in the stomach is lymphoma which is what her second round of biopsies showed. If that is confirmed on the last batch of biopsies there is even a chance that Carolyn will not need any chemotherapy, The cancer will have been cured by the surgery. We, of course, would love to hear such a prognosis.



Carolyn thanks all those who have sent cards and flowers. She still welcomes phone calls and short visits.

Post-op Progress Report #5

12:00 noon, August 17, 2008

When a woman looks as healthy and sounds as healthy as Carolyn does right now, you wonder what she's doing in a hospital. But then you realize that she has at least six tubes going into and out of her body, that she has a huge gash in her abdomen, and that she is trying to suppress or at least lower the volume of her moans. If she were a whiner, she would make sure we heard about all of her aches and pains but she just doesn't do that. At least she can't complain about the hospital cooking as she is not yet eating anything by mouth. In fact, she's only allowed one small cup of ice chips per nursing shift.

She does enjoy visitors as long as you don't stay long. Her phone number is 916-973-5675. She is still in room 4019, bed C.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Post-op Progress Report #4

9:00, August 16, 2008

Surgery takes a lot out of a person (pun intended). And even a body as strong and healthy as Carolyn's doesn't appreciate a cut across the entire belly, removal of 80% of the stomach, 100% of the gall bladder, and rerouting of several inches of small intestine. Today, Carolyn was glad that she has the little switch that allows her to dispense pain medication according to her own needs and schedule. When the pain starts to be unbearable, she pushes the button, hears the beep, and begins to relax as the pain subsides. She also falls asleep as the pain killer affects that as well.

Carolyn walked around her room this afternoon as well as sat up for a couple of hours. The only thing she is allowed to take by mouth are ice chips so dry mouth is a frequent problem. She enjoys phone calls and visits as long as you keep them short. If you don't keep it short, she'll push her pain medication button, fall asleep, and you'll be effectively dismissed.

Her phone number is 916-973-5675. She is still in room 4019, bed C.

A continuing thanks for all your prayers, thoughts, and kind concerns.

Post-op Progress Report #3

11:30, August 16, 2008

Carolyn is looking good but says she feels weak. They have her on a chemical diet with everything , including her medications, coming through her IV line. Not much for tastiness but it does keep her hydrated and balances her electrolytes. She is able to chew ice chips to reduce her thirst and dry mouth. As I was leaving the nurse's aide was helping her stand up and walk around the unit. They try to get every patient to get some "floor time" to reduce the incidence of bed sores.

Please comment if you have any questions for me or Carolyn.

Post-op Progress Report #2

8:10 am, August 16, 2008

Just spoke with Carolyn on the phone. She sounded wide awake, in good spirits, and anxious for something to distract her from the pain in her gut. The doctor thought her post surgery stay would be 7 to 10 days and I'm betting on the low side. She is in bed 4019 C on the fourth floor. Her phone number is 916-973-5675. Visiting hours are from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. I am planning on being there at 9:00 this morning.

The hospital is Kaiser Permanente, 2025 Morse Ave, Sacramento, CA 95825

She'd welcome a card, a short phone call, or a short visit. I will, of course, pass along any greetings and sentiments. Thanks for all your love and concern.

Post-op Progress Report 1

9:00 pm, August 15, 2008

I had hoped by now to be able to at least say where Carolyn will be spending the night and where she might be visited tomorrow. But Kaiser is having difficulty finding a room for her. So she remains resting in the recovery room where the care is excellent but visiting is difficult. She isn't in the best of condition for visiting but she's given it a valiant effort when Ed and I have visited her this afternoon. She'll feel a whole lot better when she can sip ice water instead of having her mouth swabbed to keep it wet.

Doctor Herr stopped by again late this afternoon to say that the biopsies from last week have been re-evaluated and may indicate an even better chance for complete cure than he had been thinking. Again, the biopsies from this morning will be needed to substantiate that.

Good night. We'll be posting updates until Carolyn has completely whipped this disease.

Operation Results

Carolyn is out of surgery and in recovery where she is expected to stay for 1 to 2 hours. After that she will be assigned a room in a regular medical/surgical ward. Please don't try to call or visit today as she won't be up to talking. According to Dr. Herr, the surgeon, the operation went well. The tumor was well defined, situated at the lower end of the stomach and effectively blocking anything from the stomach, liver, and bile from draining into the upper small intestine. They removed the cancerous tumor and about 80% of her stomach, reattaching the small intestine to the remaining part of the stomach. She has effectively had gastric bypass surgery.

It appears that the tumor had not spread to other organs, but the neighboring lymph nodes were enlarged. Samples of these lymph nodes and other surrounding tissue was sent to the lab for identification of possible cancer cells. The report of these samples is not expected until late next week. They have done as much as can be done surgically to cure Carolyn of this cancer. Any additional treatments, if necessary, will probably be chemotherapy. For now, however, all efforts will be directed at helping her recover from the surgery and getting enough strength back to come home. Her hospital stay is expected to be 7 to 10 days.

Tonight, we will report on this blog and through email where Carolyn has been transferred and other information about contacting her.

Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and kind support.

Operation scheduled - date and time

Carolyn will be checking into the Kaiser hospital on Morse Avenue Friday morning at 6:10 am. Her operation has been scheduled for 7:30 am. It is expected to last 4 to 5 hours.


Ever the practical person, Carolyn got a new, short haircut Wednesday morning so it would be easier to handle for the next two weeks in the hospital.

Meanwhile, over in the CT laboratory...

This afternoon I got a lower body CT Scan to see what might be causing the swelling in my left leg. You may recall a couple of weeks ago, my doctor was so alarmed that he ordered an emergency ultrasound of my upper leg to see if it was caused by a significant clot or embolism. Had they found a clot, I would have been admitted immediately to the hospital so Carolyn and I could have maybe shared a room.



Well, because they didn't find a clot, my doctor ordered this lower body CT Scan. I will have to say I am more than impressed. The last time I had a CT scan was probably 20 years ago. At that time, each centimeter "slice" took between 45 and 90 seconds. My scan was about 50 centimeters which would have meant lying on the examining table 30 minutes to an hour. My test today took less than 5 minutes, less time than it took to get me positioned on the table in the first place. What medical marvels.

Advance Health Care Directive

When Carolyn was recently admitted to the hospital one of the forms that was given to her for perusal and, if desired, completion was the California Advance Health Care Directive. This has sometimes been called a Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney. It is one of those things that everyone agrees is a good thing to do but we all keep putting it off. Having a serious illness in the family tends to focus your mind on things like this.

Kaiser packages the Advance Health Care Directive in a nice booklet with instructions and examples but the form really isn't that hard to understand and fill out. I didn't think it would be that difficult to find on the Web but I was surprised. The California Hospital Association offers their version in pdf format as do several hospitals. The California Medical Association will send you one for $5 and two for $7.50. And NoLo Press which, I think, was founded on the idea that we don't need lawyers, just a little help with the right forms, offers their package for $25.

While doing the research for this post I came across a lovely site sponsored by Coda Alliance.
They explain the origin of their name in this manner:

In music, a coda comes at the end of a piece of music, summing up the preceding themes and bringing the piece to a satisfactory close.

In life, Coda Alliance is a community-based, not-for-profit organization with a similar purpose, helping individuals and their families plan and prepare for the concluding passages of life.

They also have a version of the Advance Health Care Directive but other information as well to help those facing life and death decisions.

Smile...

A couple of our kids have been asking for an updated professional portrait of Carolyn and me. After all, it's been 5 years since Philip and Jenny's wedding where the wedding photographer took a good picture of us. And Carolyn being the most experienced of the two of us as far as operations go, reminded me that a serious operation takes a lot out of a person and it may be months before she looks as good as she does now. Especially this time when her treatment will include chemotherapy.

So when she called this afternoon and got a 5:00 appointment at Glamour Shots we grabbed three sets of clothing and dashed down to Arden Fair Mall.




The first step was the "Glamour" part of the Glamour Shots. Carolyn got a professional makeover with facial makeup and hair styling.


Although the facial makeup was all right the hair was not to may taste or Carolyn's. Fortunately, Carolyn was quickly able to fix it easily.

The next part was the photo shoot. I don't know how many pictures the photographer took of us but 54 were good enough to show us. They had no other customers so there was no pressure to stop shooting. If we had had 3 more changes of clothes, he probably would have shown us 108.

It was difficult narrowing down the selection we'll have but we weren't quite ready to pay $4,000 for all the selections.

Can we help?

When told about Carolyn's stomach cancer, for most people the second thing out of their mouth right after sincere concern for her health is the question "What can we(I) do for you or Arnold while you're in the hospital?" This is not surprising, given the quality of our friends. Quite often we'll simply say that I'm pretty independent and capable on my own but thank you anyway. Carolyn has suggested to some families that they invite me to dinner at their place. That would certainly be interesting. I can think of a lot of ward members I would enjoy knowing better. Most people don't realize that Carolyn's work has required her to be on the road 50% to 70% of the time which has forced me to be pretty self reliant.

The most puzzling offer for help so far was a request to clean up our house just before Carolyn is released from the hospital so she'll come home to a spanking clean house. Other than steam cleaning the carpet, mopping the tile floors, or dusting virtually everything that doesn't move, I can't think that that much is really available for cleaning purposes. Of course men can't see the same dirt that women can.

Congratulations to the happy couple!!

Carolyn and I attended a beautiful wedding ceremony yesterday. It had all the traditional components of a traditional wedding - entrance music, ring bearer, flower girl, toasts by friends and relatives, and -- oh yes -- two grooms. This, to me, is a couple representing the best reason for same sex marriage. Ed and Norman celebrated the 25th anniversary of their committed monogamous relationship last year, they have two children by adoption (a 14 year old girl and a 10 year old boy), and they have a deep faith in God and mankind. They are excellent parents and committed partners. I just wish those who oppose such marriages could have been there and seen the love in the eyes of the newlywed couple who are about to celebrate their 26th anniversary and their lovely children.

We both forgot our cameras so we don't have any pictures of the wedding, darn it. We did think the wedding favors were cute and original. Each guest received a box with his/her name on it. These actually did double duty as place cards on the assigned tables.

Inside the boxes were cream, silver/gray, and lavender M & Ms with these messages:

Lavender: Ed and Norman
Cream: August 9, 2008
Silver/Gray: 25 years, 8/27/07


Thanks, Ed and Norman, for including us in your celebration and for showing the kind of responsibility and commitment that is an example to all married couples.

And life goes on

I got home late last night, past my bedtime late. With my mind still trying to process the shocking news about Carolyn, I was about alert enough to remember the code to turn off our alarm system. I turned on the laundry room lights to see the alarm system's buttons better. Just as I finished putting in the code I saw the puddle of water on the floor. It wasn't a large puddle but it wasn't supposed to be there. My first thought was that one of the input lines for the sink was linking. I grabbed a flashlight and checked. No leak. Was there water running outside that was going under the foundation. Nothing.

I decided to wipe up the water and worry about it in the morning. As I touched the "water" I realized that I had made a big assumption. It was oily or soapy. It definitely wasn't water. I opened the cupboard under the sink again and started pulling out bottle after bottle of bleach and other cleaning materials. Way at the back I found this:


You'll notice that the container looks like its being squeezed. I haven't found the leak but this all the earmarks of a small leak where the air can't get in as the liquid. Finally, outside air pressure begins to crush the container.

Mystery solved.

That lull before the storm

As we had hoped for and requested, Carolyn was discharged from the hospital today so she can spend the time from now until her stomach operation doing things that will make her feel better about the extended convalescence following the operation. She is on a total liquid diet which her stomach appears to be handling well. Other than still being somewhat in shock about the stomach cancer, she is in good spirits.

The doctor told her today that he expects to tell her Monday when the operation is to take place and when she needs to go back into the hospital.

I'm sure happy to see her home again.

What it is...

According to the surgeon who will be operating on her, Carolyn has gastroduodenal obstructive cancer. The cancerous tumor has surrounded the exit from the stomach, severely restricting passage of any solids and some liquids from the stomach to the small intestine.

In the best case scenario they will be able to remove the tumor and all cancerous cells related to it. They will actually leave her stomach, duodenum, and small intestine in better shape and more functional than she's ever had. No cancer cells will have metastasized or relocated in her body. Treatment will be specifically targeted to curing Carolyn's cancer.

In the worst case, removal of most of the tumor will require removal of a major portion of Carolyn's stomach. The tumor may not completely be removable by surgery because of invasion by cancerous cells into neighboring organs and tissue. In addition, some cancerous cells may have metastasized and are even now setting up their home elsewhere in her body. Treatment in this case will be directed more to palliative care rather than curative care.

Carolyn's current status is waiting and worrying. She feels good except for the constant irritation of the tube down her throat. She has been placed on a liquid diet to see if she can tolerate that. If she can, she will come home until the operation. The operation has not been scheduled yet and could be anytime from next Monday on. She has asked that you remember her in your prayers and perhaps even join our family fast for her this Sunday.

Carolyn will be in the hospital at least until Saturday afternoon and can be reached there at (916) 973-5878. After that you can probably reach her at 916-548-9015 or 916-485-0150.


We thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I'll close tonight with a thank you to "Nathan and Joshua" for the beautiful flower arrangement.

The Waiting Game

The news is ... there is no news, or darn little news. Carolyn continues to be in good spirits but bored out of her mind because she can think of thousands of things she could be doing if she weren't figuratively tied to her bed with a vacuum line, an IV drip, and anti-embolism stockings. She says she feels great because her stomach is empty of both food and acid so there's no irritation there. The nose hose is a nuisance and she has to reposition it from time to time when speaking so that it doesn't scrape on her throat or trigger her gag reaction.

Check in tomorrow when we hope to have a little more news. In the meantime, between the hours of 9:00 am and 9:00 pm you can call her at 916-973-5878

Maybe it wasn't the LWP (little white pill)

Approaching the building from the parking lot you might think that it is a low key motel or condominium resort complete with patios and fountains.


But the front entrance looks a little more institutional than you'd expect from a condo. Still it does have a "homey", comfortable look.

The fact that the room numbers are in braille doesn't mean much since that's a requirement for many buildings now.

But the final clue is all the equipment surrounding Carolyn from her head

to her feet.

Yes, she's gone and done it again. Carolyn is again in the hospital.

Not satisfied with the diagnosis she received in the emergency room a couple weeks ago, Carolyn insisted that her doctor order more definitive tests including an endoscopy - where a tube is threaded through your nose, down your throat, and into your stomach. She was scheduled for this exam on Tuesday afternoon. It was more definitive, all right. The gastroenterologist found a significant blockage of the exit from Carolyn's stomach which explains both the severe reflux and frequent need to vomit that she was experiencing. He took several biopsies to determine what sort of tissue the blockage consists of and attempted to determine the extent of the blockage. That was made more difficult because her stomach is distended to 2 to 3 times it's normal size.

The doctor wanted to hospitalize her immediately but she asked for a delay until Wednesday morning so that she could wrap up some work items or at least warn her colleagues what was up.

This morning she was admitted to the hospital but due to a hospital screw-up the doctor wasn't notified so nothing was done with her until 2:00 this afternoon when she threatened to walk out of the hospital. She really could have used the extra time to tie up things at work.

So now she is hooked up to an IV so that she can get adequate nourishment while her stomach is pumped empty and allowed to shrink back to normal size. We're also waiting for the pathology reports on the biopsies taken yesterday which won't be available until Thursday or Friday. At that point the surgeon will make a decision about what and how to cut. We won't discuss best and worst cases until we know more.

Meanwhile, Carolyn (who is bored as can be) can be reached at 916-973-5878 or can be visited at the Camellia Building of the Kaiser Hospital on Morse Avenue, Room H11A. Calls and visits should be kept short because of the difficulty she has talking with a hose in her nose.

Our air-conditioning man

Whatever happened to the good old repairman who came out to your house, took one look at your air conditioning and pronounced it dead?

The first time we needed repair of our central heating/air conditioning we didn't know who to call but there was a small card stapled to a joist in the attic. This note indicated that on such and such a date our unit had been serviced by Roseville Sheet Metal. A telephone number was also on the card. We called the number, a repairman came within 24 hours, and our problems were solved.

A couple years later a similar but different problem occurred with the HVAC system and we again called Roseville Sheet Metal. Excellent service and no long waiting.

Carolyn felt we weren't getting a good flow of cold air on Sunday so she asked me call for a repairman. Naturally, I called our old friendly Roseville Sheet Metal who sent out the same technician we've used in the past.

After spending two hours inspecting and cleaning all the unit that can be easily reached, Skip announced that we had a somewhat weak compressor but unless our bills really jump or the A/C seems to run forever, he wouldn't suggest a major overhaul or any major replacement. He said we're getting a 20 degree gradient (cooling that much from the outside air) which should be enough for all but the hottest periods of the hottest days.

Skip just didn't want to sell us a replacement for the whole unit. Amazing.

More than one Reggie in this family

(note REGgie = Random Event Generator)

We had to use up some meat in the refrigerator (it was actually meat from Ed & Tiff's refrigerator) so we had invited them over to have dinner with us. I was looking forward to a nice evening with their kids making joyful noises around us while the adults had some meaningful conversation. Therefore, Edward completely surprised me with a pair of tickets to the Dolly Parton concert in the Arco Arena this evening. He had called Carolyn earlier to ask if we could babysit while they went to the concert but had finally decided they couldn't take Camdan and couldn't leave him either.

Funny thing is, I had actually given some thought to buying tickets to this concert. Of any concert that I might attend this was one of the more interesting to me. But Ed got two tickets from a co-worker so that worked out well.

Dolly is still a good performer and puts on a fun show. She has a good sense of humor which she uses on herself as much as anyone. I was a little surprised that she played so many instruments. Or at least pretends to. She played the fiddle, guitar, harmonica, banjo, dulcimer, tin whistle, autoharp, piano, and maybe a couple I missed. The parts she played were simple enough that I could believe she was actually playing, not just faking it.

The first half of the concert were pretty much new songs that she has written including some from her latest CD and the title of this concert tour "Backwoods Barbie". The second half were more "golden oldies" that were really crowd pleasers. But the whole show proved that she still has what it takes to please a crowd.

Just like the good ol' days

A few days ago our home teacher brought a small bag of peaches over saying their peach tree was really prolific this year. He figured he'd be able to can a dozen or so peaches that would do for their needs the coming year. We hopefully suggested that he call us if he had extras on the tree and we'd be happy to pick them.


When he called us a few days later it was to offer us a bucket of already picked peaches. But that wouldn't make them any less wanted. It was Saturday afternoon and over 100 degrees outside. Our poor air conditioner was working on overtime and still couldn't bring the temperature below 84. We decided we'd wait until it got a little cooler.


Peaches are really pretty easy to can. First thing was to take the raw peaches and drop them carefully into a boiling water bath.

We boiled them about a minute, a little longer for the less mature peaches.

You want the skin to slide off easily but you don't want to cook the peach to mush. When you can't slide the skin off, you have to pare it like an apple.

Slicing the peach in half allows you to remove at least one half from the pit. Usually a little prying action with the paring knife pulls the other half away. We like to use wide mouth jars so you can artfully arrange the peach halves in the bottle.

After you can't get any more peaches in the bottle, you fill the bottle with a light syrup. We used 1 cup of sugar to 3 cups water. It was boiling hot when we poured it over the peaches. We then put the scalded lids and rings on the bottles and placed them into the steam canner.

The steam cover was put in place and the heat was turned up. We started timing as soon as the steam was coming out of the vent hole consistently.

Twenty-five minutes later we turned off the heat below the steamer, opened it up, and removed the bottles to a draft free place for them to cool down.

Somehow it just feels good to have freshly canned fruit that you did yourself (when it wasn't too hot outside.)