Exploding Carrots, And All That is Nathan.

Hi. My name is Katherine. I'm covered in carrots.

I didn't think it would come to this...I really didn't. The morning started out so promising...so...veggie-less. Yet here I am. Picking minuscule orange shrapnel out of my veggie infested locks. These are situations by which my job is made up of: Nathanisms. 

Nathan is a sixteen year old boy who is ranged on the autism scale as 'not otherwise specified.' So while sometimes he's normal-ish, sometimes he's just...Nathan-ish. He has his fits of rage, tear induced dramatics, and moments of being a 'stand up chameleon'(according to him). And I! Katherine! Get the joy and happiness of driving him around to school and therapy. Most days I am purely blessed, but today I am covered in...well you know.

It was a normal day and we were sitting in the parking lot waiting for the clock to strike 8:55(which is the EXACT time we must leave the truck to go to school. Otherwise we have issues). Nathan is munching on a bag of baby carrots and I'm making jokes to him about resembling a rabbit. Following up my comment he begins to chomp down on those mini veggies with all the vigor of a small rodent. Then it happens: I turn away. As I glance at the time, the side of my head is bombarded with a wave of spit and carrot. 

The situation plays out as follows:

Me: NATHAN! (Did he actually just SPIT his carrots at me?!? Oh no he didn't!!)

Nathan*looking a bit overwhelmed*: I had to sneeze. 

Me: Nathan! That is why we COVER our mouths when we sneeze.

Nathan: Can I have a tissue?

Me: Yes and then you are helping me clean out every carrot you spit out!

Nathan: Oh look at the time! It's time for school!

Me: I don't think so mister. You clean up this carrot pulp!

Nathan: Wipes up one piece. *starts walking away then gets angry when I make him return to throw away his napkin trash* 

After seeing him to class I make my way to the ladies room. And what do I see? The most masticated carrot I have ever encountered starting a colony on the side of my head. Who seriously chews their carrots into the consistency of baby food? Nathan does! And the proof is drying orange over the interior of my truck. Don't think it was a big enough sneeze? Ask the seats, steering wheel, radio, cup holders, the windows, gear shift, carpet, rear view mirror and wind shield. Windshield! He sits in the BACK! There was some serious power in that sneeze. Had it been carrot-less I might've been impressed.

The damage has been erased, and my hair fairly groomed and all is well...for now. So as I leave you, here are some words from Nathan himself(there's no end to these bad boys)

"I'm watching you with cracked eagle eyes!"

"Do I look like a mistress?"

"We have a droid and a Jar Jar Binks in the handle."

ever amused,

Katherine

Kenze had a busy week!

When I was little, my mom used to read a book to me called, Kenze had a busy week, (it was supposed to be personalized) however, the book really said Kimberly because in 1995 there was nothing with the name Kenze on it.  Heck, I can’t even find my name on a stupid license plate key chain in 2012.  I soon realized that Kimberly and Kenze did not resemble each other in the least, but I still wanted mom to read it to me with my name in it. 

Throughout this book was a little girl who had crazy adventures throughout what would have been a monotonous, mundane life.  I distinctly remember mom reading, “on Monday, Kenze went to space…On Tuesday, she had tea with her best friends.”  By the end of the week, Kenze was a tired little girl.

Well, I’ve never been able to relate to this book so much until my ripe ole age of 21.  This week seemed to never end and never was there a dull moment in what could have been a mundane week.  On Monday, Kenze started Summer one classes at SFA.

On Tuesday, Kenze considered committing herself into an insane asylum.   I just needed a little peace, apparently my “trip to space on Monday” was far too much for me to handle.  My day began at 6:15 Tuesday morning, I jumped in the shower; the first assault (yes, assault) to my day was mistaking my face wash for shampoo.  Hey! Don’t judge, it looks a lot the same that early.  After washing the ‘morning burst’ face wash out of my hair, the back to my newly pierced second hole of my earring fell out in the shower.  You can only imagine the panic that struck me, so here I go chasing the back of my earring around the shower.  I slip, slide, knock shampoo off of the shelf, almost kill myself but good news, I did manage to salvage it right before going down the drain.  I did make it to work alive and barely on time.  The day progressed normally, two hours of work, four hours of class. 

I had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon, who knew something as simple as that could humble a girl so much, yeah, humble me! I entered the office in my work clothes and the receptionist commented on how nice I looked, I thanked her; she asked my name and told me to have a seat.  This is when I should have noticed the strangeness, aren’t I supposed to sign in, fill out paperwork, give them my insurance card?  Oh well, I take a seat anyway.  Within five minutes I hear, Kenze come on back-Wow! That was quick.  Everyone in the waiting room gives me the “I got here before you” look, such a hostile look by the way.  I go back to a room with no bed, tongue depressors, cotton balls or health chart on the door-once again, another que something is different.  Two doctors come in with a couple other people.  Being me, I begin to work this out in my mind, rationalizing the situation-maybe they’re doing a study on me or something.  After shaking their hands, they ask, “Kenze, do you have your resume we could look at?”  Uh oh!!!  There is no more rationalizing; I was there for an interview at the doctor’s office.  Oh man, how did neither them nor I catch this??  I look at them and begin to laugh hysterically because this fits my day all too well.  “I’m here for a doctor’s appointment, not an interview-I wish though!”  A little embarrassment comes upon the room, then they lead me back to the waiting room where I have to walk back to my seat-as the doctor apologizes one more time for everyone to hear.  The distance from the door to an empty chair seemed miles away as every single person in the room stares with a little snicker on their lips-humbling moment!  After this, I wanted to leave, but I stayed.  After seeing the doctor, I had to get blood work done-as each vile filled, my head got lighter.  The nurse was putting on the band-aid and I had almost made it.  The next thing I know there are three nurses standing over me-yep, I passed out, I did get my moment of peace-not how I expected to get it though.  A visit to the doctor has never been so eventful...On Tuesday, Kenze went to a job interview!

Thankfully, my week began to look up after that.  Today is Friday and I don’t have class or work for the summer on Fridays! I’m at the end of the week and like Kimberly in the book, I’m a tired little girl.  Hope your weekend is as restful as I plan for mine to be.

It’s back to space on Monday!

Kenze 

Spina what?

Hello blog world!

I have brought you all here today to open up about something that has been a part of me for...forever, but really only discovered circa 2009. Yes, I did make a discovery. A discovery of pain, a new kind of doctor, and a very good x-ray for show and tell!

What can this be? Spina Bifida Oculta of course!! Well that's a mouthful ain't it? Yeeep. That was my first thought as I was brought to the attention of my newly disabled status. What do those three little words mean? Well let me tell you!
Spina Bifida is a birth defect where the vertebrae of your spine does not completely ocify( the bone doesn't grow in all the way) leaving a hole where the bone should be.
There are three types of spina bifida.
1. Myelomeningocele is the most serious. In this case more than one vertebrae is missing, aka paralysis and horrible side effects like that.
2. Spina Bifida Meningocele is the rarest. In this case, the actual membranes and nervous tissue are exposed and sticking out of the hole in the spine, but can usually be surgically fixed.
3. Spina Bifida Oculta(That's me!!) is the most minor of the three (praise the Lord!). Usually people don't even know they have this unless they randomly see it in and x-ray, or they get into a car accident like me.


So here I am, just going along with life when all of a sudden I can't even bend over 10 degrees! And from not being able to bend over for a few months, let me tell you people bend over a lot! It is very useful.
After having shooting pain up my spine every time I leaned forward an inch for months, I finally got my dad to let me visit the chiropractor. Now, I don't have a picture of my x-ray to whip out, but I found a replacement that will give you the basic idea.

Dr. Adams(my now regularly attended chiro) showed me something that basically looks like this, only my affected vertebrae is higher up. As you can see, there is a small space where the bone should be. 

How am I still dealing with this new part of my life you may ask?? Well, for the most part I'm every bit as normal as anyone with a normal spine give or take a few ice packs here and there. I'm stiff in the mornings, but I am still able to play sports and exercise regularly if I'm not too sore. And it's a good reason to not gain weight (because my spine can't handle it!)

The only disadvantage is that I am required to stand in art classes....but I can't. Soo yeah, I'm sitting down because I have to not because I batted my eyes at a professor (gross). 

Hope you guys enjoyed the medical lecture!

to all you normal spines out there, take care! Because as my chiro says, "You have check ups at the dentist for your teeth, and you should have check ups for your spine!"

Katherine ^_^

A New Shade of Red

As I have stated in my previous blog, I am very clumsy. For some reason I am always put in the worst situations (mostly my doing). At the moment of the situation I am usually embarrassed, but afterwards I can laugh about it......usually. I am sure that everyone has felt like this one time or another.  I am the kind of person that turns completely red when embarrassed and people like to point out to me "Do you know that you are turning really red."  "Why, I had no idea that I was turning as red as a tomato. I couldn’t feel the heat rushing to my face at all. Thank you for pointing it out and making me more embarrassed then I already was!"

   For my summer job, one of the things I have to do is travel around and take pictures of students at different schools. So on this day I was going to an elementary school to take pictures of a talent show. Of course it is pouring rain that morning and I was running late. By the time that I got to the elementary school and found a parking spot, the show has already started, still thinking that I could just sneak into the back of the cafeteria and still be able to take great photos. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting over a thousand people (including all the students from the school and teachers) to be smushed into this tiny cafeteria surrounding the stage. I squeezed my way between some parents and teachers and started snapping some photos. They were turning out okay, but I wasn’t as close as I would have liked to have been to the stage. I took pictures this way through a handful of acts while I got strange look from parents, when an administrator tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would like to get closer to the stage. I said sure! I could finally get some good pictures! We exited the door that I came in and she took me through a door closer to the stage. Perfect there was a line of parents against the wall and I could blend in with them. I stood with the parents and teachers getting ready to take some pictures when I noticed the administrator had kept walking in front of the stage (it was in between an act at the moment). She stopped directly in the middle and asked the KINDERGARDNERS to scoot over so they could make a spot for me to sit!!!!!! Let me paint a picture for you, I am in slacks, with a nice shirt, higheels, with a huge camera slung around my neck and my purse. The administrator starts waving me over. Parents, kids, and teachers turn my direction as I make my way to the front. I can read the parent's faces as they think, who is this chick and why does she get to go to the front to take pictures of her children! Just so we are clear I do NOT have any children! I had to weave and step over small children to get to the spot where she made for me.  I had to sit Indian style on the floor surrounded by little kids. This is one of those moments where I could feel myself turning red as all the children stared at me. I am about 3 times as tall as the children. I just felt like disappearing! The next act came on the stage and I started taking pictures. They were turning out great! I was close to the stage and I could see everything. That’s when I heard." I can’t see the stage! The girl in front of me is too tall!" I am pretty sure that my face took a new shade of red that it has never been before. I slowly turn my head to see the kids behind me and I see this little boy practically sitting on the kid's lap next to him trying to see around me. Now I really wanted to get out of there! What do I do? I could continue to sit there and not let the children behind me see or I could get up and move and try to find myself a spot against the wall but the administrator was one of the women standing by the wall. I felt bad to move after she made a huge commotion for me to sit there from the beginning. So I continued to sit there and take picture after picture of different acts. The whole time that this was going on I continued to fight with myself about getting up. Finally between an act I got the nerve to stand up and step over the children again (picturing everyone staring at my butt) and moved to the side with chairs and stood behind the line of teachers. As soon as I put my purse down they announced that it was the last act! Of course I would move when there was only one left.

In the end all of the pictures turned out good but I feel like every teacher, student, and parent should know who I am now! Hope this gave you a great laugh as you enjoy your fabulous weekend!

Kaitlin