3 years 1 month 4 days

Day 1130. Yesterday we all stayed home. The Mobile Support lady came in the morning, and I had a 10 am student. In the afternoon I taught from 3 to 6 pm.

This morning I set my alarm for 8 am. After breakfast, I went downstairs with the kids and read a Bible story to them. Then I went upstairs and left the house at 9 am. I took the subway to a medical center, where I had a 9:30 appointment. However, I got there 15 minutes early. I had discovered a knot in my breast 16 days ago, had had a blood test (but not the result yet), and today I finally had an x-ray. All kinds of things had gone through my mind these past two weeks, and I knew the moment of truth had come.

The waiting room was full. I had only just sat down, when my name was already called. It had literally sat less than a minute. Last time I had waited so very long that that was even more welcome. I went inside and lay down on a bed. Then the doctor used a handheld ultrasound-type device to look into my body. Then the words that brought relief: it's a cyst. There were even a few small ones that you cannot feel. She said those just appear sometimes, for no reason.  In the afternoon I was able to download the report online and mailed it on to my doctor. I also got my blood result in the afternoon, and it wasn't good, as expected. Next week I'm gonna go back to see my doctor whenever I have time and will probably be put on a few medications.

Still, I was relieved and was home by 9:40. I went straight downstairs to Randy and the kids to let them know the good news. Then I went upstairs to get some work done. I was glad to still have some time to do so until lunch.

After lunch the kids were watching some videos, while I returned to my computer to work. Sammy fell asleep, while his siblings were watching. Just before 1:30 I also put the other two to bed, and once they were asleep, I returned to my computer. I was pretty tired myself, but never got to sleep. Sammy woke up before 2:30, and just after 2:30 Randy left with him to go to his weekly physiotherapy session. Emmy was already up as well, after less than an hour of sleep, and then Tammy also walked into the room already, which was unusual for her, to get up this early. I asked them whether they want to go to dance class, as I had no afternoon students, which is unusual. And they pay a monthly amount and could go twice a week, though we only go once. Tammy wanted to go, but not Emmy, and so we stayed home. I ended up letting them watch something for a while, while doing some more work. After it was over, they suddenly asked to go to dance class, both of them. I told them it was too late now, and both of them started crying. We should have just gone. We then went downstairs together.

I first got the new dancing game out, but they were not too excited about it, and neither was I. I thought about doing some papers from the many teaching books for kindergarteners I had bought. We did a few, but they had seen the finger paint and wanted to do that. I hesitated but then agreed. I had a booklet with pictures of animals for fingerpainting and tore out quite a few for them. They put their fingers into the pain and then covered the paper with it until you could not make out the animal any more. In any case they had fun. Cleaning them up was a different story. Our downstairs bathroom only has cold water, and so we went upstairs to clean them up. By then Randy and Sammy were already back. I put all the drawings up to dry and cleaned up what was necessary. Then I returned upstairs, leaving the kids with Randy.

I only had just over an hour left to get something done, which wasn't much. And then Randy and the kids already came upstairs before that hour was up. I didn't want them to watch anything else today, as they had already spent plenty of time with videos. Emmy was throwing a fit because of that. In the end I let Alexa play kids' songs that they enjoy.

At 6:30 we sat down at the table to eat, then they continued in the bathtub, but they were not eating much tonight, not even Sammy, who always eats everything. It's probably because Randy had given them icecream with peanut butter just 90 minutes before dinner. And so they were all in bed just after 7:30. I had a student at 8 pm, but then saw that they had canceled the lesson. And so I was able to stay by the kids' side, sitting in the chair. Today it was Emmy who needed the longest to fall asleep, which is unusual. He cried, when I walked away at 8:30. I calmed him down, but he still cried, when Randy sat down in the chair instead of me. I went to the kitchen to make myself something to eat, saying soothing things in Emmy's direction to calm him down, which he eventually did. I sat down to eat, and then went back to work. I sure hope to make it to bed earlier today than last night. At least I have no reason to not fall asleep tonight.