Wow, it's been a while since I've been in here! Sorry about that for anyone who's actually been reading this thing. There's never any comments, so I am never really sure.
Anyways, since the last posting, it's been 2 weeks or more, so a decent amount has happened! Firstly, I had another decent bout of chest pain. I worried I was having a heart attack. Since I really can't afford another ER bill, I waited til the next day and called the clinic, saw the doc the next day, she didn't seem horribly worried. They never do. I went for another Echocardiogram, an EKG and a Pulmonary Function Test, and she prescribed an inhaler. As Adria says, "They still haven't figured out what that is yet? It's been at least two years you have periodic chest pain!" No idea. No one knows. I'm an enigma. Of course at this visit, I totally forgot to get my urinalysis results, so who knows on that too, but I'm hoping they were fine and that's why no one said anything. Next appointment I'll figure it out. I'll make a list. I'm good with them. I nearly have Alzheimer's without them some days.
Dayna's had 2 therapy appointments and a doctor's appointment. The first appointment she was up nearly 2 days straight and refused to get out of the car again. She hasn't done that in a while. She likes this therapist. Since she's been stable on her meds she hasn't done this. Back in June, her father and the doc decided to decrease her meds because they didn't know what they were doing for her. Hello! THIS is what they do for her...they prevent these things...the up for 2 days, the sudden flip from chatty happy to utter refusal to speak or move. The therapist came downstairs and sat at the car and did therapy there. I don't know what she said to her, but Dayna perked up. When we saw the doc I reviewed everything, all her behaviors, the doc looked at her father and said, "I guess the meds DO do something for her." I sat there wondering why no one ever listens to me...I am speaking English, aren't I? So long story short, her dose increased again - not all the way up, I told the doc I was not upping it that much that fast because she is very sensitive to it. When she started this med at half this dose she was sedated for 6 days! They just screwed her up weaning her off it, I was not going to torture her slamming her back up so fast!
The following week she had an outburst on Monday where she froze up before singing in front of people, then flipped into a crying spell curled into the fetal position. She screamed at me that I needed to kick everyone out of the house. I refused. She put on her shoes and headed to the lake. I told her I'll come. She said no. I went anyway, followed 5 minutes behind her and sat two benches away. When she has her friend with her, I have no problem with the girls going to the lake. It's right across the street. If there weren't so many trees in my neighbors lot, I could see it from my window. But I don't like her going alone. She has social anxiety issues sometimes and avoids people. I don't know who's at the lake, if there's any riff raff...she just wasn't in the right state of mind to deal with that.
She told me to go home. I said no, I'm tired, my back hurts, I'm gonna sit here and rest and stare at the water and the ducks. I then shooed her off and told her to go sit on her bench, this one's mine. She made a weird face while trying to make sense out of that and promptly sat down on my bench with me. After a few minutes of me talking about the ducks or ignoring her, she started talking and we walked back home. Within a half hour she was hanging out in the living room like nothing happened. Two days later she had a lovely therapy session, all better!
This past weekend she's been in Salem, Massachusetts with her dad. Dayna decided for "vacation" she wanted to go where they had the witch trials. I haven't seen her since they came back yesterday, but all the text messages make it seem like she had a great time. I don't know if she made it to the spiritual store I gave her the address for. I thought maybe she could find some nice candles or gems or something. I'm sure she'll surprise me with something tomorrow when she comes home! I miss her.
edited 8/28 - I got a hug. My daughter came back from Salem and gave me a hug. She brought me something from Seattle, escapes me what it was right now, but I KNOW she got me something, she got B a golf ball. From Salem - I get a hug! :-)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Camp Premier
Friday, July 31st was Dayna's theater camp production. Her dad called Thursday to verify I was taking her home after it. He also offered that she can stay home until Wednesday when she has her doctor's appointment in Westfield...to make it easier for me...less driving, less gas, less tolls. Uh huh. In the six weeks Dayna has been out of school, she has been HERE 4 of them. Her dad's only request was if Dayna wanted to go back to his house on Sunday, that I call him as soon as I knew because he was going to a concert or something and needed to know to come home early. He also told me Dayna has asked him NOT to go to the theater production, so he was going to work on Friday.
Thursday night I text messaged Dayna's best friend, M, to ask her if she could go. She's in SC visiting her Grandma. So then I text messaged Dayna to ask if she minded if I brought B with me. Dayna said that was fine, B can come. (Hmmm...She tells her dad NOT to come, but says B CAN come...anyone else seeing this? She had this same request on her Graduation. She told her dad she didn't want him there, but called me to ask if B was coming.)
Friday B and I drove up to Kean University. All her dad told me was that it's in the little theater. There's nothing marked on the map of the campus denoting where the little theater is. I stopped a Security guy and asked him for directions. Right on the outside of the Student Center is a sign that says, "Little Theater." Ah...so it's the Little Theater, as in that's it's NAME! It's not the little theater, as in an adjective, like I'd thought!
The production began with a collaborative piece all of the kids wrote and performed. Since it was a "work in progress" and they'd only been working on it two days, they all had scripts on stage with them. I believe this camp group was 4th grade through 8th grade. It was a slight mishmosh of little skits. It was cute.
Then, all of the kids sat in the front row of the audience. The actors who ran the camp, and the college interns who helped, performed a short play written by each student. Some of them were really good. Some of them were just ok. Dayna's play was entitled The Black Rose. Her play starts in Part 4 at 5:00 minutes into the following video, and continues in the beginning of Part 5.
In case you have trouble viewing the videos, here is a summary:
It was about a girl named Lydia who comes across an old woman in the forest. The woman lets the girl pick a flower out of her basket. She picks a Black Rose. The woman tries to tell the girl the legend behind the flower, but the girl has no time for silly tales from an old woman! The woman calls to the girl, "Your greatest wish will come true as the last petal falls!" The girl continues on and finds a girl talking to a fish! The girl tells Lydia the old woman trades her butter and bread for the flowers from her garden, but she's never seen the black rose before.
Lydia takes the rose home and places it in a vase. Her father comes home. Lydia talks to her father, he doesn't respond. He doesn't appear to notice she exists. Lydia walks to the flower and strokes a petal while talking to her father. The petal falls. More petals fall. Lydia cries out, "Oh, no! My flower!"
Lydia's father speaks! He asks why the flower was so important, they can get another flower. Lydia hugs him! He asks why. She states that he hasn't talked in years! He explains he talks, just not at home, it's too sad, Lydia reminds him of her mother. Lydia exclaims it must be the flowers magic!
At the end of the plays, the camp director gave out awards to each kid. Each one had something special written about their time at camp and their strengths. The certificate says that Dayna has completed Premiere Stages Camp Premiere 2009 as a Playwright with the Professional Actors Equity Theatre at Kean University. They identified her strengths as the ability to write serious plays and humorous works. The Producing Associate, Erica, said she has "no doubt we'll be reading Dayna's published works any day now!"
After the awards were handed out, they had a small refreshments table set up in the next room. While we were there, Erica and I started talking. She told me there is a playwrights competition of sorts every year at Kean. She is going to email us in November when they begin accepting submissions. They have an awards ceremony in May where they pick the winners. She said Dayna's works are definitely up to par and has encouraged her to submit a play for consideration.
Thursday night I text messaged Dayna's best friend, M, to ask her if she could go. She's in SC visiting her Grandma. So then I text messaged Dayna to ask if she minded if I brought B with me. Dayna said that was fine, B can come. (Hmmm...She tells her dad NOT to come, but says B CAN come...anyone else seeing this? She had this same request on her Graduation. She told her dad she didn't want him there, but called me to ask if B was coming.)
Friday B and I drove up to Kean University. All her dad told me was that it's in the little theater. There's nothing marked on the map of the campus denoting where the little theater is. I stopped a Security guy and asked him for directions. Right on the outside of the Student Center is a sign that says, "Little Theater." Ah...so it's the Little Theater, as in that's it's NAME! It's not the little theater, as in an adjective, like I'd thought!
The production began with a collaborative piece all of the kids wrote and performed. Since it was a "work in progress" and they'd only been working on it two days, they all had scripts on stage with them. I believe this camp group was 4th grade through 8th grade. It was a slight mishmosh of little skits. It was cute.
Then, all of the kids sat in the front row of the audience. The actors who ran the camp, and the college interns who helped, performed a short play written by each student. Some of them were really good. Some of them were just ok. Dayna's play was entitled The Black Rose. Her play starts in Part 4 at 5:00 minutes into the following video, and continues in the beginning of Part 5.
In case you have trouble viewing the videos, here is a summary:
It was about a girl named Lydia who comes across an old woman in the forest. The woman lets the girl pick a flower out of her basket. She picks a Black Rose. The woman tries to tell the girl the legend behind the flower, but the girl has no time for silly tales from an old woman! The woman calls to the girl, "Your greatest wish will come true as the last petal falls!" The girl continues on and finds a girl talking to a fish! The girl tells Lydia the old woman trades her butter and bread for the flowers from her garden, but she's never seen the black rose before.
Lydia takes the rose home and places it in a vase. Her father comes home. Lydia talks to her father, he doesn't respond. He doesn't appear to notice she exists. Lydia walks to the flower and strokes a petal while talking to her father. The petal falls. More petals fall. Lydia cries out, "Oh, no! My flower!"
Lydia's father speaks! He asks why the flower was so important, they can get another flower. Lydia hugs him! He asks why. She states that he hasn't talked in years! He explains he talks, just not at home, it's too sad, Lydia reminds him of her mother. Lydia exclaims it must be the flowers magic!
At the end of the plays, the camp director gave out awards to each kid. Each one had something special written about their time at camp and their strengths. The certificate says that Dayna has completed Premiere Stages Camp Premiere 2009 as a Playwright with the Professional Actors Equity Theatre at Kean University. They identified her strengths as the ability to write serious plays and humorous works. The Producing Associate, Erica, said she has "no doubt we'll be reading Dayna's published works any day now!"
After the awards were handed out, they had a small refreshments table set up in the next room. While we were there, Erica and I started talking. She told me there is a playwrights competition of sorts every year at Kean. She is going to email us in November when they begin accepting submissions. They have an awards ceremony in May where they pick the winners. She said Dayna's works are definitely up to par and has encouraged her to submit a play for consideration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)