From the "Totally Unexpected" File

Every Wednesday we take Lisa bowling at the Chesterville bowling alley. She has bowled for many years and is actually quite good, usually scoring around 150. She loves it, and lets the world know when she has thrown a strike with her loud joyous shouts of "Yes! I did it!"

Today when we arrived, our fellow bowlers were all waiting outside. We were told they were filming inside, and would be done in a few minutes. I assumed the local high school's media class was at work.

When we entered I soon realized they were not amateurs. They were a crew from TVO, filming a segment for "Mark's Moments." Never heard of it but, cool. One of the regular bowlers is a young boy who is going blind, and they are doing a show on "A Day in the Life of Palmer." Then it hit me...it's probably TVO Kids...my kids watch that!

I asked Devin if he knew Mark from TVO Kids. His face immediately indicated yes, as he realized why the guy across the room looked familiar. Guess he couldn't place him without the big black box around his head. Devin went over and said "Hi" and had a little chat. We called Brent over, who by this time had started bowling (he keeps Lisa company), and soon he was also star struck, trying to figure out how to have a conversation with someone who was so down to earth, funny, and wore very cool shoes...but normally entered our living room through the TV.

The owners of the alley took a picture and quickly printed it off for us; sometimes technology is just too cool. Mark graciously signed it, along with personal notes to each of the boys. Despite what the sign says over his head (oops...) he was a very responsible young man, GREAT with the kids, and certainly an unexpected visitor in our tiny town!

He said he was going to post the photo on his blog on the TVO kids website. I imagine the boys will have me checking a couple of times a day until he does.

Mark's Moments airs on TVO on Wednesday at 5:55pm, Saturday at 10:20am, and Sunday at 1:23pm. Palmer's segment won't be on until late May or June.



On the way home Devin decided he is going to always carry around his Alfredsson, Heatley and Spezza cards, because "You just never know who you'll meet."

Our Hockey Stars

Hockey season for the boys drew to a close on March 22nd. The "league" that they play in consists of boys from ages 7-12. They play every other Saturday, doing drills for about 30 minutes and then scrimmage for another 30. No tournaments, no fund raising, no parental brawls, no bank loans to cover expenses. We are just thrilled to have this opportunity for the boys.

This was Devin's 3rd year, and Brent after having said he didn't want to play in September, asked if he could join in February. We had been skating at the arena most Thursdays with other homeschoolers and I guess he finally felt confident enough on his skates to join in on the "real thing." (Another benefit of a less formal group; and having mom as the administrator...)
They approach the game with different mind sets, although both are intent on scoring goals. Brent admitted that he was a little frustrated, because when he finally was able to get the puck on his stick, "Suddenly there is a crowd of other players around me, and I can't shoot it at the net!"
As administrator, I decided to take pictures of all the boys, and used my Photoshop to make "hockey cards" for them. I still am discovering how much there is to learn in the program, but am having fun exploring!

Brent and the Medical Profession

Entry one: Approx 6 years old. Brent needs to get a booster shot. It takes both the doctor and I using our 4 arms and 4 legs to keep him still long enough to insert the needle.

Entry two: Approx 6 1/2 years old. Brent sticks a "Pick-up-Snake" (image the game "Pick-Up-Sticks" but more "snake looking") in his ear and now says it hurts. The doctor is unable to get the scope in his ear because he won't sit still. The specialist a few days later has the same problem, and finally they end up doing a special hearing test and determine that he can hear fine, therefore he must not have damaged anything.

Entry three: 7 1/2 years old. Brent goes to get his eyes checked. He wines at the dilating drops, but endures. As the doctor is examining his inner eye, he suddenly starts to squirm and claims he's hungry. He then rips off his sweater, is now sitting bare-bellied, and says it's not hunger, but he thinks he is going to throw up. We throw a coat over his bare belly and rush him out for fresh air. A few deep breaths and we're good to go.

Brent doesn't do pain or doctors well.

Entry four (and the real reason for this post, just thought the history would be enlightening): February 7, 2008. Still 7 1/2. At 9:30pm my 3 children who are supposed to sleeping come upstairs. Devin is laughing, Brent crying, Shannon indifferent. Brent has swallowed a nickel. An American nickel. It now hurts, mid-chest, off to the side; kind of the stomach area, but could also be a lung. We decide to call the tele-health line and after 25 minutes of being assured our call was "important to them", they answered, and strongly urged us to take him in to the ER; because it hurt (it shouldn't hurt in his stomach). I had a busy weekend planned and I decided dealing with it now was easier than when we had a house full of company, so off we went.
But first, having learned ER lessons with Devin and Doctor lessons with Brent, we stopped and explained all the possibilities, and said a prayer asking for courage, and pain tolerance. Worked like the Bible says it does.
The first 2 nurses we saw, thought I was off my rocker, and said that tele-health sends EVERYONE to the ER. But the scare that he may have aspirated it into a lung, although the pain was by now lower in his chest, led them to allow us to see the doctor.
The doctor is a father of 3 sons and assured me that he knew all about swallowing things (and sticking things in places where they don't easily come out of).
He had no problem suggesting an X-ray. "Best to know where it is, and how it will come out," he said. A few minutes later we could clearly see the American nickel lying perfectly horizontal in the small intestine. He suggested we take the nickel off Brent's allowance and sent us home.

Brent was co-operative, enjoyed checking out all the machines in the ER, was fascinated by seeing his insides on the X-ray, and was overall an 'A' patient. I'm just really thankful he didn't have to have a scope put down his throat!

He still won't tell us why the nickel was in his mouth, and refuses to look and see if it has "passed."