New School Year & Ovary Removal

Last year on Julia's first day of school, I held up a "First Day of Freedom" sign, and now I am being punished.

Julia's elementary school is 100% remote for the first four weeks.  We just finished week 2, and I already caught her reading a novel with the video turned off so that her teacher couldn't see.  She got defensive and yelled, "I can't stare at Zoom for four hours every day for the rest of my life!"  Fair point.  

This is her daily schedule:

8:55-9:25 GT 

9:30-9:55 Specials (Art, Music, or PE) 

10:00-11:30 Ask me repeatedly to play Roblox

11:30-12:30 Play Roblox

12:45-4:00 Teacher Instruction: Reading/Writing/Math/Science

Yes, she does remote gym class in her bedroom.  At least no one is being forced to play dodgeball.  

There will be a gradual start to in-person school.  The first wave – 25% of students – begins on September 8th.  Julia was offered a spot based on our survey time-stamp, and we accepted.  The in-person school issue has proved to be divisive.  In our district, there are protests, petitions, private Facebook groups, and social media feuds, all with a political undercurrent.  It's a mess.  I'm just trying to make the best choice for my family, and it's not as easy as it sounds.

After five months of being extremely cautious and avoiding other people entirely, Jeff and I pulled a one-eighty and sent Claire to preschool.  Our preschool has stayed healthy all summer, and they're doing temperature monitoring and keeping parents out of the building, but it's still a risk.  If cases increase again, we'll pull her out.  For now, she's in the Pre-K class with fourteen other kids and Julia's former teacher (who we love). 

Claire being in preschool on MWF has allowed me to spend more time with Julia one-on-one.  I also downloaded a habit tracker to help me make the most of my precious kid-free time.  For the past couple years, kid-free time has been synonymous with medical appointments, so of course I had to schedule some of those too.

My oncologist referred me to an oncology gynecologist for an oophorectomy consult.  Ovary removal is a laparoscopic surgery that only takes about ten minutes.  It doesn't require a stay in the hospital, and recovery is quick.  It would mean I can finally stop getting Lupron shots every 28 days!  I'm thinking early November for the surgery.  I've already been test-driving menopause, so I don't expect any terrible side effects.  It's more of a mental blow.  Being forced into permanent menopause makes me feel like I skipped a decade and went straight to old lady status.  To deal with these feelings, I ordered an expensive Korean face mask and started strength-training like a beast in my living room.  I made Julia take my gym class, and she whined, "My legs will never work again!"  Cue evil mom laugh.

Happy homeschooling!