I have three things on my mind and heart today (ok really like a million things like most women!). This is how our priest usually starts his homilies. I mean I’m so priestly so why not me???

What are the three things? Education, Healthcare, and Ben’s updated scans

I will start first with Ben's scans (positive) and then if you want to ignore the rest of my thoughts then you can! Ben had a PET scan and MRI last week and then was scheduled to meet with his radiologist and oncologist the following week.  His results of course came to his portal the same day.  The PET scan results are a lot easier to read and right away we saw no sign of disease. MRI had a lot of big words, but we could tell nothing was concerning. So I felt pretty good going into the appointments.  We first met with his radiologist, my favorite, and she was all smiles and thrilled with Ben’s progress.  She saw him at his worst and truly knew what his brain and body went through. She said nothing was concerning on the MRI and not sure they will do those as often because it is hard to tell what is damage/healing from the surgery and or radiation.  I for sure think we won her over as one of her favs as she said it was great to see us. I also asked her if she could cure diabetes….I mean maybe? Then we met with his oncologist.  Ben’s numbers overall looked good and are all normalizing.  The only numbers that are still a little bit lower are white blood count and lymphocytes, but his neutrophils are within the normal range. He says that he isn’t worried and it can take a while for his body to build those back up, but it will be something to watch. Ben is also able to stop his blood thinners and get his port out.  My superstitious self is like are we jinxing ourselves by taking it out??? It is hard for me to get “excited” with the good news we received.  My mind and body are in self preservation mode and bracing myself for the next shoe to drop. But yes it is nice to take a breath from the cancer world for a while and looking back we know it is a miracle we are here today. What’s next? Ben is waiting for the call to get his port out, he will have a check-up in Iowa City with his ENT and then have scans again in May. 

The other things on my mind, education and health care…Here is one fact, we ALL need both in our lives. They are a NEED, not a want and we should be worried at the state of them both.

As you know, I have been entrenched in education for a good 40 years now, starting off at good old Bernard Elementary (the good days for sure).  Bernard Elementary is no longer up and running as it was a rural school and even in the late 80’s and early 90’s, it was small in which one teacher taught two grade levels in the same class. I look back and we literally had some of the best times.  I know all of us remember the read aloud books Mr. Gindorff read to us every year with fond memories (as a teacher I made sure to purchase them). We played softball every recess, well at least the ones we weren’t trying to make Betsy mad by throwing acorns or snowballs! HA!  Our classmates would remember decorating Christmas trees that came from the ditch, exchanging gifts, creating pumpkin “people” etc. Would this curriculum be called rigorous today? Probably not, but it taught us so much more and truly is what is lacking in schools today. Fast forward through high school, college, and then becoming a bright eyed and very young special education teacher at 22 years old, after 20 years in the classroom I left to go to work at Heartland AEA as a special education consultant and have been able to see different schools and systems at work.

Education is TOUGH right now, so many needs, so many ideas, and so little resources. Now our state leader wants to dismantle AEA’s in solving the issue??? Going back to those Bernard days I knew what our AEA was named because we had books in the classroom with Keystone labels on them, yep we used their media services.  For many of you, you may have no idea what an AEA is and what it does, because like so many things in our lives we don’t know it until we need it and we often “think” we might never need it.  Yes, I work for an AEA and under the bill I would still have a “job” but there are a lot of unknowns.  We should be worried they want to put us all under the department of education and under leaders who have NO idea or have NO experience in the classroom. 

Here’s the thing, we used AEA services for personal reasons.  Abe had a scary start to his life which led him to having some early access services with some amazing providers.  They came to his daycare to work with him and all at no cost to us. I truly can’t write all the things and there are amazing people advocating out there that hopefully you have seen them on your social media feed. The most important thing is we need to remember it’s about kids, and what the government is trying to do isn’t about kids at all and hasn’t been for years. 

My last thing, healthcare.  Again we often take our health for granted until we are forced to be head first in it. We have been thrown into it at different times in our lives (Abe’s birth, Brynn’s kidney stones and ureter damage, Ben’s cancer, and now Claire’s diabetes). It has crossed my cynical brain how our family is now part of the two largest big pharma makers. Have you watched the movie Dallas Buyers Club? It truly makes you think and question a lot. But also we are blessed to have had amazing doctors that created cooling blankets to help Abe, were able to do Ben’s surgery and treatments, etc. That’s the thing, we NEED these providers, nurses, and researchers to keep going, but being in the system you know quickly they are also working with TOUGH situations and are overworked and burnt out.  To try to get appointments or things done in a timely manner is tough right now.  I see it in the ER nurses and doctors eyes they are getting burnt out (I often said the ER is just like a classroom you have ALL representations of patients/students). We witnessed first hand how a nursing shortage can affect the type of care you get and the difference in hospital floors and how they are run. This should be worrisome to us. How to change it?  That I’m not sure of yet…

Diabetes has made some great strides in the technology area, but the cost?  I won’t even go there with you and how insurance dictates that Claire has to wait 6 months to get the pump, but then how much the pump will cost….it is truly outrageous.  Again I often heard this about the cost of diabetes, but it didn’t directly affect me so I didn't truly understand. But why should it be so costly? Why should she have to wait for a pump if she can’t stand giving herself shots? I don’t know the answer to this and am learning more than I ever wanted to! I keep praying that there will be a cure or the technology keeps improving so that it will all become “easier" for her to manage.  I will be creating a team to do the JDRF walk in the Des Moines area in May so be on the watch for that if you want to join!

Those are the “three” things that are on my mind! I am working on giving my worries to God and listening to Father Mike’s podcast on the bible in a year (I will be honest I do this right before bed and often fall asleep, his voice is very soothing). I will get off my soapbox this Friday night and know I am working on processing all these things:)

We have a weekend of show choir competition and rec basketball to look forward to!  Thankfully the weather will be good so we can go!

Lots of love,

The Reisner 5