Recuperation

I am not sure who will read this.  I think most of you don't read the blog anyway, but I kind of like keeping a historical record of my years at Robious.  The history isn't necessarily accurate since it is told from my point of view, but nevertheless, it is still history.  Remember, I have always told you that history is the one subject where everyone could possibly have a different "right" answer.

Speaking of history, Mrs. Cook has phoned me the scores from the SOL, and you all did great.  There were a lot of 600s out there!  I will be sending grades early next week so that you can see how you did.

Since I am not in school, I am going to write about my surgery.  Why?  I have nothing else to do!  I am on a pseudo bed rest cycle until next Monday.  I must keep my foot elevated, though I don't do it all the time.  That is impossible.  I am not the kind of person who can just sit around, and it is killing me when I cannot have the freedom of mobility that I once did.  Murphy has been a challenge when I am home alone.  I simply leave the door to the deck open, and he comes in and out as he pleases.  It makes it easier, though I have a mosquito bite from the other night....the sacrifices one makes for a pet.

I took a picture of my foot...I know it is weird, before I had surgery to "remember" the bump on my heel.  It looks kind of gross, but I wanted to remember it.  I have been leaving with this for a couple of years, so it was time to get rid of it.  And to be able to wear "real" shoes again....

 My surgery was interesting.  It is amazing how medical science and technology have progressed in my lifetime.  I waited a while to get in, but once I did, everything went very quickly.  I had two types of anesthesia, a general one, and a block on my leg.  The anesthesiologist came and explained the process to me.  While he was doing that, the nurses were trying to find a vein for my I.V.  I was trying to listen to the man, as they were trying to find a vein...it took two nurses and multiple attempts.  The bruises on my arms are still very evident.  The nurses were absolutely great despite the fact that my veins weren't cooperating.  The block was the weirdest thing.  They used a sonogram to locate the nerve, and the last thing I remember is falling asleep.  I have a red mark where the numbing stuff, for lack of a better term, was placed into my nerve running down my leg.  When I woke up, I was in the recovery room.  I do not remember anything else until getting home.  My leg had no feeling in it at all.  I didn't get feeling back in my leg until the next night.  I guess that was a good thing.

A couple of complications....I was on a good dose of pain medicine which made me kind of loopy.  I was heading out of the bathroom, towards my bed, and as I crossed the threshold of the bathroom, into the bedroom, I tripped and fell forward.  I caught myself from falling the whole way down, but in the process I broke a toe on my good foot.  Unbelievable.  It didn't hurt though because of the pain meds.  The toe was the one next to my big toe, and it was totally crooked.  Somehow it reattached itself....and it is swollen, but getting better.  The pain medicine also did a number on my stomach, so I dealt with a bit of nausea too.

Thankfully, that is all behind me now, and I am just itching to get back on my feet.  The dogs have kept me company, with occasional licks and stares.  Remember, I have always said...think of what dog is when it is spelled backwards....

One of the reasons that I wanted to get this surgery done the last three weeks of school is that I knew that the recovery time would be quite lengthy, and I didn't want to begin the next school year incapacitated in any way.  As it stands now, I will not be driving until around August if everything goes according to plan.

I also need to go to upstate NY in August and to Boston to see my family.  I have not been home in two years, and I haven't seen my sister in three years, so I must make the journey north.

 I didn't mention this to many people before I left, but my stepfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May, right before our relay event, and I must go home to help my mom with all of that, and I need to have both feet working!  His doctors have suggested that he has six months to live.  This happened all of a sudden, and it strengthens my resolve to continue to do Relay for Life.  Hopefully his last months will not be painful, due in part to research done over the years with money raised from people all over the world through the Relay for Life organization.  It is amazing, but we raised over $30,000.  I still cannot believe it.  I still sometimes stare at that number and wonder how we all did it, but we did.

I am very proud of you for working towards a cure for cancer, and giving back to the community.  I am not sure if we can ever raise that much money again, but we will certainly try.

I have some pics to share below.  Most of them are from Relay for Life, one is of my station in the family room.  Good luck on the last week and one half of school.

~Mr. McEwen

I am so bored that I am taking pictures of my feet

Survivors Lap

The Benos Family

Miz Relay

High Fund Raiser!

Miz Relay Award

An Inspirational Video

Students,
Mrs. Bender sent me a video and an article to look at.  Some cancer patients at a Seattle hospital made a video to Kelly Clarkson's Stronger.  Take a  moment to read the article and watch the video. 

I hope you know that Mrs. Cook and I are very proud of all of you and how hard you have worked to raise funds for cancer patients and cancer research.  Hopefully as you watch the video, it will give all of us the final push to our event next weekend.

We are almost at $26,000...simply amazing.

The link to the article is HERE.

The youtube video is below.  Don't just watch the video, read the article too.  You will learn about who was behind the video.  It just takes one person to make a difference....

A Busy Week and Some Exciting News!

Students,
We sure have had another busy week here at Robious!

1.  Your monologues were excellent!  I've included a few pictures for you to enjoy.  Mrs. Cook and I heard a lot of complements from parents who came to watch!

2.  Our final flashmob practice was today.  With SOLs next week, we lost some of our rehearsal time.  Watch the video to review the movements.

3.  AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL!  We have surpassed the $25,000 mark for Relay for Life!  We are officially at $25,733.84.  The email came this morning that updated our amount!  Mrs. Cook and I are excited with this news, as I am sure you all are.  Let's not stop though!  Let's keep going!  We are making history....

Flash Mob Parts

Students,
We only have two more flashmob practices!
CLICK HERE to download the different parts so that you can review them!

Also, does anyone have the song that we can download and use on the 19th?  Let me know.

Flash Mob Practice

Check out the video below to see our flash mob practice from May 7th during CREW.   Use this video to do some practicing!

Hat Day and Movie Night Were a Great Success!

The first annual hat day was a success.  We raised a bit over $200 for the relay team.  Our movie night, sponsored by a 7th grade committee also had a very successful fundraiser.  We made $836 from the movie ticket donations and from the concessions. 

Thanks to everyone for working hard on these two committees.  Without your dedication, this couldn't have happened!

Mrs. Cook and I held our second annual Robie Awards after the film on Friday night.  We had a red carpet (which was a bit tacky), but nonetheless we did have a special walkway for the recipients to receive their Robie certificate.  Two committees of 7th graders helped in the difficult decision making process.  If you scroll down below, you can see the winners in the different categories.

All of the PSAs were good, and we are proud of you for your hard work.  It has been exciting to see how well our team has come together.  We still have some money to process for our team, but by the end of this coming week, I am betting that we will be close to our magic number of $25,000....keep up the good work...you all are wonderful!

For those of you planning to spend the night, and even if you are not planning to send the night...we are having an after school meeting on May 9 this week to give you the details of what will happen on the 19th and 20th.  If you are planning to spend the night, try to come.  If you cannot let us know, and we can make sure that we provide the meeting information for you. 

Best Sound Editing

Best Documentary Short

Best Cinematography

Best Writing

Best Editing

Best Visual Effects

Best PSA

Best PSA

Best PSA

Thanks again for everyone's hard work.  Stay tuned to further updates!!!

Our First Flash Mob Practice

We just completed our first practice for our flash mob for Relay for Life!

Watch the video to see how we did the refrain!
I apologize for any lackluster video techniques!

The Pasta Dinner Was a Success!

The pasta dinner was an amazing success!  We transformed the cafeteria into a trendy, upscale eatery in the heart of Midlothian!  Many thanks go out to the parents who made this happen.  Mrs. Cook and I could never do this without your help.

Many of you have been asking me how much we made.  On Friday we paid La Cucina Restaurant (notice how I spelled "restaurant"...three of you will understand this comment).  Once we have all of our bills settled, we will share with you are grand total.  We made just under $400 on the raffle alone!  Luminaria sales brought in over $100.

I had planned to take lots of pictures, but I just couldn't focus on that task with so many other things going on.  Luckily, Mrs. Leipold, a parent from our students last year, took photos.  If you click HERE, you will be able to go to the photo album that she posted so that you can see some of the pictures. 

As Mrs. Cook stated on Thursday evening, we both are very proud of you.  The three-year journey of Relay for Life has at times been a bit stressful and a lot of work, but it is nothing compared to how we have seen the best in our students and it has inspired and touched us in countless ways. 

Keep checking back on this blog as this is how we can communicate various upcoming events.  Our next thing will be to begin working on our flashmob dance.  I believe we will have practices during CREW once we have the song selected...don't forget to vote!  Some of my seventh graders were not liking the leading song.  If you can think of a better song, let us know!

Selling Luminaria

Skylar

The Hosts and Hostesses Getting Ready!

Relay for Life Flashmob!

We will begin working on our flashmob dance after we complete the pasta dinner.  The flashmob will be open to all team members who are interested in performing their "talents."  The Relay for Life organizers really want us to do this again, and we've been told that the flashmob was one of their favorite memories from last year!  We will more than likely practice during CREW.  More details to follow.

I have had a few students suggest songs for the flashmob.  Remember last year we danced to Katy Perry's Firework.  The suggestions for this year are in a poll in the sidebar on the right hand side of this blog.  Feel free to vote for the song of your choice.  Listen to them online if you are unfamiliar with any of them.

I will use the blog to post updates.

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break!

Oh...I have a few quick videos from the 7th grade Roaring 20s project that we completed quite a few weeks ago...how fitting that I would include these videos in a Relay for Life flashmob update.  My, times have changed!

A New Post Finally

Dear students,
It has certainly been a long time since I've posted on this blog.  Sometimes it is good to take a break from things, and then dive back into them.  I think I will start using this blog as a diary of sorts as we near our pasta dinner and our relay for life event in May.

Three things prompted me to write tonight.  One, I was totally amazed today at how much money was raised by Nicholas T. and his family.  I was showing my first period class this morning, and by this afternoon Nicholas has topped the $1000 mark.  As I have said to all of my classes today, and I mean this with all my heart....it is not the amount you raise, but the heart and soul that you put into it.  I am very proud of those of you that have joined the team and have made a commitment to work at fighting back at cancer.

Secondly, four girls in my ASE class finished their PSA and showed me, right on the heels of our jumping over $2000 in a couple of days.  The video is meaningful.  I've watched it a couple of times and I really like it.  I have also liked the others that have been turned in too.  I am displaying this one because I have it on my laptop desktop, and I brought my laptop home from school.  I am hoping that I can figure out how to get the video on here!

Thirdly, read some of the blogs that students have posted on their relay for life pages.  They are touching and powerful.  I will put a link here to one student's from 7th grade who was a team member last year, as well as this year.  CLICK HERE to read her personal page.  If you'd like me to view your personal page, let me know.  There are so many to read now, (which is a good thing), and I need you to point it out when you've updated your page.

Keep up the good work everyone.  Today I caught that Venturer spirit...we are making a difference!

~Mr. McEwen