The advantage of Homeschool

This week, oh my, this week. We have done nothing that is part of our curriculum. Learning has happened but it has been an education of brain anatomy, surgery procedures, hospital procedures,improvised games, and empathy.

One week ago my sister was given Thursday Sept 1st as an appt for brain surgery. Monday we took her to an appt with her General Practitioner and The Boy learned about the anatomy of the stomach and what a stomach with an ulcer looked like, not because his Auntie has anything like this but because  they had models of this in the room.

Tuesday he learned what the Arachnoid Mater looks like at the neurosurgeon's office. He learned where the brain stem is, what some of the side effects of surgery were. Why it was better to have the surgery than not. What the expected benefits of the surgery would be. Why you want a surgeon who doesn't choose surgery as the first option. He also learned the first bit of the hospital, where the cafeteria is, where the bathrooms are, that it is easy to forget your dog when you have so much else on your mind. (Oh wait that was my lesson not his)

On Wednesday he learned that sometimes you have to let plans go when others can't keep up. That a headache can't always be made to go away with Mama's hug (although she will try)

On Thursday he learned that you can wait for long hours for information when you love someone and they are in surgery. He learned that it helps to have family around you while you wait and to have family greet you when you get out of surgery.

On Friday he is learning that it is better to have to wait to see a nurse in ICU because you are doing so well rather than have the nurses hovering. He is learning that ICU is not a place with a lot of joy but there is hope and again having family and friends around helps to ease the pain.

If he had been in a public school he would not have seen this, I would not have been able to just be here for my sister, my brother in law, and my parents. It has been crazy and worrying and busy, but it has also been wonderful to have family together and seeing that my sister is less than 24 hours out of surgery and already her symptoms that have ruled her life for the last 16 years are gone. Modern medicine is an amazing and wonderful thing.