A conference, eye exam and a virus

It’s that time of the year again: Parent/teacher conferences. My conference with Jesse’s teacher was this morning and the next one I have is with Jennifer’s teachers, which will be next month.

But before I could get to the conference this morning, I had something else I had to take care of first.

Yesterday, Jesse started coughing pretty bad. It was a deep chest cough. When I noticed that he also had sacks under his eyes, I immediately thought it was his allergies acting up again. (I once read this book about “everything you need to know about allergies” and it said that sacks under the eyes is one of the symptoms of allergy attacks. It even had a picture of what it looks like and Jesse had the same thing.) However, I wasn’t too sure if it was his allergies, because we’ve been having so much rain. His allergies usually flare up in the late spring and summer but I read that people with seasonal allergies can also have allergy problems in the Fall. I considered it a strong possibility but discussed it with my husband first. Jesse was also having some nasal congestion and just feeling yucky. No fever. So I talked it over with him and he said it’s probably not allergies. All the same, it was decided I should call his doctor to schedule a time to bring him in.

So I took care of that before heading off to the conference at his school. They said to bring Jesse in that morning, but the problem was I would not be back from the conference in time to take him. So hubby had to take him to the appointment.

Then I headed off to Jesse’s school for the conference. It went okay, though there were some distressing things his teacher had to share with me. Mostly behavioral problems. After I left, I was pretty bummed about it. When I later told my husband everything that was shared, he was pretty upset, too.

Also last night: Jennifer had informed us that she was having trouble seeing the board in one of her classes. I was not sure if she’d already had her eye exam for this year but hubby and I think she probably needs new glasses. I made it a point to check in with her eye doctor today and I did that after I returned home from both the conference and a visit to Jennifer’s school after she had texted me about something she needed my help with ASAP. I called the eye doctor’s office and it turns out Jennifer has not had an eye exam for TWO YEARS!! Yikes!! She’s supposed to have one every year. Wow, I really failed on that one. (And I started to wonder if I should check in with when Jesse needed his, too.) So I made an appointment for her eye exam and they’ll see her in December.

As to Jesse, it turns out he has a virus. Nothing serious. The doctor said to just give him cough medicine and limit his time of outdoor play until he is better. I think it might be prudent to limit his exposure to other kids, too.

So the first half of this day had its downsides. I am just glad we have those things sorted out and can move forward in taking care of them.

Conference call

Today I participated in my very first conference call. This was for the new writing job. When I was told I'd have to participate in this before the training, I was nervous. I have NEVER had anything at all to do with a conference call, only an ACTUAL conference! I had no idea what to expect.

I emailed one of the editors in charge to ask about it, explaining that I am profoundly deaf and didn't know if that would be a problem, but she never replied. So I emailed a friend, who has the same job (and was the one to actually refer me when they started hiring). She is hard-of-hearing (wears a hearing aid) so I asked her about it, though I failed to mention I'm deaf as a post and can't even use hearing aids! (I think she's already figured that out by now.) She said, "All you have to do is announce your name at the start of the call and then sit back and let relay do the rest."

Well, I was still a bit confused over this but decided to just go ahead and see what it was all about. I'd already told them before that I'm deaf and must use relay to make phone calls. I figured they already had that heads up.

When I called, I gave the operator the code to enter. From there, the person giving the conference started talking and, apparently, my friend was right. I just sat back and read the whole thing as the person giving the conference spoke on and on about the job and the hiring manual I'd downloaded earlier in the day. She went over everything the job involves. Sometimes she paused to take questions and that right there was where I couldn't really participate. I couldn't ask the operator to punch in the button for a question because she was still relaying that end of the call (I have to be told "go ahead" before I'm allowed to have my turn to speak). Still, my friend had told me to email her if I had any questions, and that's what I did! I also emailed that other editor for the required information yet to be sent prior to the training period.

It was an interesting experience. I'd always wondered what a teleconference or teleseminar was all about. Or whatever you call them! I have asked about them before, but I've never actually participated. I was so pleasantly surprised and relieved that it was so easy to participate despite my deafness. The next time I get an email about attending one, I'm gonna think twice before hitting the delete button!