Tempest

Having a huge 'job crosscroads' dilemia at the moment that I'd really appreciate some help with At the moment I'm on a one term contract in a primary school after being secondary english trained and working in secondary schools but being out of teaching for a few years. Over the last few week's I'd been keeping my eyes peeled for work from September and saw a part time English post offered at a local grammar school that I'd done my main teaching practice at in 2000 (so year's ago now). I decided to apply and give it a go and was offered the job this week but there are some issues over timetabling with it that are making it hard to accept. I'd need to keep 2 days free to also do supply as I can't live on just doing part time only and I'd made that clear at interview but in the offer letter they said that my timetable would 'have to fit in with the needs of the school' which could mean it being spread across 5 days which wouldn't obviously work for me I phoned the head yesterday and explained my concerns and basically he was very understanding but really wants me for the job and wants me to go in and see him next week to see how we can sort things out and I get the impression that he's going to bend over backwards to try and make the job work for me. Then just to throw something else into the mix the head at the school I'm at now called me in to her office on Friday to tell me that there IS going to be a post available at my current school from September. It's just a one year fixed contract but it's with a Year 3/4 class (which is what I have now) but there's another teacher at the school who has been with them on a two term contract so to be fair to both of us the post is going to be advertised and we'd both have to apply etc - so I may not get it at all. Having said that I think I would probably stand a fairly good chance. At the moment I just feel in a total qandry. I have to say that I have found my first half term with my own class tough. I know we've had Ofsted and it's been a real baptism of fire but I do feel totally and utterly knackered most of the time (which I know most teachers do!). I do LOVE the staff at the school though and find it a v. friendly place to work but the kids are pretty challenging and I do find dealing with some of the behaviours on a day to day basis v. v. draining and I think that's my biggest concern (but you do feel like you're actually making a difference to the kids and giving them some stability). Whereas at the grammar school there would be no behaviour issues but the staff are very stuffy and not so friendly but I'll hopefully feel less exhausted The other issue is that the marking workload at the grammar school (with GCSE and A level classes will be huuuuuge!) The other thing that I quite like about the grammar school job is that they'd offer me the chance to spend 2 periods a week going into primary schools as a kind of 'literacy liason officer' between primary/secondary and I think that could be a good opportunity too. I think the main issue is that I really don't feel like I know myself where I want to be in 5 years and what path I want to go down and I'm just totally totally confused!!!! I also know that I need to make some kind of decision fairly quickly and that isn't helping me decide either

Oh cripes Billy I've only just caught up with this and I'm so so so sorry to hear what you're all going through If it's any help Olls is on Prednisolone too and it has helped with his neurological problem but as it's degenerative he's getting worse over time too. With the Pred I find that Ollie has a massively increased thirst and also he pants really heavily so don't panic if Mal does get some side effects - feel free to pm me if you're worried as I think I know most of the Pred side effects off by heart now If it's any help my brother said to me recently when we thought we were going to lose Olls a few months ago that I just should think of the fantastic life he's had with us in the last 5 years and what his future would have been had he stayed as a stray in Ireland - well basically he probably would have just been pts and I found that really helped me a lot to think like that. Mal has had a FANTASTIC life with you in the last few years and just think what his life would have been without you - just hold on that thought :GroupHug:

I must admit that now Ollie is on the steroids and drinking (so therefore weeing!) lots I've thought about one of these. Although the dog walker comes in at lunchtime I'm still worried about him holding it until 4pm How do people find them generally? Are there any disadvantages? One thing I'm worried about is that Olls likes to bark at birds in the garden so he might decide to do that all day and I don't think the neighbours would be impressed!

No I've not tried it before Ange - Olls is on Seraquin tablets which we get from the vets and M&S pay for (well they pay for 80%). I'm really at a loss tbh - I'm wondering if it's worth just switching him to Axa with the exclusions and then if he did get anything like cancer or heart probs he'd be covered for that as Wendy said - I'm so confused and v. annoyed with M&S as I shouldn't ever have been in this position - that's the whole reason for insurance, I didn't expect it to go up nearly 400% in just over a year Thing is we've not even claimed that much for Olls - although he's not been well of late the vet bills haven't been that much as it's just the steroids. I was thinking I could just buy a tonne of Seraquin and his steroids from the vets to last a good few months and then either cancel the policy or switch to Axa

That's what i was wondering Amanda We could go with Axa at £23 a month and he'd have his arthritis, anal glands and neurological problems excluded but I'm wondering if it's worth it as it would cover us for anything else I think. The annoying thing is the neurological problem was only diagnosed a couple of months ago so I wish I'd switched before it was confirmed

They've got him down as 10 Ange (as his age is a complete estimate) so really they've not even got him down as being ridiculously old I did a fresh quote with Axa for a 10 year old crossbreed and that comes up at 23 quid a month so less than half of what M&S want - I honestly don't know how they justify it I think one option might be to take out the Axa policy but then he won't be covered for anal glands, neurological probs, or arthritis which are 3 quite big things really

I just did an online quote with Axa and the premium was £319 for the year - M&S want £599 :o How on earth do they get away with it

Just had Ollie's insurance papers through from M&S and I'm a bit hacked off to say the least His policy renews in May and last year it went from being £14 a month with no excess and then jumped to being £29.99 a month with a £70 excess and they'd only pay 70% of his vet bills as he was over 9 and stopped paying for his hydro Just got the renewal through for this year and they want a whopping £49.99 a month :o So last April we were paying £14 a month and from this May it will be £49.99 - I just think it's beyond ridiculous tbh I just rang them and they won't budge at all on the policy price I'm seriously thinking of just completely cancelling the policy and putting 50 quid a month in a bank account for him. He's an elderly lad with arthritis and a neurological condition that he has steroids for so we can't insure him elsewhere realistically At his age I wouldn't want to be putting him through any extensive surgeries so I'm not sure we'd really be using the cover much for anything other than his steroids and glucosamine (which the insurance currently pays for) Just wanted people's opinions really I'm just so fuming with M&S that I really don't want to give them 50 quid a month at the moment really!

He likes sardines and tuna - but again will pick the flakes out of his bowl and leave the kibble. I've not tried him with scrambled egg so I might give that a go too. I always take treats out on walks with us but as he's only doing about 20 mins a day at the moment we don't really get much opportunity for him to be eating lots of treats really - although he will have a few. Initially I was worried about giving him too much variety as I thought it might just make him even more picky about what he'd eat and what he wouldn't but I think now I'm at the point where I'll just try anything to get him to eat - I put down another bowl of Naturediet this morning and he's just completely refused it and gone back to bed

Ollie's had quite a twitchy/tremor going on with his head where he looks like he's shaking/shivering and the vet feels its just part of his neurological condition The last couple of days though I've also noticed that his teeth are audibly 'chatting' against each other and its actually quite noisy Tonight he's been doing it for ages - standing in the middle of the lounge with his teeth chatting/head quivering I'm just wondering if anyone has come across these kind of symptoms before? I've noticed that now we've cut the steroids to 1 a day he's getting more un-coordinated on his feet again so we might have to increase them, which is a real shame as I don't like the fact that he's drinking/panting so much when on them

Unfortunately Olls now won't even eat the Naturediet or any of the wet food mixers in with his kibble now Yesterday he picked at his brekkie and refused dinner, today he refused brekkie and took about 2 mouthfuls of tea Weirdly enough though another dog walker we met at the park today kept giving him those big Pedigree type shapes and he was wolfing them down and I had to practically drap him away from her I've also tried just leaving out the kibble and giving him the Naturediet on its own and tonight I opened a different packet in case it was the flavour he didn't like but still no joy

That's such fab news Sarah - am sooooooooo pleased for Miss Fora :wub: I'm sure you've thought of it already but I found arnica a massive help with post surgery bruising - it really has worked for me in the past so might be worth a go for Flora if she's not already on it?

Thanks guys - we've got a few packets of Naturediet in and also the Natures Harvest (it wasn't the Natures Menu I had after all ) I'll keep going with those until I make some kind of decision One thing I have noticed is that the p&p on the wet foods seems to be extortiante If you buy Natures Harvest direct from the company they want 8.99 as p&p and most of the other suppliers seem to want about a fiver for the Naturediet 18 pack. I normally buy the Arden Grange from Vet UK but if you order 1 x 18 pack of Naturediet they add a 'supplement' to the price as your order is less than £15 and then p&p on top of that Just wondering if anyone can recommend any online stores that aren't so expensive on p&p for the wet foods

I posted a while back saying I was having trouble getting Olls to eat at the moment (unfortunately the steroids haven't increased his appetite as I'd hoped). He's been fed on Arden Grange lamb dry food since I've had him and never had a problem but in the last few months he's been less and less reluctant to eat it The vet has checked his teeth/mouth and there's no problems - I've spoken to the AG nutritionist and she felt that due to his age I needed to mix something else in to make it more appetising So I started mixing in chicken and tuna and that worked really well and he was wolfing it all down no problem. But in the last couple of weeks he's got even more fussy and started expertially picking out the bits of chicken and flakes (yes flakes!) of tuna and leaving all the kibble - gawd knows how he manages it So this week I've been mixing in 'wet' food - have tried Naturediet and also something called Natures Menu (which I actually thought was easy to manage at the packaging was more 'user friendly'). He's wolfing it down and if I mix really thoroughly I can hide the kibble more easily so he can't 'pick' out the good bits Anyways I think the way forward is going to be eventually having him on the wet food only (of course I'd only just bought a 15kg sack of AG so this may take some time to work our way through first) and there seems to be so many on the market that I'm a bit stumped. So far I've seen Naturediet, Natures Menu, Natures Harvest and something else I've bought but forgotten the name of. I also know AG and Burns do a wet food but these seem harder to buy locally. So my question is...........which wet food do people think is the 'best' quality and where's the best place to buy price wise online?

That is SUCH fantastic news Sarah - I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooo pleased for you :partytime:

I'm so sad for you all - what a terrible terrible shock :mecry: Run free Winnie :GroupHug:

:GroupHug: So so sorry to hear this

So very sorry to this sad news Thinking of you all :GroupHug:

Ollie started on steroids last Saturday for a neurological problem and he's on 15mg a day (he's on Presidolone if I'm spelling that right). Anyways he's been drinking loads and I noticed the last couple of days he's been quite panty but its always in the evenings I spoke to the vet on Wednesday as she wanted to know how he's been doing and I told her about the panting/drinking loads and she said they were normal side effects and not to panic and that as long as he didn't have sickness or the runs that was all good. On Friday evening he seemed to be panting excessively - like he'd been for a long run and I was a bit worried. He seemed fine again yesterday but it started up again about 6pm last night. I ended up ringing the emergency vet as he was panting really heavily and kept suddenly shaking/shivering all over. She was a bit useless and said that she didn't think that was a side effect of the steroids (which I think it definately is as I've researched them online and they all say that increased panting is a side effect). Anyway she said to half his dose from 3 tabs to 1.5 today and see if that makes a difference. The other thing I read online is that you should split the dose so if if he's on 15mg to have 7.5mg in the morning and the same in the evening, whereas I'd been giving all 3 in the morning as it said on the bottle give 3 tabs once a day Then I was on the PC last night and Olls got up and did a huge pee on the study carpet right next to me - I've lived here 3 years now and he's never had an accident indoors before bless him I'm guessing its because he's drinking more but then I am letting him out more to compensate but he never 'asks' to go out himself. Anyways I'll see how he goes today on 1.5 tabs but I just wanted to see if anyone else had experienced the panting side effects and I can't understand why he's just doing it in the evening either? He seems fine again this morning and I've given him 1 tab in his brekkie and will give him the other half a tab in his dinner tonight. On the plus side his co-ordination is noticeably better and I don't think he's fallen over once since him started on the tablets which is a really good sign but I am worried about the excessive drinking and the panting mostly :unsure:

Mel - I spoke to the vets again yesterday and we've booked him in to see her again next Saturday as she wants him to do 2 weeks on the 15mg then start lowering the dose. She said the drinking is a normal side effect and that as long as he's had no sickness/dirrorhea then that is a really good sign. They've not mentioned anything about spleen probs at all as a side effect

Ollie was back at the vets on Saturday as the vet I really like/trust was there (she's only there about 1 day a month at the moment). She's confirmed that Ollie is definately suffering from a neurological condition (he couldn't right his feet at all when she put them the wrong way round and fell over when he tried to walk off) so she's put him on some steroids instead of the Previcox as its not his arthritis that are causing his main problems. He's on something called Prednisolone (15mg a day) and she's given him Zitac twice a day to counter any gastric problems and possible gastric bleeds. We're hoping he can stay on steroids long term and I'm calling her on Wednesday to see how he's doing She warned me that he make have an increased appetite and drink more - so far he's not eating much more but is drinking LOADS and I'm wondering if I should be worried? Is this normal when on steroids? I'm also just wondering if anyone has any experiences of their dogs being on steroids long term and how they've found it? He's also having homeopathic meds for the condition but at the moment we're just trying to throw everything we can at it so that he's as stable as possible.

Laura. As someone who has recently returned to teaching I'm being reminded extremely quickly of the pressures and strains of the job and just how incredibly hard it is. Fran - as someone who has taught at both secondary and primary level I think part of the problem is that your son's primary teacher would have known him incredibly well due to the amount of time he spent in the class with her. At secondary school you may see pupils for a couple of hours a week and you probably deal with hundreds of pupils during your teaching week - unfortunately you just don't get to know them as well - its impossible really So I think any comparisom with the primary experience your son had is really hard to make iyswim. The only thing I noticed you said in your opening post was 'Where was the teacher?'. As a teacher I'm often extremely busy when pupils are entering and leaving the room - I may be writing the work for the lesson up on the board while they're coming in or sorting out books, worksheets or dealing with an invidual pupil and its just impossible to be aware of everything that is going on (particularly in corridors and doorways) without quite literally having eyes in the back of your head. It may well be that the teacher only saw your sons reaction to the lad who had been winding him up - i.e. him being bashed up against the wall and its really difficult in the those kinds of situations in that you can only deal with what you've seen. It may well be that your son had been wound up by this other lad but if the teacher has not seen/heard that then its impossible to really act on it. However there would need to be some kind of action taking for someone being thrown up against a wall and I'm gusessing that's why the school has implemented the internal exclusion. I would obviously take into account what your son had said about the bullies and I'd be making sure that they would be being spoken to but its hard to punish for something that you've not seen/heard take place if that makes sense? Am just trying to put it across from the teachers viewpiont.

Aw Shazzy - they're gorgeous - well done for taking them in and looking after them Am wondering if I might know where they've been turfed out from them if its somewhere local? Really hoping that their owner doesn't show up for them! Let me know if you need any help with anything for them

Well we're back and I'm still a bit It could just be a simple sickness bug so its just a case of seeing how it goes or it could be the Previcox causing it He's taken some bloods for a full health screen to check liver and kidneys etc (which is worth doing anyway if he's going to be on the Previcox long term) and we'll have the results tomorrow. The bad news is though that Ollie's legs have been getting worse really rather than better in the last few weeks (I'd not really felt up to posting about it tbh ) with his front legs being just as affected as the back so the vet feels that its more likely a nerve problem or CDRM that are causing the symptoms. I'd had a phone consultant with Richard Allport last week (our homeopathic vet) and he felt exactly the same given the symptoms I was describing. We've got some homeopathic meds as there's no real treatment for a degenerative nerve disorder which is what we all seem to think Olls now has. On the plus side he's still quite lively and excited about his (albeit incredibly short) walks which is good and he doesn't seem to be in any pain. Richard equated it to having the equivilant of MS in humans and we know its progressing as its affecting the front legs now as well as the back. Apparently that's really common - its starts in the back end and works up to the front We'd decided that we don't want to put Olls through an MRI as it wouldn't effect the treatment and may not even show the condition up. I think I've resigned myself now to whatever the problem is that its degenerative as I can see the change in the last 4 months or so. Richard assures me that its not a 'painful' condition as such - if anything its the fact that he can't really feel what he's legs are doing so its numbness really. The main thing to watch for is that eventually it may lead to losing control of bladder/bowels but we're not at that stage yet (which Richard felt is really positive) and Olls is still having a v. good quality of life so I'm trying to focus on that and we're hoping the homeopathic meds will help to stave off the degeneration - everything crossed that they do!!

Olls was sick yesterday and I decided to book him into the vets tonight for a bit of an MOT as he's almost out of Previcox and we needed to see the vet before he was given any more. He'd not been sick again but refused dinner last night and brekkie this morning but in the last half an hour he's been sick 4 times I don't *think* it can be the Previcox as he's been on them nearly a month now and tolerating them well but I'd not given him any today just in case. We're seeing the vet at 5.10 so am just about to head off but am hoping its nothing major and just a bit of an upset tum He's been off his food for the last few weeks anyway so I'm hoping that's not related