Re: Idle Chatter

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On a related note:

Mary Tyler Moore to Have Surgery to Remove Brain Tumor

Experts say meningioma is typically benign and operation is routine

Posted: May 12, 2011

THURSDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) -- Veteran TV sitcom star Mary Tyler Moore is set to undergo surgery to remove a meningioma -- a type of tumor, usually benign, that can occur on the meninges, the brain's protective outer membrane.


"At the recommendation of her neurologist, who has been monitoring this for years, and a neurosurgeon, Mary decided to proceed with this fairly routine procedure," an unnamed representative for the 74-year-old actress told People magazine Thursday.

Spokeswoman Alla Plotkin told the Associated Press Thursday that a date for the surgery has not yet been set.

Two neurosurgeons not involved in Moore's care agreed that she is probably in no great danger from the meningioma.

"Meningiomas are one of the most common brain tumors in adults. They are benign and in many cases completely resectable [removable by surgery]," said Dr. Arno H. Fried, of the department of neurosurgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J. "They are slow growing and sometimes are watched for a while in order to determine if it needs to be removed. If a meningioma is large enough, causing symptoms and is growing, it should be removed. This is a common operation for a neurosurgeon who sees brain tumor cases as a significant part of their practice."

Another neurosurgeon said that doctors typically decide to operate based on the nature of the tumor and any symptoms.

"Sometimes [the tumor] is removed before the patient becomes symptomatic if we're concerned about the rate of the growth," said Dr. Anders Cohen, chief of neurosurgery at The Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York City. "Symptoms are based on the location where it grows. Depending on what part of the brain the tumor is pressing against will determine the symptoms that could be as mild as headaches or seizures, or can affect movement, vision or speech."

He added that Moore's outcome after surgery is likely to be good.

"The prognosis for meningioma removal is generally very successful, and much depends on the condition of the patient before surgery, and the size and location of the tumor," Cohen said. "The vast majority of patients do well and return to their former lifestyles."

Moore is best known for her starring roles in two popular TV comedies, The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s, and the 1970s hit The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Moore was also nominated for an Oscar for her role in 1981's Ordinary People. A type 1 diabetic for many years, she is International Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Re: Idle Chatter

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Hey Tampa Steve!




After my first skim of this article I was going to ask you if you remembered her....possibly by a maiden name.....in your time at Broad Street School. Then I saw the line that she taught 2nd grade her first year before going for kindergarten the remaining 49 years. And then I saw Miss Grange!


Cuyahoga Falls kindergarten leader retiring after 50 years

THANKS, TEACHER!

By Jewell Cardwell

Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Friday, May 13, 2011

Their innocence and unvarnished honesty will follow Shirley Burris forever.

The only difference is she won't be with them anymore. At least not in the classroom.

After 50 years of teaching, 49 of them in kindergarten, Burris is retiring.

Mind you, she didn't just log the time. She did the time.

Those close to her — colleagues as well as former students — call her dedicated, creative, nurturing, tireless and fluent in unlocking potential. A virtual valentine to the teaching profession.

That's why the Cuyahoga Falls school district icon is being honored in a red-carpet way.

Today has been declared ''Shirley Burris Day'' at DeWitt Elementary School (K-5), where Renee Schoonover is principal and Burris does her thing.

To mark the occasion, a breakfast, school assembly and a reception (the latter open to the public from 3:30 to 5 p.m.) are planned, Schoonover said.

Burris, 71, formerly taught at Broad Street School, which was on the site of DeWitt's parking lot, and she spent one year teaching second grade.


She figures she's had generations of children from the same families in her half-century in the classroom.


''I think I may even have had some grandparents,'' she said.

''I always said when that happened, I'm out of here,'' she added, breaking into laughter.

DeWitt first-grade teacher Joyce Mancini, one of Burris' former students (1966-67), called her ''a real inspiration'' then and now, and the reason she went into teaching.

''She has this firm, quiet way about herself. She never raises her voice,'' Mancini, 50, said in describing Burris. ''Of course, when she taught me, she was Miss Grange.

''Some of my earliest memories are from my life in her kindergarten classroom,'' Mancini continued, memories lighting up her face.

''I remember I had this lime-green towel for nap time, and how when it was time for us to wake up, someone would tap each of us with a wand. It was just the coolest thing and the coolest place to be. I figured teaching would be cool like that too.''

Cool, yes, but challenging, too.

Kindergarten, both teachers agree, has changed in a big way over the years.

Yes, it's still as Robert Fulghum's book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten suggests — play fair, don't hit people, put things back where you found them, don't take things that aren't yours, say you're sorry when you hurt somebody, wash your hands before you eat . . .

But emphasis on academics has been ramped up considerably, Joyce Mancini noted, adding, ''Before it was a lot of playing, recess, story time and learning to tie our shoes.

''By the time I get them [in first grade], it's all academics.''

Kindergartner Teagan Barnett is super confident about the smarts that Shirley Burris has helped plant in her mind.

''I know math, that 2 + 2 is 4,'' Teagan said, almost congratulating herself. There must be a lot of Shirley Burris stories floating around the dinner table at Teagan's house, as her mother Erin Callahan Barnett once sat where she does.

Alanna Andrews, 6, calls kindergarten a happy place to be, even though some of her classmates didn't necessarily hold that view the first day of school.

That seems like a distant memory now for Jayme Glover, 6, who admitted to bursting out in tears then. Why? ''Because I didn't want my Mommy and Daddy to leave me,'' said Jayme, who was poised to give this message to the incoming crop of kindergartners: ''Don't cry! Your parents will be back and you'll make a lot of friends.''

Asked about the most important lessons they've learned in Burris' classroom, Ashley Koch, 6, had a thoughtful, albeit unexpected reply: ''I learned to cough into my elbow so I don't spread germs and make others sick.''

Retirement for the petite teacher is going to be bittersweet.

Yes, she will have more time with her husband, Bob Burris, who retired in 1992 from teaching chemistry and biology at Kent Roosevelt High School. He later went into construction, even building their home in Peninsula.

But she'll miss the day-to-day interaction with the little ones.

And she'll miss the what-comes-up-comes-out uniqueness of each day.

Like the other day when she accidentally fell and knocked over an easel. She recalled turning to her young charges and admitting ''I don't know what to say.'' Out of the clear blue, a little boy responded, ''Well, just don't call the cops!''

The things Burris said she has always loved about kindergartners is ''they're always funny and don't know it, they're always anxious to do whatever you ask and they love everything and everybody.''

The most challenging aspects of teaching today?

''Dealing with the technology — the video games the children play at home,'' she said. ''Sometimes it can be a little difficult to keep them on track when all they want to do is talk to each other about Star Wars and things I don't know anything about.''

Even so, she's amassed an arsenal of facial expressions that serve to police the situation rather handily.

Asked if she were writing a handbook for kindergarten teachers what advice she would include, Burris had this to say:

''Enjoy every day. Because it's easy to do.

''Take each child as they come and work with them where they are.

''But most of all have lots of patience!''

Burris said from the time she was 5 years old, she knew she wanted to be teacher.

Perhaps in her quiet way, Shirley Burris has influenced some in this, her last class — like she did Joyce Mancini — to follow in her very noble footsteps.

There is no finer way to thank a teacher than stepping into her shoes.

Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.


http://www.ohio.com/news/121762819.html
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