I feel like the month of April has flown by! Somehow spring break ended and school just jumped into high gear. My algebra classes are now in two different places because the two different schools take the exams two weeks apart from each other. For the past few weeks they have been on the same schedule, but starting this week, until the end of the year, they will be doing different things, which means more planning for me and more balancing so that I know what day it is and what the heck I need to be doing. It should be interesting for sure.
The past few weeks at school have been full of teaching every last minute item under the sun! I think I relearned statistics in order to teach it. Some of the stuff they are expected to learn in Algebra 1 I didn't learn until AP stats, or at all, in all of my math classes, so it made for an interesting few weeks.
And then my head decided it would be a good time to attack me, literally. Starting a little over 2 weeks ago I got a migraine, that didn't go away, despite everything I tried. I'm at the point where I can handle pain. I've had a headache every day for 8 years now, this isn't anything new. But when it is a full blown migraine I take my meds, try to sleep it off and want to avoid any light or sound for a while. That is a very hard thing to do when you teach high school and are surrounded by fluorescent lights and loud children. So I spent the first weekend taking my normal medicine, getting as much sleep as possible, doing as little work as I could get away with, and being an overall bum. And when that didn't work I went to work on Monday and taught as if nothing was wrong. I spent a week trying to pretend that I was fine. I tried stronger medicine and when that didn't work I got a little worried but knew I had one more trick up my sleeve. So over last weekend, I took stuff stronger than morphine, granted it was a few years old, but this is strong stuff. It still had a bit of an effect on me. I was a bit out of it, not functioning well, but still in pain. It dulled the pain enough that I had one normal night, and then it came back. So I had another horrible week. What most people don't understand about being a teacher is that when you don't feel well and you take a sick day, there are 60 kids wondering where you are, needing questions answered and expecting you to be there to teach a lesson. So a sick day, especially this close to state tests, was out of the question. So I dealt with the pain and got through it. Thursday I finally gave in and went to see my doctor. I knew I had a neurologist appointment for next week, but figured I would tried my normal doctors office. Well, after having to wait for an hour just to be seen (despite having an appointment) the doctor I saw basically told me that there wasn't much they could do outpatient and I'd have to try to get in to see my neurologist sooner (good luck) or go to the ER. He gave me one thing to try (which didn't work in the past) and sent me on my way. So I'm now on another medicine for a week, that has annoying side effects, that is slightly dulling the pain but is not really helping. Overall I'm still in extreme pain and I can't do anything about it. I don't go to the neurologist until Thursday, and even then I'm not sure what he's going to tell me. I'm worried that he's going to send me to the ER and tell me I need an inpatient treatment, or IV painkillers. Both options do not fit into my schedule or life right now. Do I want the pain to end? Of course! But I don't have time to sit in the hospital either!
I am so exhausted from being in pain. I come home every night and just crash. I try to get as much work done at school as I can so that I don't have much to do at home. I can't seem to find the energy to grade or plan once I'm home because all I want to do is sleep. Just moving hurts and having to pretend that everything is okay at school makes it that much more draining. As if the pain wasn't bad enough, I have to hide it from most of the people around me just to function. It makes for a very long day.
And now I am done complaining. Given all of the horrible things that have happened this week I shouldn't be focused on me at all. I am so thankful that all of my friends in Boston, and everyone in that area, is safe and sound. It amazes me how much can happen and how quickly events can change.
The next few weeks are going to be as full as the past few. Hopefully they will be less painful and be a tad less stressful. I'm pretty sure that once the state tests are over I will be able to breathe a little bit better. Still have a lot of planning to do, but it will be a bit more relaxed. Thanks to everyone who has read this and is still putting up with me in real life and in cyber space.
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