Briefly

Today's freewrite will be a little later cuz I'm going to the oncologist in just a little bit and I still need to finish breakfast. YAY! FINALLY!

Discipline Update & Freewrite: August 2

So it is now after 9 on Monday and I still haven't heard a peep from any of my doctors. I would really, really, REALLY like to have some answers about my continuing therapy. I don't want to have to wait another two weeks before somebody decides to tell me SOMETHING, and then end up waiting even LONGER to actually DO something about it.

Why yes, I am a little disgruntled.

Teachers return to school a week from tomorrow. Hopefully I will be sufficiently recovered that I can move boxes and whatnot without too much trouble.

To-do for this week: proof and submit the pages for the supplement; check the nameplate list & submit that; finish at least the lesson plans for units 2 and 3, and sketch out an overview for units 4-7.

I really don't have much else that I feel like writing about.

Hm. I guess you can get used to anything. I have a tube sticking out of my side (where they did the surgery) that feeds into this little bulb - it's like a clear version of those things that suck snot out of baby noses. Only (thankfully) the stuff in it doesn't look like snot. If it did, I'd be pretty freaked out.

So four times a day I have to dump the bulb into a measuring cup and record the amount of the liquid it collected. And then the rest of the time I have to make sure that the tube isn't pinched and the bulb is squished so that it keeps the suction going.

The other annoying thing is that since I feel like I have to be incredibly careful with my arms (otherwise I get stabbed with pain) I haven't washed my hair in days. UGH. Gross. So that's on the to-do for today. We're going to see if the beanbag chair lines up well with the tub. I'll let ya know how that goes.

Met my word count! Woot!

Image thanks to http://www.sutree.com/

Discipline Update & Freewrite: August 1

Well, this will be Day 3 of not exercising. I hope I don't regress too far.

My pain meds make my skin crawl. Not fun. Not a lot; mostly I can ignore it. But that's definitely going to be part of my interrogation tomorrow.

We're going to try to go to Sunday School today. I picked out an outfit that should be relatively easy to get in and out of.

The Hunk's parents brought over a basket of fruit and goodies before we left for the hospital on Friday. All kinds of fruit, some Pepperidge Farm cookies, and Werther's Originals sprinkled throughout. Tasty tasty! Then when Mom went grocery shopping, she picked up some shortbread cookies AND a Marie Callendar Razzleberry pie (my favorite!) at the store.

I really, really hope I don't regress too far!

I've also been working on my unit plans, and I had another bugaboo come up: how much reviewing and re-teaching will I need for syntax and paragraph structure?

I really can't think of anything else to write about. Weird, kind of - it's been a very eventful week!

Everyone keeps asking how they can help or what they can do, and to be honest, I just don't know. It's not like anyone can make my stitches heal faster or re-engineer my genes so that I can stop getting cancer in the first place. We've got plenty to eat, I'm chugging right along with my unit plans... it's pretty cool.

Also cool - I found out that our whole department has planning together. Woot! First time ever for me. Very excited about that.

Made my word count! Time to nap a bit more before Sunday School. :)

Discipline Update & Freewrite: July 31

Sore, sore, sore. Even on meds. I have a throw pillow tucked under my arm where most of my stitches are, and it helps. If I take the pillow out it starts to ache pretty bad. I'm also perpetually tired, and in this case I'm sleeping as much as possible because I know my body is mending and I want to make it HURRY UP! I'm hoping it won't take more than a couple of days for the pain to subside. Going away entirely would be awesome but I'm not counting on that for awhile yet. ;)

Still, I'm not a complete invalid; I can do lots of stuff with my off-arm (which is also kind of sore because that's where they put my shunt in for chemo). And my hands are fine! I'm so glad I don't have to hunt-and-peck :)

I'm building up some fluid in my lungs a little bit. I'm not too happy about that. I do the clear-out A-HEM-HEM-HEM! every now and then, and I cough once in awhile (though with all the bruising on my torso from the surgery, it kind of hurts).

I had told one of the other teachers that we'd go out to lunch today but that's not looking very likely. I don't know if I'll feel up to Sunday School tomorrow, either. Mostly I just want to be able to move without having to be all slow and careful.

Also, they WERE able to find a sentinel node - apparently, despite my earlier mastectomy, my lymphatic system wasn't damaged in the least. The node appeared just a few minutes after I went into the scanner. Pretty awesome.

Better yet? The biopsy came back negative. Now, in the pathology report from the excision back in June, they also found cancer cells in the blood and nervous system, so I'll still need chemo just in case there are some stray cells that have spread that way, but this was definitely good news.

Well, I made my word count quite handily, so now it is time to tuck back in. Ta!

Discipline Update & Freewrite: July 30

Today is PAYDAY! I am so psyched. I need to make sure that I take my wallet with me to the hospital today because it's got my insurance card AND my debit card. And I'm going to need both. Probably. Except I let the Hunk take the insurance card when he went to get the sleeping pills for me.

I had originally planned to go for one of my walks this morning, particularly since the first thingumbob they're doing got moved back, so now we don't have to be there until 9. But I figured I needed rest, so I didn't set any alarm (I knew I'd be up WELL in time just to get there). And I woke up certainly early enough for the walk, but it abruptly occurred to me that I'm not supposed to have anything to eat or drink this morning. And I am always so so thirsty when I get back from my walk. So no walk this morning. I'm going to be hungry and thirsty ENOUGH by the time I get through all this today. Don't need to go making it worse.

Plus they're going to have me pee in a cup when I get there and if I go exercise I'll sweat everything out of me and I won't have anything left for the cup! Can't have that now.

We went out to eat again last night. Local place. Absolutely AMAZING FOOD. Food that soothes, relaxes, charms, and seduces. Oh, it was delightful. Happy birthday, Mom!

I'm debating whether to bother bringing my unit plans along today. I don't know that I'm going to have any time to work - it sounds like there might be an army coming to the hospital for support! lol.

I still really believe that human nature is pretty sucky... but there are quite a few people, it seems, who do an admirable job of acting against nature.

yay!

Discipline Update & Freewrite: July 29

So I'm a bit late this morning and I might not make my word count even after I've shortened it.

I got up early! yay! I had the alarm set for 6:15 and I woke up a few minutes after six. So I got up and got dressed and went for my walk. I added in a little more running and LET ME TELL YOU, my body is NOT happy about that. I have a general low-key ache all over.

The Hunk went with me, which was pretty cool. He had stayed up all night again (he's a crazy night owl like that) and was up when I got up. So anyway I got home and showered and he made pancakes! Isn't he the bestest? So obviously I couldn't get my writing done then because the pancakes would've got cold!

I also did another load of laundry. That's another annoying thing about exercising: more laundry! I get home and I feel absolutely gross. I mean, I feel so gross that I don't want to take off my gross clothes because peeling them off my body is even grosser. Yurgh. But I dropped them in the washer and then I got in the shower and ahhhh, the hot water was soothing and it felt so good to lather up and scrub away all the yuck.

Mommy is here with us. She got in late last night (I was already asleep - yay pills!) and we're going over to her house in just a bit to make sure the AC is back on. You don't want to be without AC in July around here, that's for sure!

Oo, I hear her coming down the hall. Looks like it's time to go!

Discipline Update & Freewrite: July 28

So when I went for my pre-testing yesterday I found out I'd lost six pounds! WHEE! So, I'm pretty happy about that, obviously. If I continue to eat sensibly and keep up my training I should be able to do the half-marathon in February!

It's going to be tough to do that once school starts. Even when I get going at six, I don't get back to the house until almost 7:30, which is about the time I need to BE at school. And it is SOOO hot in the afternoons. Plus I'll probably be doing my therapy after school as well. What I need to find is someplace that has an indoor track that I can use for a couple of months, just until things start cooling off again.

Today I didn't go on my walk until after seven, though. Why? Thanks to the MIRACLES OF MODERN SCIENCE, guess who slept for nine hours last night? ME! I did have my alarm set for five minutes to five, but when it went off I sat up, turned it off, thought it over and decided that another hour of delicious sleep would be worth walking in slightly-higher temperatures.

Slight downside: I didn't get to see my friend the hawk this morning. Bigger upside: I did get to see his girlfriend. She's sleeker, and leans toward a darker brown. He's more reddish.

So anyway, when I went in for pre-testing the nice lady was telling me about what I can and can't do before surgery (nothing to eat or drink after midnight, no NSAIDs, etc) and I asked if there was any way I could get something to help me relax because I've been so stressed that I just can't sleep for more than a few hours at a time, if that. So the one doctor called in a prescription for Ambien!

I was hoping for something to calm my nerves rather than just to help me sleep, but now that I've actually RESTED, imagine, my nerves are much calmer!