17.5 week update. The day I was diagnosed with a meningioma I knew that I would still always be a wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend but I wasn't positive I would ever be a teacher again however I believed that I would. The next day when I woke up in ICU not able to speak I believed. Three days later when I took my first wobbly steps after brain surgery I believed. I continued to believe and when anyone asked me if I was going back in the fall my answer was YES! My eyes were always on that prize because that means I was back. Back to normal or as close I could possibly get.
10 weeks later I took giant steps backwards with my second brain surgery. I asked the doctor, "Can I teach in the fall?" He answered, "Yes." I asked, "How long is recovery this time?" He answered, "Six weeks." There were exactly 6 weeks until my next contract started. Aug. 11. Thank God for that and the slightly later start date.
14 weeks later I was packing for a vacation. I was dizzy, I was nauseous and very very fatigued. My girls were so anxious to leave town that they packed and cleaned the house while I doubted what I could and could not do and if I should really travel 6.5 hours away. So I headed to the UNMC ER.
Labs showed them that I had an infection but they didn't know where. However they were not so worried that they were willing to cut me open to find it. 7 hrs. later I spoke words out loud for the first time. "I can not work like this." (I was pretty sick.) 8 hrs. later a doctor was able to finally get my ear clean and see that I had a pretty bad ear infection. 3 days later and amoxicillin later I finally felt better.
This brings me back to last week. Short week, 3 days of work. Felt fine Tues., Wed. Thurs. was a challenging day beginning at 7am with a painful, complicated CT scan at UNMC, followed by labs, a visit with Dr. Surdell, time in my classroom and open house. Later that day I learned that I still had signs of infection. Was this the end of the last one, beginning of a new one or just a lingering ear infection? Saturday I went on more amoxicillan.
This brings to this week. 40 hours of work ready or not! Was I ready? No idea, but THIS I want to say loudly. I DID IT, I ROCKED IT AND I'M GOING BACK NEXT WEEK! I came home, crawled back into my recliner with my blankie and cried happy tears. I did it. smile emoticon
— 10 weeks later I took giant steps backwards with my second brain surgery. I asked the doctor, "Can I teach in the fall?" He answered, "Yes." I asked, "How long is recovery this time?" He answered, "Six weeks." There were exactly 6 weeks until my next contract started. Aug. 11. Thank God for that and the slightly later start date.
14 weeks later I was packing for a vacation. I was dizzy, I was nauseous and very very fatigued. My girls were so anxious to leave town that they packed and cleaned the house while I doubted what I could and could not do and if I should really travel 6.5 hours away. So I headed to the UNMC ER.
Labs showed them that I had an infection but they didn't know where. However they were not so worried that they were willing to cut me open to find it. 7 hrs. later I spoke words out loud for the first time. "I can not work like this." (I was pretty sick.) 8 hrs. later a doctor was able to finally get my ear clean and see that I had a pretty bad ear infection. 3 days later and amoxicillin later I finally felt better.
This brings me back to last week. Short week, 3 days of work. Felt fine Tues., Wed. Thurs. was a challenging day beginning at 7am with a painful, complicated CT scan at UNMC, followed by labs, a visit with Dr. Surdell, time in my classroom and open house. Later that day I learned that I still had signs of infection. Was this the end of the last one, beginning of a new one or just a lingering ear infection? Saturday I went on more amoxicillan.
This brings to this week. 40 hours of work ready or not! Was I ready? No idea, but THIS I want to say loudly. I DID IT, I ROCKED IT AND I'M GOING BACK NEXT WEEK! I came home, crawled back into my recliner with my blankie and cried happy tears. I did it. smile emoticon
feeling proud.
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