Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy 2011!
Love this mashup and thought it would be a good way to welcome 2011.
2010 sucked for so many reasons, so I'm going to try to be a little more optimistic. Of course I was upbeat going into 2010, but look where that got me. Ha ha ha! Still, I'm not dead. Mr. Wonderful is still pretty wonderful (most days). Sis and I haven't killed each other yet. I have a roof over my head, a safe job (I think) that I mostly love, amazing friends, and coins in my pocket. Not sure what's ahead, but if I made it through this year intact both mentally and mostly physically (minus the cancerous thyroid and lymph nodes), I figure I can handle anything . I come from a long line of stubborn women.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Maestro Shaq!
Yes, our first ever visit to see the Boston Pops Holiday concert, and we get Shaquille O'Neal as our guest conductor! It was so cool.
1. The man is ginormous. Huge. He makes Keith Lockhart look like a pygmy, and even Mr. Wonderful would look small at 6'7. Shaq is 7'1.
2. Man can move! The clip is his conducting a Michael Jackson song, and the dancing is impressive.
3. His head moves in time with the music like a bouncing ball.
4. Even from the lower level balcony seats about half way back, his hands looked like shovels.
5. I've never heard an orchestra play "We Are the Champions", and I've never heard the "Hallelujah Chorus" sung by the same group that later sings "We Are the Champions". Amazing.
6. The sing along wasn't too mushy.
7. Renese King has a great voice and was fantastic.
8. I really was looking forward to hearing "Sleigh Ride", but Shaq conducted it, so it wasn't up to par with the Arthur Fiedler version on my iPod. Slightly disappointed, but I'll have to go back next year.
All in all, I really enjoyed night number 2 of cultural explorations. Drawback: it did snow. Yup, we got a couple of inches, and guess when it started? Right as Mr. W and Sis were making their way to my work to meet me there since it's only a few blocks (ok, long blocks) from Symphony Hall. I figured we'd go to a nearby pub (curry chips!! Yes!) and then walk.....
Let's just say that the wind-driven snow snarled up traffic and trolley alike, so we trudged in the snow. And it was chilly. By the time we reached Symphony Hall, we were frozen and frosty white. It took a while to warm up. I think my feet are still numb. Sis and I had on boots, but Mr. W had on shoes. Remember they said that it was supposed to amount to nothing?
In my next life, I want to come back as a weatherman in New England. How come no one ever yells at them about accuracy, and they keep their jobs year in and year out?
When the concert was over, we headed out of the hall and started to walk back. The snow had stopped, but it was cold. A mild disagreement ensued over the wisdom of walking in slippery snow or descending into Symphony station with a few hundred new friends, and walking won out. We beat the trolley. I couldn't feel my face until I got home.
I also found a clip of the group of musicians who played at the Celtic Sojourn--it's from a rehearsal, but I thought it sounded good.
However, I can't figure out how to get the clips into the body of this post, so I posted both of them seperately. Both are on YouTube. When I put them into the original post, I couldn't add text due to the constant loading of the videos. It was driving me crazy, so I opted for Plan B before I threw something at the comptuer.
So what can we come up with for January? I told Mr. W it's his turn to plan something cultural. I should remind him that car shows, book shops and old fire trucks that are for sale do not count as "cultural", right?
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Snow went out to sea!
Phew, my "snow event" induced meltdown the other day wasn't necessary. Being true New England, wait a few minutes, or in this case overnight, and the weather will change.
Today was gray, overcast and felt like snow, but no little white flakes fell from the sky.
We just got home from "A Christmas Celtic Sojourn", and I have to say the show was really really good. Not as cheesey as I thought it would be, and the music was fantastic. I love Seamus Egan and Robbie O'Connell....and Brian O'Donovan did a great description of childhood Christmases in Clonakilty! I knew he was from West Cork, but I didn't realize it was Clon. All in all it was a good take.
From there we moseyed into Chinatown and had dinner in a Malaysian restaurant. That's a first! Never had Malaysian food before. We walked by these large windows, and the crowd was predominantly Asian. Figured that was a good sign in Chinatown, so we went in. I had a green curry chicken clay pot with veggies, and Mr. Wonderful had some kind of pork dish. I also had about 4 little cups of tea, and now I think I will be completely wired on caffeine, unable to sleep. Not a good thing since I stupidly agreed to meet with a parent at 7am...groan. If this parent's child ever decided to do some work, we wouldn't have any issues. The kid got a zero on the last vocab quiz....on review vocab....at least by meeting at 7am, the meeting can only last til 7:25. I had better get to bed. Boston Pops tomorrow night!
I have the words of "Mrs. Fogarty's Christmas Cake" running through my head....
Today was gray, overcast and felt like snow, but no little white flakes fell from the sky.
We just got home from "A Christmas Celtic Sojourn", and I have to say the show was really really good. Not as cheesey as I thought it would be, and the music was fantastic. I love Seamus Egan and Robbie O'Connell....and Brian O'Donovan did a great description of childhood Christmases in Clonakilty! I knew he was from West Cork, but I didn't realize it was Clon. All in all it was a good take.
From there we moseyed into Chinatown and had dinner in a Malaysian restaurant. That's a first! Never had Malaysian food before. We walked by these large windows, and the crowd was predominantly Asian. Figured that was a good sign in Chinatown, so we went in. I had a green curry chicken clay pot with veggies, and Mr. Wonderful had some kind of pork dish. I also had about 4 little cups of tea, and now I think I will be completely wired on caffeine, unable to sleep. Not a good thing since I stupidly agreed to meet with a parent at 7am...groan. If this parent's child ever decided to do some work, we wouldn't have any issues. The kid got a zero on the last vocab quiz....on review vocab....at least by meeting at 7am, the meeting can only last til 7:25. I had better get to bed. Boston Pops tomorrow night!
I have the words of "Mrs. Fogarty's Christmas Cake" running through my head....
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Get a lil' culcha in ya life if Motha Naycha lets ya...
From tonight's news. You've got to be kidding.
Deep heavy sigh. They say there is a nor'easter coming up the coast for Sunday into Monday. There's a possibility that it will hook out to sea and just brush the coast. There's also a possibility that the storm will come right up to our doorstep and stay for a while, meaning large amounts of snow for us. I totally forgot that we got 20 inches of snow at this same time last year and it messed up the last week before vacation...
Did I look at the calendar when I got all these great ideas? What were my great ideas? Culture! We need a little culture in our lives. Hmm....what should we do right around Christmas? I know!
Yay! Irish music (probably a little cheesey, but worth a try to get in the Christmas spirit) and a real Boston tradition that somehow my family never paid attention to, and double yay! Culture! Live music! No worrying for a couple of hours about my thyroid, school, grading, moving....
And now there's a nor'easter coming up the coast to mess with my plans.
Funny thing is, I called Sis about getting the tix for the Pops, and she informed me, "If it snows I'm not coming. Did you think about the chance for bad weather?"
Um, no, I hadn't really thought about it, thanks. Did I mention that I didn't remember last year at this exact time?
So now that she said that, there has to be a nor'easter just in time for these two days, right?
Did I mention that it was in the paper today that Shaquille O'Neal is going to be at the Pops Monday night to do a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and be a guest conductor for "Sleigh Ride"?
If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all.
I won't be sad to see 2010 go away....
I need to find my winter boots and figure out how to dress them up. I don't think the Bean snow boots will work at Symphony Hall...
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Happiness is....
a big Irish breakfast for dinner cooked by Mr. Wonderful!
Not an actual picture of dinner because I didn't take one. This will give you an idea though.
It was absolutely delicious. And very unhealthy, but I think the last time I ate one was last February. We found a convenience store on the other side of the city with three aisles of full shelves and two freezers of Irish products, run by a group of Pakistani men. The store was called the "Lucky Shamrock". Yup, I'm not lying. Only in America.
We filled up on goodies, including bangers, white and black pudding and brown bread. I forgot to grab a package of rashers, so our breakfast was minus rashers, grilled tomato and mushrooms. But the rest of it was lovely. And Mr. W cooked it all on his own! Except for the hash browns, I made those.
Lots of protein for dinner.
Ignore the previous post. I've figured that I'll find the bandwagon after the holidays and drive the damn thing. Black and white pudding was too good to pass up. And besides--I slept in today til 11:30 after a late night Christmas party, and the only thing I had to eat all day was brown bread toast....
Pat Shortt's song is running through my head...
"Two eggs two sausage two rashers two bacon two pudding one black one white..."
I also bought some Club Lemon, lots of different flavored crisps and Cadbury's chocolate. And brown bread. Can't forget the brown bread.
So it was a good food day.
Preps are underway for the holidays...sort of. A dinner party Friday night and a party last night helped set the mood. Now I just have to do some shopping and find my decorations. And decide where to decorate. And look for last minute gifts. And wrap them. And finish the Christmas cards.
Stress level is high too--I stayed home Thursday and Friday to work on my 53 college rec letters that have to be done by mid-January. I have 21 done, 32 to go. I have most of the remaining 32 started, but was almost more depressed at the end of the day Friday when I realized that I'm nowhere near finished and am looking at least probably one more hour per letter to finish.
Let's just say I had an unfortunate incident with an innocent loaf of zucchini bread, and it was sent flying in pieces all over the kitchen. Incredibly stupid, yes. And very messy to clean up. And a waste of a good loaf of yummy bread. It's a really long story/string of events to explain, but when I get stressed, if I'm alone, I'll throw things. My tirade messed up my assignment of bringing an appetizer to the dinner party to the annoyance of the host, and has now left me without zucchini bread for the week. Sigh. Too much stuff piled up at the end of the day, and time management has always been a challenge for me; result--too much to do while still arriving late. And a pulverized zucchini loaf.
However, I talked to Sis en route to the dinner party and she calmed me down. Mr. Wonderful was his usual wonderfulness and helped with stress relief hugs later. We went for a walk on Saturday, went to another party and I got lots of extra sleep over the weekend. Only 9 days of classes, and then vacation. That seems doable, right? At least that's what I'm telling myself as I type this.
I spent the afternoon today correcting two sets of AP tests. Three sets of level 4 tests and level 4 essays to go, along with two sets of AP practice essays to read by break. Did I mention that the term ends the 23rd, and I'll have to test the little buggers again, meaning more stuff to correct?
Things had better even out by term three. This year just sucks.
On a good note, I have scones and brown bread, and the Patriots won today in snowstorm in Chicago. Love Tom Brady, but not loving the hair.
Off to bed, and hoping for a good week.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Battle of the Bulge
Last night was kind of sad. In preparation for our move that will happen, oh, someday, I went through my drawers and closet to purge some stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in ages. This was prompted by a day-long shopping trip in search of a couple of outfits that will fit better. I haven't completely gone up one whole size in pants, but I'm stuck kind of in-between, so nothing "feels" right. My shirt and jacket size has gone up one size. Ugh.
I went through the closet first and was surprised to see a few things that I thought fit now didn't. I started throwing things out the door, and pretty soon there was a growing pile on the living room floor. From the closet I moved on to the drawers and was ruthless. If I hadn't seen it in a year, out it went. I try to overhaul the inventory each time I switch seasons but hadn't done it yet this year. As a result, there was a rather large bag of stuff in another room. This bag has been here for a couple of years, full of stuff I liked but didn't want to get rid of yet. I figured I'd fit into them again one day....they went into the bag during the five rounds of infertility drugs I did--each round put on 5 more pounds without permission. I'd wake up one morning and BAM, the scale went up 5 more pounds. Do the math and you can see where I'm at from the time I got married until the thyroid explosion of 2010. I managed to keep my weight steady for years until gonal-F and menopur entered my life and ovaries and had a ball. I was coming to terms with that change and trying to get myself on track to work the weight off again. Once you're told you should give up with getting pregnant, you might as well re-direct your energies, so I pulled out my Weight Watchers point guide and started counting again. Worked before, should work again. I did some walking and had bursts of regular exercise, and even had days where the scale slowly inched downward. Nothing better than stepping on the scale and seeing it one number less, right?
Disclaimer: I have spent my entire (*&^%$#@#@ life struggling with my weight and assorted self-esteem issues, so this is nothing new. It's just different.
Where was I? Oh yeah--the thyroid explosion. After all the cancer crisis, I was still managing to keep my weight steady which was apparently a good thing from what I had read on the Thyca forum. I held my breath, thinking that maybe this side effect wouldn't hit me. I puffed out during Hypo Hell, but it seemed to go away once I was back on my beloved levoxyl. Then, my TSH started getting closer to suppression level, and it seems like once I hit 0.1, I woke up one morning and you guessed it, 5 more pounds. The next week, 5 more pounds. I think I've stopped there for now, but I'm not sure. I'm almost afraid to eat sometimes despite being ravenously hungry all the time. That doesn't help at all--by being in the hyper zone, my metabolism is revved up enough to make me hungry, but not enough to help with weight loss.
Ok, I don't look like this. I just feel like it some days.
Did I mention my hair is still coming out in record numbers? I know that has nothing to do with weight loss, but it is pretty annoying and gross.
In the meantime, I'm not sleeping through the night (ever), so I'm waking up permanently tired. Not sure if that's the thyroid, perimenopause or a combo of both. Whatever it is, it sucks. Today, tired.
It was hard at the end of the night, looking at what some of those clothes represented--miscarriages, hormone rages, needles, crushing disappointment and frustration, thyroid hell, hypo hell, cancer.....
Like Mr. Wonderful said, "You can always buy new clothes." Gotta love a man who encourages his wife to go shopping. And I did, hitting a 25% off special at one store, and 30% off at another. Found two jackets, two sweaters and one pair of pants. Merry Christmas to me. Wait--since we don't have kids, I went a little crazy and bought a ton of toys for Toys for Tots, so it wasn't all about me. Just a little.
I'm staring at the giant pile right now since we don't have any large garbage bags to bag it all up. Another phase to push through, just in time for the new year. Throw out all the old? And everything that goes with it? There was some satisfaction in getting rid of the sweatshirt I wore on RAI day--not sorry to see that go.
However, my goal is to get the weight back down to a place where I can look at myself in a picture that someone has taken and be happy with what I see. Right now, I don't quite know who the puffy face is smiling back at me while obviously trying to get the best camera angle to hide the bulges. And the other part of the goal is to not move into any sizes that have a number followed by X, or a W. No no no, I want to keep shopping in stores with lots of variety. I don't want my body shape to look like an apple, and that's where I'm headed. Lucky for me I'm tall so the weight can go to lots of different places; right now it's going to my middle. Hard to get anything to fit right when that happens.
I'm still grateful though, and might just spend the day in flannel pj bottoms and a sweatshirt.
Zero cancer is way better than more fabric any day.
La lucha sigue....
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Communicating via iPod and the radio
It's Thanksgiving. Makes me think of all sorts of family memories and traditions that have disappeared now that my parents are gone. It's bittersweet, and every year I think it has to get easier, but it doesn't. I'm also missing my grandmother's stuffing.
Back story to "One Love": On a car trip back home from my aunt's in upstate NY, my sister and I were with our parents after going there for a 25th anniversary party. My dad and mom were in the backseat, Sis and I were in the front. I might have been driving? Since we had control of the front seat, that meant we also were in control of all DJ functions, and therefore in charge of what music set the soundtrack for our trip. After a couple of hours of mom's Frank Patterson tapes, you would understand just how important it was for us to gain control...so in went a Bob Marley tape. Sis was in college and had discovered reggae. I had become acquainted with Bob a few years earlier in college as well. Dad wasn't too familiar with reggae and wasn't too pleased since he wasn't used to Bob's soothing tones and beats. Funny how he didn't complain about Frank warbling "Mother Machree" but he questioned Bob...he was hard of hearing and wore a hearing aid, and somehow couldn't hear Frank, but could hear Bob. Mom had also morphed from her 50s and 60s oldies music into "if the singer has an Irish name and there's shamrock on the cover, it must be good" phase. We were trying to work with her, but it was a struggle. Some might consider Frank to be a great tenor, but to me his voice is like nails on a chalkboard.
After a couple of songs and a rousing sing along by Sis and me, "One Love" came on. We let it play, and pretty soon I could see Dad's head bopping to the beat in the backseat. It was pretty comical. He started to sing along with the chorus and finally admitted that this reggae stuff wasn't bad. I think we played the song again later, and Sis remembers that we also played it on the ride up. It quickly became a joke, Dad liking Bob Marley, and every time he heard "One Love" after that, he'd smile and sing the chorus. It was pretty damn funny.
Fast forward to my wedding: Dad had passed away by the time I met Mr. Wonderful, and the idea of not having the father-daughter dance at my wedding was horrifying. Girls spend their whole lives thinking of that moment, plotting and planning the "perfect" song, and then spend their early adult lives watching friends and relatives have that special dance at weddings. It's just part of the deal of life, right? You get married, you get one last dance with your dad before Mr. Wonderful takes you away from him. Yup, that wasn't in my cards. And in the time between dad's death and my wedding, John McDermott comes out with a sappy song, "Dance with Me Daughter of Mine" that played on the Saturday Irish hour in steady rotation. The song is about that damn dance, and it was enough to send me scrambling maddly to turn off the radio whenever it came on. If I was at a wedding and it was time for the damn dance, I would leave the hall til it was over. Wimpy, yes, but extremely painful.
Long explanation, sorry.
So when it was time to plan my day, I had to figure out what to do with that part of the reception, and the song "One Love" popped into my head. There were no uncles that I wanted to dance with, and there was no way to replace my dad on that day, so it made sense to me and my mom and sis to have the song played in memory of my dad and just dance away in a big group. The three of us were bawling of course, but it was as happy a cry as we could get on that day.
Since their deaths, "One Love" seems to pop up whenever I'm doing something that makes me think of my parents. Before it was just Dad, but now it's both of them. I take it as signal that they're present in some way...songs seem to do that. Why, out of 1300+ songs, would it pop on then? As I'm making a pie from mom's recipe? Sometimes it makes me think I'm nuts, but it's also comforting.
This morning, as I was finishing up my baking spree, I put on the iPod again, on random shuffle again, and one of the first songs to start playing was "Weep Not for the Memories", an instrumental by Seamus Egan.
It's a strange way to communicate, via my iPod, but I'll take it. Dad's other song to check in with me is "Rolling Home" by Tommy Makem. It was playing in the limo right after his funeral as we were literally rolling towards the cemetery to bury him. We asked the limo driver to put on the Irish hour since it was a Saturday, and this song came on. The words are eerie if you put it in context of a funeral. We roared laughing and crying at the same time. The song doesn't get much play, and we didn't hear it again. I couldn't find it anywhere and gave up, hoping it would come on some random Saturday. I didn't hear it again for 6 years--I heard it again one Saturday afternoon as I was getting ready for a date with Mr. Wonderful. It stopped me in my tracks and made me cry hysterically. I figured it was Dad's way of letting me know that he approved of Mr. W, and that he was paying attention. After we got married, the song popped up on iTunes. It's now on my iPod, and every now and then pops up at odd times on shuffle.
Off to gather my baked goods to take to dinner and ponder about my gratitude...I'd have to say I'm thankful for my Mr. Wonderful and Sis at the top of the list, for being undetectable, for being able to function after thyca hell, for my friends and in-laws who have been a great support over the few years, and for being able to live a fairly comfortable life with a job, a roof over my head and food in the pantry. And for Mookie and O'Malley. It isn't exactly how I envisioned it or planned it, but for the most part, it's pretty damn good most of the time.
Wasn't planning on writing this much this morning, but it came out of nowhere. Or out of my iPod.
Happy Thanksgiving...
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Sunday snoozer
It's a lazy Sunday morning here...oops, now afternoon...
Blaming it on inability to doze off before 2am.
Mr. Wonderful even went back to bed around 11 and is currently snoring away under the covers.
I spent yesterday hanging out with my mother-in-law while Mr. W worked on his car all day. She fed us grilled bologna and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and they tasted absolutely delicious. Very unhealthy but yummy. I got some school stuff done between chats, (I love our chats) and we finished up with grilled steak tips. She's into Turner Classic Movies, and we ended up watching "San Francisco" with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Jeanette MacDonald. I couldn't leave without seeing the end of the movie. Slightly cheesey but a good story. Preps are underway for Thanksgiving (can't believe it's next week). It was a nice day...
Other highlight of the day was finally going to a stitchery store that I found online last summer but haven't had time to stop at until yesterday. Great place with tons and tons and tons of Xstitch patterns and yarn. Lots of needlepoint too--my mom would have been excited. The owner said she's struggling but hopes a strong winter season will let her stay open through the spring. She also told me about a new type of counted needlepoint that is becoming popular, kind of like a cross between Xstitch and needlepoint. Might have to look into that this winter--she showed me some finished pieces that were really cool. I'm now on her mailing list, and she said she'd put more info in the upcoming newsletter. I picked up a couple of things to add to my box of stuff.
Today I'm contemplating signing up for an Irish folk-singing circle thingie....it starts in January and runs for 6 weeks. I think you get to learn new stuff while polishing a party piece. It's run by a singer I've seen before in concert. However, I'm not so sure that my voice survived the thyroidectomy in one piece...I haven't really sung anything in ages, and I think the surgery may have done some damage: my voice gets weaker faster after talking a lot, I still get some odd pulling in my throat and neck, and sometimes it feels like I can't get above a certain volume. If I do, I feel winded. I haven't mentioned any of this to the doctor because in the bigger picture it isn't impacting my quality of life, and it's not like my singing voice is paying the bills. I do fine at school most days, and I wonder if my constant colds are a bigger factor. It would be nice to channel some energy into singing--music has always been a great stress release for me, and I've been negelecting it lately. As for the voice issues above, I read somewhere that it can take up to a year post-surgery for everything to return to normal...still, it might be worth it to explore the possibility? Or wait 6 more months. I can't decide, but I keep thinking about it. That usually indcates to me that I should follow through. What should I pick for a party piece? Funny thing is that this woman has performed regularly with another singer I love, so it might be weird to pick one of her songs...I need a confidence boost too.
One other note--my RAI was six months ago yesterday! I think I'm doing ok....just keeping an eye on my salivary glands since they can swell up and have problems--lots of people on the Thyca forum reported issues around 8 months after RAI.
And I signed up to become a life member of the Thyca organization. The donation was nothing compared to all the information, support and tips I've gotten from their website and participation in the forum. In return, I got a spiffy memebership card and 3 (count 'em--three!) medication organizers of varying sizes. One will hold horse pills, it's so huge. One is a purse size, and the other is closer to a normal 7 day pill box. I kind of don't need them right now since I'm only on levoxyl, a daily vitamin and gummy calcium chews. Hopefully I won't ever need the horse version.
So a small celebration this evening I think to mark 6 monts post-RAI....maybe my ovaries will wake up soon? Wouldn't that be hillarious....
Off to do something productive with my afternoon!
Blaming it on inability to doze off before 2am.
Mr. Wonderful even went back to bed around 11 and is currently snoring away under the covers.
| Lunch. |
I spent yesterday hanging out with my mother-in-law while Mr. W worked on his car all day. She fed us grilled bologna and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and they tasted absolutely delicious. Very unhealthy but yummy. I got some school stuff done between chats, (I love our chats) and we finished up with grilled steak tips. She's into Turner Classic Movies, and we ended up watching "San Francisco" with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Jeanette MacDonald. I couldn't leave without seeing the end of the movie. Slightly cheesey but a good story. Preps are underway for Thanksgiving (can't believe it's next week). It was a nice day...
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| Addiction.... |
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| Not going to sing opera, but I liked the picture... |
One other note--my RAI was six months ago yesterday! I think I'm doing ok....just keeping an eye on my salivary glands since they can swell up and have problems--lots of people on the Thyca forum reported issues around 8 months after RAI.
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| Thyca.org |
And I signed up to become a life member of the Thyca organization. The donation was nothing compared to all the information, support and tips I've gotten from their website and participation in the forum. In return, I got a spiffy memebership card and 3 (count 'em--three!) medication organizers of varying sizes. One will hold horse pills, it's so huge. One is a purse size, and the other is closer to a normal 7 day pill box. I kind of don't need them right now since I'm only on levoxyl, a daily vitamin and gummy calcium chews. Hopefully I won't ever need the horse version.
So a small celebration this evening I think to mark 6 monts post-RAI....maybe my ovaries will wake up soon? Wouldn't that be hillarious....
Off to do something productive with my afternoon!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Can't find the sheep to count...time to shuffle the iPod
Ugh. I hate insomnia.
Nothing like trying to survive on three hours of sleep a night. I don't know what is worse--having to throw the covers off (again) due to a massive hot flash, or having some acid reflux issues that I've never had to deal with before. Mr. Wonderful's snoring is a separate issue altogether--it's worse when he has a cold, and he's had a cold all week. Honk snort honk.
So Sunday and Monday night I tossed, turned, tried my iPod to drown out the flock of geese honking beside me, watched the clock, ate some zucchini bread at 1:30am and finally dozed off around, oh, 3am. Only to have the alarm clock go off at 5:30am.
I don't know if it's my hyper-anti-cancer state, the coffee at 2:15pm to make it through the afternoon, or my plummeting estrogen levels thanks to my non-functioning ovaries.
Problem is, I feel like I could collapse at 7pm and then get a second wind.
I did fall asleep last night though and managed to get a sound sleep, but it wasn't quite enough. Never is, right? So I'm on edge to see what happens tonight. I am laughing as I type this.
What a week, and it's only Wednesday. No heat in school still since the chimney work that was only supposed to take a week is now into week 3 and taking place during school hours. And my clock still doesn't work, so I spend my classes setting my cell phone alarm clock every few minutes like someone with OCD. The kids don't wear watches anymore, and they are lost without the clock clicking the time away.
I also lost three hours of my life in a training course on how to teach English language learners (ELL), mandated because my school system slightly ignored bilingual kids after the state changed the law. Now all teachers have to trained. Guess what the first session is about? Second language acquisition and the meaning of culture. Sigh. That's what I do for a freaking living. I still have work online to do and one more three hour loss of time next month. One of my colleagues asked me today if I had removed the pins from my eyeballs yet--he mimed it to my table after an hour and half of whatever it was. Good times.
Time to see what happens tonight. I uploaded all my Christmas music on my iPod, and even managed to get Mary Byrne's songs from X-Factor. Love her! I usually put the iPod on shuffle and keep clicking through the songs til I fall asleep. However, I'm usually jolted awake by a live version with audience clapping. Hate that.
Let's see what happens if I put it on shuffle--what are the first 10 songs to pop up? Ready? Shuffle!
1. "Time after Time"-- Eva Cassidy
2. " Creep"-- TLC
3. "What Can I Do"-- the Corrs
4. "Buile Mo Chroi"-- Karan Casey
5. "Breathe 2AM"-- Anna Nalick
6. "Smooth Operator"-- Sade
7. "Ice Cream"-- Sarah MacLachlan
8. "Oye Como Va"-- Celia Cruz
9. "Thorn Upon the Rose"-- Mary Black
10. " Take It Easy"-- the Eagles
Hmm. Interesting mix, a little bit of everything.
Time to go see what else shuffle can do while I attempt to sleep again. Maybe I'll count pelicans, or anteaters, or penguins, or toads....
 |
| My brain thinks this way too. |
So Sunday and Monday night I tossed, turned, tried my iPod to drown out the flock of geese honking beside me, watched the clock, ate some zucchini bread at 1:30am and finally dozed off around, oh, 3am. Only to have the alarm clock go off at 5:30am.
I don't know if it's my hyper-anti-cancer state, the coffee at 2:15pm to make it through the afternoon, or my plummeting estrogen levels thanks to my non-functioning ovaries.
Problem is, I feel like I could collapse at 7pm and then get a second wind.
I did fall asleep last night though and managed to get a sound sleep, but it wasn't quite enough. Never is, right? So I'm on edge to see what happens tonight. I am laughing as I type this.
What a week, and it's only Wednesday. No heat in school still since the chimney work that was only supposed to take a week is now into week 3 and taking place during school hours. And my clock still doesn't work, so I spend my classes setting my cell phone alarm clock every few minutes like someone with OCD. The kids don't wear watches anymore, and they are lost without the clock clicking the time away.
I also lost three hours of my life in a training course on how to teach English language learners (ELL), mandated because my school system slightly ignored bilingual kids after the state changed the law. Now all teachers have to trained. Guess what the first session is about? Second language acquisition and the meaning of culture. Sigh. That's what I do for a freaking living. I still have work online to do and one more three hour loss of time next month. One of my colleagues asked me today if I had removed the pins from my eyeballs yet--he mimed it to my table after an hour and half of whatever it was. Good times.
Time to see what happens tonight. I uploaded all my Christmas music on my iPod, and even managed to get Mary Byrne's songs from X-Factor. Love her! I usually put the iPod on shuffle and keep clicking through the songs til I fall asleep. However, I'm usually jolted awake by a live version with audience clapping. Hate that.
Let's see what happens if I put it on shuffle--what are the first 10 songs to pop up? Ready? Shuffle!
1. "Time after Time"-- Eva Cassidy
2. " Creep"-- TLC
3. "What Can I Do"-- the Corrs
4. "Buile Mo Chroi"-- Karan Casey
5. "Breathe 2AM"-- Anna Nalick
6. "Smooth Operator"-- Sade
7. "Ice Cream"-- Sarah MacLachlan
8. "Oye Como Va"-- Celia Cruz
9. "Thorn Upon the Rose"-- Mary Black
10. " Take It Easy"-- the Eagles
Hmm. Interesting mix, a little bit of everything.
Time to go see what else shuffle can do while I attempt to sleep again. Maybe I'll count pelicans, or anteaters, or penguins, or toads....
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Coming up for air again
Whew--a day off just in time!
Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, so no school.
I wonder why we don't make a bigger deal out of Veteran's Day? Or maybe it's just me. Mr. Wonderful is going to work to oversee/particpate in the flag burning ceremony in the town where he works.
I will relish a little time tomorrow and say a prayer of thanks for all the veterans who gave so much and then some so we can live the way we do.
Tonight was my annual guest appearance at my friend Sally's grad class on teaching methods for foreign languages. She brought three of her students to my room and I spent a little over an hour talking about behavior/classroom management, the reality of teaching vs. what they tell you in grad school, and various toys you can play with while getting kids to use the target language. One student had been teaching already for 4 years, and the other two are still observing. I think I scared them. We went out for dinner afterwards to an Irish pub where I inhaled a plate of curry chips (fries)...so damn good! Makes me want to jump on a plane and find a late-night chipper in the back of beyond in Ireland. The waiter had a Dublin accent and took good care of us. Fun evening.
I posted a query about my dad's radiation on the Thyca forum, and the resident radiation expert posted back saying that dad probably wasn't radioactive when he came home, so no worries. I'm still not so sure. I think I just would like to have a neat way to package all of this misery up into a small box, that it would have an explainable cause rather then be caused by scary randomized bad luck. Pinning it on my dad's cancer seems more comforting, but I don't know why. Sis still doesn't have her bloodwork result and is waiting.
Off to bed since I can barely keep my eyes open....I stayed up last night til midnight working on a website for my classes (done! kelspanishbls.blogspot.com), and today didn't come up for air until 6:30pm. Long day.
Buenas noches!
Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, so no school.
I wonder why we don't make a bigger deal out of Veteran's Day? Or maybe it's just me. Mr. Wonderful is going to work to oversee/particpate in the flag burning ceremony in the town where he works.
I will relish a little time tomorrow and say a prayer of thanks for all the veterans who gave so much and then some so we can live the way we do.
Tonight was my annual guest appearance at my friend Sally's grad class on teaching methods for foreign languages. She brought three of her students to my room and I spent a little over an hour talking about behavior/classroom management, the reality of teaching vs. what they tell you in grad school, and various toys you can play with while getting kids to use the target language. One student had been teaching already for 4 years, and the other two are still observing. I think I scared them. We went out for dinner afterwards to an Irish pub where I inhaled a plate of curry chips (fries)...so damn good! Makes me want to jump on a plane and find a late-night chipper in the back of beyond in Ireland. The waiter had a Dublin accent and took good care of us. Fun evening.
I posted a query about my dad's radiation on the Thyca forum, and the resident radiation expert posted back saying that dad probably wasn't radioactive when he came home, so no worries. I'm still not so sure. I think I just would like to have a neat way to package all of this misery up into a small box, that it would have an explainable cause rather then be caused by scary randomized bad luck. Pinning it on my dad's cancer seems more comforting, but I don't know why. Sis still doesn't have her bloodwork result and is waiting.
Off to bed since I can barely keep my eyes open....I stayed up last night til midnight working on a website for my classes (done! kelspanishbls.blogspot.com), and today didn't come up for air until 6:30pm. Long day.
Buenas noches!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Glowing when we were little?
This post gets me back to thyca issues. Happily, I haven't had much to post lately regarding my thcya because 1. it's undetectable! and 2. I feel pretty good most of the time.
Not happy with the weight gain at the moment, but if you read the previous post, you can see why Dunkin' Donuts pumpkin muffins were necessary to jump start my day all week. I broke down, telling myself that they are only here for a limited time. Good God are they delicious. Unfortunately, my endo says my body loves to hang onto all the fat I take in, so the muffins went immediately to my waist. Scary. Plan on setting up my new Wii Fit this weekend, and plan to go back to yogurt for breakfast. If the heat is fixed.
The reason for getting back to thyca is my sister's latest mess. She went to see Dr. N a couple of weeks ago for a checkup, and the news was dismal at best. Her thyroid is thick and wrapped around stuff in her neck, and has multiple little nodules. Her body is showing signs of perimenopause, and she's only 38. Her hormones are compeltely skewed and confused, and she feels pretty awful most of the time. She's on a low dose of synthyroid that helps, but not completely. She's also having discomfort swallowing and feels pressure on her throat, which is not a pleasant sensation. Plan is to ultrasound her thyroid again by the holidays and see what's up with the nodules. They were too small to biopsy a few months ago. So Sis is basically going down the same road I went down.
Both of us are devastated to say the least at the idea of never having children--that was not in our plans at all. It's not a total impossibility yet, but it's becoming increasingly unlikely that it will happen. Sis made a dark joke a couple of years ago during my infertility hell that our family tree was a chopstick, and a family member cruelly replied, "No, it's a stump." Little did that person know how cruel or telling that remark would be.
So we got to thinking about why this is happening to both of us. The parallels are too eerie to ignore. While no one can say for sure exactly what causes thyca, there is evidence that childhood exposure to radiation is a major factor. After the nuclear accident in Chernobyl in the 80s, the number of pediatric thyroid cancer cases in and around Chernobyl skyrocketed. There are places in the US with higher radioactive fallout exposure from the 50s, and thus higher evidence of thyroid cancer. In the US in the 40s and 50s, some people were treated with doses of radiation as children to deal with certain medical issues (SIDS, bad acne, recurrent tonsil infections) thinking it would cure them. Instead, the massive doses of radiation directly affected the thyroid gland resulting in cancer later, especially in children under 5 years of age at the time of exposure.
Once you've been exposed, you're supposed to follow up with doctors because you will most likely develop nodules. The nodules usually have a 10% chance of being a thyroid cancer for a normal person. However, if you have been exposed to radiation, you now have a threefold higher risk of developing thyroid cancer. Hmm.
Why am I looking into this? Our dad was hit with cancer of the nasopharynx when he was 30 in 1973. I was almost 5, Sis was about 18 months. I have fuzzy memories, but I remember stories about his ordeal. He was given two years to live since the tumor was inoperable, but doctors used radiation to shrink the tumor as much as possible. He underwent radiation treatments that left him with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his neck and resulted in 85% hearing loss. From what I remember my mom saying, he was really sick from the treatments and lost a ton of weight. I don't think he stayed in the hospital for treatments, but went in to have them and came home. I read somewhere that during this time, doctors would blast the hell out of the tumor and damage to other body parts was par for the course, since their goal was to get rid of the tumor. Now they are be much more precise and careful about where the radiation goes and how to minimize the effects of it. I'm assuming that there were no restrictions on him during and after his treatments, and that we were able to hug and kiss and be generally close to my dad during this time.
Were we all exposed to the aftermath of his radiation? How else to explain that both my sister and I are in the state we're in?
I had a sheet of restrictions after my RAI treatment, and I'm certain my dose was nothing compared to the months of treatment Dad had.
Sis mentioned this to the endo, and her eyes went wide. I don't know why my mom or I never thought to mention this exposure before. Mom's thryoid was hyper, and she started menopause around age 37. I know that they say that your mother's age at the start of menopause is an indication of when a daughter is likely to start, but her mother had her when she was 41...kills that theory. Were Mom's issues caused by exposure too?
I have some more research to do. Dad's medical files are in a box somewhere, so I can probably find out what kind of radiation he received. He managed to live for 25 years beyond the diagnosis date. Just before he passed away at 55, he was having all kinds of difficulty walking, and turns out he was slowly becoming paralyzed as a result of the radiation. I forget the term they used. However, the doctors were amazed--they said that they rarely saw patients with his condition because most of them were dead within 5 years of being diagnosed. He was a medical marvel I guess.
I think it's kind of ironic--the thing they used to save Dad may now be the underlying cause for our stump. I'm kind of glad that my parents aren't here to watch this play out. They would have been such great grandparents, and it's so sad to think that once we're gone, our line ends. Just ends. That's it. It's all the more ironic since my mom was very into her family history, and we don't really have anyone on either side of the family who is particularly interested in it to whom we could leave it. Oh, that's another post for another day.
I'm chatting with St. Peregrine, hoping he can keep Sis in the percentage of people who have benign nodules and not have it morph into thyca. In the meantime, I'm going to see what else I can find out about this. Maybe I'm way off base, but something in my gut tells me no.
Also, great new book out if you are looking for everything you wanted to know about the thyroid and then some. My brother-in-law sent it to me this past week. It's fantastic! Title isn't very origninal: "The Complete Thyroid Book" by Kenneth Ain, MD and M. Sara Rosenthal PhD. I have books written by each of them separately, but this is the first time they've teamed up. Turns out they married! Their story is in the book--quite interesting. It's a great resource and explains everything in regular English. Oops--guess this is the second edition. It's published by McGraw-Hill, and the copyright date is 2011.
Not happy with the weight gain at the moment, but if you read the previous post, you can see why Dunkin' Donuts pumpkin muffins were necessary to jump start my day all week. I broke down, telling myself that they are only here for a limited time. Good God are they delicious. Unfortunately, my endo says my body loves to hang onto all the fat I take in, so the muffins went immediately to my waist. Scary. Plan on setting up my new Wii Fit this weekend, and plan to go back to yogurt for breakfast. If the heat is fixed.
The reason for getting back to thyca is my sister's latest mess. She went to see Dr. N a couple of weeks ago for a checkup, and the news was dismal at best. Her thyroid is thick and wrapped around stuff in her neck, and has multiple little nodules. Her body is showing signs of perimenopause, and she's only 38. Her hormones are compeltely skewed and confused, and she feels pretty awful most of the time. She's on a low dose of synthyroid that helps, but not completely. She's also having discomfort swallowing and feels pressure on her throat, which is not a pleasant sensation. Plan is to ultrasound her thyroid again by the holidays and see what's up with the nodules. They were too small to biopsy a few months ago. So Sis is basically going down the same road I went down.
Both of us are devastated to say the least at the idea of never having children--that was not in our plans at all. It's not a total impossibility yet, but it's becoming increasingly unlikely that it will happen. Sis made a dark joke a couple of years ago during my infertility hell that our family tree was a chopstick, and a family member cruelly replied, "No, it's a stump." Little did that person know how cruel or telling that remark would be.
So we got to thinking about why this is happening to both of us. The parallels are too eerie to ignore. While no one can say for sure exactly what causes thyca, there is evidence that childhood exposure to radiation is a major factor. After the nuclear accident in Chernobyl in the 80s, the number of pediatric thyroid cancer cases in and around Chernobyl skyrocketed. There are places in the US with higher radioactive fallout exposure from the 50s, and thus higher evidence of thyroid cancer. In the US in the 40s and 50s, some people were treated with doses of radiation as children to deal with certain medical issues (SIDS, bad acne, recurrent tonsil infections) thinking it would cure them. Instead, the massive doses of radiation directly affected the thyroid gland resulting in cancer later, especially in children under 5 years of age at the time of exposure.
Once you've been exposed, you're supposed to follow up with doctors because you will most likely develop nodules. The nodules usually have a 10% chance of being a thyroid cancer for a normal person. However, if you have been exposed to radiation, you now have a threefold higher risk of developing thyroid cancer. Hmm.
Why am I looking into this? Our dad was hit with cancer of the nasopharynx when he was 30 in 1973. I was almost 5, Sis was about 18 months. I have fuzzy memories, but I remember stories about his ordeal. He was given two years to live since the tumor was inoperable, but doctors used radiation to shrink the tumor as much as possible. He underwent radiation treatments that left him with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his neck and resulted in 85% hearing loss. From what I remember my mom saying, he was really sick from the treatments and lost a ton of weight. I don't think he stayed in the hospital for treatments, but went in to have them and came home. I read somewhere that during this time, doctors would blast the hell out of the tumor and damage to other body parts was par for the course, since their goal was to get rid of the tumor. Now they are be much more precise and careful about where the radiation goes and how to minimize the effects of it. I'm assuming that there were no restrictions on him during and after his treatments, and that we were able to hug and kiss and be generally close to my dad during this time.
Were we all exposed to the aftermath of his radiation? How else to explain that both my sister and I are in the state we're in?
I had a sheet of restrictions after my RAI treatment, and I'm certain my dose was nothing compared to the months of treatment Dad had.
Sis mentioned this to the endo, and her eyes went wide. I don't know why my mom or I never thought to mention this exposure before. Mom's thryoid was hyper, and she started menopause around age 37. I know that they say that your mother's age at the start of menopause is an indication of when a daughter is likely to start, but her mother had her when she was 41...kills that theory. Were Mom's issues caused by exposure too?
I have some more research to do. Dad's medical files are in a box somewhere, so I can probably find out what kind of radiation he received. He managed to live for 25 years beyond the diagnosis date. Just before he passed away at 55, he was having all kinds of difficulty walking, and turns out he was slowly becoming paralyzed as a result of the radiation. I forget the term they used. However, the doctors were amazed--they said that they rarely saw patients with his condition because most of them were dead within 5 years of being diagnosed. He was a medical marvel I guess.
I think it's kind of ironic--the thing they used to save Dad may now be the underlying cause for our stump. I'm kind of glad that my parents aren't here to watch this play out. They would have been such great grandparents, and it's so sad to think that once we're gone, our line ends. Just ends. That's it. It's all the more ironic since my mom was very into her family history, and we don't really have anyone on either side of the family who is particularly interested in it to whom we could leave it. Oh, that's another post for another day.
I'm chatting with St. Peregrine, hoping he can keep Sis in the percentage of people who have benign nodules and not have it morph into thyca. In the meantime, I'm going to see what else I can find out about this. Maybe I'm way off base, but something in my gut tells me no.
Also, great new book out if you are looking for everything you wanted to know about the thyroid and then some. My brother-in-law sent it to me this past week. It's fantastic! Title isn't very origninal: "The Complete Thyroid Book" by Kenneth Ain, MD and M. Sara Rosenthal PhD. I have books written by each of them separately, but this is the first time they've teamed up. Turns out they married! Their story is in the book--quite interesting. It's a great resource and explains everything in regular English. Oops--guess this is the second edition. It's published by McGraw-Hill, and the copyright date is 2011.
A rant on the state of public education.
So let's sum up this most recent week in public education...
2. Grades were due, then they weren't due. And the announcement came after the bell rang at the end of class, so did they really think we could hear them over the sound of 2400+ bodies moving simultaneously? Oh wait. Admin probably planned it that way. Deal was our grades were due electronically by 11am on Thursday. I stayed up til after 11pm finishing my grades off so that I wouldn't have a panic the next morning, and I had to teach the first three periods on Thursday. Muffled announcement was that the due time was moved up til midnight on Thursday due to a computer glitch. WTF?
3. Along with the grades announcement was something about senior grades needing to be in three days earlier on Nov. 1st, and that guidance needed those grades. Good thing I could ask a kid about it, because the kids findout about stuff way before we do. No one had ever mentioned that date--how am I supposed to do something if I didn't know it was something I was supposed to do?? God forbid someone tell a teacher directly.
4. The main copier broke down repeatedly. The riso copier on my floor is broken and despite calls to have it fixed, no one has shown up. At various times the risos on the other floors go in and out of commission, so it is very easy to spend a huge chunk of your time every day searching for a copier that functions while praying you won't have to wait in line to use it because you've already spent 35 minutes of your 45 minutes of your "free period" hunting for it. One story I heard is that we, the school, had our own maitenance contract with the copier and riso companies, so we could call for fixing when needed. Now, the city has taken it over and it's out of our hands. Does that really make sense?
6. It's probably a good thing that we are out of paper, because it's getting increasingly difficult to find a computer printer that works. Since the city cut technical support to trim the budget, regular teachers with a little knowledge have been asked to "oversee" the printers and tech issues. They also have to teach 5 classes a day and know about as much as I do about where to get help. And that isn't much.
7. Two kids came back to class this week--I haven't seen them since mid-September. They have both been out with "documented medical issues", but I can't be told what those issues are. And, both have waivers for term one, so they can make up the work and get a grade for it; but, they are supposed to "jump in" with term 2 material and we'll worry about term 1 later. Um, my subject is cumulative, as in term 2 needs info from term 1 to do well and make progress. It's kind of hard to "prioritize" the assignments and have the kids only do the "essential" ones. In my opinion, they're all pretty essential, and they need to be in class so I can TEACH them. If they only needed a textbook to read on their own and become fluent, then attendance wouldn't be an issue, would it?
8. I have an AP student who went blind in September. As in legally blind, can't read anymore, can't write anymore. Instead of going to battle with the copiers during my free period, I'm recording things for him so he can "access" the curriculum, and trying to figure out ways for him to be assessed. Or what to do with him when I have the class use a picture prompt for a discussion. The whole thing sucks, especially for him. No diagnosis or prognosis yet.
9. There is a train wreck in department who is also greatly distracting a bunch of us. This person is probably a very nice human being, but absolutely sucks in the classroom. It's painful and demoralizing to watch every day, knowing that this person's students will feed into some of my possible classes next year, totally unprepared, unmotivated and angry. They do get angry, because while they are having a blast with all the chaos, they are smart enough to realize that they are being cheated and will have to pay for it later. We are about 40 days into the school year, and so far I've only seen admin show up once or twice. I'm hoping that there is more going on behind the scenes to address the daily derailments. What pisses me off more is that this person has something like 7 years in education. Therefore, this teacher has tenure/permanent status and probably isn't going anywhere. This is when I hate the unions. In the meantime, the noise level is horrendous (and it's not "good" noise), my room is regularly trashed after this person's classes, and the kids are learning very little.
10. On a happy note, one of my AP classes got so wrapped up in a disucssion about tecnologia that I hated to cut them off--I heard subjunctive used correctly! On a downer note, the other section asked me if they had to speak in Spanish. WTF?
11. College rec letters for early kids are done. Now I have to chase down the regular kids and get working on those.
So. I'm complaining. Just a little. But things seem off this year. I can't figure out what it is, although that list looks pretty damn annoying. Notice that very little of it has to do with actual lesson planning or the art of teaching? One thing I've noticed is that there are times when I will actually plan out a lesson based on whether or not I need copies, or will spend time trying to minimize the number of pages I have to copy. I've had ideas planned only to find that there's no paper or no copier or no printer, so I have to chuck it. I'm getting good at using half sheets of paper, or making the font as tiny as possible to cram everything on one page. Does that sound like good educational policy to you?
Or one of those weeks...
1. We had no heat. Zero heat. All week. My classroom was registering 62 degrees most of the time. I rather like working inside layered up. My giant pink fleece makes me look like a fuschia Tootsie Pop. I had to get creative and match my scarves to the pink fleece. And I saw kids visibly shivering. Didn't help that they were wearing t-shirts even though I told them of the situation. Supposedly we'll have heat next week. November in New England is the perfect time to be without heat.
2. Grades were due, then they weren't due. And the announcement came after the bell rang at the end of class, so did they really think we could hear them over the sound of 2400+ bodies moving simultaneously? Oh wait. Admin probably planned it that way. Deal was our grades were due electronically by 11am on Thursday. I stayed up til after 11pm finishing my grades off so that I wouldn't have a panic the next morning, and I had to teach the first three periods on Thursday. Muffled announcement was that the due time was moved up til midnight on Thursday due to a computer glitch. WTF?
3. Along with the grades announcement was something about senior grades needing to be in three days earlier on Nov. 1st, and that guidance needed those grades. Good thing I could ask a kid about it, because the kids findout about stuff way before we do. No one had ever mentioned that date--how am I supposed to do something if I didn't know it was something I was supposed to do?? God forbid someone tell a teacher directly.
4. The main copier broke down repeatedly. The riso copier on my floor is broken and despite calls to have it fixed, no one has shown up. At various times the risos on the other floors go in and out of commission, so it is very easy to spend a huge chunk of your time every day searching for a copier that functions while praying you won't have to wait in line to use it because you've already spent 35 minutes of your 45 minutes of your "free period" hunting for it. One story I heard is that we, the school, had our own maitenance contract with the copier and riso companies, so we could call for fixing when needed. Now, the city has taken it over and it's out of our hands. Does that really make sense?
Maybe this would work better?
5. In relation to number 4, we ran out of paper. Yup, no copier paper anywhere in the building. So the remaining 10 minutes you have during that period are most likely spent trying to remember where you hid your secret ream of paper that you stole just for these occasions. I would love to know if the paper budget is really smaller than what it would cost to buy books? If the kids could have the workbooks that accompany the text books, I wouldn't have to spend half my life making copies. Or plan to stay til 6pm because if I can find a copier that's working, no one else will be in the building that late and I can make tons of copies. If there's paper. 6. It's probably a good thing that we are out of paper, because it's getting increasingly difficult to find a computer printer that works. Since the city cut technical support to trim the budget, regular teachers with a little knowledge have been asked to "oversee" the printers and tech issues. They also have to teach 5 classes a day and know about as much as I do about where to get help. And that isn't much.
7. Two kids came back to class this week--I haven't seen them since mid-September. They have both been out with "documented medical issues", but I can't be told what those issues are. And, both have waivers for term one, so they can make up the work and get a grade for it; but, they are supposed to "jump in" with term 2 material and we'll worry about term 1 later. Um, my subject is cumulative, as in term 2 needs info from term 1 to do well and make progress. It's kind of hard to "prioritize" the assignments and have the kids only do the "essential" ones. In my opinion, they're all pretty essential, and they need to be in class so I can TEACH them. If they only needed a textbook to read on their own and become fluent, then attendance wouldn't be an issue, would it?
8. I have an AP student who went blind in September. As in legally blind, can't read anymore, can't write anymore. Instead of going to battle with the copiers during my free period, I'm recording things for him so he can "access" the curriculum, and trying to figure out ways for him to be assessed. Or what to do with him when I have the class use a picture prompt for a discussion. The whole thing sucks, especially for him. No diagnosis or prognosis yet.
9. There is a train wreck in department who is also greatly distracting a bunch of us. This person is probably a very nice human being, but absolutely sucks in the classroom. It's painful and demoralizing to watch every day, knowing that this person's students will feed into some of my possible classes next year, totally unprepared, unmotivated and angry. They do get angry, because while they are having a blast with all the chaos, they are smart enough to realize that they are being cheated and will have to pay for it later. We are about 40 days into the school year, and so far I've only seen admin show up once or twice. I'm hoping that there is more going on behind the scenes to address the daily derailments. What pisses me off more is that this person has something like 7 years in education. Therefore, this teacher has tenure/permanent status and probably isn't going anywhere. This is when I hate the unions. In the meantime, the noise level is horrendous (and it's not "good" noise), my room is regularly trashed after this person's classes, and the kids are learning very little.
10. On a happy note, one of my AP classes got so wrapped up in a disucssion about tecnologia that I hated to cut them off--I heard subjunctive used correctly! On a downer note, the other section asked me if they had to speak in Spanish. WTF?
11. College rec letters for early kids are done. Now I have to chase down the regular kids and get working on those.
So. I'm complaining. Just a little. But things seem off this year. I can't figure out what it is, although that list looks pretty damn annoying. Notice that very little of it has to do with actual lesson planning or the art of teaching? One thing I've noticed is that there are times when I will actually plan out a lesson based on whether or not I need copies, or will spend time trying to minimize the number of pages I have to copy. I've had ideas planned only to find that there's no paper or no copier or no printer, so I have to chuck it. I'm getting good at using half sheets of paper, or making the font as tiny as possible to cram everything on one page. Does that sound like good educational policy to you?
This is pretty typical....
This is why I slept in unintentionally on a Saturday til 11am.
Next week has to be better.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Whew. Cough cough?
Grades are done for term 1 and turned in!
18 college rec letters are done and mailed by November 1st deadline!
And, my chest thingy came back today! I spent the day feeling more and more congested while constantly coughing into my elbow and scarf, so I went back to the dr. and saw a different physician's assistant. She said I still have the antibitoic in my system, and this is something unrelated to last week's performance. What?? She confirmed my low-functioning immune system due to radiation theory, and then asked if I wanted both a flu shot and a vaccine for whooping cough. Did she not hear my low-functioning immune system theory? I begged off on those since I already felt pretty crappy. I'll follow up with Dr. N and ask her.
So, I have to let this one play out. No fever, lungs sounded fine and oxygen was fine.
Last night Mr. Wonderful and I found a new Mexican restaurant, and during dinner I started getting this odd fluttering in the middle of my chest. I had it once before, and figured it was palpitations from the thyroid hormone. I thought it might be the chile relleno I ate, but most likely not. It's such a bizarre sensation! It continued until I fell asleep and hasn't come back. I wonder if it was this viral thing setting up housekeeping in my lungs. Today my chest just feels heavy.
Did I mention that we literally have zero heat in the building and last night was the first hard frost we've had? There was ice on my car windows that had to be scraped. It's freakin' freezing out there, and we have no heat. I wore a long sleeved t-shirt, a heavy cotton sweater, my big pink fleecy thing that is about 3 inches thick, and a huge scarf around my neck. I had on heavy winter pants, heavy socks and really unattractive Bjorn loafer-like comfy shoes. There were kids sitting in front of me shivering in tee shirts. I have to figure out what layers to wear tomorrow...
I'm going to bed now. I'm tired and cranky due to being scrunched up all day trying to keep warm.
18 college rec letters are done and mailed by November 1st deadline!
Insert happy dance here. Wait. Too tired to dance. Insert smiley face with eyes barely open here.
Whew.
So term two started Monday, and I already have 80 Spanish 4 quizzes and about 150 short essays to read....it never ends.
And, my chest thingy came back today! I spent the day feeling more and more congested while constantly coughing into my elbow and scarf, so I went back to the dr. and saw a different physician's assistant. She said I still have the antibitoic in my system, and this is something unrelated to last week's performance. What?? She confirmed my low-functioning immune system due to radiation theory, and then asked if I wanted both a flu shot and a vaccine for whooping cough. Did she not hear my low-functioning immune system theory? I begged off on those since I already felt pretty crappy. I'll follow up with Dr. N and ask her.
So, I have to let this one play out. No fever, lungs sounded fine and oxygen was fine.
Last night Mr. Wonderful and I found a new Mexican restaurant, and during dinner I started getting this odd fluttering in the middle of my chest. I had it once before, and figured it was palpitations from the thyroid hormone. I thought it might be the chile relleno I ate, but most likely not. It's such a bizarre sensation! It continued until I fell asleep and hasn't come back. I wonder if it was this viral thing setting up housekeeping in my lungs. Today my chest just feels heavy.
Did I mention that we literally have zero heat in the building and last night was the first hard frost we've had? There was ice on my car windows that had to be scraped. It's freakin' freezing out there, and we have no heat. I wore a long sleeved t-shirt, a heavy cotton sweater, my big pink fleecy thing that is about 3 inches thick, and a huge scarf around my neck. I had on heavy winter pants, heavy socks and really unattractive Bjorn loafer-like comfy shoes. There were kids sitting in front of me shivering in tee shirts. I have to figure out what layers to wear tomorrow...
| I really like this cartoon and felt the need to put it in here again. |
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Papeleo
I love the Spanish word for mindless paperwork: papeleo. I don't know why, it just sounds neat to me and I like saying it. Pah-pal-ay-o. I think there is an accent over the e.
I'm drowning in it.
I'm currently buried under a pile of college recommendation requests and will not come up for air until Monday. Then I'll be buried under the end of term 1 grading that has to get done so I can submit my grades by Thursday morning.
It's after 1 am, and I have literally been sitting in front of my computer since about 2pm. I got 8 letters done and submitted. I have 7 more to do tomorrow. The other 37 are mostly due by January 1st.
I ate an entire Ritter Sport dark chocolate hazelnut bar due to the stress. And I asked Mr. Wonderful to come up with a dinner plan so I could keep typing. Some how a combo of pancakes, tortilla chips and rice-a-roni did not sound appetizing to me. How in the world did I manage to marry the only fireman in the universe who can't cook? I gently talked him out of the cabinets, made him step away from the freezer and got him to heat up some fish cakes, sweet potato fries and a make a salad. Take out would have been easier.
If I had been able, I would have worked on these letters bit by bit all fall. However, I've been swamped with basic planning, prepping and correcting. I've been at school most days til 5 or 6pm. I don't know where the time is going this year--I think I'm losing a lot of it to searching the building for functioning printers, copiers and risograph machines. And bathrooms with toilet paper. And dealing with seniors with multiple life crises. And talking to parents who won't let their kids make mistakes. Sigh.
Please think twice before you throw in my face that teachers don't work enough.
On a happy note, my cold thingy is getting better. The cough is gone, antibiotics done and the raspy voice sounds kind of sexy. I'm still not singing soprano though.
I'm going to go collapse now.
I'm drowning in it.
I'm currently buried under a pile of college recommendation requests and will not come up for air until Monday. Then I'll be buried under the end of term 1 grading that has to get done so I can submit my grades by Thursday morning.
It's after 1 am, and I have literally been sitting in front of my computer since about 2pm. I got 8 letters done and submitted. I have 7 more to do tomorrow. The other 37 are mostly due by January 1st.
I ate an entire Ritter Sport dark chocolate hazelnut bar due to the stress. And I asked Mr. Wonderful to come up with a dinner plan so I could keep typing. Some how a combo of pancakes, tortilla chips and rice-a-roni did not sound appetizing to me. How in the world did I manage to marry the only fireman in the universe who can't cook? I gently talked him out of the cabinets, made him step away from the freezer and got him to heat up some fish cakes, sweet potato fries and a make a salad. Take out would have been easier.
If I had been able, I would have worked on these letters bit by bit all fall. However, I've been swamped with basic planning, prepping and correcting. I've been at school most days til 5 or 6pm. I don't know where the time is going this year--I think I'm losing a lot of it to searching the building for functioning printers, copiers and risograph machines. And bathrooms with toilet paper. And dealing with seniors with multiple life crises. And talking to parents who won't let their kids make mistakes. Sigh.
Please think twice before you throw in my face that teachers don't work enough.
On a happy note, my cold thingy is getting better. The cough is gone, antibiotics done and the raspy voice sounds kind of sexy. I'm still not singing soprano though.
I'm going to go collapse now.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Cough cough sniffle sniffle...must be the end of October.
And time for my annual upper respiratory infection! Like freakin' clockwork.
Today is my first official sick day of the school year. I'm kind of bummed too, because I put together a fantastic salad for lunch, and a great yogurt berry mix for breakfast. Guess I'll have to eat them later today. I wasn't planning on calling in today, but the lack of sleep due to non-stop coughing made me think twice. The familiar chest pain helped me make my decision, so I managed to get in a sick visit with the physician's assistant this morning.
Result: a Zpack of antibiotics, nasal spray and cough syrup with coedine. She said I didn't look that bad and there was no fever, but given my recent thyca battle and tired immune system, she said the Zpack would help. Also agreed that I probably would not have been able to fight this off on my own either. So I'm glad I went. Except, they made me put on a surgical mask when I got to the office, and I had to leave it on until she examined me. Ugh--talk about feeling claustrophobic!
On a happy note, my blood pressure was normal!
I'm also happily sipping hot water with lemon creamed raw honey and apple cider vinegar--so good!! I think it has helped things from getting worse. The creamed honey came from the farmer's market at a rest stop on the MA Pike and is out of this world good. Website is Honeybees-r-us.com and they are from Palmer. The creamed honey with cinnamon is amazing and easy to spread on toast.
Strange thing is that I get sick like this every year. Every year. The kids usually start the trend first and come in coughing all over the place. Once the first box of kleenex on the windowsill is emptied and replaced, I know it's a matter of time. The school department policy used to be that the heat would not be turned on officially until October 15, meaning we'd have a couple of chilly days before it went on. As of last Friday, the heat had been turned on once (I could smell it instead of feel it). It was on for 15 mintues, and then went off again. I've been bundled up in my bright magenta fleece every day for the last two weeks in an attempt to keep warm. We've had a couple of nights with temps in the 30s too, and some cold days. Public education at its best once again! Do you really think that freezing us to near death will improve anything?
Back to bed for now....
Excuse me while I hack up a lung.
Today is my first official sick day of the school year. I'm kind of bummed too, because I put together a fantastic salad for lunch, and a great yogurt berry mix for breakfast. Guess I'll have to eat them later today. I wasn't planning on calling in today, but the lack of sleep due to non-stop coughing made me think twice. The familiar chest pain helped me make my decision, so I managed to get in a sick visit with the physician's assistant this morning.
Result: a Zpack of antibiotics, nasal spray and cough syrup with coedine. She said I didn't look that bad and there was no fever, but given my recent thyca battle and tired immune system, she said the Zpack would help. Also agreed that I probably would not have been able to fight this off on my own either. So I'm glad I went. Except, they made me put on a surgical mask when I got to the office, and I had to leave it on until she examined me. Ugh--talk about feeling claustrophobic!
On a happy note, my blood pressure was normal!
I'm also happily sipping hot water with lemon creamed raw honey and apple cider vinegar--so good!! I think it has helped things from getting worse. The creamed honey came from the farmer's market at a rest stop on the MA Pike and is out of this world good. Website is Honeybees-r-us.com and they are from Palmer. The creamed honey with cinnamon is amazing and easy to spread on toast.
OMG what are my chances of finding a cartoon like this? Take off the beard and it's me, right down to the color of the jacket. Hee hee hee. This comes from a site by Brian Germain, Angry Art Teacher. Except I wouldn't call them pansies, they would be snowflakes. And I wouldn't ever directly tell a kid to shut up. That's where sarcasm comes in. Or that I can swear in Spanish under my breath and they wouldn't understand me anyway.
Strange thing is that I get sick like this every year. Every year. The kids usually start the trend first and come in coughing all over the place. Once the first box of kleenex on the windowsill is emptied and replaced, I know it's a matter of time. The school department policy used to be that the heat would not be turned on officially until October 15, meaning we'd have a couple of chilly days before it went on. As of last Friday, the heat had been turned on once (I could smell it instead of feel it). It was on for 15 mintues, and then went off again. I've been bundled up in my bright magenta fleece every day for the last two weeks in an attempt to keep warm. We've had a couple of nights with temps in the 30s too, and some cold days. Public education at its best once again! Do you really think that freezing us to near death will improve anything?
Back to bed for now....
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Thyca gets the attention of Congress!
Been so *&;^%$ busy lately! I've been enjoying my undetectable status and not giving thyca much of a thought, which is a good thing I think.
This caught my attention though...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/20/ap/cabstatepent/main6974320.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CBSNewsTheEarlyShowLeisure+(CBS+News%3A+The+Early+Show%3A+Leisure)
I felt that my hospital did a great job providing me with info and asking me questions about my living conditions, and I did a ton of research on my own in preparation for glowing. In the US, it is common practice to take the RAI pill and then go home. Some doctors will have their patients stay inpatient for up to 3 days, and at one point they used to tell patients to stay in hotel for 72 hours. According to the study, it is more common in Europe for thyca patients to do RAI inpatient for a few days. Kinda scary that you could check into a hotel room that was recently vacated by an RAI glowworm, no? What about the housekeeping staff that had to clean the room with no knowlege that the linens were giving off radiation? What moron thought an unnanounced hotel stay while radioactive was a good idea??
Hmm.
Supposedly, if anyone came near me within the first 24 hours after the RAI, the radiation exposure was no more than a chest x-ray.
I was in a good position--no small children at home, no infants at home or in my social circles, and no pregnant women to worry about that might come near me. I was able to send my cats to my sister's house, and my husband was able to sleep on the couch. Ok, I did have to whip a blanket off of him in the middle of the night when I realized that I had been wrapped up in it earlier in the first day after RAI, but that was actually pretty funny. The look on his face at 2 am was priceless.
I'm not sure if it would have made a difference for me to be inpatient? I live in a condo, but my unit doesn't touch the walls of the neigboring units since there is an elevator shaft on one side and a utility closet on the other side. I had a ride home and stayed in the house for more than 72 hours since I felt so crappy afterwards.
I did have a letter stating that I had been given RAI, and the staff did tell me that I would set off a radiation detector. If you look back at the posts in May, you can see a pic of the Geiger counter Mr. Wonderful used on me daily to see how radioactive I was...it was scarily funny. I was still making the thing beep a month later (though not much), and I read somewhere that the radioactive iodine continues to work in your system for 6 months to a year after inital RAI treatment.
Apparently Congressman Markey wants the NRC to tighten up its regulations for RAI treatment, banning all travel on public transportation for 2 days and banning hotel stays. I don't know if he's pushing for all inpatient stays, and I'm sure the insurance companies will push back at paying for hospital rooms that the patient just sits in, alone and isolated with no staff attention. We'll see. Nice to see Thyca in the news, and nice to see someone paying attention.
I did feel really strange leaving the hospital that day, heading for the car--I don't know how many people I passed by, but I could feel my mouth burning up as the pill started working. Not to mention my lovely chauffeur who was more exposed than most people. I still wonder if I gave off a subtle neon glow....
It will be interesting to see if this changes anything. If the damn cancer comes back, I'll have to do RAI again.
As for now, feeling pretty damn good even though my hair continues to fall out, my weight is annoying the hell out of me and I am ravenously hungry. All the time. I wanted my metabolism to wake up, but this is ridiculous! Still eating like a crazed rabbit while sneaking bits of chocolate here and there....
This caught my attention though...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/20/ap/cabstatepent/main6974320.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CBSNewsTheEarlyShowLeisure+(CBS+News%3A+The+Early+Show%3A+Leisure)
Remember when I was glowing? I think too many of us were glowing and it caught someone's attention.....
Massachusetts congressman Ed Markey is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to look at how RAI patients dealing with life post-RAI and how much danger they are putting other people in by exposing them to radiation. I particiapted in survey through the Thyca website about my experiences post-RAI and whether or not I had been given adequate information about how to isolate myself. I felt that my hospital did a great job providing me with info and asking me questions about my living conditions, and I did a ton of research on my own in preparation for glowing. In the US, it is common practice to take the RAI pill and then go home. Some doctors will have their patients stay inpatient for up to 3 days, and at one point they used to tell patients to stay in hotel for 72 hours. According to the study, it is more common in Europe for thyca patients to do RAI inpatient for a few days. Kinda scary that you could check into a hotel room that was recently vacated by an RAI glowworm, no? What about the housekeeping staff that had to clean the room with no knowlege that the linens were giving off radiation? What moron thought an unnanounced hotel stay while radioactive was a good idea??
Hmm.
Supposedly, if anyone came near me within the first 24 hours after the RAI, the radiation exposure was no more than a chest x-ray.
I was in a good position--no small children at home, no infants at home or in my social circles, and no pregnant women to worry about that might come near me. I was able to send my cats to my sister's house, and my husband was able to sleep on the couch. Ok, I did have to whip a blanket off of him in the middle of the night when I realized that I had been wrapped up in it earlier in the first day after RAI, but that was actually pretty funny. The look on his face at 2 am was priceless.
I'm not sure if it would have made a difference for me to be inpatient? I live in a condo, but my unit doesn't touch the walls of the neigboring units since there is an elevator shaft on one side and a utility closet on the other side. I had a ride home and stayed in the house for more than 72 hours since I felt so crappy afterwards.
I did have a letter stating that I had been given RAI, and the staff did tell me that I would set off a radiation detector. If you look back at the posts in May, you can see a pic of the Geiger counter Mr. Wonderful used on me daily to see how radioactive I was...it was scarily funny. I was still making the thing beep a month later (though not much), and I read somewhere that the radioactive iodine continues to work in your system for 6 months to a year after inital RAI treatment.
Apparently Congressman Markey wants the NRC to tighten up its regulations for RAI treatment, banning all travel on public transportation for 2 days and banning hotel stays. I don't know if he's pushing for all inpatient stays, and I'm sure the insurance companies will push back at paying for hospital rooms that the patient just sits in, alone and isolated with no staff attention. We'll see. Nice to see Thyca in the news, and nice to see someone paying attention.
I did feel really strange leaving the hospital that day, heading for the car--I don't know how many people I passed by, but I could feel my mouth burning up as the pill started working. Not to mention my lovely chauffeur who was more exposed than most people. I still wonder if I gave off a subtle neon glow....
It will be interesting to see if this changes anything. If the damn cancer comes back, I'll have to do RAI again.
As for now, feeling pretty damn good even though my hair continues to fall out, my weight is annoying the hell out of me and I am ravenously hungry. All the time. I wanted my metabolism to wake up, but this is ridiculous! Still eating like a crazed rabbit while sneaking bits of chocolate here and there....
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Never know who is paying attention to what....
Funny story today--one of my kids from last year came by to chat since I'm writing her college letter of recommendation. She told me that she was like the star of her biology class recently. She was able to describe what the thyroid did, and no one else had the answer. The follow up question was, "What does someone have to do if they don't have a thyroid gland?" She was very happy she could announce that you needed to take hormones for the rest of your life.
Made me chuckle....
Made me chuckle....
Monday, October 4, 2010
Simply undetectable!
Sing along with Robert Palmer and his lovely ladies!!
Simply undetectable
Simply undetectable
RAI is so powerful, huh
It's simply unavoidable
The trend is irreversible (I hope)
The woman is invincible (for now!)
Simply undetectable...
Yup, back from a visit with Dr. N, and the cancer is still UNDETECTABLE! Whew. I have now graduated to a 3 month bloodwork check, so I don't have to face another needle until January. She was happy with my current status for the most part. TSH is holding around 0.09, which is solidly in the hyper range and shouldn't go much more hyper. She wants me to stay there, so no change in the levoxyl for now; I'll stay at .125mcg. Thyroglobulin and thyroid antibodies are both negative. My blood pressure was the overachiever of the day, clocking in at 110/78. It's never been that nicely low when taken in the office. And I'm not on any blood pressure meds either since I kind of stopped taking it during hypo hell--I kind of forgot. When I started checking the BP at home and it was regularly normal, I was impressed. I'm figuring the thyroid was key in messing that up.
On a slight downer, my weight was up 8 lbs. Sigh. Part of it could be PMS if my system kicks into gear on schedule this month. I'm probably perimenopausal too, so my hormones are likely all over the place. She'll check them in January, and if the estrogen is too low, we'll have to talk about options....hyperthyroid state plus low estrogen equals osteoporosis. Mom had osteoporosis. I'm way too clumsy to be stuck with fragile bones, so I'll have to do some researching and see what my options are if I need them.
But I'm sooooooo psyched. I survived the first month back to school in one piece, and my classes seem to be going fine. I'm feeling pretty decent most of the time except for occasional cognitive issues where I can't remember things like before, or I have difficulty processing incoming info. She said that's how it is due to my thyroidless state. Apparently I'm taking the right combo of multivitamins and calcium with vitamin D too. I just need to make some form of exercise routine. Which I know. And I've talked and talked about it for years. Bottom line is that I hate to exercise. However, Dr. N also said that my being just slightly hyper was enough to stimulate my appetite and make me more hungry (which I am--see previous post with evil bunny), but not enough to cause the weight to fall off like I wish it would. It went on stealthily--can't it just disappear the way it appeared? Then I could look like one of Robert Palmer's girls! One can dream....Dr. N suggested I try WiiFit. I don't know anything about it, but she said she has another patient has used it and lost 55 lbs. Sigh. As I munch on some chocolate. C'mon--it was all fruit and green stuff all day, and I mean all day, dinner included. The chocolate has some hazelnuts in it--does that count for something nutritious?
Ok, so the Robert Palmer lyrics are lame, but that tune pops in my head each time I hear the bloodwork results, and if I started singing them in the office, Dr. N would think I was insane.
I'm going to spend the rest of the evening enjoying the big feeling of relief and bask in Dr. N's smile while we chatted today. While my reproductive system continues its revolt, at least the cancer is completely suppressed. Given everything else that has gone on, I can deal with rebelling ovaries.
Thanks once again St. Peregrine! Time to go dance some salsa....
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