Finishing the School Year

I returned to school in early March, 3 weeks after my surgery. It was wonderful to get out of the house and distract myself from sitting at home with my own thoughts. I’m an introvert by nature, and have no problem being by myself, but this has been different. It’s not like I’d been perfectly healthy and able to catch-up on everything around and house and just relax. Unless you’ve been through chemo, you don’t understand the physical and mental toll it takes on you, being stuck at home and not able to do stuff. I either didn’t have the energy to do all the things I would have liked, or I didn't have the mental capacity to handle it, literally. A nurse who accessed my port recently, who has been around for a while, mentioned that for years patients would tell them that their brains just felt foggy, but doctors brushed it off and said it was nothing. Now they know it’s not just nothing, and it has a name, Chemo Brain.

I had asked if my long term sub could stay for a few days when I returned so we could transition teaching back to me. To my surprise, they kept her on for 3 weeks. There were several reasons behind the decision, but I feel that the biggest reason was one that God has his hand in it. The very outside end of my incision on both sides were not healing as fast as they should have been. So 3 days before spring break, I had to go in for a follow up procedure on the right side (the left healed on it’s on). God knew this was coming, and it’s why he kept the sub with me. She was able to take back over for those 3 days, and no one had to worry about anything. The doctor went in, checked for infection, cut out the tissue that wasn’t healing, and stitched together new, healthy tissue. It healed like a charm, 

I closed out the year dealing with some rather unpleasant side effects of Hand Foot Syndrome. But 3rd graders are always willing to help, so I gave all my little munchkins jobs to do in my classroom so that I had to do very little to get it ready for summer. 

My hair is growing back, but I don't have many pictures. I'm a minimalist when it comes to appearance. It's one of the reasons the whole wig thing just didn't appeal to me. We buzzed my head before surgery in February, then I had the back and sides buzzed again in May. My next appointment is tomorrow. I plan to try to crazy styles as it grows out. This is one of the few that I have. Oh, and my heart shaped white spot came back!