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    back to school after relapse

    I just wanted to share that I had a great 2 days.

    I am exhausted, yet happy, and completely amazed by the children I teach and the staff I work with. I hope other teachers living with MS feel as blessed as I did yesterday and today!

    I returned to school after being away for 2 weeks, which comes at a brutal time because of reporting. Every single person I work with has welcomed me back with smiles and-or a hug, and an offer of "what can I do to help?" <most staff know about my MS>

    I teach all 560 students in our school (music/band), and the kids have been fabulous, and all of the hugs and smiles remind me that my job is an amazing chance to make a difference.

    I just wanted to share my happy thoughts, and hope it will inspire that extra little bit of "whatever-gets-you-through" when you need it most... Teaching is a pretty cool thing to do!!! (and it was lovely finding out that we are appreciated and missed when we are not there...)

    #2
    glad to hear

    Yes, I do have a good team of partners at school, and most often good interactions with the students. They (kids and parents) don't know that I have MS... I don't have relapses, haven't since diagnosed almost four years ago ...

    I continue to have new lesions (they say a hundred or more) and they also tell me now that I have a thyroid cyst, kidney cyst, osteoporosis, scoliosis, possible arthritis, at a severe fall-risk, but I am to continue the copaxone and vitamins and calcium and ibuprofen ... and if I mention a new symptom to my neurologist (bladder incontinence, pain in ribs, hiccups with yawning and shaking), I'm told to see my PCP, or find an endocrinologist, or a urologist, or a psychiatrist.

    What is it I'm taking the copaxone for? To slow the progression. But each year there are new lesions ("uncountable" but more) and nothing I experience is called a relapse or treated by my neurologist.

    I'm retiring this June, two years earlier than I'd planned, with a smaller percentage for my pension, but it's time. I am in steady back pain and occasionally but daily rib pain ... I am exhausted and sometimes take a sick day (I have a year's worth and will lose it all when I retire) just to sleep, or to correct papers in the daylight (I have a cataract that needs removal but I've said no chance until I retire.)

    I am now on antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds, a huge amount of vitamin D (50,000, daily, then later weekly, newly prescribed), calcium (Viactiv chews), complex B and C, and a cholesterol med. Life goes on ... they say it's MS ... I still believe it is early stage Parkinson, since what I have as symptoms are never dealt with as "relapses". Never. I have a tremor, imbalance, fatigue, blurred vision. They are constant, not remitting.

    I plan to take a medical leave of absence during the coldest months this year ... use some of that earned sick time ... coming inside from the cold seems to trigger incontinence, shivers, then shakes, then hiccups ... When I return I hope to have a walker with me instead of a cane ... tremor makes a cane difficult to handle and I need to avoid falls, especially in school corridors crowded with kids and huge book bags on their backs ... I'll tell the kids then that I have MS, and am retiring in June.

    I never thought I would retire, let alone early. I love my job. I just am less able to sustain the energy it requires.

    I will enjoy the extra two years at home with my husband. I will miss school, but want to leave standing.

    Sorry this is a downer ... it is what it is.

    I'm sorry to see this Teacher's Forum is so under-utilized ... numbers are falling off dramatically ... hard-working teachers don't have time for posting...
    First symptoms: 1970s Dx 6/07 Copaxone 7/07 DMD Free 10/11
    Ignorance was bliss ... I regret knowing.

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      #3
      I AM NOT A TEACHER BUT MY DAUGHTER TEACHES FOURTH GRADE AND I HELP HER WITH GRADING PAPERS AT TIMES. YOU HAVE SUCH A BUSY LIFE. YOU ARE SO DESERVING OF RESPECT, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAISE. I APPLAUD ALL THE TEACHERS. BUT....WORKING WITH THIS DIAGNOSIS IS EXTRA SPECIAL. MY HATS ARE OFF TO YOU. I KNOW THE CHILDREN ENJOY A CARING TEACHER AND IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS IS THE WAY YOU ARE. THANK YOU FROM ALL THOSE WHO NEVER SAY IT. I AM A NURSE AND MISS MY PATIENTS AND MY JOB SO MUCH. IT IS DIFFICULT REGARDLESS OF WHAT OCCUPATION YOU HAVE.
      This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

      Have a great day, Leola

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        #4
        Thank you, Leola

        I have a bag full of tests to read and grade ... my husband is my help-mate, and he'll read scores as I enter them on the grade sheets. Wishing you and your daughter a happy thanksgiving
        First symptoms: 1970s Dx 6/07 Copaxone 7/07 DMD Free 10/11
        Ignorance was bliss ... I regret knowing.

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