A Meme! A Meme! Sail ho, a meme!
Mar. 24th, 2022 01:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maeve66Thanks, springheel_jack and microbie! Dunno if this will cross post or not.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
1. First Name: Abra
2. Age: 55
3. Location: California, Bay Area, small working class suburb of Oakland
4. Occupation: Middle School teacher, normally of 7th grade English/Language Arts & Social Studies, this year (remote; an alternative school in the district that was expanded to meet the legal requirement for continued distance learning) 6th AND 7th grade ELA, Social Studies, Math, and Science. Which is eight separate preps. It's nuts.
This is my... 24th year teaching, I think. I started in 1998, moving out here from Chicago for that purpose (to join my sister who had just become a teacher in Oakland, a year earlier, who I knew would reproduce here). I'm not sure I would have predicted I would still be teaching after 24 years. I cannot retire until I am 62, so six more years. GOD I hope it can continue to be distance-learning, from home, though this particular instance of it is hella badly organized (because not well-funded, as per usual in education).
5. Significant Other: none
6. Kids: none
7. Brothers/sisters: I have a sister four years younger than me, who is now a principal (crossed the class line, but obvs. I still love her... she's been a motherfucking champion through this horrific cancer odyssey). I had a half sister, five years older than me. But she killed herself in January 2021. I am still very fucked up about that.
8. Pets: a delightful and loving and hella soft and cuddly cat, Devlin. She is ten, but still seems like a kitten to me. She has kittenface.
9. List the 3 biggest things going on in your life:
A. Endometrial Cancer. Oh, how it sucks. 25 external radiation treatments now done (after a total hysterectomy in December), but with awful, AWFUL side-effects continuing, and three internal High Dose Radiation brachytherapy INTERNAL treatments that were supposed to start this past Tuesday... but the anesthesiologist who did NOT do a peri operative meeting (POM) with me because scheduling was backed up, looked at my back where he was going to plunge a five inch needle in for a spinal block and said, "Vat is dis? Dis is pressure sore!" [which, I would like to point out, I had brought up with the oncology nurses multiple times, including that fact that it was right on my spine; that I'd had it since after surgery; and that I'd asked them to do dressings on it, though it was getting better only very slowly BECAUSE I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SLEEP FLAT ON MY BACK, due to a frozen left shoulder] "Cannot do spinal block over pressure sore. Might be subcootanyus infection. Might inject infection into spinal fluid, you get meningitis, you die." This anesthesiologist was Russian (by his name and accent... I don't know, he could have been Byelorussian or any number of other ethnicities, too). He took about twenty minutes to say all of that because he said it about four or more times, with extra details each time, while I was crying because prepping for this thing and anticipating it was so damn terrifying and now it wasn't even going to happen. The doctor consulted with him and came in and said she had an alternative. I knew what it was going to be before she said it. Local anesthetics! Lidocaine in my hoo ha where a bunch of needles were going to be pinned to deliver radiation. That went about as well as could be expected when I can barely tolerate even a normal gyne exam. I was literally strapped to a gurney and ended up crying and flinching and whatever until she gave up and said she couldn't do it. Fun times! I had a CT scan today with iodine contrast to see if they could determine whether there IS a subcutaneous infection. If there is not, then I'll get TWO of those internal treatments on one day with a spinal block. Or two spinal blocks? Unclear. If there is, then the doctor suggests five extra external radiation treatments with much higher doses, which will continue these fucking horrible side effects longer and also not be as effective as the three brachytherapy treatments.
B. Work. I'm missing a lot of it.
C. Family. My family is fucking amazing. Since my sister is going to travel for the first time since the pandemic -- she's going to Amsterdam to meet up with her friends who live in Spain and Germany -- my father and stepmother have flown out to stay with me and help me and drive me to five million appointments. My nieces (now the younger is about to graduate high school and the older is a junior at Cal Berkeley) have also been champions during this, loving and supporting me and trying to work through their own fear and anxiety. I am so lucky.
10. Where and for what did you go to school?
Undergrad: Northwestern University, for $1300/year because my father was the University Archivist and I got the faculty/staff discount. French Studies. Masters: 19th century social and labor history, at the University of Missouri, with Dave Roediger as my mentor and advisor.
11. Parents: Martha was my mom. She was a lovely person with a million interests and talents (guitar, singing, gardening, smoking weed, photography, sketching and sculpture, cooking, trying to learn Spanish). She had a fucking terrible memory and LOTS of trauma -- her father and her brother killed themselves, she was abused by men from her high school years on, she had chronic deep depression that nothing really helped with. And then she got COPD and dementia. She died in 2018 and I miss her really, really a lot. Patrick is my dad. He's almost 80, and a blustery, loud, genial, OCD guy. He smokes a pipe, which makes him a hella lonely guy in his addiction. He has been a revolutionary marxist (as was my mother, recruited by him) since 1964. He used to tell wonderful stories about his life and his activism, but they've all become kind of wraiths of themselves, the bullet point repetitive versions. He is very worried and upset by the amount of pain I am in. He has always been very proud of my sister and I.
12. Who are some of your closest friends?
IRL -- I am kind of fucked because while I've made very deep friendships over my life, way, way, way too many of them live in England, in France, in Canada, in Missouri, in Wisconsin, in Evanston, Illinois or Chicago. I wish transporters were real, and cheap. Or free, along with healthcare. I do have some very close local friends, but I've only seen a few of them, pod-wise, since the Pandemic began.
As Microbie said, "Online friends are almost all from LiveJournal". Microbie herself, Springheel_Jack, Mistersmearcase, Toastykitten, VillageCharm (also willing to follow him like a puppy -- he reminds me a little of Wouldprefernot2, politically), Sabotabby... some of these friends have left LJ/DW and I see more on FB these days. Gretchen is the first who comes to mind.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
1. First Name: Abra
2. Age: 55
3. Location: California, Bay Area, small working class suburb of Oakland
4. Occupation: Middle School teacher, normally of 7th grade English/Language Arts & Social Studies, this year (remote; an alternative school in the district that was expanded to meet the legal requirement for continued distance learning) 6th AND 7th grade ELA, Social Studies, Math, and Science. Which is eight separate preps. It's nuts.
This is my... 24th year teaching, I think. I started in 1998, moving out here from Chicago for that purpose (to join my sister who had just become a teacher in Oakland, a year earlier, who I knew would reproduce here). I'm not sure I would have predicted I would still be teaching after 24 years. I cannot retire until I am 62, so six more years. GOD I hope it can continue to be distance-learning, from home, though this particular instance of it is hella badly organized (because not well-funded, as per usual in education).
5. Significant Other: none
6. Kids: none
7. Brothers/sisters: I have a sister four years younger than me, who is now a principal (crossed the class line, but obvs. I still love her... she's been a motherfucking champion through this horrific cancer odyssey). I had a half sister, five years older than me. But she killed herself in January 2021. I am still very fucked up about that.
8. Pets: a delightful and loving and hella soft and cuddly cat, Devlin. She is ten, but still seems like a kitten to me. She has kittenface.
9. List the 3 biggest things going on in your life:
A. Endometrial Cancer. Oh, how it sucks. 25 external radiation treatments now done (after a total hysterectomy in December), but with awful, AWFUL side-effects continuing, and three internal High Dose Radiation brachytherapy INTERNAL treatments that were supposed to start this past Tuesday... but the anesthesiologist who did NOT do a peri operative meeting (POM) with me because scheduling was backed up, looked at my back where he was going to plunge a five inch needle in for a spinal block and said, "Vat is dis? Dis is pressure sore!" [which, I would like to point out, I had brought up with the oncology nurses multiple times, including that fact that it was right on my spine; that I'd had it since after surgery; and that I'd asked them to do dressings on it, though it was getting better only very slowly BECAUSE I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SLEEP FLAT ON MY BACK, due to a frozen left shoulder] "Cannot do spinal block over pressure sore. Might be subcootanyus infection. Might inject infection into spinal fluid, you get meningitis, you die." This anesthesiologist was Russian (by his name and accent... I don't know, he could have been Byelorussian or any number of other ethnicities, too). He took about twenty minutes to say all of that because he said it about four or more times, with extra details each time, while I was crying because prepping for this thing and anticipating it was so damn terrifying and now it wasn't even going to happen. The doctor consulted with him and came in and said she had an alternative. I knew what it was going to be before she said it. Local anesthetics! Lidocaine in my hoo ha where a bunch of needles were going to be pinned to deliver radiation. That went about as well as could be expected when I can barely tolerate even a normal gyne exam. I was literally strapped to a gurney and ended up crying and flinching and whatever until she gave up and said she couldn't do it. Fun times! I had a CT scan today with iodine contrast to see if they could determine whether there IS a subcutaneous infection. If there is not, then I'll get TWO of those internal treatments on one day with a spinal block. Or two spinal blocks? Unclear. If there is, then the doctor suggests five extra external radiation treatments with much higher doses, which will continue these fucking horrible side effects longer and also not be as effective as the three brachytherapy treatments.
B. Work. I'm missing a lot of it.
C. Family. My family is fucking amazing. Since my sister is going to travel for the first time since the pandemic -- she's going to Amsterdam to meet up with her friends who live in Spain and Germany -- my father and stepmother have flown out to stay with me and help me and drive me to five million appointments. My nieces (now the younger is about to graduate high school and the older is a junior at Cal Berkeley) have also been champions during this, loving and supporting me and trying to work through their own fear and anxiety. I am so lucky.
10. Where and for what did you go to school?
Undergrad: Northwestern University, for $1300/year because my father was the University Archivist and I got the faculty/staff discount. French Studies. Masters: 19th century social and labor history, at the University of Missouri, with Dave Roediger as my mentor and advisor.
11. Parents: Martha was my mom. She was a lovely person with a million interests and talents (guitar, singing, gardening, smoking weed, photography, sketching and sculpture, cooking, trying to learn Spanish). She had a fucking terrible memory and LOTS of trauma -- her father and her brother killed themselves, she was abused by men from her high school years on, she had chronic deep depression that nothing really helped with. And then she got COPD and dementia. She died in 2018 and I miss her really, really a lot. Patrick is my dad. He's almost 80, and a blustery, loud, genial, OCD guy. He smokes a pipe, which makes him a hella lonely guy in his addiction. He has been a revolutionary marxist (as was my mother, recruited by him) since 1964. He used to tell wonderful stories about his life and his activism, but they've all become kind of wraiths of themselves, the bullet point repetitive versions. He is very worried and upset by the amount of pain I am in. He has always been very proud of my sister and I.
12. Who are some of your closest friends?
IRL -- I am kind of fucked because while I've made very deep friendships over my life, way, way, way too many of them live in England, in France, in Canada, in Missouri, in Wisconsin, in Evanston, Illinois or Chicago. I wish transporters were real, and cheap. Or free, along with healthcare. I do have some very close local friends, but I've only seen a few of them, pod-wise, since the Pandemic began.
As Microbie said, "Online friends are almost all from LiveJournal". Microbie herself, Springheel_Jack, Mistersmearcase, Toastykitten, VillageCharm (also willing to follow him like a puppy -- he reminds me a little of Wouldprefernot2, politically), Sabotabby... some of these friends have left LJ/DW and I see more on FB these days. Gretchen is the first who comes to mind.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-24 11:31 am (UTC)