Thursday, March 20, 2014

This Time Last Year

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This time last year, I was recovering from shoulder surgery. My new friend was the Game Ready ice and compression system rented for the first month of recovery. An anchor, two knots and a reshaped clavicle--it was painful--twelve weeks of physical therapy and I can finally reach behind my back (hook a bra) and raise my right arm (though it's a little off to the right and not next to my ear). I am grateful for my arms.

I cropped out the inside my should pictures...fascinating stuff. 

This time last year, I was hours out of surgery. I wrote the last eleven slice of life posts for my students ahead of time (I posted a writing quote and an invitation everyday for them). I had scheduled most of my own slices too. I'd been writing double for days.

Not so this year. I am not writing ahead much,  if at all, and it feels so good to have the time and the two hands to write as each day comes. Some days ideas come late, others I've thought about since waking. For both, I am grateful. I do love playing with words. I don't take enough time to do it.

Injury and illness are part and parcel of living an active life. After four orthopedic injuries in four years, I've cut back a bit. I skate less. I exercise differently. I've had to face the idea that I cannot do some things that my muscle remember and know how to do. That's not been so fun. My body and I are still in negotiations. Like the district and our teachers' union, we've been dealing with an impasse.

I have brave students who face illness and injury each week. Facing the day--especially an academically charged day--when one is pain or not as mobile or balanced as "normal" takes dedication, and grit. These students focus on the future. They are unstoppable heroes among us. Students who stay in school with cancer and arthritis and epilepsy and even when pregnant. All stand up and muscle through. I see you and witness your strength.

17 comments:

  1. Wow, and I hope that they witness your strength! Shoulder surgery is rough. Love the line, "My body and I are still in negotiations." I might have to borrow that when my knee starts hurting. Great expression for the hazards of getting old.

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    1. Here's a poem for your knees, Melanie: http://portable-teacher.blogspot.com/2013/01/ode-to-these-knees.html

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    2. The knee poem is impressive Lee Ann. I left a comment for you at that site.

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    3. Lee Ann, Are our medical lives paralleling each other. Amazing. Your voice is powerful and really helped me tonight since I heard I had a rotator cuff tear today. My PT helped me get through that rough patch after I heard. Here I am thinking how to compose my slice that will be part of the Spiritual Journey Thursday blog based on the word exercise.

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  2. Wow...what a powerful story that melds the personal and professional...and dare I say political. Like your students, my students already show more grit in getting up and coming to school to face each day than many reformers can ever imagine. They teach me about grit and determination.

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    1. Thanks, Kay. Your "and I dare say" line and comparison to reformers made me smile this morning.

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  3. I love how you honor the struggles of the student along side your struggle. So often, I feel an "us" and "them" mentality developing with teachers and students. It is so key to remember we all are on the journey in different places. But no person or struggle is more or less difficult than that of the other. They are struggles. Each new story, and every climax comes with the lessons we bring to other stories. I also was recovering from surgery last year at this time. I learned so much about myself and the rhythms of life I pretend to control. What a healthy lesson. Even though it sounds bizarre, I am grateful.

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    1. I am grateful too, Sarah and sometimes one of those pretenders. Good way to put how we charge through the business of living until something stops us.

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  4. Well-said! It is wonderful to be well enough to live and enough the small things.

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    1. And soon you'll be at your year too! What a difference it makes.

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  5. Fabulous slice - what a difference a year makes. Loved this line, "Like the district and our teachers' union, we've been dealing with an impasse."

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  6. Wow, Lee Anne - four surgeries in four years...and you are so positive and strong in spirit. Bravo!

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    1. No, Tara, not four surgeries, just four injuries (2 resulted in surgeries but the others were just muscle or bone breaks).

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  7. It's easy to forget how debilitating pain, mental or physical, can be when we're not the ones experiencing it. Thank you for this reminder to honor the "unstoppable heroes" among us.

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    1. You were up late, Catherine! Yes, mental or emotional pain counts too. I don't know adults that can carry the weight of what some of my students have experiences--they are amazing young people: resilient and strong.

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  8. You are so right about the inability to focus when one is in pain. Three years ago, I had my knee replaced and I am finally able to feel mobile and flexible; it's been a long haul. Best of luck on your recuperation at the one year mark, and good luck to your teachers' union as well.

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