This time last year I was already entirely stressed out about work. I had just started a new position at a new school and the atmosphere was a mess. Two schools had merged together over the summer, a new principal was placed there, and there was no district help to coordinate all of the changes. The new principal considered me "administration", and said so at a meeting. This put me in an awkward position with other teachers, since I regarded them as my peers.
The first time I was introduced, I was expected to talk about my philosophy regarding behavior management. I did as requested, but the message was not well received. It appeared that no one wanted to hear any positive messages in what I had to say. They nit-picked apart every other word that came out of my mouth. I went home from the first 5 days of school, completely exhausted. The worst part was, I hadn't even met a child, only adults.
Throughout all of this new job stuff, home was getting demanding. Dennis had gone from a cane to a walker. He also had to quit his very part time job, under doctor's orders. We had also embarked on the long, frustrating, and quite stupid process of applying for social security disability. The urine problems had started, and diapers and bed pads were not consistently keeping the bed dry at night.
I remember coming home on Friday of that first week and falling into bed.
The start of this school year is considerably better. The staff at my school has bonded and people trust me. Today, I gave a 3 hour presentation on the school-wide behavior plan, and I received only praise and thank-yous. Even the few controversial parts of the plan did not receive any out-loud complaints.
Dennis, as I have been remarking on this week, has stabilized. We finally know what we are dealing with, and therefore, are we better equipped to deal with the day to day functions. We have hope that Mayo will be able to offer us even more positives than we are experiencing right now.
All in all, I have high hopes that we will have a good year, both at school and at home.
Until Tomorrow,
Ann and Dennis
Living with Shy-Drager, Multiple System Atrophy, Parkinson's Plus and hopes for a great year ahead
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