Grades due!

Stayed up half the night last night but did manage to get my grades completed for my two on-campus courses at BSU. Our Honors teaching team actually got things wrapped up late yesterday afternoon but I had a huge backlog of People & the Environment stuff and ended up working into the wee hours (I must admit that I did have one eye on the Packers-Raiders game for a while and -- along with anyone else who watched -- was once once again amazed by the guts and grit of Brett Favre. That performance should legitimately put the lock on his football legend status). I was up again a few hours later to check my work, to assign final grades, and to enter them before the 9 am deadline. Although it is not really fair to the students, grading a large body of work all at once is actually kind of nice since you can really put each of the individual pieces in context. I might have to try to think of someway to accomplish this same end that also allows for some constructive feedback along the way. Still have quite a ways to go for my on-line version of People & the Environment but I did get an extension through Friday so I might even make that too! It would be great to feel like me head is above water again on work and school stuff. Anyway, as a result of my all-night grade party (even when I did sleep I was dreaming in red pen!) I am feeling wiped out today and I suspect my red counts and hemoglobin levels are again falling fast. On the positive side, I took my last dose of Prednisone this morning so the chemo part of my treatment is now completely behind me!

Turns out even our house is sick -- the plumbers are here at the moment -- on top of everything else our sewer is now solidly plugged! Too many colds in the house with too much toilet paper (and Kleenex James?) going in down the drain apparently. I tried all the homeowner solutions I could think of -- from the 'snake' to high test liquid and crystal drain cleaners -- to no avail so the roto-rooter machine is running in the background as I write this and act as an unofficial project supervisor. Wait...I take that back -- I can hear the sound of draining water! Time to load up the washing machine!

I found out today that I have an appointment with Dr. Bollinger, my radiation oncologist next Monday. Sounds like the set-up part of the process will take a couple of hours and then the actual treatment could begin immediately or after a few days. Apparently I will have another CT scan which will hopefully reveal no renewed tumor growth. Because I have recently been able to "feel" the filled in area where my tonsil was removed, I have become a bit a worried that things are healing/growing too fast -- here's to hoping that the scan allays those fears. Fears are strange little beasts that seem to flit about in the shadows beneath the surface and dash out to nip you when you least expect them. For the most part, optimism has been my prevailing mood but it is always a bit tainted somehow by darker, darting 'what-if' thoughts. From talking with others who have been through this process, it sounds like such doubts often go with the terrritory but that with will and determination (and perhaps a good metaphor or two!) they can be banished. I am sure, in any case, that dwelling on those fears can only be counter-productive. Here's to the power of optimism and hope! /dps