A quick update

What a month. The delicate life-work balance I have worked to establish has been smashed to bits and I've desperately been careening from one responsibility here (student projects!) to one here (sick child) to one here (new program director) back to this one here (happy kids). I can't say that I'm doing anything well, but I'm doing it.

I have 20 more 30 page projects to grade by Wednesday, a final exam to grade Wednesday night, and course grades to compute on Thursday. I'm sure that something will go wrong and I will be finishing up ten minutes before the deadline Friday morning. Saturday I will be shaking hands at graduation and that gives me Sunday through Wednesday to get Christmas together, clean the house and pack for our visits with families.

Complicating all this is my increasingly bad disc problem. It has certainly affected my productivity. Three epidurals over two months have brought no discernible relief so surgery is in the cards. Today, the surgeon seems shocked that I want to wait until May when school is out, but if I had it just after New Year as he proposed, being able to function at work during the critical time of the new semester would be highly doubtful. Then there is the small problem that my girls share my break so I would be attempting to recover from heavy duty surgery while caring for the girls. Basically, unless I start having motor symptoms, I can just tough it out a few months (using a judicious amount of drugs, of course).

All of this brings me back to the trying to conceive issue. This is my last month trying. I'm in the two week wait and I actually think a negative next week (just in time for my birthday) will be OK given all else going on. In fact, I think we were idiots not to use birth control this time given the spinal issues. J has been receptive to getting a vasectomy and I hope to have him in for that shortly after New Year.

Ah. The medication I was given today finally seems to be making a difference. Bed time.