WHAP, PSYCH, & AP PSYCH Students,
I hope you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. I wish I could say mine was 'great.' It was wonderful to spend time with my family, but it did not go as planned. I will be out of school at least Monday and Tuesday. More detail on that below.
Our quiz will still be held on Monday in WHAP and AP Psychology (Level Psych took their quiz on the Friday before break). The test for our last unit of the semester will happen in ALL classes on Wednesday & Thursday, regardless of my health concerns.
Please email me with any questions over the material that you have. I will leave the substitute with plenty of information that will help you prepare. I promise you t hat if you work as hard as you typically do when I am with you, then you will do just as well as you normally would.
I am hoping to return on Wed & Thu, if I am able to do that, I will have a quick 20-30 minute review session before the test and can answer questions you have regarding the material then. Obviously, don't wait until then to ask though. You can always contact me through email.
---Here are the details on what is going on with me---
Earlier this week I suffered the worst Multiple Sclerosis flare up that I have yet experienced. I had been sick with a sinus infection, which may have triggered the attack. During the night, I awoke and was unable to move my torso off the bed to sit up. I could not roll over on my own. Mrs. Duez even had to lift my leg off the edge of the bed because I did not have the strength to lift it back onto the bed with my own power. Needless to say, it has been a difficult week.
I recovered enough by the end of following day that I was able to walk on my own around the house some. My strength has returned some, but is no where near where I need it to be to teach on Monday. One of my other issues is just speaking. It's hard to explain, but I am having difficulty generating the power to push words out of my mouth physically. I can think them, but the motion and strength needed to generate the breath to speak the words is limited. Certainly my endurance to command a classroom on Monday is jeopardized.
When this happened 3 years ago, I recovered after missing a couple of days of work and was well enough to push through it. I am really hoping that will be the case this time around. So I have requested a substitute for Monday and Tuesday of this coming week and plan to continue to rest and recover.
I just wanted to let you know as soon as I decided to stay home. These types of flareups (although rare) can happen with MS and it is a real nightmare for me, both mentally and physically. However, Mrs. Duez is incredible and she has helped me a great deal. I will do everything I can to return as quickly as possible and with her support I know I can make it back (probably sooner than anyone else could!). My best case scenario is for a Wednesday return. All of my students will be testing on Wed/Thu, so I feel like it might be an easier day for me.
If there are any issues or problems this week with anything, please let me know. I am hoping to record video lectures tomorrow that can help my students through the material. The sub can play (even pause & rewind if needed) and use the video to teach the students in my absence. There are also some wonderful video lectures that I can use that other teachers have recorded, just in case I continue to have issues tomorrow. One way or another these two days will be productive for my students and they will continue to learn, I can assure you.
Thanks for your support,
DD