Back to School Again

Posted by Roie R. Black on Tue 26 August 2014

Monday (yesterday) I started back up as a teacher! This is a milestone day. I had two classes that ran five hours total to teach, and I stood up most of the time. I was very tired when I got back home. This evening, I had another class, but only three hours ling. Still tiring, but not so bad.

Also today we visited with my old "top doc" to check on my ears, and to look at a sore on my nose that will not heal. He cleaned my ears, and scheduled an appointment with an audiologist to get a hearing aide.

Hearing Issues

The problem is that all the surgery and transplants on the left side of my face have resulted in a lot of swelling around my left ear, and it has basically shut down. Dr. Scholl is worried that there may be fluid buildup behind my ear drum as well. The normal solution for that problem is a tube through the ear drum to relieve the pressure and allow drainage. Problem is that I have had so much radiation on that side that healing after such a procedure would be a real problem. So he does not want to do that.

When they do the surgery to reduce the bulk they put in during my last surgery, the pressure on my left ear will reduce and the problem may eventually go away. I was getting a bit of hearing back on my left side and then the latest surgery killed all of that progress.

In addition, for whatever reason (sympathy I think), my right ear is not hearing so well either. So in class I am having problems making out student questions. The audiologist will either give me a hearing aide for my left ear, or, if that does not work well, one for my right ear (who knows, maybe both). I may not need to wear them full time, only in class, but it will surely help.

Nose Issues

The other thing I am dealing with is a sore on the edge of my nose, extending to my upper lip around the joint between nose and face (Boy, I bet there is a mile-long term for that place in the medical profession). Anyway, that area is numb, and lives in an area where my nose drains, so it is not the best environment. For some reason, I developed a sore on the edge of my nose that was bleeding fairly often. I started putting Neosporen on it, and it improved some but did not really heal. Later we switched to Cortisone cream, and it got a bit better, but still did not really heal.

Dr. School is pretty sure it is not cancer, but he wants the M. D. Anderson folks to do a biopsy. He is thinking that all that radiation is just making it take an extraordinary length of time to heal. He did give me a different cream that is supposed to help in radiation affected areas like this. We will see how it goes.

80 New Students, Up and Running

All classes are full at ACC, and I have four of them. One is online, and the other three are in class. I have met with them all and only had five students miss the first day. Pretty good. They all seem eager, and I hope they enjoy my classes. I also hope to get over the tiredness I had these first two days.

After over three months of being off duty ("semi-retired"?) getting back to work is a bit of a shock. I did get used to doing not much each day, now I am pretty busy most of the time. I write a lot (modified/improved course notes), answer a ton of email, worry about cancer, and try to do a bit of research on topics I am still trying to learn about as well.

I can spend a lot of time doing all of that, and it is definitely a shock, but one I enjoy. The lack of eye was no big deal in class. I did threaten that if any of then called me a pirate, I would get my pirate's hat out, wear it to class and make them walk the plank! That stopped that kind of talk, I hope!

I have to work on tomorrow's lectures now, then off to bed, hopefully before 2AM. My first class tomorrow is at noon, so I can stay up late, just as I have been these last few months! Sigh! Back to my "normal" life! Then, next week, we have two full days in Houston. That will be my first real cancer check since the surgery. We are praying that things go well. If not, well, we will deal with things as they come, and trust God to take care of us. Oh, and we surely trust that all of the readers of this blog will send good thoughts and prayers as well. So far all of that has worked, and for that Cheryl and I are very grateful!

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tags: Cancer, School