Almost the Last Day of the Year

So .... I had a spin class yesterday and I am about to go and run later this afternoon downstairs on my awesome treadmill.  At the moment, someone from a stair lift company is here so we can get a lift installed in preparation for my mother-in-law moving in towards the end of January.  Yipee.

Today I am trying to work on a project I started yesterday -- a wall hanging for my sewing room area (I think I am going to put it up in the hallway going up the stairs!).  Here is what it looked like on the web site:

I watched the video a few months ago and ordered the laser-cut letters but ... never got around to working on it.  Well, yesterday changed that!  I decided to do a border as well.  I just finished basting the top, the batting, and the back so here is where I am now at the moment with the project:

I have been reading a fascinating book called Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality by Stephen Bloom.  Basically I think it is the only biography on Jane Eliot, the woman behind this "experiment" that got its start in 1968.  I promise to talk about this even more later but I am learning much about the kind of teacher that she was for young people, even more she did the experiment.  

Recapturing My Head Space!

 I am not sure what has been going on for me the last few years but it has felt like I lost my "mojo" of sorts.  I stopped writing (outside of work) and even working out didn't strike me as too much fun.

But I have been slowing "awakening."  I actually have written in this blog for a second time this month (yay!) and I am trying to focus more on doing things that I want to do!  I decided to NOT work on getting classes together until next week so that gives me the rest of this week to just "relax," something that I am not always good at doing.

Yesterday I decided to try making a project with the amazing Brother Scan and Cut that Jim purchased for me as a Birthday/ Christmas present.  I have used it for fabric cutting (the quilt I recently made for my mother-in-law) but I hadn't really tackled any paper projects.  Though the cutting of the first Shadow Box went smoothly, I made a huge mistake in the sizing and not double-checking the layers actually for the frame I had purchased. After getting frustrated last night, I played with the first one again this morning (the peacock) and managed to make it work.  I then did the octopus one in about half the time and no cuss words!

After taking down the Christmas decorations around the house, I jumped on the treadmill for 45 minutes (3.05 miles) and then completed 20 minutes of yoga.  My hope is that I start to feel better with the running portion of the indoor triathlon series that I am completing (information here).

So Perhaps I Can Try This Blog One More Time?

 I hate that every time I think about sitting down and writing a blog post ... I just don't.  I used to work on articles and research and ... well ... I keep finding myself trying to keep up on the regular life of teaching and fitting in some sewing or working out when I can.

So let me make one more effort to restart this whole thing.  It is the end of the Fall 2022 semester.  I am about to finish up my grading and submit final grades.  I am a mess when it comes to being organized and together.  I want to have a web space where I can keep links to things I find online.  I want to share my thoughts.  I want to write.

Let's Try This Blog Again!

I always have the best of intentions ... and then they don't quite work out.  The last time I posted, I was getting nervous about the delays in possibly donating a kidney to my bestie and then ... it all worked out!  I guess I just couldn't find the time to just sit down and keep this blog updated.  Basically we all (me, Jim, and the pup) drive to Washington state in early June and we stayed in Birch Bay (near my hometown) for a week+.  We then drove to Seattle on June 19 and I had the surgery on June 21.  We stayed in our Seattle rental for a couple more weeks and got home about the middle of July.  I was able to rest a little more before school started and now here we are -- about the middle of the semester!  So time truly does just "fly by!"  But I am healthy and back to normal -- and Tanya is doing wonderfully which makes me a super happy camper!

I am going to try and do better about writing here but if you are interested -- here is what a perfectly normal kidney looks like before it went to the recipient (the bottom one!) and then what I looked like in the inside in terms of my kidneys before "Ethel" left and "Lucy" remained on her own inside of me! 

Perhaps a Surgery Delay?

So I got this text message from my bestie last night:

        ... but I just got a call from my gastroineroligist and according to a ct scan from a few days ago I have            multiple hernias.YAY!!!! So I am praying this doesn't suddenly mess up this whole surgery. FUCK ...

Of course, her health is the number one priority but I will admit that I was super stressed reading this, thinking that all of the plans we have made to drive to Seattle and proceed with the surgery on June 21st are in shambles.  I know that she needs to talk to her team at the hospital and until then ... we just don't know.  But if it delays the whole thing, then so be it.  I just hope that we can do the surgery soon (while she is in better health than what might be true a few months from now).

So now I am stressed but I guess I am always stressed.  A part of me will be super disappointed if this whole thing gets delayed but there isn't any way for me to control this situation.  What happens is going to happen.  The surgery has been feeling so "unreal" that maybe I knew that it wasn't going to happen on some level?  Or maybe I am just overthinking this whole thing?

The End of the Semester!

I think I must say this at the end of every semester but thank. god. we. are. almost. done.

Whew!  Since 2020, every semester has been a little hard.  I had great students this semester so it wasn't them that was causing any of the main issues -- I think I am just exhausted to the bone and that made it hard for me to keep my motivation.  I always try my very best with my classes but sometimes I felt during this past semester that it just wasn't enough.  To make matters worse, I ended up with Covid during Week 15 so I had to teach via Microsoft Teams for most of that week.  So many students didn't show up and I don't think even one student responded to my emails.  Sigh.  We had about a half of a week left by the time we came back and I tried to gain the momentum that we had in all of the classes but I feel like at this point that everyone was tired.  Most importantly for me, though, is that all my Covid testing is negative now!

For a few days I was super worried about whether having Covid was going to impact the donation or not.  Thankfully, I didn't have a major case (it just felt like I had a cold) so I am still able to donate and the surgery will be happening on June 21.

We are in the midst of finals at the moment and I am just waiting for some more final papers to be turned in.  I should be 100% finished with grades turned in by Thursday.  Then I can focus on creating a packing list for the drive to Seattle, squeezing in as many spin classes as I can, and finishing up some quilting projects.

So Let Me Try This Again ....

 I know that is is hard for me to just sit down and write, even if I know that it is something that will make me feel "better."  I keep trying to get a re-start on this blog and .. I keep failing.  I think that there is a lot going on for me right now -- the semester rapidly coming to an end, the kidney donation process becoming very real and almost upon me, and just life in general.

So let me take another go at this.  I mentioned before that last August (2021), I started the process of testing to see if I would be able to donate a kidney to my best friend.  There were a ton of tests before I could even get tissue matched (including a 24 hour urine collection which sounds just like what it is!).  Eventually, I was able to pass a bunch of tests and in late March 2022, Jim and I travelled to Seattle for something called an "Evaluation Day."  This is a full day of appointments to meet with an entire team of doctors to verify the health of my kidneys and of me in general.  In fact, just before I came, I was sent this list of appointments.  

That's a lot of doctors, right?  Most of the tests were pretty easy on my end though the 23 vials of bloodwork was a little daunting (I have never given that much blood at one time!).  I had to see the Hepatologist which was an addition to this day that others might not have to do because of some high numbers I was showing on some prior tests but we discovered that my body just normally has higher numbers and I am 100% normal.

The last appointment was with Dr. Kuhr who is Tanya's surgeon (and I think mine?).  He offered me this amazing 3D image of my own kidneys that was taken during this evaluation day (this is just a still):

Pretty damn cool, eh?  That is Ethel on the right (my left) and she is the one being donated to Tanya.  I am keeping Lucy who is on my right (but left in the picture above).

I ended up passing the Evaluation Day and we found out about a week later that Tanya and I were a perfect match.  What were the fucking chances?!  I mean, yikes!  I am still in shock that this is going to happen and I am both delighted and scared shitless.

So .., perhaps this blog can be a way for me to document what this journey is going to be like!

New Blog Direction: Kidney Donation

 So ... here it is a month later and I still haven't updated this blog!  But I had a thought -- since I just finished up a huge obstacle in terms of possibly donating a kidney, how about I focus on that as well as the teaching and researching that I would like to write about?!

My bestie, Tanya, has had Diabetes since she was young (I think 7?) but in the last dozen years or so, her body has been giving her a hell of a time.  Last summer she started talking about having to go on dialysis soon and she mentioned the long waiting list there is for a kidney donation.  Since I had cancer about 11-12 years ago, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to step up and help but .... it turns out that you can donate if your breast cancer has been in remission for at least ten years (I think some forms of cancer keep you out of the donation pool no matter how many years you have been in remission).

So in early August 2021, I started the process.  I didn't understand at the time how long this would take.  Obviously, there were some screening calls early on (in terms of my health history) and then tests after tests after tests (including a 24 hour urine collection that was an interesting experience to say the least!).  At the time I was doing these tests, I was also getting an MRI done on my bum right knee so there ended up being mass confusion about insurance and who was getting the results (For the kidney process, I am working with Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle since (1) that is near where my bestie lives and (2) it is the transplant center she is working with).  

Long story short:  I went to an in person evaluation day in Seattle last week (March 30) and found out on Monday afternoon (April 4) that I have been approved to donate.  Now we just wait for the tissue matching with those results coming in next week.  I really, really, really hope that Tanya and I are a match.

Dianna is Back!

Currently Reading:  Chike and the River (Chinua Achebe)

There used to be a time when I would blog every couple of days.  I even wrote articles and read academic research and ... well, I did all the things.  And then I didn't.  I am not exactly sure what happened.  I do know that working on my PhD while working full time was exhausting and in many ways I feel like I "crawled" across the finish line in 2014 and just needed a break.  I never thought the break would be 8 years but that is what happened.

For the longest time, this blog was called "Dissertation Girl" because that is how I saw myself (Yes, I know that some folks might be offended at the "Girl" business but I liked it).  I felt like a new title was in order so it just made logical sense to rename this blog "PhD Teacher."  I would like to keep the same URL and so I didn't want a huge name change (though I leave myself the choice to do that if I want). As most folks know, I teach writing and I am always telling my students that we all need to write, including me, and so this blog is going to give me the space to get back to something I used to love -- writing.

Today is the Friday before Spring Break starts and I can't think of a better time to get back into blogging (even if no one else reads it!).  I thought I would also try to track what I am reading (or even watching). 

So this first entry is a start!  Stay tuned!