Well, I took my first sick/personal day today. Am I sick? Nope, but there was no way I was going to be able to teach today. I couldn’t really walk or stand, and I figured that would prevent me from being able to teach, so I called in. Why, you ask? Well, that’s the point of the post, so I’ll tell you.
This morning around 4:30, I woke up with a horrible leg cramp. I had one of these a while back (when it was, I can’t quite remember) and it was pretty awful, and this one wasn’t any better. After the cramp had all but dissipated, I could tell that it had bruised my calf muscle as had happened before. I was thinking about it, and I was thinking that if it was going to hurt as much during the day as it was then, I wasn’t going to be able to teach. I went back to sleep thinking about what all I would have to do if I didn’t go in to school today. When the alarm went off at 6:30, the pain was still really bad, and just getting out of bed was such a chore that I knew I couldn’t stand long enough to shower let alone teach all day. I called the school a few times, trying to get a person and not an answering machine, and I gave Simon my lesson plans/quiz masters/seating charts to give to the office for the substitute. I went back to sleep so I could ignore the pain for a few more hours, then I spent the day on the couch where I wouldn’t have to walk up stairs to get to the bathroom. Fun day.
As it is now, I can put more pressure on my leg and walk a bit more normally though I still have a very defined limp. I figure I’ll be better in the morning and can probably teach. After all, tomorrow is pronunciation day in French class and adverbs in English and uh, speech stuff in Speech class. I’m going to try and write up some quick lesson plans for French then work on the rest of them during prep period tomorrow. I’m going to have a ton of stuff to grade this weekend because there were three quizzes today (hopefully the sub gave all of them) and there’ll be comics to go over as well. Joy.
I am happy that Aunt Pamela is over for the weekend for her birthday tomorrow, so Happy Birthday Aunt Pamela! Also, the husband should be coming down so I’ll get to see him, hang out with his parents, and probably go to Jasper to see Damien. It’s going to be a busy weekend. So long as I get some sleep, I think I’ll manage. It’s just frustrating that I was already behind and now I’m more behind and I’m just feeling very ass-like at the moment. I know my leg feels like ass, heh. Oh well, time for lesson plans. I hope your day was better than mine!
In my expert, wife of a medical school student opinion…:
One of the DF's big books says that muscle cramps occur with dehydration, hyponatremia (which he thinks is low salt), azotemia, and myxedema, and in nerve disease such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (which is Lou Gehrig's disease). Maybe you should concentrate on drinking more fluids or seeing Dr. Sutton to take advantage of your awesome health insurance. 😀
Survival on your feet:
I would die without Dr. Scholl's insoles. I was having horrible leg and foot issues during student teaching, but as soon as I put in the hardcore support insoles with like the blue tops and the red bottoms that aren't soft at all– then I started feeling a lot better.
Or we could…:
amputate! Where's Dad's knife? hehe
(Just kidding, I hope you feel better soon.)
Well:
The dehydration is very likely because I'm trying not to drink very much during the day since I have no time to go to the bathroom between classes (I go before classes start, at lunch, and after school and that's it.) and the low salt is also very likely. I try to avoid salty foods A LOT because I'm not a big fan. I'll try to drink more water when I'm at the house to make up for not drinking much during the day. 🙂
Sodium:
Just keep a block of sodium in the class room, or bring a salt lick in.