NOTE: This might be an indication of how this year's blog entries might show up! You will note in just a bit that I had started this YESTERDAY and didn't get it finished/posted. It's now Tuesday, August 13. Let's pretend it's still yesterday....
Good grief! It's now August 12, 2013, and I'm finally writing another entry to my blog. Can you believe it? What is up with that? I am shamed about not writing on a more consistent basis during my second year in Shishmaref, Alaska. Now...I'm headed into my third year....still in Shishmaref and still teaching third grade. Let's see what I can do to bring this blog up to date!
I am currently in Unalakleet, AK, attending teacher inservice trainings. I have been here since August 7th. The remainder of the BSSD (Bering Strait School District) village staffs arrived today. We will all head back to our own villages this coming Wednesday. I came in early in order to get more SFA (Success for All...reading program) training that I missed my first couple of years. It'll be helpful as I head into my third year of teaching.
A most exciting thing happened today just before the conclusion of our session with our new superintendent. We were surprised with an impromptu visit from General Chuck Yeager. Awesome! He said a few words to the gathering and received a standing ovation. Some of the folks here have posted pictures on Facebook....and I did share one of them. So, if you are able to access my Facebook page, you will see a picture of General Yeager. He said he celebrated his 90th birthday in an F-15. Seems appropriate!
I have already been to Shishmaref....arrived on August 3rd. My son, Dan, came up with me. We spent a few days in Anchorage, driving down the Seward Highway, touring parts of the Kenai Peninsula, and going up Mt. Alyeska. We went to Nome for an overnight stay before heading into Shishmaref for a brief stay. Dan had the opportunity to go up one of the rivers with Ken (our science teacher) and saw a herd of musk ox and many different kinds of birds. His toes got very cold on that trip and he declared "the people in Shishmaref are a tough bunch of folks!" He also had the opportunity to try black meat in seal oil....which turned out to be an "surprising" experience.
Let's see....going back a few months....
I last wrote about how sick I got on my trip down home for Christmas. I'm over it now but...whew! That was wicked. I didn't make it back to the village until February 1st, I believe.
At the end of February of this past year, I had the opportunity to travel to Wasilla for a math conference. While there, I stayed at the Best Western on Lake Lucille. I happened to look out my window one evening and saw two trucks out in the parking lot with dogs being fed out beside the trucks. I took pictures and wondered if they there for the upcoming Iditarod. Talk about wanting to kick myself later on! I got back to SHH and upon doing some Internet searching, I found out that one was Josh Cadzow, a rookie, and the other was Ed Stielstra, a musher from my home state of Michigan. I could have met a musher from Michigan. Well....
Skipping WAY ahead to the end of July (just a few weeks ago), that came true! After not meeting Ed in the parking lot in Wasilla, I made a point of contacting him through his business, Nature's Kennel, in McMillan, Michigan. On my way to Wisconsin with my son, we stopped off at the kennel where we got to see some of Ed and Tasha's 150 dogs and, of course, to meet Ed.
OH, MY GOSH! Another side note! DeeDee Jonrowe was outside the Unalakleet School earlier tonight....and I MISSED IT! She signed posters for folks. DeeDee is another Iditarod musher. I saw her the first year I was up here when the Iditarod came through Unalakleet. At that time, I managed to get one of her dogs' pink booties! Gosh darn it! Oh, well....
Another interruption....but a pleasant one....my son caught me on Skype. He's in turmoil about his decision to walk or not walk the Pacific Crest Trail in the spring. As you will remember, he walked the Appalachian Trail last year. He has some valid reasons for hesitating but I believe he will, someday, hike the PCT.
Back to my blog post....
I got through February....and then March, April, and part of May to the end of my second year of school. May was....interesting! I was notified by my daughter that she would, in fact, be graduating on May 11...one week before the end of my school year. This was another one of those "no brainer" decisions....I had to get home for her graduation. It had been such a long haul for her and she finally was going to earn her degree. Consequently, off I flew to Michigan and when I landed in Detroit, we (my daughter, her boyfriend and I) immediately drove to Sterling Heights to see my 97-year-old aunt who had fallen, broken her hip, and ended up in a nursing home. The message I had received while in the Seattle airport was that she wasn't doing well and we should really get up to see her...as in now. I believe she knew we were there but it's hard to tell. The interesting thing is that her only surviving sibling, 95-year-old Uncle Bob, went to see her the next day and she perked right up. My sister, Connie, and I were able to stop by the nursing home after Jessica's graduation in Saginaw....but she was sleeping. Sadly, not long after this visit, Aunt Lue was up out of bed and fell again, breaking her leg. She underwent more surgery and it became a downhill slide.
On May 14, I returned to Shishmaref to finish off the last four days of school. I left the village on May 21 for the summer....with snow still on the ground! I met up with my daughter and her boyfriend (Jessica and Chris) in Anchorage where we did some sightseeing. We then flew to Portland, Oregon. The way my daughter described it was, "Michigan is beautiful....but Oregon is like Michigan on steroids!" Unbelievable....intensely beautiful.....words cannot begin to describe what we saw.
From there, we flew back to Michigan towards the end of May. I spent a night with my daughter and Chris before heading to Coopersville (west of Grand Rapids) for another night's visit with my oldest sister. The next day, Connie drove me to Muskegon in order to board the Lake Express ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was met there by another sister, Shirley and her hubby, Mark. I spent time in Beaver Dam before Shirley and I took off for East Jordan. We took our time driving through the Upper Peninsula checking out the Lake Superior shoreline and waterfalls.
On our final leg of the trip home in June, we received a phone call that our dear Aunt Lucille had passed away. We were thinking that we'd be headed to the Detroit area for the funeral but the family decided to have the burial back in East Jordan where she could be laid to rest next to her son and other family members. Rest In Peace, Aunt Lue...one very incredible woman.
http://wujekcalcaterra.tributes.com/show/Edith-Lucille-Nowland-95966776
My sister, Shirley, eventually left to go back to Wisconsin. I immediately got on the phone to start scheduling doctor and dentist appointments. I also started my "bush shopping" which led to lots of packing and shipping. My summer sped by at that point. I am happy to say that I did get to visit some dear friends, including my friend with that crappy cancer issue. She's the reason I went home at Christmas and at that time, I didn't get to see her because of my crappy (literally) C-diff. Anyway, we had a very nice visit.
As for my medical appointments, I was able to get an MRI done on that "knee issue" of mine...and yes, it's a torn meniscus. And no, I did not have time to get anything done about it other than to have it confirmed. I'm going into another year with dealing with the pain and discomfort. What the heck...we bush teachers are tough! The doctor is planning to get me scheduled for surgery as soon as I get back to Michigan next May.
The end of July came quickly. My son, Dan, traveled first to Wisconsin with me. We, too, checked out a number of Upper Peninsula waterfalls on our way to Beaver Dam. On July 30, my sister and her hubby drove us to Chicago O'Hare to catch a plane to Anchorage. We then did some sightseeing north and south of Anchorage, including a drive down the Kenai Peninsula to Soldotna and the City of Kenai. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!! The highlight probably was our trip to the top of Mt. Alyeska in Girdwood. The view was incredible. I need to come up with some different adjectives! Dan had been struggling with the decision whether or not to walk the Pacific Crest Trail beginning next April. After going to the top of Mt. Alyeska, he decided he should do it. OH....FUNNY! I just realized I'm repeating myself because I've had so many disruptions throughout this blog that I've lost track of what I've already written. Ha! Doesn't matter....I have more to add here....from Dan's Skype call tonight. Speaking of Skype, my sister, Connie, kept trying to Skype me right during one of my teacher sessions today....and I had to cut her off twice. There are some interruptions I can't allow!!! Anyway, Dan called and is still in turmoil about his decision to hike the PCT in April or to wait. He does have some financial obligations to deal with right now. He'll make the right decision...whatever it turns out to be.
Continuing, we flew from Anchorage to Nome and stayed overnight before flying into Shishmaref on August 3rd. Not much to say about that short leg of the trip....other than we were delayed in leaving Nome because of the weather. We eventually made it.
Dan's stay in Shishmaref was definitely an eye-opener. He enjoyed meeting the people and seeing what I do and where I live during the school year. He helped me set up my house again and with Warren's help, he hauled our first tankful of water. Ken took him on an evening boat ride (it's still light late) up one of the rivers and he saw a herd of musk ox. He also had the chance to eat Eskimo food (black meat in seal oil). That was "an experience" to be remembered. Warren got quite a kick out of the results....and we'll leave it at that.
Dan flew out on August 6th and I flew to Unalakleet on August 7th. The weather for Dan was questionable. His flight was weather-delayed (again) due to fog. He eventually made it out though and made all his connections to California where he met up with a friend from several years ago living in California. As for my trip on the 7th, it wasn't weather-delayed but there was a bit of a snafu in which plane I was booked on....actually, that happened to Dan the day before, too.....but it all worked out for both of us. My flight was on the District plane...first time. The weather was quite nice for my flight which I appreciated because we did what's called "the milk run" where we stopped in four more villages to pick up folks headed to the inservice. I saw Teller (and Brevig Mission which is right across the bay), Elim, White Mountain, and Golovin before landing in Unalakleet.
We leave tomorrow....and I WILL post this tonight. I may try to come back later to add some pictures for enhancement of my stories! Earlier this summer, I realized I had taken over 7,500 pictures so far. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Given the amount I write and the pictures I have....whew....I could write volumes.
WHICH....brings up another thought....speaking of volumes! When I was in Portland, Oregon in May, one of our stops was to Powell's Books....a four-story bookstore filled with new and used books. I saw a very rare book worth $12,500 or some such price. To think I complain about the $10.00 I sometimes have to pay for a paperback if I want it badly enough not to wait for a resale shop visit!
Another highlight of our Portland trip was a visit to Voodoo Doughnuts. If you are in Portland, it's a must....even though you will encounter long lines that literally wrap around the block...no kidding! (http://voodoodoughnut.com/index.php)
The absolute BEST part of the trip to Portland was visiting both the Chinese Gardens and the Japanese Gardens. Both have some of the most ornamental plants and flowers you could ever hope to view. I think I would have to call the Japanese Gardens my favorite. Put them both on your "must-see" list if you ever get to Portland.
Ok...I have to call it quits. It's pushing 10:50 p.m. Most of you know I tend to stay up rather late but it just so happens that I am "bunked" in a classroom of 13 woman....sleeping on cots and air mattresses. We try to adhere to "lights out" and quiet time rules. We get up relatively early tomorrow morning for packing and one more session before we are all scheduled to fly out to our respective villages throughout the afternoon.
Good night from the land of the midnight sun! I'm sure I'll have many more adventures to share in the days/months ahead.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
I'm Baaaack!
It's January 25, 2013. Yes, I have reasons for not having written in my blog in so long (October, 2012) and yes, you're going to hear them!
I have been sick....very, very sick! That's one excuse. In fact, I'm still in Michigan at this point. More on this later.
I have been busy....very, very busy....and that's the truth!!!
So...first the busy part. I reread my post from October. I am teaching (or had been...and will be again soon) third graders in the "big school" as opposed to the ECE job I had last year. Now don't get me wrong, teaching little preschoolers keeps you hopping, too. In fact, at the end of last year, my knee was in serious pain because of all the activity in ECE. During the summer back home (Michigan), it looked like it may be a torn meniscus but there was no time to do anything about it other than physical therapy sessions before returning to Shishmaref. I'm happy to say that the switch to a classroom of older kids has eased the stress on my knee. It did, however, open up a new level of stress....learning a brand new curriculum and a way of teaching that I have not had to do in my over thirty years of teaching. It has been a whole new learning experience for me. In addition, I have a student teacher (intern) in my classroom this year which brought on lots of paperwork, etc. My student teacher is a sweetheart though.
Truly, I have been so busy that finding time to add to my blog was not easy. Also, for some reason, I couldn't access my blog when I tried and I didn't have the patience to figure out what was wrong. That's a whole different story and as you can see, I am able to access it right now.
Let me tell you about my illness....an interesting story for sure!!! But it's also a serious story. I'm half-tempted to post it by itself with a title of "WARNING! C-DIFF!" If you are a follower of my blog, please share this info with your family and friends.
The illness started rearing (appropriate word choice being that it had a lot to do with my rear) its ugly head on December 19 in Shishmaref with a grumbling gut and bouts of diarrhea on the last day of school before Christmas break. Fortunately, it was a half day and we were having an easy, fun morning planned. It was fortunate, too, in that I have some great people working in my room and they were able to basically run the show as I continued to go downhill fast.
That afternoon, I made it back to my house to pack for my Christmas vacation back home in Michigan. Believe me, it was a struggle. I knew I was getting sick but I thought it was the "run-of-the-mill" stuff that goes back and forth in Shishmaref all the time. I made it to Nome that evening and to the hotel which was the plan as I had had trouble getting connecting flights out since most of the bush teachers try to get out for Christmas all at the same time.
A little side note here....I originally planned to stay in Shishmaref over Christmas break because of the awesome experience I had last year with the festivities in the village. But in October, I had received a message from a dear friend back home informing me that her cancer had returned for the second time. Done deal...I was going home to spend some time with her! Keep this information in the back of your head!
So, I am in Nome for the night where I can get FOOD from restaurants (no offense, Dennis....I still love Snack Shack). I walk down the road a bit to Subway for a chicken teriyaki sub and chips and pop. Gosh, it still sounded good even though my stomach was flip-flopping. Being away from food like that will do that to you....not the flip-flopping....the strong desire to partake.
Oh, wait! Let me tell you about what happened on the plane out of Shishmaref first....it's always an adventure. The Assistant Principal at school was in Anchorage because she was about to deliver her baby. When locals are "with child", they are required to fly out of the village a month or so before delivery to wait in a hospital or nearby. Arrangements were made to fly her dog out to some people in Nome to take care of it while she was in Anchorage. The dog was boarded on the plane in a kennel right behind my seat. These planes are small...7 to 8 passengers. Before leaving, I had a conversation with one of the dog's family members (human). He told me the dog's name was Sprinter. So Sprinter is in the kennel right behind my seat....and he's not happy! He struggled in the kennel for awhile and then all of a sudden, I feel something brush my leg....and there was Sprinter starting down the aisle of the plane. "Oh, no, you don't, Sprinter!" I grabbed his collar and put my leg across the aisle to the empty chair and held onto him for the rest of the flight into Nome. He was a nice dog, thank goodness! He didn't seem too mad that I wouldn't let him go sit with the pilot!!! I'm glad I knew his name because I just kept saying, "You're ok, Sprinter, you're ok!"
Back to Nome and Subway....I got my sandwich to the hotel room and ate half of it and the chips. Soon after, I was in the bathroom for the first of many trips that night. Now I'm still thinking it's just the simple crud and I also ate lettuce which I'm not used to and that's all it was.....ha! We tend to deny reality, don't we? That night, I spiked a high fever....no thermometer....but fever blisters broke out on my mouth and I was up every hour on the hour running to the bathroom in agony. The crazy part about it is that I was actually very comfortable climbing back into that bed each time because it was so incredibly warm and comfy....from my high temps. I probably was delirious!!!
I'm looking back on this and wondering how the heck did I make it!!!
I ran a couple errands before heading out the next morning to the Nome airport to catch the next portion of my flights out. I even had bought some antidiarrheal medicine thinking I might need it. But things seemed to be letting up so I packed them in my checked bag which I wouldn't see again until Detroit the next night. You guessed it...I got worse...and didn't have the medication. Oh, well...at that point, I'm not giving a friggin' fig leaf!
The next part of my flight took me to Unalakleet. Normally, people fly from Nome to Anchorage but again, when I booked my flights, I had a heck of a time getting connections. Flying from Nome to Unalakleet (which is also the home of the Bering Strait School District offices) to Anchorage meant a couple of other short stops before finally reaching the big city. I am happy to say that the pilot announced that we were going directly to Unalakleet first because of our delay in leaving Nome and some of us had a connecting flight to catch. In Unalakleet, I met up with several teachers from around the BSSD flying out. I sort of sat back quietly in the crowd because I really wasn't feeling too great at that point. Here's an interesting side note....behind the counter was Ferno Tweto of "Flying Wild Alaska" fame. She was busy marking luggage and hauling it out to the holding area. Upon boarding the plane, I was told that the pilot was Jim Tweto. Their daughter, Ariel, has been an interesting person to watch in the series. She's also often been on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show.
I made it to Anchorage where I stripped off my cold weather duds we are required to wear when leaving bush villages. I packed it all in my suitcase and headed out to check in and to find a bathroom as soon as possible! Boy, I'm still amazed, looking back, how I made it back to Michigan. I ran into another migrating teacher and we walked awhile looking for a particular store my daughter wanted me to find for a print of a raven she had seen back in August. If it hadn't been for my friend, I wouldn't have found the store...but we had a successful walk! We parted ways and I went to find a McDonald's because at this point, I was still trying to eat even though it wasn't settling well. I knew I had a long night ahead of me. I didn't even finish my fries....that should have alerted me that something was way not right!!! I was able to find a row of unoccupied seats and sprawled out.
From Anchorage, I made it to Seattle. In the wee hours of the morning, I finally found a wooden bench in a small bathroom and camped out until my next flight. I have to tell you that even though I felt incredibly bad at this point, as I was finishing up in yet another bathroom, who should appear but my good buddy, Amy, from White Mountain. We have the craziest ways of meeting up with each other throughout our Alaskan travels. She introduced me to her fiancé and their little boy. Oh, that was so nice! But I quickly excused myself because I needed the bathroom....again.
From Seattle, I landed in Chicago where I had been hearing horror stories of the bad weather and cancelled flights. It was weird but there really was very little snow on the ground as we landed. There were issues in the airport though with people trying to work their way through rescheduled flights. My flight was delayed while waiting for the plane to arrive from who knows where.
So....I FINALLY got to Detroit on Friday night....about 48 hours after leaving Shishmaref. My daughter and her honey and my "grand puppy" picked me up. You know, if there's a saving grace in all this....the vomiting didn't start until I got to my daughter's house in Tecumseh. The next day, we started out for East Jordan...a four to five hour drive north. I know we had to stop a few times along the way but by now, my memory is fuzzy as to how we made it home. I was in agony. It was now December 22.
I continued the "both end events" until December 26. At that point, I'm still thinking I "just had" some sort of crazy flu from Shishmaref and also not realizing that I could have seen the doctor prior to this despite it being Christmas in there. But...GOOD NEWS...I was able to go to the doctor (in sheer agony at this point), eagerly leaving a stool specimen and being called that very night with the verdict. You see, back in Shishmaref, remember that EVERYTHING has to be flown out and in. Yup, the specimen would have had to be flown to Nome and the meds would have had to be flown back....all weather-permitting. Here in Michigan, I was on meds that very night and I now knew what I had....Clostridium difficile....C-diff for short. There will be some of you out there that when you read that, you will know from experience what that is and say, "Oh, my gosh! How did she make it from Shishmaref to Detroit to East Jordan (over 3,100 miles) and live to tell about it?" For those of you not familiar with it, please, please, please check out the following link because people need to have some awareness of this horrendous malady: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/DS00736.
Thus, the first round of meds began....10 days of Flagyl. What caused this? I say this with caution because I am NOT laying any blame. It could have happened anywhere. It was NOT because I was in Shishmaref. In November, I had some dental problems and was prescribed Clindamycin. Again, consult the link on C-diff because as it turns out, Clindamycin is only one of several meds that can do what happened to me...but Clindamycin is high on the list. It killed off the good bacteria in my intestinal tract allowing the bad stuff (C-diff) to take control. Some people are natural carriers of C-diff and I have no idea if I may be one of those people. In any event, C-diff became a part of my life. As I said, by Dec. 19, I was already getting sick. On Dec. 26, I was diagnosed and put on meds. The first round ended on Jan. 5....the day I was supposed to be returning to Alaska. Of course, at that point, I was already grounded by the doctor and plans were being worked out back in Shishmaref for a sub to take over in my room. I must mention that the Assistant Principal who was then in Anchorage waiting to download her baby....was making those arrangements while walking the aisles of a store trying to speed up her labor pains! What a woman!! She later delivered a healthy beautiful baby girl!
So, the first round ended on Jan. 5 and on Jan. 9, I was in the endodontist's chair having the original problem dental work taken care of. I was becoming uncomfortably aware at that point that I wasn't out of the woods with this C-diff business. The first round of meds did not do the trick and it was returning with a vengeance while I was 30 miles from home. I wasted no time in driving myself directly back to the doctor's office in tears where I was immediately put on another 21 days of Flagyl. I made it home and collapsed on the couch...again.
Where do I stand at this point on January 25th? I am most of the way through the second round of meds. I am now on a probiotic that I had two other people scouring the northern and southern parts of Michigan for enough boxes of it to take back with me to Shishmaref. I also had to pick up a heavy-duty medication that I have to take back with me and catch this....honest to God and thank goodness for prescription insurance....the 58 pills that I have for the "just in case" scenario (which we won't know until I'm done with this second round of pills) cost me $36. Without insurance....those 58 pills would have cost $1705.99! There's no way in heck people can afford that....come on!
I am scheduled to leave Detroit on Jan. 31 and arrive back in Shishmaref the following evening. That's the quickest I've ever been able to schedule connecting flights so I am pleased. Plus, what I had to pay back in October for this Christmas adventure was rather steep and my rescheduled flights are about half that. I will have money on my "account" for my spring flight out.
Oh, I also want to go back to the original reason I was coming home at Christmas...to see my dear friend with the cancer. As it turned out, I could not see her...first because of my own illness that kept me somewhat in isolation and then because her second round of chemo began on Jan. 8 and she can no longer be around people. We have emailed and talked on the phone though. I have thanked her because, if it had not been for her, I would not have been down here in Michigan where I have gotten quick medical care for this situation. Ironic, isn't it? Please keep my friend in your prayers.
One more added bit of "humor" to this otherwise discouraging illness....if I'm not cured...and this is a very hard thing to kill....there is treatment whereby healthy family members can donate their feces to be injected into my intestinal tract to build up the good bacteria. Hmmm....I've had one family member ask if his "donation" is tax-deductible!
How about if I post this and start working on another entry about the three polar bears recently caught in the village and the lack of snow in Shishmaref that has everyone wondering and the Eskimo dance that my students presented at the Christmas program...and...and....and...!!!
I'll be baaaack!
I have been sick....very, very sick! That's one excuse. In fact, I'm still in Michigan at this point. More on this later.
I have been busy....very, very busy....and that's the truth!!!
So...first the busy part. I reread my post from October. I am teaching (or had been...and will be again soon) third graders in the "big school" as opposed to the ECE job I had last year. Now don't get me wrong, teaching little preschoolers keeps you hopping, too. In fact, at the end of last year, my knee was in serious pain because of all the activity in ECE. During the summer back home (Michigan), it looked like it may be a torn meniscus but there was no time to do anything about it other than physical therapy sessions before returning to Shishmaref. I'm happy to say that the switch to a classroom of older kids has eased the stress on my knee. It did, however, open up a new level of stress....learning a brand new curriculum and a way of teaching that I have not had to do in my over thirty years of teaching. It has been a whole new learning experience for me. In addition, I have a student teacher (intern) in my classroom this year which brought on lots of paperwork, etc. My student teacher is a sweetheart though.
Truly, I have been so busy that finding time to add to my blog was not easy. Also, for some reason, I couldn't access my blog when I tried and I didn't have the patience to figure out what was wrong. That's a whole different story and as you can see, I am able to access it right now.
Let me tell you about my illness....an interesting story for sure!!! But it's also a serious story. I'm half-tempted to post it by itself with a title of "WARNING! C-DIFF!" If you are a follower of my blog, please share this info with your family and friends.
The illness started rearing (appropriate word choice being that it had a lot to do with my rear) its ugly head on December 19 in Shishmaref with a grumbling gut and bouts of diarrhea on the last day of school before Christmas break. Fortunately, it was a half day and we were having an easy, fun morning planned. It was fortunate, too, in that I have some great people working in my room and they were able to basically run the show as I continued to go downhill fast.
That afternoon, I made it back to my house to pack for my Christmas vacation back home in Michigan. Believe me, it was a struggle. I knew I was getting sick but I thought it was the "run-of-the-mill" stuff that goes back and forth in Shishmaref all the time. I made it to Nome that evening and to the hotel which was the plan as I had had trouble getting connecting flights out since most of the bush teachers try to get out for Christmas all at the same time.
A little side note here....I originally planned to stay in Shishmaref over Christmas break because of the awesome experience I had last year with the festivities in the village. But in October, I had received a message from a dear friend back home informing me that her cancer had returned for the second time. Done deal...I was going home to spend some time with her! Keep this information in the back of your head!
So, I am in Nome for the night where I can get FOOD from restaurants (no offense, Dennis....I still love Snack Shack). I walk down the road a bit to Subway for a chicken teriyaki sub and chips and pop. Gosh, it still sounded good even though my stomach was flip-flopping. Being away from food like that will do that to you....not the flip-flopping....the strong desire to partake.
Oh, wait! Let me tell you about what happened on the plane out of Shishmaref first....it's always an adventure. The Assistant Principal at school was in Anchorage because she was about to deliver her baby. When locals are "with child", they are required to fly out of the village a month or so before delivery to wait in a hospital or nearby. Arrangements were made to fly her dog out to some people in Nome to take care of it while she was in Anchorage. The dog was boarded on the plane in a kennel right behind my seat. These planes are small...7 to 8 passengers. Before leaving, I had a conversation with one of the dog's family members (human). He told me the dog's name was Sprinter. So Sprinter is in the kennel right behind my seat....and he's not happy! He struggled in the kennel for awhile and then all of a sudden, I feel something brush my leg....and there was Sprinter starting down the aisle of the plane. "Oh, no, you don't, Sprinter!" I grabbed his collar and put my leg across the aisle to the empty chair and held onto him for the rest of the flight into Nome. He was a nice dog, thank goodness! He didn't seem too mad that I wouldn't let him go sit with the pilot!!! I'm glad I knew his name because I just kept saying, "You're ok, Sprinter, you're ok!"
Back to Nome and Subway....I got my sandwich to the hotel room and ate half of it and the chips. Soon after, I was in the bathroom for the first of many trips that night. Now I'm still thinking it's just the simple crud and I also ate lettuce which I'm not used to and that's all it was.....ha! We tend to deny reality, don't we? That night, I spiked a high fever....no thermometer....but fever blisters broke out on my mouth and I was up every hour on the hour running to the bathroom in agony. The crazy part about it is that I was actually very comfortable climbing back into that bed each time because it was so incredibly warm and comfy....from my high temps. I probably was delirious!!!
I'm looking back on this and wondering how the heck did I make it!!!
I ran a couple errands before heading out the next morning to the Nome airport to catch the next portion of my flights out. I even had bought some antidiarrheal medicine thinking I might need it. But things seemed to be letting up so I packed them in my checked bag which I wouldn't see again until Detroit the next night. You guessed it...I got worse...and didn't have the medication. Oh, well...at that point, I'm not giving a friggin' fig leaf!
The next part of my flight took me to Unalakleet. Normally, people fly from Nome to Anchorage but again, when I booked my flights, I had a heck of a time getting connections. Flying from Nome to Unalakleet (which is also the home of the Bering Strait School District offices) to Anchorage meant a couple of other short stops before finally reaching the big city. I am happy to say that the pilot announced that we were going directly to Unalakleet first because of our delay in leaving Nome and some of us had a connecting flight to catch. In Unalakleet, I met up with several teachers from around the BSSD flying out. I sort of sat back quietly in the crowd because I really wasn't feeling too great at that point. Here's an interesting side note....behind the counter was Ferno Tweto of "Flying Wild Alaska" fame. She was busy marking luggage and hauling it out to the holding area. Upon boarding the plane, I was told that the pilot was Jim Tweto. Their daughter, Ariel, has been an interesting person to watch in the series. She's also often been on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show.
I made it to Anchorage where I stripped off my cold weather duds we are required to wear when leaving bush villages. I packed it all in my suitcase and headed out to check in and to find a bathroom as soon as possible! Boy, I'm still amazed, looking back, how I made it back to Michigan. I ran into another migrating teacher and we walked awhile looking for a particular store my daughter wanted me to find for a print of a raven she had seen back in August. If it hadn't been for my friend, I wouldn't have found the store...but we had a successful walk! We parted ways and I went to find a McDonald's because at this point, I was still trying to eat even though it wasn't settling well. I knew I had a long night ahead of me. I didn't even finish my fries....that should have alerted me that something was way not right!!! I was able to find a row of unoccupied seats and sprawled out.
From Anchorage, I made it to Seattle. In the wee hours of the morning, I finally found a wooden bench in a small bathroom and camped out until my next flight. I have to tell you that even though I felt incredibly bad at this point, as I was finishing up in yet another bathroom, who should appear but my good buddy, Amy, from White Mountain. We have the craziest ways of meeting up with each other throughout our Alaskan travels. She introduced me to her fiancé and their little boy. Oh, that was so nice! But I quickly excused myself because I needed the bathroom....again.
From Seattle, I landed in Chicago where I had been hearing horror stories of the bad weather and cancelled flights. It was weird but there really was very little snow on the ground as we landed. There were issues in the airport though with people trying to work their way through rescheduled flights. My flight was delayed while waiting for the plane to arrive from who knows where.
So....I FINALLY got to Detroit on Friday night....about 48 hours after leaving Shishmaref. My daughter and her honey and my "grand puppy" picked me up. You know, if there's a saving grace in all this....the vomiting didn't start until I got to my daughter's house in Tecumseh. The next day, we started out for East Jordan...a four to five hour drive north. I know we had to stop a few times along the way but by now, my memory is fuzzy as to how we made it home. I was in agony. It was now December 22.
I continued the "both end events" until December 26. At that point, I'm still thinking I "just had" some sort of crazy flu from Shishmaref and also not realizing that I could have seen the doctor prior to this despite it being Christmas in there. But...GOOD NEWS...I was able to go to the doctor (in sheer agony at this point), eagerly leaving a stool specimen and being called that very night with the verdict. You see, back in Shishmaref, remember that EVERYTHING has to be flown out and in. Yup, the specimen would have had to be flown to Nome and the meds would have had to be flown back....all weather-permitting. Here in Michigan, I was on meds that very night and I now knew what I had....Clostridium difficile....C-diff for short. There will be some of you out there that when you read that, you will know from experience what that is and say, "Oh, my gosh! How did she make it from Shishmaref to Detroit to East Jordan (over 3,100 miles) and live to tell about it?" For those of you not familiar with it, please, please, please check out the following link because people need to have some awareness of this horrendous malady: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/DS00736.
Thus, the first round of meds began....10 days of Flagyl. What caused this? I say this with caution because I am NOT laying any blame. It could have happened anywhere. It was NOT because I was in Shishmaref. In November, I had some dental problems and was prescribed Clindamycin. Again, consult the link on C-diff because as it turns out, Clindamycin is only one of several meds that can do what happened to me...but Clindamycin is high on the list. It killed off the good bacteria in my intestinal tract allowing the bad stuff (C-diff) to take control. Some people are natural carriers of C-diff and I have no idea if I may be one of those people. In any event, C-diff became a part of my life. As I said, by Dec. 19, I was already getting sick. On Dec. 26, I was diagnosed and put on meds. The first round ended on Jan. 5....the day I was supposed to be returning to Alaska. Of course, at that point, I was already grounded by the doctor and plans were being worked out back in Shishmaref for a sub to take over in my room. I must mention that the Assistant Principal who was then in Anchorage waiting to download her baby....was making those arrangements while walking the aisles of a store trying to speed up her labor pains! What a woman!! She later delivered a healthy beautiful baby girl!
So, the first round ended on Jan. 5 and on Jan. 9, I was in the endodontist's chair having the original problem dental work taken care of. I was becoming uncomfortably aware at that point that I wasn't out of the woods with this C-diff business. The first round of meds did not do the trick and it was returning with a vengeance while I was 30 miles from home. I wasted no time in driving myself directly back to the doctor's office in tears where I was immediately put on another 21 days of Flagyl. I made it home and collapsed on the couch...again.
Where do I stand at this point on January 25th? I am most of the way through the second round of meds. I am now on a probiotic that I had two other people scouring the northern and southern parts of Michigan for enough boxes of it to take back with me to Shishmaref. I also had to pick up a heavy-duty medication that I have to take back with me and catch this....honest to God and thank goodness for prescription insurance....the 58 pills that I have for the "just in case" scenario (which we won't know until I'm done with this second round of pills) cost me $36. Without insurance....those 58 pills would have cost $1705.99! There's no way in heck people can afford that....come on!
I am scheduled to leave Detroit on Jan. 31 and arrive back in Shishmaref the following evening. That's the quickest I've ever been able to schedule connecting flights so I am pleased. Plus, what I had to pay back in October for this Christmas adventure was rather steep and my rescheduled flights are about half that. I will have money on my "account" for my spring flight out.
Oh, I also want to go back to the original reason I was coming home at Christmas...to see my dear friend with the cancer. As it turned out, I could not see her...first because of my own illness that kept me somewhat in isolation and then because her second round of chemo began on Jan. 8 and she can no longer be around people. We have emailed and talked on the phone though. I have thanked her because, if it had not been for her, I would not have been down here in Michigan where I have gotten quick medical care for this situation. Ironic, isn't it? Please keep my friend in your prayers.
One more added bit of "humor" to this otherwise discouraging illness....if I'm not cured...and this is a very hard thing to kill....there is treatment whereby healthy family members can donate their feces to be injected into my intestinal tract to build up the good bacteria. Hmmm....I've had one family member ask if his "donation" is tax-deductible!
How about if I post this and start working on another entry about the three polar bears recently caught in the village and the lack of snow in Shishmaref that has everyone wondering and the Eskimo dance that my students presented at the Christmas program...and...and....and...!!!
I'll be baaaack!
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