Gentle hug and a blessing muji..... You must be exhausted.... I hope you're able to get a good rest tonight and that the pain will subside ..... Can you take a prn to help with sleep?... I know you don't take anything regularly......Another hug......xo

It sounds overwhelming. If only there were a way to cancel or postpone ... but I know you don't do things like that.

I sometimes picture myself on the other side of something threatening or overwhelming, looking back on it. That gives me some kind of release from the pressure of looking ahead to it.

I hope you get a deep, peaceful sleep tonight. Jan's suggestion about the prn sounds good to me.

i wonder if there may be a way to welcome and intro the guest and slip away for a bit of rest some how? (secretly hide a sleepin spot someplace.... a big leather couch)

it is dreadful the way the day played out for you, i'm sorry it hurt you so.

I think considering the day and all that had happened,you deserve to know that you did well and got everyone home. (including yourself) Awful day,sorry to know this

I have recently been not able to do some of the things I used to do,because of some recent health issues. So dealing with health issues I can relate to with you. You work,every day, and that with all you have been through its takes heart and spirit and help from friends. So I am your ds friend,and I am encouraging you to continue to do what you can to nurture/care for yourself to help you cope with all the demands and expectations that are in place where you work.
That you can gain strength in moments through out your day.

The mother in me wants to call in sick for you tomorrow and let you de-stress. Life doesn't work that way does it? Commitments suck when you're going through all this so all I'm going to say is when this week is over please do some much needed self care and de-stressing. Auto pilot strength sent your way.

Im sorry muji. Gentle hugs. Good luck for today.

Maybe time to consider using a wheelchair when one is available and you'd otherwise have to do a lot of walking?

Gentle hugs, I hope that you were able to get some sleep.

Sending a gentle stream of healing hopes your way, Muji.

AAAAAAYYYYYYCHI MaMa!!!! Pobrecito!!

Easy does it

i'm so sorry,muji.

(((((( hugs )))))

I'm so sorry Mujica. I understand, before I stopped working, the last couple years I worked I was in soo much pain & running a restaurant. Having to worry about & take care of everyone around you while you're in such pain & all you wanna do is cry out your pain & have someone else take care of everything is so tough. I commend you for your bravery & I really hope some of your pain subsides.
I hope your day goes by easier & you get to relax a little after ........ do something extra nice for yourself when it's all done
Sending support & healing hugs <3

Thanks, everybody. I slept for 10 hours last night, I was really tired. I am so glad I (1) applied to another job and (2) decided on early retirement if I don't get it. It's not a decision I made in anger, but because on the way home I had a chance to chat with my two colleagues on the bus in the midst of the crisis. They are part time adjuncts, not full time instructors like me.

They filled me in on their personal experiences with how administrators are in such a budget bind nowadays that they can't bring adjuncts like them on full time to lighten the load of full timers like me. So full timers like me are expected to pull constant overloads to make up for budget shortfalls.

In August I already invoked my PTSD diagnosis for ADA accommodation to stop the overloads. My contract says I'm supposed to teach 5 courses per semester, and for 6 years I've taught 6 to 8 instead. In fact, when I drew the line under ADA law in August to teach a normal 5 course load, the instructor who was called in to teach the 6th extra overload course in my place now is, in fact, one of the two part time adjunct instructors I was speaking to on the bus last night.

But it's not enough, obviously. As the only full time instructor on this trip, all of the responsibility fell on me or we'd all be stranded in DC still today. The bus driver turned to me when the bus broke down. As the only full time instructor on the bus, it was I who called ahead and got another full time instructor to come meet us in a college van and escort us back in to the college.

The way out of the excess stress for my PTSD is another job elsewhere with an original lower teaching load (the one I applied to is for teaching 4 per semester) or early retirement. Yesterday confirmed that's not just a feeling, it's the reality of the situation.

I want to echo Knee Deeps first part. "I think considering the day and all that had happened,you deserve to know that you did well and got everyone home. (including yourself) Awful day,sorry to know this "
What happened would test anyone in stress induced anxiety, but you did it. I have had a few professors now that may nave become befuddles as to what to do, and they don't have the reasons or health concerns you do.
Maybe a doable suggestion, since you know that having student participate in teaching helps them understand the subject more. Lost areas of experience to be used for extra credit. Whether it is a chapter or defined activity, and have the student be a facilitator for the day.
For example in the guest speaker, have the student research the speakers experience and how it pertains to the class curriculum. Essay on the information for those that volunteer, with points, and choose one to do the role with extra points. Then let them be the introduction and assistant for the speaker that day. This would assist them in communication and leadership roles as well as confidence in the material and operational structures. It would also help other students see that the subject is a matter of learning the basics to achieve a goal.

Hugs and support Muji. Because of our age and disabilities this mortality thing is a constant, but not a deterrent in how we are as people, just how we achieve what we need to do.
Do you have a teaching student assistant?

No, no teaching assistant, our community college is the poorest in the state so it is trying to make ends meet with overloads on instructors like me, which I could do every year until this one.

Thanks for congratulating me on getting everybody home last night.

Tonight what I'm proud of is that I got the guest speaker's check in my hand. The last time she was our guest speaker my college didn't pay her for 3 months after she'd given her speech. It was embarrassing, so when the fiscal year began this past July 1st, I started the paperwork that very day so I'd have the check in hand this time. It's not my job as an instructor, it's administration's job, but so what? I have the check in hand.

Now that I got the students home and I got the guest paid, I'd really like to make today my retirement day so I could quit while I'm ahead, but I've got 2 and 1/2 years to go....

Holy cow, Muji..... what a crazy day. I, too, want to congratulate you on getting everyone back. That would have been too much for me to handle. I think you are smart for looking elsewhere. If the school can't meet your needs then you won't be able to meet theirs, so what's the point in sticking around. I can't believe you managed to pull off hosting a guest speaker too. Here, here, Mujica!

I’m so sorry, I completely know how that goes. I personally stay away from those things because it makes me extremely angry because I was at war for 4 tours (4 years each). And that’s why I have a service dog to keep me from having a panic attack. But the thing is that the students need to learn it to know the history and why it’s important.

And congrats on getting everyone back that sounds like a challenge.

Enjoy your evening if your day wasn’t your cup of tea.