stressed

hey everybody...i got some news yesterday from work that has totally thrown me for a loop. first and for most....i HATE change, especially when i am happy with what is and has been going on. well here it goes..... some of you know this about me and some of you dont...but i will catch all of you up;i am a special ed teacher in harlem, nyc. i teach literacy to 5 classes with ages ranging from 5-9. these children are mostly on the autistic spectrum, although there are some with down syndrom, and other with learning disibilty with an unknown etiology. i love this. i work on the alphabet, sight words, practice writing skills, book familiariity, prereading skills, promote and further help hith reading skills already known, etc. of the 5 classes, 1 is really high functioning and their lessons are different and better suited for their abilities. there is also 2 classes that are much lower than the rest. i modify my lessons based on all of their abilities.  anyway, for funding reasons, they had to shut a class down in my school. since that class had only 4 instead of 6, they disbersed 2 kids into two other classes that had low numbers as well. (since this is special ed, classroom sizes are smaller. there is one teacher per 6 kids plus i have at least 2 paras per classroom. some of the kids require a one to one para because of behaviourial reasons and for additional educational help.) since this teacher has been with us for a couple of yrs, they sent him to our main site and now he is in a class there. that left us with one tcher too many. when you shut down a class, a tcher has to go. they wouldnt be fired or anything, just reassigned to a new class in another school when one becomes available. that can happen in a couple days, weeks, etc.... now matt had seniority over a tchr that started this sept. her current class is a very difficult one. she has 12 emotionally distubed kids with learning disabilities. she was just told the other day that she was going to be leaving. obviously, she is not happy. now this is where the fun comes in. they asked one of the the other teachers to take over her class. this girl is not happy about it at all!!! she had her kids for a long time and she loved her present situation. she found this out yesterday and then i got the news that i will be taking over her class...once again, i was not happy about this. dont get me wrong..i love the kids in this class....but i love teaching literacy. i love working with 5 classes with diff children. i havent taught a "homeroom" class before with the board of ed and my prior teaching experiences are so diff from what is being done now. i worked in a specialized autistic school that was not subject based and i worked in a childrens hospital with mdeically fragile little ones where subjects were not taught there either. the curriculum was so diff, testing was so diff, etc. so not only am i no longer goig to be teaching just the subject that i love, i will be taking on so much new stuff to learn and to teach. new subject, new m,aterials, new testing, etc.  for those of you that dont know, special ed is taught very diff. i dont mean to sound like a whiner. this is not going to be an easy taks at all. i will be taken on approx 90% more work than i had before on top of all of the personal stuff i deal with at home.  i walked out yesterday feeling so overwhelmed and stressed. i had such a tightness in my chest. i dont know what to do first. this morning i will be talking to the techer whose class i will be taking over...somebody who i will probably will be talking to  ALOT over the next several days. oh and to make matters worse....but it is understandable, most of the stuff in her room is stuff she paid for with her own money...so it all goes with her!!!! this means i basically have to start from scratch! thank goodness i will have great paras....but still. oh this soooooooooooo sucks. this is way toooooooooooooooooo much of  a change for me.  what i think is messed up, is that as of right now....my vice principal believes in me, more than i believe in myself at the moment. trust me i will be fine. i know what i have to do and i am a good teacher!!!! i just wish my position didnt have to change. what can you do? thanks for reading this long one......