Monday, October 1, 2007

Sobering

Wow, Meagan, that's a sobering article. I knew I shouldn't look, but I had to.

The job market has hijacked my dissertation (as I think I've mentioned) and my writing sample still needs quite a bit of work. I've been a little side tracked by some non-academic stuff: primarily a ruptured disc in my lower back. I found out last week that I'm going to need back surgery -- I'm mildly freaked about the surgery itself, but also freaked about the recovery time: 4-6 weeks. As ALL of you know, I can't take 4-6 weeks off. Can you imagine? I mean, if I could take a 6 week vacation where the world basically stopped so that deadlines weren't creeping up, I'd be all for it. If I ever find a way to make that happen, y'all will be the first to know. Until then, I'm hoping that after a week recovery time I'll be able to get back to work, but I need to get that writing sample done before the surgery.

Granted, I've been saying that for a few weeks now. Gotta get my butt in gear here people. Butt in gear.

3 comments:

chris said...

please, be careful! we all understand the urgency of the job market and the demands of deadlines. but your health is not something to mess around with. if the docs say 4-6 weeks, i hardly think that a week of recovery will suffice.

Anonymous said...

Take care, Abby. Chris is right: your health is so much more important than any deadline. And one week? I can't imagine that would be enough. Sending you tons o'good vibes.

Abby said...

Thanks both for your thoughts and concerns. I should be more specific. I'm supposed to be up and walking a bit in the first week and then up and walking more and more after that. I absolutely don't plan to head back to work in a week -- I just think I can probably stuff a few envelopes. I'm trying to get everything done and printed so that, after a week in bed, I can literally put paper in envelopes and feel like I'm actually doing something. Does that make sense?

I'm hoping to be able to do short periods of typing after a week or two, but nothing major. I certainly won't be back to full speed for at least a month, but it's important for recovery that I don't just stay in bed for a month.

But don't worry, I'm lazy by nature. I certainly won't push too hard! :)