Ah, Maureen: Teachers unite. @rosemarya is also a teacher and an avid hiker. Anyone else? And you will find a shared interest in bird-watching and photography with @johnbishop.

I have enjoyed reading some of your blog posts about patient advocacy and the patient role in participatory medicine. For anyone interested, please see some of Maureen's writing here: http://headandneck.org.nz/members/MaureenJansen

Maureen, you may be interested in fellow blogger @cynaburst writings too https://hcmbeat.com/

🙂

@alpaca, Maureen, I see that you and I have some things in common!

I taught everything imaginable before our boys were born. After they were in school, I was no longer certified, and worked as an assistant with children with learning disabilities and with special needs. I loved doing that, and I began to take classes toward my certification. I was moved to a teaching position with 11-15 year olds. I did that for 5 years.

Then 1 class before my full certification, I chose to retire. My liver disease was beginning to cause some of its bothersome symptoms, and we knew that my disease was progressive with no cure, except maybe a transplant, My husband and I wanted whatever life we had together to be a good memory. That dear sweet man made arrangements, and we were flying to Alaska on the first day of the following school year!
We do enjoy outdoors and hiking together. We do not do overnights. It is interesting that you are in NZ, and that you hike. During one of my post transplant visits to Mayo Rochester, my doctor shared with us her hiking trip in New Zealand.

I am not a bird watcher, but I do get a thrill out of seeing any wildlife. I'm a point and shoot photographer. Once we saw a grisly along a trail in Glacier Nat Park, but chose to get out of there quick and not take a picture.

I would love to hear more about some of your adventures when you have time to write.
Rosemary

Hello Rosemary! No bear, snakes or anything too scary in NZ. I think that's why we hold our birds so dear.

Like you I don't do overnighters any more. Too hard to sleep. However a good long day walk is always a great option. I walked a half marathon around Auckland at night a week ago to raise money for the Cancer Society. A but foolish at my age but I enjoyed it.

We have a track that takes in the length of the country from North to South called Te Araroa, the pathway. It goes mostly through forest and along beaches but includes a little road work. That is a long held dream but I'd need to sleep in style each night.

I found my 40 years of high school English teaching very stimulating but stressful. It's good to be retired although I was hoping to do some substitute teaching to supplement my pension and now I have some trouble speaking and too many scars. Gosh, it was hard to make a total break from it. It gets into your blood. The good thing is that any skills I gained throughout my career have made my cancer advocacy work easier.

Nice to meet you Rosemary.

@alpaca, Thanks for quick reply. I just have to share the following - My doctor did a many day hike (maybe a week?) and it was guided and there were night lodgings with meals each night, She encouraged us to look into it because we, too, told her we did not do overnights. It is just too far away for me to feel comfortable about.

I think my total teaching was 27 years.
Rosemary