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I’m just over 6000 words as of March 7th in my Camp NaNo journey. My goal is 25,000. I’m leaving room for days where I don’t get much if anything done because of brain fog, etc. I’ve already had two days with no progress, but, I did better Thursday, writing about 1200 words. I’m going to give you a sample of my first draft.
Prologue:
“Dr. Bryn, we have another one!” The nurse called, wheeling the stretcher into the exam room.
Dr. Bryn looked over the flailing, writhing patient, the man’s eyes were glazed and panicked, unable to speak or respond, but perfectly aware of what was going on, though he had no control over it. The two worked together, first gently restraining his limbs so they could treat him, and then inserting the IV line, getting the medicine flowing into him. Before long he had calmed, and they released the restraints, the man slept quietly.
“This is the fifth new case this week. We’re going to run out of potion before the month is out at this rate. I’m going to have to contact the Conclave, this is no longer a rare illness. Something has to be causing this sudden increase.” Said Dr. Bryn.
“I hope they can find the source of this problem soon. The wards are filling up, and it is taking longer for people to recover fully, and even then we’ve had a few cases that have relapsed within a year.”
“Get him settled upstairs, and then, if we have time, we’ll pull the case files. I’m going into this meeting prepared, they aren’t going to brush me off again.”
Chapter1:
The tall, blonde woman in an ironed blue blouse, black jacket and flowy black skirt strolled through the chaos of the middle schoolers, her low heels clicking along the hallway as she headed towards her office. First bell would ring in a few minutes and all of the kids would hurry off to homeroom. But first, she moved through them, stopping to encourage one child, chide another, ride herd on a group of bullies who were hunting down some poor kid two grades beneath them, until she finally reached her office. Nodding to the secretary, she entered the door marked "Principal" and set her briefcase down on her desk.
Here things were the opposite of the hallway. Everything was in its place, neat and orderly. Quiet surrounded her. The plaque that stated "Jennifer Kepler, Principal" was centered at the front of her desk. Her laptop, open and ready to be booted up to the left. Her favorite mug: an over sized one with an image of stick figure kids in multi-colors holding hands around the perimeter, was sitting on the coaster on the opposite side. Sinking into the comfortable leather of her chair, she opened her brief case and took out a stack of folders, setting them in the middle of the blotter before setting the case under her desk and booting up the laptop, just as the bell rang out, and the noise in the hallway increased, and then began to subside.
Once the laptop was booted up, she opened the appropriate app, and turned it slightly so she was centered in the eye of the camera, and then she began with the day's announcements. In every class room, a computer monitor lit up with her friendly smile. Her eyes seemed to move over every student in every classroom.
"Good morning students of Bear River Secondary School. I am Principal Kepler, and today is Monday, September 12. Your homeroom teacher will be passing out your schedules, as well as maps for our new students. Please look them over so you can find your way to your first period class at Second Bell. We have a great year ahead of us, and a healthy one, I hope. I want to remind you all to wear your masks at all times, unless you are eating or drinking. You are responsible for your own health and that of your classmates. If you have any questions, please talk to your teacher or come to the main office. Have a happy and productive day!"
She turned off the app, and sat back in her chair. She'd finally done it. It had taken her 20 years, but she'd finally worked her way up to the job she had wanted since she’d been in college, Principal of an elite private school. No more dealing with State budget cuts and slashed federal spending. Tuition proceeds from this school.. HER school, more than made up for all of those years she'd had to scrimp and save. Now she could make sure these children got the education they deserved. She smiled, and brought up the budget app on her computer. She would have an hour or so to make sure everything was the way she wanted it before her first meeting of the day. But first, some coffee.
Things went smoothly for the first month or so. The students were engaged and interested in their classes, the best and the brightest were invited here, and it showed. Sure, you had your typical mean girls and jocks and skirmishes between students. Every school had its bullies and bullied, but she’d managed to keep things under control. The Board was happy with her leadership, the teachers seemed to be as well. Parent Night had gone well, with no major outbursts.
The headaches started in mid October. At first, she thought it was the angle of the sun through her window, the light catching on the glass of her framed diploma and glaring into her eyes. So she moved it, and put up curtains that she would close in the afternoons. For a while, it helped.
But then they returned, blinding, bright pain that seemed to pierce her skull and then radiate down her spine. She started turning the lights off and just sitting in the quiet dark for an hour or so every afternoon, and it would pass.
A week later the tremor started. Her right hand first, whenever she tried to do anything with it, and then her legs. Her secretary made an appointment with a neurologist for her, and she took a week off to rest, working from home, when needed. She went out and bought a cane, to let her keep her balance when the tremors in her legs got too bad.
The neurologist ordered several tests; an MRI, a lumbar puncture and an EEG. He also put her on a migraine medicine, which made her tired, but seemed to lower the frequency and intensity of the headaches. It didn’t do anything for the tremors though. The day before her scheduled MRI, she had a full on seizure, flopping around on the floor, her wrist smacking into the marble waterfall counter in her kitchen with a sudden flair of pain. When it was over, and she could sit up, she crawled to her cell phone, which had been flung across the room, and dialed 911.
She was quickly admitted to the hospital, her room filling up with flowers and bright colored cards from the kids in her school. The chairman of the board visited and told her not to worry about anything, the assistant principal was doing fine, and she was to rest and come back to her job when she was able. Her wrist was sprained, but nothing broken, thankfully, and the hospital performed all the tests her Neurologist ordered while she was there. It took several days, multiple consultations with multiple specialists.
The good news? It wasn’t cancer, it wasn’t Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s, it wasn’t any kind of tumor or degenerative condition they could find. It was probably hemiplegic migraines, especially since the tremors seemed to affect one side more than the other. The EEG had been inconclusive, so she would have to do a video EEG to tell if epilepsy was involved. That would be another five days in the hospital in a different ward.