Background for those who don't know me: prior to my injury, I was a full-time high school English teacher. Lots of reading and writing, lots of classroom management (high sensory input and needing to respond quickly to input) with kids who sometimes would purposely try to push my buttons (potential high emotional stress), and of course the classic long hours on my feet and at work that all teachers experience.

Right after my injury, I was completely off work for one semester. I tried to go back part time in a more one-to-one setting the following school year but it didn't work out and I was medically terminated from that job last January (one year post-injury).

This year, I found a part time job teaching two small classes at a private school. My largest class has 10 students in it. With my improvements since this spring plus the light load, it has been going fairly well, and I was optimistic about being able to increase my endurance and tolerance and possibly return to full-time teaching at some time in the future.

Then I got this stomach virus over Christmas and had a couple days of headaches, brain fog, and PCS symptoms come back. I'm starting to feel better now, but I'm also really discouraged. It just doesn't seem practical to have a teaching job where I have to take a week off every time I get some little bug or sniffle that reactivates my PCS symptoms. I mean, what if I get a bad cold and get sidelined for three weeks or something? It's kind of ridiculous.

Just feeling pretty discouraged and wondering if I should start looking into vocational rehab and a different career path altogether.