It’s late. In a few minutes I’ll resume working on Anatomy and Physiology material. I was beginning to feel like I was catching up – then boom, the teacher gave us an assignment for Monday. It’s a case study about a woman who has an allergic reaction to peanut butter. Questions that need to be answered are about the why, when, who, what, and how, as it all relates to the immune system.

I do not know the answers to these questions, and for this reason, I’m just a little bit nervous. This is what I do know: On Monday, Lena, my lab partner, who sits on my left (Cooper sits on my right), said off handedly that someone sitting next to her (in class) has been eating peanut butter, right out of the container, with a spoon. Not once, but repeatedly. I first said to Lena that she should say something to the student, but she said she was too shy. I then said that she should say something to the teacher, which she did. The teacher’s solution was to come up with this case study. This was a very astute move.

I wonder if the teacher would have done this had the peanut butter issue either not come up or been resolved. This is of little consequence, I mean, there are many food related things that can precipitate an immune response, soy beans, milk, and sushi included.

I must answer these questions by Monday. There are six questions total. I know the answer to three of them. I’ll try and figure what these answers might be tomorrow. (In writing this, I have fallen asleep at the computer three times already.) In the meantime, I feel like I’m running the A & P II marathon, and slowly losing ground. I’m pretty far back in the pack and losing ground really fast. My legs are heavy and are getting heavier. I no longer have much say about how fast they might move. And I no longer care about beating the person ahead of me who has been out front the entire time. In other words, I’m beginning to care less about B and I cells and their similarities and differences.

I could use a break, a long break. I’m not going to drop the course – like last semester, I am just going to take things as they come. In addition to studying the lecture material, I also need to be studying for the upcoming lab exam. I’m so tired that I’m writing down nonsensical stuff. Tomorrow – maybe I’ll have a lesson with Claudia Sihler – if she fails to call, I’ll resume attempting to answer those unanswerable questions.

The question remains (and this is not a part of the case study) is what I am doing worth it? I have to say yes because otherwise I’d be acknowledging that I’m frittering away time that could be spent doing something else. And what that something else is has nothing at all to do with A & P II.

Next: 47. 2/17/16: Why I Write