To Your Health

So, on top of work being a complete disaster, finishing up here and getting ready to move, through this whole thing I've been having some major health issues. It started back in February with yet another bout of bronchitis which eventually went away, but not the shortness of breath. I got inhaler after inhaler, chest Xray, blood work. I had a stress test - just a namby pamby one with no IV or ECHOs - it was inconclusive so I got sent to the cardiologist. My blood pressure and heart rate have been high too but he was reluctant to treat it because he thought it could also be related to my stress levels. Which are way, way up there most days. So the whole thing was a wash. Part of the problem with being healthy your whole life I've found is when you do develop a problem everyone approaches you like a house of cards- you're approached slowly and carefully -  they do not want to change anything about you. At all. So on that front I"m back to diet and exercise - I'm not losing any weight but my blood pressure is slowly coming down.

And then there was my thyroid - I felt like I was swallowing something - again I first wrote it off to being ill but it didn't go away so a CT later found some nodules on my thyroid. And for the record all my thyroid panels came back negative. So yesterday I had the nodules biopsied due to their size. And again the doctor was on the fence since I'm moving and aside from a slight feeling when I swallow..... but we went ahead anyhow as in the end, I did not want to move with this in the back of my mind. The only good thing is if it did turn out to cancerous, thyroid cancer is very treatable and slow growing. So. Getting your thyroid biopsied. For some reason I envisioned a small , very small needle teeny poking and then that was it. If you are wondering, this is not the way it is done. 

First the tech presses down on your throat to get an accurate mapping on the sonogram, then the doctor injects your neck with lidocaine which burns. A lot. After that a very long needle is inserted into your thyroid multiple times and fluid is sucked out. It is very unpleasant, I was told I was super good which in the greater scheme of things I'm not sure what the alternative behavior would be- Shrieking? Thrashing? Dodging? And I have no idea why I thought it would be like a fairy teeny thing. My neck is better today but still fairly sore, I'll survive. The results should be by Friday or so but it's one more thing off the list. 

Winding Down

Ah, my favorite and most prolific subject - moving. Because we do it so well. However, this is going to be the Move Of All Moves because we are going clear across the country, this time into very unknown territory. It's both nerve-wracking and exciting - packing has taken on a whole new meaning. We're getting to the point where the house is pretty emptied out, we either sit on the couch or on the bed, back and forth, back and forth. The dining room holds nothing but a few items and some boxes, most of the kitchen cabinets are empty. I donated what we are not going to eat to the local food pantry, it wasn't too bad. I wish we had packed more in the moving van.

My last day of work is next Wednesday - 7 days! That came up so fast. I'm finishing up doctor's appointments, we are plotting our course, what are we taking, what are we leaving. We'll have no internet for a little while or even phone service. David had scheduled with one company but it turned out to be the wrong one. Then he wrote t he right one on a scrap of cardboard which of course has disappeared, arrgh! So, no phone, no tv, no internet which we all know how much I love that. I'll survive. David is busy selling off some things that we won't be taking, sometimes you have to look at things to decide if it's worth dragging around or would it be cheaper just to get rid of it and then rebuy it at the other end. And then there's the other problem. 

I had wanted to pack more in the van, but at $300 a foot David decided we didn't need to, telling me that there was plenty of room on our 16 foot trailer which will be mainly holding the metal roofing. And it is true there is plenty of room - but he forgot about the weight limit. So I can fit about ten more bins on it as long as the combined weight is.........45 pounds. Yup. That will work. Not. Ugh. Then he was like, well, maybe we won't ship your car, we can take separate vehicles and we can pack your car. I pointed out that meant we would both be driving the ENTIRE journey with no breaks and any money we saved from not shipping the car would be eaten up in tolls, gas, extra lodging and meals since we would now need to take an extra couple of days. So we are back to Plan A and we'll have to figure out the rest as we go along. I don't know what I'm more eager for - this to begin or to be over.

Thunderous

We've had a lot of rain lately, but the thunderstorm the other day was the first one in awhile. Molly started dithering around 6, refusing to eat, went out but then booked for the house the first opportunity she got. After that she insisted on being a 1/4 inch from me at all times which resulted in my tripping over 4 million million times til I yelled at her. This did nothing, she left and then came back, I just sighed and went to sit down. I know when I lived in NY we had storms but when you get to the Midwest they take on a whole life of their own. All those wide, open places, the mountains - it does not not thunder and lighting. It roars and slams, the entire sky lights up - you can feel it in your bones.

Molly was in panic mode by now, panting and trying to hide, in the closet, out of the closet, under the end table, underfoot. There's noting you can do, I finally got her up on the couch with me, shaking and panting. As annoying as it can be, it's hard not to feel sorry for her.  Soon the rain started, falling hard, then falling in sheets, the trees whipping, branches tearing off of trees and shattering on the road. We were actually a bit curious at this point - David had put the french drains in the basement a couple of months ago and even though it's rained since then - this was not just rain. We had a stream filling the driveway and pouring into the run off ditches on the side of the road. And then.....the lights went out around 9. 

This was very unexpected and.....hmm.  We packed all the emergency candles,didn't we? We found two tiny flashlights and opened the windows a crack - by that time the rain had died down and the thunder was far in the distance, Molly calming. We both got our ereaders and read, passing the time quite pleasantly - not a big since we do this most nights anyhow. Of course the lights came back on around 2am - the TV blaring, the kitchen and living room lit up - blessed airconditioning up and running. The morning was humid and sunny though, we had some large branches but no trees feel. And the basement?  Bone dry!!

Bayada

So, I am catching up - too much going on as usual. My last Bayada Awards weekend was, a bit off I suppose. When you know you're leaving it sort of colors everything you do. I've been with Bayada for a total of about 7 years - four offices, multiple locations and directors, co-workers, office chairs and desks. But I have to say, Bayada has been very good to me and it is with a heavy heart I leave them. When I started back in 2009 I had been working in very horrible office for a different agency. I'd been there for 3 1/2 and months and had I stayed I would have been senior employee the turnover was so rapid. I  interviewed at the WSV office in Pittston for the clinical manager position in an office they were opening and had made it through all the interviews, but had not heard back. I remember sitting at my desk with my resignation in hand that I'd had for a week tucked in planner and that day -  the job at that agency went from horrible to I cannot take another day. I got up and handed my resignation in with no job lined up. I sat back at my desk, both relieved at leaving and terrified of the impending unemployment in my future when my phone rang - 

It was Bayada wanting to know when I could start. 

I started off in the WSV office training for the opening of the East Stroudsburg office - they were huge with over 300 clients. I met Barbara back then, just as glamorous as the day she retired. One of the things that struck me about Bayada was the upper management is very accessible, I've met the Baiadas over the years, always warm and welcoming. You can call or email any of the upper management with a response, often helping you troubleshoot the problems your office cannot figure out. Who does that? The gift giving - through the years I've gotten Coach bags, electonices, bonuses - you name it. Has it been all good? Of course not, there are days when I am not coming back believe me! Calls in the middle of the night, nurse fights on my cases, too much paperwork, the state, my ever changing schedule.....on and on. But it's not something you don't put up with on other jobs and honestly, I've had way worse.

And like any job the faces change, every year I see less and less people that I know. But it was lovely catching up with the ones that I did and even though this awards weekend was much quieter than the past it was a good last jaunt. I volunteered to work Saturday morning, sat through the general session, got my 5 year award (the previous two years didn't count), Dinner and then off to bed. I got up the next morning and headed out early, got home by the afternoon. I celebrated my 58th birthday with David and got everything I wanted - since I had ordered it all ahead of time. Good times.