Back to work and it was exhausting

Officially back at work. I worked two days, our lighter days at work, Thursday and Friday, while the temp who had filled in with me was still here. Thursday morning, I got up at 5:30 because I was afraid I'd oversleep (I set four alarms five minutes apart) and took most of what I'd brought home in July back in two rucksacks, one on my back, and one rolling bookbag.) I spent the morning watching a four-hour video training that was engaging. That afternoon. Then Kathryn (the temp, an excellent person who is going to come volunteer with us and once she can, hopes to come back and work for us. Everyone really liked her. Plus, she knows about Sarah Millican (the comedienne) and Cthulhu. She's read 71 books so far this year, which blows my reading challenge completely out of the water), and I took turns at the computer. After work, I did many errands, and by 10:45, I went into the bedroom, took my meds, got into bed, but didn't fall asleep till right before midnight, as I was still a little wound up. Friday I woke up on my own at 5:20 so I decided to go ahead and get up, I went to Kroger, got some things for lunch like peanut butter and jam (but forgot the bread, so wound up eating fig newtons and popcorn) and a couple of plants for work, and went into work a little early (I got there about a half an hour early, so I took an amazingly long time in the store, apparently.

Anyway, again, Kathryn and I took turns, covered each other's breaks, etc. Almost everything is the same. The only real surprise is that I am now a headquarters employee who clocks in and out, including for lunch, on the computer, which is taking some getting used to. But that will come pretty quickly. I also got my flu shot today. I learned I needed to stand more, maybe while I'm folding letters to go out, because it'll keep my legs from swelling, but also they hurt after a while if I don't. Plus, my watch makes a happy noise if I get up. It tries to tell me to get up every 45 minutes anyway, although I tend to ignore it. I will not be controlled by my machine overlord.

I left early this afternoon to go to PT, had a good session, including being able to do bridges for the first time in ages [arching the back by putting up the knees and putting all your weight on the shoulders], and doing 60 step ups (30 on each leg) which is amazing, giving I haven't been able to do steps in years. That's stepping up and down on one foot and down, but doing three sets of ten x 2 when you're not used to doing it is quite a workout. I then took the bus to my car (I'd taken the shuttle from the parking garage next to our building down the street to PT after changing from my jeans to shorts since he'd need to get to my incision for the massage part of the session). I came home, had a couple of things to do here, went to get dinner from Bourbon n' Toulouse, but went to the Sharkey Way location, even though it is across town and I hadn't been there before, because it has better parking (it actually just opened a drive through) and a vegetarian dish that the main Chevy Chase location doesn't have.

I went, got the food, and made a terrible mistake. I came back through downtown. I don't know what was going on at Rupp Arena, but the event caused a lot of traffic that didn't open up till I got onto Fontaine Road and then Chinoe. I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic. All told, I think the trip took an hour. The town's not that big.

We ate Sabbath dinner. I saved half of mine for today. I was so tired and uncomfortable. It was hard to finish. Afterwards, I took care of the dishes (my main chore, since he normally is the one who cooks), and then took my meds and collapsed into bed, exhausted, and I lasted 5 minutes, had trouble setting an alarm for tomorrow, and then I was gone. I woke up about 4:30 am and went to the bathroom, got a banana and some water, and got on the computer for just a bit. I'm going back to bed for a couple more hours.

I did snap a picture of myself in the break room in my new employee-appreciation gift t-shirt. It was supposed to be royal blue, and this was substituted, and while I look best in royal blue, I love this colour. Anyway, it's nice to be back, it's nice to see people again. But I'm glad Kathryn was here, and that I could ease into work this week. I hope I can do okay next week as I'll be back on my own. Goodness, I was so tired last night.