Ergh

I'm not sure if I've let myself get run down with all the work I've been doing to help get the medical records and x-rays relabelled, sorted, and filed or what, but I just feel kind of blah...achy, nose running, eyes running, sore throat, maybe a low-grade fever, etc. It could just be the dust and what have you, but someone else I know feels the same, without any of the fun overtime. So, despite my attempts to explain it away as sinuses or allergies...I'm probably coming down with a cold.

Which means, among other things, I stopped by the grocery for cold medicine and I don't plan on going anywhere near Dwana. She came home today, albeit with some 'mild' pneumonia where the fluid from the hyperstimulation had settled in her chest. She feels much better to be home, I think, and her poor cats just want to glom to her. Simba, who is huge, doesn't understand how sensitive her belly is at the moment. Midnight, the other cat, is apparently fascinated by the balloon I brought her and just sits staring at it.

They are going ahead with the in vitro on Sunday, and I think she's freaking a little by the idea that whether the embryos implant or not, technically she'll be pregnant. I so wish that everything goes okay. There is a risk that she'll go back into hyperstimulation, but they're monitoring her carefully. Pregnancy means no drugs for pain or symptoms, so I hope everything will be okay. She's been through so much--and really, Eric has as well, sleeping on the pull out couch at the hospital, giving her injections everyday (and incurring the wrath of SImba, who peed on Eric's things because he thought he was hurting her), etc. They so deserve a problem-free pregnancy, although of course to be realistic it'll be uncertain. Things never seem easy when it comes to medical stuff for her. But if anyone deserved to be happily pregnant, it's she. So I'm crossing my fingers and keeping them in my prayers.

I'm incredibly impressed by the teamwork and how things have gone at work with the overhaul of the records in preparation for 'go-live' on Tuesday...when we go electronic. They had people signed up through tomorrow in anticipation but the x-rays were all back on the shelves by this morning and when I left this afternoon the records were in order and being put back on the shelves. They were blown away by how quickly I can put things in order, and were having trouble keeping up with me--see, a master's in organisation and access, basically, can be put to use in all sorts of venues. And relabelling medical records is a lot like putting on book tape or label covers. Some people agonised over getting them placed just right. I'd sight it, put the label down, and 9 times out of 10 get it dead on the first time without any wrinkles, etc. Really, the job was remarkable...out of nearly 10,000 records and all these people, most of whom did not do anything like this in their normal job, we had maybe 10 records that were mislabelled, and they were all just one off, where someone must have gone down one label too far, etc. We had clinical staff, the non-clinical people, dietary, maintenance, administration all working together. One of the doctors was a dynamo originally drafted for his height but who was out there breaking nails like the rest of us. It was a lot of hard work, but with a tangible result.

I felt like I was back in the comic store again, since so much of it was interfiling. It also gave me a taste for what a library move would be like...we had over a hundred large plywood carts (librarians would call them book trucks) for the task. One of our counterpart hospitals sent a care package with everything from champagne glasses and noismakers to pencils, a calculator, and a magic 8-ball just in case we run into problems. I signed up for extra hours directing support calls to the right people and as a result I may actually be working 36 hours a week for a couple of weeks, which means I'd be back to my pre-layoff salary for a brief bit. It also means I can help out; I was originally in the group of troubleshooters providing direct support but had to drop out due to my reduction in hours. Because this is a special case where the salary isn't coming out of the library's budget, I can work my normal hours in the library and then man the phones for the special project.

It's sort of sad in a way that the layoff has forced me to look for work...this project has really demonstrated the special character of my workplace and the people I've gotten to know over the past seven years. I will really miss it. I wish there were some way to continue, but unless my hours miraculously increased permanently tomorrow, I just can't live on 20 hours a week, and I haven't found a part-time job that I could work concurrently.

I got a phone call from UK to arrange an interview. Unfortunately it's not for the reference position, but for a clerical one, but an interview is always a good opportunity, even if it's not in my field (and it does pay more).

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear from LPL about the position I interviewed for. They were finishing up interviews this week so I expect they'll make their decision next week. Here's hoping. :) 'Night.