Makes you think...

Now, I know you were expecting this post to be a rambling dissertation on how my first day back to work went. And, some of it will be. But events happened that changed my original intent.

Yes, I did wake up to the alarm clock. I had set it for my normal 5:30 AM time. I ate another oatmeal breakfast and then took my pills. I tested my blood sugar and blood pressure and then injected my doses of saline, antibiotics and heparin. I checked my weight and recorded all the test results and weight information in my doctor diary. Finally, I posted the Blog entry.

I shaved and then I taped a bag over my PICC line site and showered. I got dressed, gathered all my stuff and headed to work, getting there 10 minutes early. Not bad (but definitely NOT the leisurely way I used to get ready for work).

There were all the greeting and questions, etc. that you always get when going back to work after an extended time off. But, things finally settled down, so I started to try and catch up. Just then my boss asked for my “return to work” permission slip and I remembered it was sitting on the kitchen table (where I put it so I wouldn’t forget it). I suggested bringing it in Friday, but he said Human Resources wanted it BEFORE I did any work. So, I drove back home, grabbed it and raced back, calling myself all kinds of names for being so stupid.

I definitely have a LOT to do what with taking care of Michelle’s work and mine (mine has mostly remained untouched since January). So, “catching up” is probably the wrong words. This will take a long while!

Physically, it wasn’t too bad. I remembered to get up and walk around every half hour or so (my therapist’s suggestion), which kept the back brace from hurting me too much (although I did have to take a pain pill around 1:00 PM). I should have walked outside, because it was sunny and in the mid 70’s in the afternoon.

I had taken in my lunch, so I wouldn’t have to expend extra energy by going out, getting in the car and going home or to a restaurant (Jake’s idea). But, I was pretty tired and sore by the time 5:00 PM finally rolled around. Driving home, it was still warm, but very cloudy and the air felt “heavy”.

Since the only time I don’t have to wear the brace is when I’m lying in bed, after treating the cats I took it off and changed from my work clothes to my bathrobe. I lay down on the bed to watch the news and rest.

That’s when all hell broke loose! You may have noticed that for most of the past year, most of the severe storms have by-passed Michigan (usually to our south and heading to the east coast). Well, our luck ran out today. There were thunderstorms (with heavy rain), flooding, golf ball-sized hail and tornado warnings and watches all over southeast Michigan.

The news (at least on Channel 4) never got to any news (or even switched to the NBC Nightly News at 7:00 PM). It just stayed on the weather. There were at least three confirmed tornado touchdowns by then: one in Ida Township, one in Lapeer County and the rest in Dexter (a village about an hour west of Detroit).

Dexter got it the worst. They couldn’t tell (at that point) if it was one tornado that kept touching down, going back up and then touching down again or several. They showed pictures of the devastation. Some homes looked like just piles of lumber while others had the second story ripped off. What was weird is you had three or four houses totally destroyed, then some with their shingles ripped off and the next homes untouched. There were trees and power lines down everywhere.

Fortunately, according to the news at the time, there were no lives lost or severe injuries.

I was talking with B___ on the phone during some of this (He had called to see how my first day back went). He was watching Channel 7 news and we kept telling each other what they were showing on the different channels.

I finally turned off the news around 7:30 PM. None of the bad storms were in my immediate area (the closest was Ann Arbor). But there was a lot of thunder at the house. I did get up and warmed up some leftovers for dinner (and so I could take my evening pills) and it still wasn’t raining or hailing.

I started reading, but fell asleep around 9:00 PM. I woke up for a bathroom break later and turned everything off and went to bed for real. The next time I went to the bathroom, I did notice that it had rained here, but it didn’t look like it was all that much.