Daily Prompt: Do-over!
Go back to a blog post you always thought could be better, or were unsatisfied with — now, fix it.
I’ve always thought every blog post I’ve ever written could be better, but what I’ve written is HISTORY, baby! You can’t fix that. So I’ve decided just to go back three years for this one lonely April post – the one and only post for April of that year. Times have changed if you consider how blabby I’ve become on a daily basis in comparing then to now, but here we are in April of 2013 going through a similar sort of crisis at work being short-staffed and over worked. Laura has left us to work elsewhere. There’s a long sad story related to that, which oddly enough started right about here in 2010. Suffice it to say I miss her like crazy. And reading this has made me look SO forward to retiring in a year that I can almost taste it.
Anyway, with a few minor revisions, here’s what I had to say three years ago.
April is… (Photo credit: nataliesap)
Holy crap, I knew I was away from here for quite a while, but thankfully it appears there is still time to get in that April blog so my little list of months looks to be intact. I’ve had pneumonia. Not for all of March and April, although it kind of feels that way. So that’s a pretty damned good excuse for staying mysteriously silent, wouldn’t you say? Being sick did not stop me from sitting at the computer playing Facebook games while hacking my brains out, or from reading on my kindle until my eye’s wandered aimlessly all on their own and closed for hours at a time.
It’s been a long hard haul at work (when somebody shows up and we’re actually open). Our manager had her knee surgery 3 months ago and is just now (next week in fact) coming back part-time, short hours. Laura’s dad passed away before Easter and it’s been a hard and stressful time for her. We tried to keep things going, but consider this. A couple of months ago we had two full-time and two part-time licensed opticians and two CSA’s on staff. That’s six people. Suddenly we were down to one full-time, one part-time (moi) and one VERY part-time CSA. That’s like two and a half people. Got a little help from other stores, but in the grand scheme of things, not enough. Many times one or the other of us was there alone, trying to stay sane. So now I know exhaustion makes you sick. Doh. Had to give my head a few shakes to stop caring about the stupid job long enough to focus on my health instead.
So now I’m on the last couple of days of monster pill antibiotics, still using my heavy-duty cortisone infused nasal spray and inhaler. Next week I’ll make a trip back to the doctor to make sure things are clear. Like my lungs and my nasal passages. I’ve been back to work doing as little as humanly possible because things like walking from one end of the store to the other to swipe my badge on the time clock can leave me feeling short of breath and drained of energy. I have had MANY days off. Like today. Then I work two days in a row, and then I’m off again for two. W. has been doing the grocery shopping and making me eat.
Nothing I looked up about pneumonia mentioned anything about it destroying brain cells, but I’m wondering if that’s a side effect. The doctor asked me if there was any family history of asthma before he sent me off for a chest x-ray. I said no, not that I was aware of. Then he said he was going to give me an inhaler and I said ‘Oh! my daughter had one of those!’ I don’t remember what it was for. Allergies or something. So I didn’t offer any further information because I’m pretty sure he prescribed it to her so he could look that up if he really needed to know. It was a long time ago. Mother’s can’t remember every little detail. After a short confused-face pause he popped into the next room and returned with the little puffer thing and began explaining how to use it. ‘Oh!’ I interrupted him. ‘My MOM had one of those! But I don’t know why.’ Poor man. He didn’t ask me to expand on that thought, perhaps realizing the futility of such a request. He just explained slowly and patiently and in minute detail what he wanted me to do next, probably hoping I would retain the information at the very least all the way back to my car and at most, all the way to the x-ray lab. I got there. They told me to take a deep breath. Then they repeated the request. I told them I DID take a deep breath. And that’s when it dawned on me that lately I’d been quite incapable of doing any such thing.
But I can do it now! I can INHALE, baby! It’s a heady feeling, being able to breathe. Not hearing rattle-y chest noises is good too. I’m very thankful for these things. You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. W. is headed east in a couple of weeks. He threatened to stick around until I was completely better so I’ve been acting completely better for his benefit. His brother has just been moved into an extended care facility, and W. needs to get down there to deal with some things. Staying here to look after me seemed like an excellent excuse for not going, but I’m not going to co-operate. Time to face the things that need to be faced.
On a pleasant note, my fish, Phineas, is still alive. He seems a little neurotic for a Beta, since they’re supposed to just hover and laze around. Nobody told him that, apparently, so he flits around like a demented little spaz most of the time. In and out of the three-holed pottery thing and into the leaves and up to the water filter tube into which he is too large to be sucked up I hope. He attacks his food. Let’s face it, there’s a limited number of ways to amuse yourself in a 2.5 litre fish tank. But, like I said, he’s alive.
And so am I! Life is good.
Breathing Space 