Back in the saddle

My first day back at work was great in the ways I thought if would be, and in a couple I didn't expect.  It was wonderful seeing staff and clients and feel their love and appreciation.  They like me; they really like me!  Because they had a substitute nurse in my absence, I came back to pretty organized records, a clean office, and relevant notes, which was wonderful.  This was the first time they got a sub (because my absence was almost 6 weeks).  Usually the med-trained staff would administer medications, and while they did a great job, they aren't medical professionals so things would be out of order and in a confused state.

The unexpected good things: 1) My knee/s felt good.  They held up really well over the course of the work day, and then continued to hang in there for walking the dog once I got home.  Big progress.  I'm delighted, grateful and cautious about this.  My Ibuprofen dosing is way down now.  I'm only taking it twice a day;   for weeks I was on 800mg every six hours.  I was going to take a dose around 1 p.m. so I'd be all anti-inflamed for walking the dog at 3, but I forgot to take it because I didn't need it.  WOOOHOOO!  2)One of the administrators at my job is the most curmudgeonly and flat-affected woman with no social skills and no apparent desire to acquire any.  I was up in the front office for a few minutes and she came out from an office, saw me and SMILED and said,  "Welcome back, how are you?"  Mind you, she didn't wait to hear my answer (I was so stunned to have been spoken to by this curiously odd soul that I had to thump my own head to respond), and kept moving in her preset direction.  But it was the shocker of the day.  I know you can't get how weird this was, but trust me - this wackadoodle seems incapable of normal social interaction.  I was telling a few friends about it later, and we were all snickering and wondering if she's getting la*d on a regular basis or something (never married). 

So it was a good day and I was able to prepare to settle back in on April 5th when we return from spring break.  Not a bad work schedule!

I have a new guilty pleasure in which I've indulged during this last week of time off.  I've started from the beginning of the AMC series Mad Men.  Anybody seen it?  It's great, especially if you are a person of a certain age who was just a wee tyke during the early 60s when the show takes place.  It's a real period piece, set at the time when Kennedy ran against Nixon for President, cigarettes were just becoming known to be carcinogenic, and women were starting to wake up to their own desires, values and identities.  Really good show.  I just got Season 2 from the library and will start watching this weekend.

I didn't weigh this morning, but am going to tomorrow and will post it.  I've had a decent week, and today I have had almost no appetite.  I must have been more nervous about going back than I thought, because I always have an appetite.  Very strange to not be interested in eating.  And I suspect very transient.  My activity level has also increased steadily over this last week.  Still low by my standards, but much better than the nada I was getting for the first week after surgery, other than crutch walking.

Yesterday we were waiting for rain, and there are some beautiful trees in early spring bloom.  Fearing the rain might pummel the blossoms from the branches, I took some pictures.  The sky was gray, so you don't get that amazing spring radiance, but the colors are nice so I thought I'd put some up. 

The colors and varieties will improve with each warm sunny day, and I'm so ready for it.  I just needed to put a little color on this blog!

Hubby gets back from Houston tonight around 11p.m., so I'm doing my best to stay up so he doesn't have to wake me with a phone call!  It will be about 2 hours past my usual falling asleep time, but for now I'm pretty awake.  As long as I don't get horizontal, I'll make it.