Feeling Froggy!

Well, for the past 5 days I have been sick. Serves me right! I had a staff meeting last Wednesday with my employees and basically read them the riot act for there sick leave utilization. Many of the employees have worked for us more than 5 years and have no leave built up what-so-ever. I told them that no one had to own up but there are those who won't come to work because they have a headache, or their big toe hurts, or they have bad breath. And of course they laughed but got the point. As I was giving this speech for the second shift I started coughing. I even had to give my voice a rest and have my QA Manager present some of the meeting information. So Thursday I woke up and felt terrible. Of course no way could I call in the day after I dressed my employees out for calling in sick so much! Friday I could hardly get out of bed because I felt so weak. I went to work and by 11:00 I had two big lumps in my neck that I could feel in my throat...though my throat wasn't sore. I also had sooooo much pain in my face from sinus swelling. I finally gave up the fight and went home. I slept until 7AM Saturday morning, getting up only to get a drink of water and to go to the bathroom. I tried to do a couple of things but was so weak. It took me ALL WEEKEND to clean my apartment. My apartment is about as big as our living room in MBoro.

So Monday I went to work feeling bad. I went to morning meeting and at the end told my boss I was headed to the doctor's office and would probably go home again. I couldn't get into see my doctor so I went to the ER. My right ear was infected...that was a surprise as it didn't even bother me. Ok guys, you might not want to read this part...only for the women! And I had developed a new symptom on Sunday.....breast pain and lump. I was sure it was an infection that was affecting the lymph nodes. So the doctor put me on strong meds and sent me home for a couple of days. The next day I was back in the ER. Did you know that the infection was climbing up the ducts as I had red streaks going in funny shapes, one of which was climbing the breast like blood poisioning. Frankly, I was worried that the infection was in the blood vessels and I did have blood poisoning. The doctor ran some tests and felt that it was still the infection. I was really feeling much better so since I was at the VA anyway, I went to the office and worked a few hours. So in all I was in the office part time during the three days and back full time today.

Now, here is the best part.....I lost my voice....T O D A Y! I can't figure out why after everything else I was loosing my voice. I finally feel better and loose my voice. My bosses secretary called me today and seems she is in the same shape....well, minus the breast. After being home sick for 4 days and finally starting to feel better she got up this morning and had lost her voice. This is some weird virus/infection that we are sharing around work!

I'm on my way to Florida Saturday to spend time with family. I'm looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad getting some quite time with them. Mitizi and Shawna Pape will be there and we all will be staying at Dianna's. Shawna is into a juicing program and is going to teach us all how to be healthier. I for one am looking forward to it. However....juicing spinach??? I'm not sure I will be able to get past the look! It should prove interesting! Since I will be relaxing I may have time to do more postings. So, look for our progress as the week goes!

Air Conditioner

Can you believe it?? I'm running the air conditioner and it is only February! Ok, so I only run it for about 2 hours each day to cool things off. Today it was 78, yesterday was 80. The only thing I like about Dallas is the warmer weather! HA!

I haven't posted for a while. I'm still working 12 to 14 hour days and I am exhausted when I get home. The good news is that I hired a Supervisory, Inventory Management Specialist who is dynamite! He started on Monday but spent the first 3 days in orientation. Thursday was his first day in SPD. He has already developed some great ideas for improving the service from our department. Once I get him trained on the software program I think I will be able to slow down....ALOT! Then I can post more often and you won't see such long posts when I do post on a regular basis (was that confusing to anyone else???).

Speaking of work...we have had a tough few weeks at the Dallas VA. Apparently there were two suicides by outpatients and then last week we had one commit suicide inside the hospital. Unfortunately....all were OIF/OEF (Iraqi war) veterans. Seems the men of this ware are having a difficult time adjusting. It is surprising since every morning we discuss the steps taken to help the returning vets....it just doesn't seem to be enough. I heard that CBS is putting together a documentary on the situation and have interview staff from the Dallas VA.

So, the diet. Well, I haven't done very well the past couple of weeks but I haven't gained anything back so I'm still ahead. I have been working with a friend who is the Chief of Human Resources (a good friend to have!) and got her kick started last week. She and I walked everyday at lunch but we both had to attend a mandatory managers meeting on Thursday and she wasn't in the office on Friday so that was the extent of my exercise program. I will vow to try better this week!

Wednesday, February 6th (the date is important to point the silliness of what happened) I came home from work to find an eviction notice on my front door for non payment of my February rent and oh, by the way I had to be out by February 10th. Of course I paid my rent...even hand delivered it! So, I had to wait around on Thursday for the office to open so I could give them a piece of my mind. To date I don't know if has been resolved because they were suppose to call me and so far they have not. Not that unusual...they haven't returned any call I've made to them...including when I complained about getting high from the fumes coming out of the apartment across the courtyard from me. Ah, apartment living...IT SUCKS!

Next weekend I'm off to Jacksonville, NC to see Matthew. Ok, so maybe to see Thom and Heidi too! HA!