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Monday, July 16, 2007

Permission to Play Hooky

At my age it's always more fun to play hooky when it's approved. I don't talk about my job online much because it's confidential (no not the CIA) and they let me work from home which is a necessary perk because I fear I'd have to apply for SSD if I had to commute daily. It's not exactly a state secret who I work for but since it involves tests and I don't want to run the risk of mentioning something I shouldn't, I tend to avoid discussing it in my blog. Since I do work from home I have some flexibility because I will work evening and weekends when necessary. The flip side is when work is slow I get to play, keeping track of it so when it's busy I make up time. I do feel obligated to be available during work hours unless I'm on vacation or sick leave because it's a full time job and occasionally I'm asked to do something which is needed fast. Not too long ago I had an unexpected conference call on my cell phone and it worked out but little did they know I was walking as fast as I could back home as I was on a morning walk. I could have said, I'm on a walk because I had worked the prior evening and intended to work a long day but with 2 PD's on the phone I didn't. Fortunately they did most of the talking and hopefully it wasn't too noticeable that I was panting when I had to talk.I'm in a brief lull before the storm with work. I know a huge project is on the horizon so I'm glad that I'm having a slower few days. What I wasn't sure how to handle is the planned electrical outage either tomorrow or Wednesday. The power company is installing new equipment so for one of those mornings I'll be off line and won't be answering emails with the quick response time I usually have for work. Also, if it takes the full time for the power workers, that they say it might, (and I also add to estimates) my house will be getting rather warm and I may want to go somewhere cool for a few hours. After much debate I let my PD know what was going on and she thanked me and said to enjoy the brief lull in work because it wasn't going to last long. Now I can play hooky when my power is out without feeling guilty.I may go to the YMCA and try the elliptical trainer which might be a good alternative for me anyway in the summer when it's too hot to walk. I don't know why I haven't done that yet this summer, as I keep thinking that I should. I'm having a lot of trouble these days getting motivated to do much physically and the odd part is I'm losing weight much faster than when I was pushing to do as much walking as possible. I think part of it is the heat. Although normally I have the benefit of AC, even being outside briefly curbs my appetite. Since I need to lose at least 30 pounds, I am going to go with the appetite loss and try to do enough walking so it's not like starting at square one when the weather cools down.When I was putting together health links, I noticed in the survivorship tools a report discussed the need to address physical therapy and other needs which survivors of surgery, chemo, etc. often have. I have been lucky in that I have had physical therapy, lymphedema specialist, pain specialist, and in general better care than many people. However, I sometimes wonder how different things might have been if I'd automatically been sent to a lymphedema clinic and physical therapist after the drain came out following my groin LND. I had the seroma (fluid pocket), ongoing nerve pain, a lot of adhesions, starting pretty early in the process. However, these issues weren't addressed at all until things got worse and worse. I wonder how many people find that to be true and how big of a difference it would make if potential problems were addressed before they become acute.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carver,
You can only pretend to play hooky if you have permission. : ) I am learning a lot about pretending...You can have a great deal of fun whilst the imagination roams untethered.
I am both silly and giddy at the in-laws early departure.
I hope you will give the elliptical trainer a try...it is a good machine for low impact cardio. Just make sure you have some good music 'cos the scenery usually leaves a lot to be desired.

(couldn't resist this one)...

It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
-Village People
And in my case, yes, there is a village looking for its idiot.

Anonymous said...

Preventative maintenance that's what I say..yep, I think they should take care of things before they happen..maybe it would save some pain and various things that go along with waiting.

Hooky, I like that idea..guilt free hooky..go enjoy and make the scenery in your mind..use your imagination...I don't like the heat either but it sure doesn't stop me from eating. lol

Kim, you are just too funny.

Love the photos as usual...I tried to get you some nice NM photos but I'll have to look thru the 250 to see if there are any..prob thru the windshield. hahaha
sue

Miss Melanoma said...

Amen, sister. I have a dr. friend who is helping to open a cancer center that specifically specializes in issues that plague survivors after all the treatment and surgeries are done. About time! I think this has been an issue for patients for too long and it's good to see the trend in noticing these issues. I only wish it'd been there for you!

Take care!