September 13, 2021

It was first day back to work. I had almost 600 emails to wade through, so it was a long day…

I realized towards the end of the day that my work phone number wasn’t bouncing to my cell phone, which was probably a good thing. It gave me time to focus on emails.

Tonight I was pretty sore, which was no surprise. Typing wasn’t easy with my wrist, but the brace helped. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to going back to work, and not just for the uncomfortableness I expected from sitting and typing all day. Mostly it was the stress I wasn’t missing. I think taking a couple of extra weeks off was helpful for me physically and mentally. So I’m thankful that while it was a busy day, it wasn’t too stressful.

April 22, 2021

Work has been hard lately. Frustrating. And not because of my illness. There have simply a lot of changes that have made it less enjoyable and rewarding.

Today I’m thankful, though, for supportive colleagues; those who listen and offer advice, those who make me laugh, those who send get well messages. I’m grateful to work with some good people.

March 1, 2021

It’s a new month! I’m so glad we are creeping closer to Spring. In the last week we’ve had enough of a warm up that quite a lot of snow has melted. It is exciting to see spots of grass again.

I’m also thankful that I was able to get caught up on some projects at work. I actually started work a bit early because I had a 7:00 meeting scheduled I wanted to be prepared for. However, when I logged on, I discovered the meeting was pushed to next week instead. And while Mondays are usually busy, it was quiet enough to devote time to getting caught up. It was great because it’s usually the middle of the night that I worry about all the items on my work list, and I’ve been frustrated lately that I’ve been too busy to get things checked off of it. It’s made work a lot more stressful than necessary.

Of course, I’m not completely caught up, but I made some strides. I’m grateful to have eliminated a little stress today. Hopefully, I can get completely caught up soon.

February 26, 2021

I was able to spontaneously get my first round of the Covid-19 vaccine this afternoon. My work was able to arrange it for everyone next week with a local pharmacy, and they had a few spots open still today. I was a little nervous about it, but I had no adverse reactions. Barely even a sore arm.

I wondered early on about getting the vaccine while on chemo. At first thought, it doesn’t seem like a good idea. In fact, I was asked by 3 different staff/pharmacists today if my doctor knew I was getting it. But when I asked my oncologist about it weeks ago, he said I should get it whenever I had the chance. His only caution was not to get it on the day of my chemo treatment. Apparently, the only real drawback is that chemo will reduce the effectiveness of it. But I’m glad to be on the path to Covid protection!

I’m thankful for this vaccine today and also that it gave me the chance to chat with a friend from work. Oh—I’m also thankful to be able to sleep in tomorrow!

February 11, 2021

I mentioned previously that I have a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer about a month before I was. While she was able to have a lumpectomy already, we are on the same chemo treatment plan, and she is one cycle ahead of me. Oddly enough, we work together too.

We don’t always talk about it, but occasionally we check in. Today after work, I called her since it had been a while that we talked cancer and not just work stuff. It was good to compare where we were at and find some common complaints. Ugh, the dry skin. The emotional rollercoaster. The everlasting quarantine. Soon we were laughing about needing to draw on eyebrows. I told her I warned Patrick that he would know my mood by how they were drawn.

When I was diagnosed, I told her we were bosom buddies, and she found this shirt for us.

While we certainly wish for each other not to have cancer, we have admitted that we find it comforting to have someone to commiserate with who gets it firsthand. In real-time. Today, checking in and being able to laugh about some of our difficulties helped lighten the load a bit. I’m thankful for our friendship.

January 30, 2021

Patrick said I wimped out with my post yesterday, and I suppose he’s right. The truth is that I WAS really thankful the work week was done, but I was also really tired. Like ready to fall asleep at 7:30 pm tired.

The other truth is that on any given day, I’m thankful for a bunch of small things. The way Patrick puts a glass of water on my desk in the morning when I start work at 7:00 am. The way the dogs walk me around the house like they can’t stand to be without me. The way the sun lights up the corner of the room I work in all day.

Yesterday a friend dropped off a surprise for me. It contained a bunch of work-related items to jazz up my desk, including a desk punching bag which I know will get a lot of use! I love every single thing, especially the snarky items that made me laugh.

Today I spent some time getting my desk cleaned up and putting my new items away. I even filled out my excuse for yesterday’s post.

I’m so thankful for this thoughtful gift and her generosity. I look forward to using everything next week!

January 14, 2021

Remember when I mentioned a few days ago about how difficult work was…well, it’s been a long week. But today I was able to resolve a problem that has been an absolute blight on my workdays for weeks. It’s been a problem that immediately affected others more than myself and had the potential to really negatively impact a sector of our business. Now that I put it that way, it’s amazing that I was entrusted to figure it out. But I persisted and got it done.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’ve realized over the years that I’m pretty driven by the end game. I like the feeling of accomplishing something. I could never be the type of person who lounged all day with nothing to do. I’d go insane. At the same time, I don’t like spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. That may be why when I finally got this issue resolved today, I felt giddy. My wheels stopped spinning and I got to the finish line. I was also so relieved to put this problem aside, that I felt like crying from relief.

I think it’s important to have a sense of accomplishment, especially when there isn’t a lot going on. I suspect during this pandemic era, with people working from home, I’m not the only one who has doesn’t have as much to do. Some days, I count getting the house clean or finishing the laundry as my achievements. Not high stakes, I know, but I take what I can get. Today, I’m thankful it was something important as well as an issue I could take off my continual to-do list.

January 4, 2021

Today was my first day back to work since December 24. I can’t say I was thrilled, but in a way, it’s always kind of nice to get back to a routine. I worried that after a week and a half, I would have an overflowing inbox that was impossible to get through. While it was definitely full, I got through everything by the end of my day. Success!

I have to say that today I am grateful for my job. It’s often frustrating and not overly exciting. It’s not very creative. I miss the physical interactions with people and get irritated with the overload of emails some days. But I’m one of the lucky ones that was able to move, almost seamlessly, from in-person work to at-home work when the pandemic hit. And I’ve been able to continue working from home ever since. Because of my health situation, I imagine that I’ll be able to continue with my current set-up for the foreseeable future, which helps take the added anxiety of a compromised immune system down a notch. I won’t have to leave the house for anything besides doctor’s appointments if I don’t want to. I also have supportive coworkers and really great insurance. And did I mention that week and a half off for the holidays?

It may not be my dream job, but I know I’m lucky to still have a job while so many people are struggling, let alone a job that allows me to maintain a safe environment while I’m working through this illness. My heart goes out to folks who have lost their income source because of the pandemic, or who must continue to put themselves at risk, regardless of their own health issues, just to survive financially. I’m not sure what I would do if I had no choice right now but to go into a building to work with a lot of other people. I’m thankful today I don’t have that kind of hard choice to make.

March 13

This week has gone by rather quickly. In a way, I’m thankful for that since I have been going in to work, even though no one else from my department has been there. Sometimes it’s nice having the quiet to myself, and I can get a lot accomplished. Other times it simply reminds me that I’d rather be on vacation during Spring Break. I did get some of my must-dos done though, such as tearing down the paper snowflakes I had put up around the office. I could not endure seeing even the pretend snow anymore. But I did have more things I had hoped to accomplish this week at work such as filing the stacks of papers that need to be put away. I can let that go for only so long, and then I can’t stand it. That type of clutter begins to make me feel claustrophobic. After getting some rooms cleaned up at home, I now have the desire to carry that into my work environment. I may need to go in tomorrow just to get myself organized for next week. However, it’s been nice having the break from working normal hours. It’s one more reason I’m thankful I work where I do.

 

Feb 24

Today at work we had brunch. It was planned but not for any particular reason or holiday. Someone decided a potluck would be fun and the rest of us jumped on the food wagon. Because mornings were less hectic for everyone overall, the potluck turned into a brunch. I work on the bottom floor of a building that has three floors. Some call it the basement; I prefer the term garden floor. There are just a few departments located on my level, so there weren’t a lot of people involved in getting the brunch together. Someone put a sign up sheet on the wall of the break room, and we all wrote down what we thought we’d bring.

It was heaven. I love breakfast foods. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals out, although, strangely, I rarely go out for breakfast. I’m lucky if I get a real breakfast eaten during the week. Usually, I throw a yogurt cup into my bag on the way out the door and eat it at my desk when I get to work. Today, though, was all the breakfast one could imagine. Someone brought a whole spiraled, baked ham. Someone else brought a pan of bacon. We had two different egg casseroles, cheesy potatoes, a fruit bowl with fruit dip, bagels and at least 3 different kinds of breads and muffins. I brought waffle batter and my Mickey Mouse waffle iron and cooked waffles to order while another lady made pancakes on her griddle. The entire floor smelled like a restaurant. I felt a little bad for the poor folks who were simply wandering through, uninvited.

While the food was delicious and lasted through lunchtime, it was really the camaraderie that was the best part. The fact that I work with a great group of people, willing to throw together something like our feast today, just for the sake of doing it, is pretty cool. Of course, this wasn’t our first food-centered shindig, and I’m sure it won’t be our last. It’s fantastic to be able to go to work every day in an environment like I have. For the most part, everyone gets along. People share. People are involved. That’s important. I’m thankful to be reminded of that today.