6 Week Report:
I just read my own thread and found it helpful so want to remember where I was at this juncture. I spent some time reading other threads this morning too. Not so much to compare, but to boost my spirits. This has been a tricky week. For one thing it has been grey and moody since Tuesday. For another I realize my off-work time is coming to an end. I will go back to work on the 30th or so. I plan on a light first week and then back to full time. My weeks are quite different as I have a clinical week (when the client families are in residence) followed by what is called Nutshimit, an Innu word meaning land, which is when our client families are out on the land with a different crew. Clinical week is intense with me facilitating a program all day. Nutshimit weeks are quieter and when I do lots of outreach and planning. I work with Aboriginal families and youth (on the reserve school). I love the work but it is extremely intense. Families here are broken in ways that are unexplainable to folks who haven't been exposed to cultures that were colonized, exploited, and forgotten. The suicide rate is high, accidental death rate is high, domestic violence rate is high, and, of course, addiction rate is high.
Where am I going with this? I think if I hadn't been off work for my recovery I might have been for burnout. And now I am feeling most definitely wary about returning.
Note: I'm not asking at all for advice on this - just needing to unburden myself. There are naturally many other factors. I need to work. I was a feckless hippy in my youth and am not on the Freedom 55 plan (may be a Canadian reference) but Freedom Death - in other words no retirement for me! Plus, although I may not be excited about going back to work, I'm truly bored not working, so there's that.
I talked earlier on this thread about major back surgery that I had when I was 29. It changed my life and I know this surgery, the arthritis itself, and my recovery have to fo with how I design my Third Act.
So that's the deep shite. Here's the nuts snd bolts stuff.
1. I'm not spending nearly so much time in bed and my bed does not look like an art studio, office, and gym, but merely like a library and cinema!
2. My walks increase daily and my gait is improving. I don't use my cane so much around the house but definitely for outdoor rambling. I'm walking on sand, gravel, some snow etc...so want it for balance too.
3. I'm making meals, doing dishes and laundry and a smidgeon of housework.
4. I'm not doing the exercises given to me by physio. Sometimes I feel guilty about this but I apply Josephine mind liberally and it goes away.
5. In July I'll be taking a three thousand kilometres road trip. I'll fly back from Nova Scotia so it isn't a 6 thousand kilometer trip.
6. Sleeping still kinda sucks. Pillow engineer is not one of my skill sets.
Okay - time to do the dishes!