it probably worked out for the best though as i started feeling slightly under the weather by week's end, and in an effort to keep the 'weather' off the coast, i loaded up on preventative medicine (i seriously love zicam), and stuck pretty close to my bed. (of course the trashy romance novel posing as a literary sequel to 'pride and predjudice' may have had just a little something to do with that decision. i can't help it. i was hoodwinked.)
that seemed to pay off well, although none of my medications have been able to help with the severe neck pain and lack of movement i developed on sunday.
i woke up that morning, twisted my neck just so, and bam. i wasn't able to manage turning my head more than 10ish degrees without also having to turn my entire upper body along with it. i did my best to get ready and headed to church, where i was sustained in my new calling. that of being the mid-singles conference co-chair.
in it's second year of existence, and with it being two months away, there is much to be done. last year's conference had 1200 or so attendees from all over the country, and though i did not attend, it got rave reviews. (not that those two are related, just stating two separate facts.)
fortunately, my co-chair is the same guy that put it together last year, so the task isn't as daunting as it sounds. not to mention that it will be a great opportunity to meet a lot of people, and probably see some familiar dc faces as well.
i headed home after sacrament meeting to take some pills with every intention of returning for relief society, but the pills (left over knee surgery painkillers) had another plan, and i was out like a light.
unfortunately, neither that nap, nor that night's sleep relieved the pain in my neck. this has happened a couple of times before, but in both cases, one night of sleep cured what ailed me. not so this time.
i woke up monday still hurting. and then just to make things a little more interesting, i got lost on my way to work.
my attempt to find cheap gas meant that i would be taking a route different than my normal one to work. normally, this would not have presented a problem, since i have my trusty gps. which...completely...failed...me. it simply turned itself off, and would not turn back on.
if i've never mentioned before how directionally impaired i am, let me mention it now. short of obvious landmarks, i have no idea to which compass point i'm heading. one would think it fairly obvious that the ocean is west. but not in huntington beach. here, the ocean is south. i still can't quite wrap my head around that one, but it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.
ultimately the problem was that not knowing the name of the road i was looking for, i thought i was on it. instead, i was on a road running perpendicular, and thereby, in the WRONG direction. and of course, i managed to second-guess myself several times resulting in course corrections that, had i not taken, would have led me to familiar roads.
need a visual? i'm here to oblige.
the route identified in red is a near proximation of the route i would normally take to work. the one in blue, the route i took on monday morning. behold:
so there you have it, visual proof of my impairment.
monday was a lost cause, and tuesday wasn't much better. i woke up yet AGAIN with severe neck pain. but that wasn't the worst of it. the worst was that i knew it was the day we would be laying off people. four from my office, including one from my team.
as her manager, i had been told beforehand that i would be losing lezlie, and though i knew ultimately this career path wasn't one she wanted to pursue, i was still the cause of some emotional turmoil for me. i won't go into too much detail, but i will say that i was impressed with her handling of the situation. as alison and i spoke with her following the 'official' meeting with my boss and hr, there were tears (on all sides), but she expressed that it was only because she would miss us that she was sad. and the truth is that that's what makes me sad too.
in a completely unexpected turn of events, while saying farewells, talk sprung up about going to lunch together. so an hour later, we met three of our four fallen co-workers at wahoo's fish tacos for a farewell lunch. the turnout was high, and the way the seating worked out, lezlie, alison, holly and i had a table to ourselves. it couldn't have worked out better if we'd planned it:) it was a perfect way to say goodbye.
professionally, i believe this was a good thing for lezlie. she has other goals to pursue and dreams to realize, and i think (hope) that this is just the right kick-start. personally though, i will miss having her in the office. she has an energy and a light about her that is rarely found, and i will miss having access to both her silliness and her genuine kindness.
i think (hope) that our friendship will continue to grow, and not having to walk the line between friend and boss should certainly make it easier for that to happen!
having made it through the rough day, today simply had to be better. and it was. for the most part.
but, i finally decided that i needed some professional help.
for my NECK, people! geesh!
though i've never in my life been to a chiropractor, today was most definitely the day to start. three nights of sleeplessness was about all i was willing to bear, so with recommendations from co-workers, i found a doctor who was also able to see me immediately.
it was a very enlightening experience. i learned that my migraines, insomnia, digestive problems, and the random numbness in my fingertips can actually be fixed. i also learned that my left shoulder is higher than my right, which would explain why purses slide right off if i try and put them on that right shoulder. apparently, it's possible that my right leg is shorter than my left leg, which is resulting in some severe misaligning action. i learned all sorts of things today.
but my neck still hurts.
to be fair, the chiropractor didn't actually touch my neck. instead, multiple scans, x-rays and measurements were taken (my favorite: "i just need to see how thick you are,") and now i wait for the results. hopefully hopefully hopefully they will address the neck situation tomorrow. i can't say i blame them for not wanting to mess with my neck before knowing what they are really dealing with. in fact, now that i think about it, i'm pretty grateful for that. and it's definitely worth one more night of sleeplessness.
the rest of the week promises to be far more boring. thank heavens.
