Chapter 8: The return to reality - Work, doctor screw ups, unexpected weddings!

Well, here it is! The final chapter of my vacation....almost a month after it's conclusion: The return to reality!

The trip home was fine - we left the shore around 10 am, was home by 11:30 am and I had everything unpacked, washed and ready to go by early evening. I took the following Monday off to have some bounce-time before I got back to work - I didn't want to rush around like a chicken without a head!

I spent the day with Chris and Hubby on Monday...and then headed off for my counseling appointment in the late evening. Counselor was quite impressed with how relaxed I was...but, of course, I told him work loomed ahead, as well as the thyroid scan!

Tuesday morning, 8:30 am: I was greeted to about 300 e-mails...and 2 spam filters so overloaded, it crashed my e-mail! Great start to returning from vacation! On top of it, our system's administrator was on vacation - yeah! So, luckily, our center administrator was able to clear out some of the spam another way so I could read my e-mail again.

Once my e-mail was cleared up...I had to fish through it all to see what was just FYI and fileable, and what had to be addressed for real. By lunch (at least 4 hours of time spent on e-mails alone), I knew the projects I actually had to do - two of which were rush jobs because my center administrator, who was supposed to be monitoring my e-mail never did! So, I ended up working right through my lunch to get the rush jobs done. Par for the course, I suppose.

As I approached 2 pm, I realized I never heard from the hospital about what I needed to do for the thyroid scan and uptake test I was scheduled for Wednesday morning at 8 am. So, I take a minute to call the test center...and guess what?

I am not in the schedule!!

So, after about 5 minutes of @*^%39(&%*%!@%!^$#&&%!*&%*@ ranting and raving, I called my Hubby in tears. All I wanted to do was get this test over with (especially since I had it scheduled about 3 weeks in advance!) and see if part of the reason I had been feeling so crappy was due to a thyroid problem, and here I am encountering yet another speed bump in the road!

Hubby calls the test center - finds out that Dr. McC's staff never faxed over the corresponding bloodwork, which is required to order the radioactive capsule for the test. So, my slot got cancelled. Thanks a lot, dumb asses! Luckily, the lady on the phone was able to get me in for the test on 9/19 (see post on results: The Lo-down on the Thyroid Scan and Uptake...Good News!) - provided, of course, the bloodwork gets sent over.

Hubby then calls Dr. McC's office and rolled some heads yet again with the staff...and this time, they fax over the bloodwork (and the prescription too, since they didn't do that either!). We got a confirming call this was done. So, now I am confirmed for the test!

Finally, it is time to go home...and I am out the door at 4:30 promptly! I can't take anymore stress!

I get home with Chris and we decide to sit outside and wait for Hubby to come home from his first day back to work too. As we sit, Hubby's aunt (Cookoo) waives from across the street as she gets her pizza delivered and goes back inside. A few minutes later, CooKoo and Suzi come across the street to visit...and give us the news of the upcoming wedding and baby! (see post on How my miscarriages have brought forth new life). Not the news I was expecting to hear - especially after a day that had already been so stressful. But, in the long run, this news is what I can actually think back to fondly - it was the news that brought me the peace over my losses I had longed for.

It was one wacky return to work after such a nice vacation... Reality sucks sometimes, doesn't it? Guess that's why it's called vacation.