Well to start with, I’m loving my job!!! But, these extra “temporary” hours at the other side of city at the larger facility where they run things differently are kicking my butt.  One long term side effect of going through chemo is exhaustion or fatigue, so I get tired easier than most people.  Forty hours a week plus easy to exhaust, no good.  But the residents are mostly wonderful, and the coworkers are trying to work with me, but it’s hard being the new one.

I laughed at one the other day, this young girl still in school didn’t want me to do nails because they might yell at me and she didn’t want to toss me under the bus, I laughed and said she shouldn’t worry, cause I interned at a hospital and while I didn’t do manicures I had to have them do arts and crafts, and we all know how people feel at a hospital in the first place much less to try and get them to think and try something new while on medication and in pain!  She just went ugh…but..but….  needless to say, I let her do nails and tried to start discussion while she painted.  A lot of the residents (in 90s) think I’m sweet and love my fun scrub shirts!  I’ve only been grumped at three times in one week and easily switched it around.  Too bad for all this tiredness though, even with my thyroid medicine. Hopefully I will adjust to the new schedule soon.

My new job is wonderful!  Starting next week for the next three months though I’ll be at two different facilities 40 hour a week total!  Woohoo!  Today after 4-hour shift though I had to take a nap.  My fatigue is still with me, and some days are unbearable.  Yay for long term side effects and “new normal”.  Time to stock up on mountain dew and coffee!  I really did get lucky with this job, my boss is wonderful my coworkers are nice, and the residents are so sweet! I’m already connecting with many of the residents, bringing out smiles left and right, and as this population is primarily dementia, the lighter stage individuals help me out with the later stage individuals.  All are sweet though, can’t wait until our activities truly start!  I’m hoping to get the new calendars signed off and shipped out Monday afternoon. Time to learn Yahtzee and canasta!  I have October filled with fun activities thanks to Pinterest. I even have some ladies who want to learn crochet, so many of these activities that are sensory based will be helpful as it activates other sections of the mind to help keep the mind ticking, stretch out its plasticity for as long as possible. So glad that I can be here for them.

Wow, 29 viewers in a few short hours!  Here’s a recap of my situation so you don’t have to scroll all the way back to wherever it is I posted my story (can’t believe I’ve done 45 since I started in Jan! With 499 views total!!
I was always a sick child, catching every cold.  You sneeze, I was guaranteed to get it.  By the time I got out of high school my immune system seemed to be a little stronger, but the pain became more frequent. (Had pain a lot with sick, but parents thought I was seeking attention) over the course of 4 years in college I had a procedure for endometriosis which gave me temporary pain relief.   Then it came back and got worse.  That is pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.   In 2009 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma large b cell in about 85% of my skeleton.  I went through 5 months of chemo and was very fortunate that the drugs took away the tumors and healed the bone!!  It took me awhile to process what I went through, I went back to school and graduated and continued to master’s and graduated!  I’m feeling better than ever. The pain stopped halfway through treatment and my family is closer than ever, I’ve worked on forgiveness and moving forward and understanding what I went through, how I’ve changed and where I’m going.

Summer is coming to an end, and fall is beginning.  I will be having my new job orientation starting Monday and was already called yesterday to ask if I’d like extra hours due to another employee taking maternity leave!  It’s so exciting, I can’t wait to meet both of my new bosses (two different buildings /locations within the large facility) and figure out my new schedule.  I bought a new date book so I can’t wait to start filling it in!  Considering where I was four years ago this thanksgiving the idea of it all is almost surreal.  Was I going to survive vs I’m a master’s graduate with job and internship! (internship slow to start but that’s ok).

I also met a drama therapist at my internship who was visiting, and we have kept in touch. For anyone else interested in the creative therapies and hemodialysis units, we are considering teaming up to start a research project!  No clue when or where yet but we are in the process of looking up grants and scholarships, and a potential music therapist to join us!

With all this employment excitement, I can finally take responsibility for my financial concerns and am that much closer to living on my own!  (Yay bills, car phone loans etc.)   I’m fortunate to say my bills from cancer treatment are almost if not finished thanks to my dad, but I have everything else to take over and loan repayments start in November.  I have been looking at other blogs though and wondered if any other viewers have questions of my experience with cancer.  As I have mentioned, the financial burden was horrendous, and I was very lucky to have my family support me in that aspect.  I would be glad to answer any questions in my next entry, either post them here or privately.