Okay, I’ve been taking it easy and recuperating now for almost 2 months. Stopped working (again) the beginning of May, and now tomorrow is already July 1st. Did the steroid treatment the very beginning of June for almost 2 weeks (3 days of solumedrol IV, then 10 days of prednisone taper-down.) I am going stir-crazy! I’ve been out of the house, of course, but I miss the part-time schedule I had at the library. The hours were perfect for me: 1-5pm, 4 days a week (including Saturdays, but I was so happy to be working outside of the home I hardly cared.) Problem was, the work was completely inappropriate for someone with multiple sclerosis.
When I get into remission, and it’s going very well, I tend to overestimate my energy reserves. I am someone who used to run track in high school, and walk long distances in my twenties with my girlfriends to keep in shape. So when I am feeling up, up, up, I have a tendency to overdo it. Like at the library. I was reshelving books, mostly in the children’s section. Bending, stretching, kneeling, pushing carts. And did I mention the heat? The library, being a government building, doesn’t have the best air conditioning system. Not to mention that almost 3 entire sides of the building are made up of glass windows, for aesthetical puposes. “Green house.” Ugh. So even thought the intention was good, I was in the right field, wrong position.
I am happy to say that I’m getting back out to the library system in July. The volunteer coordinator for all of the 20+ county branches will have me help her, voluntarily, enter the “mountain of data” she has into the computer system to maintain the volunteer programs. I will be volunteering 2 hours on Fridays, just to get my bearings. I need to see what level of physical abilities I have for the outside world. My plan is to maybe up this schedule gradually when the summer is over, and maintain this for a year so I can truly know what sort of part-time work I can physically handle. It may be that this volunteer work will be my “outside” career, but if it’s meaningful, that’s fine. I have a few irons in the fire with my freelance writing, a women’s health website that I’ve built up in the past 2 years, and I can literally write in my sleep (really—– the beginning of this blog was written at the tail end of complete steroid insomnia/delirium.)
Anyway, I’m content to go with the flow and see what happens with this volunteer opportunity. And ever so grateful that someone found a need to be filled and took a chance on me, again.
PS: Look for a new post about going to the MS specialists before my actual diagnosis (flashback to 2001-2004.) What a roller coaster ride that was….
