Why, oh why can't I just be a full-time blogger? Life would be so much easier. I could get my cup of coffee in the morning, get the kids off to school, and sit down to write. I wouldn't even have to get out of my pajamas.
*Sigh* Such is not the case...yet.
But, here is the good news from our family: Al got a job! Almost 3 years after the stroke, he is finally going back to a part-time job. I personally feel that it is about 2 years overdue, but you can only do so much when your physiatrist can only see you every 3-6 months, you're working with a slow-as-molasses government agency, and no one tells you what's going on. Oh, well, whatever happened, the Lord's timing is always perfect.
Al began his job last week at Lansing Community College. He will be working part-time (very part-time at 12 hours per week) as a programmer. The cool thing is that he is working with a good friend who gave him his start in IT many years ago when they worked together at Universal Map. Al is still getting his feet wet, trying to jumpstart his brain a bit into remembering the ins and outs of computers and programming, but I firmly believe that it's only a matter of time until he gets back into the groove.
The mood in our house definitely seems lighter. Al seems a bit more peaceful, and he is not nearly as tired as I thought he would be. One of his most persistent issues has been neurofatigue, which just means his brain gets overworked and he has to take a break (or a nap) to recharge. However, it seems like he's really hanging in there.
Meanwhile, I'm still working 20 hours per week as the librarian at my children's school. It usually ends up feeling like 30 hours of work crammed into 20, trying to serve 700 kids and their unyielding requests for Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants. It's a fun job, but I'm usually pretty exhausted by the end of my 3-day work week. On top of persistent fatigue, I've been having trouble with joint pain, swelling and stiffness, as well as heat in my joints. In fact, my body almost always feels too hot, even though I don't run a fever. I often have a "hot flash" across my face, where my face just feels like it's on fire. I've been having some muscle tingling and weakness in my arms and legs, as well as feeling shaky quite often. To make a long story short, I'm finally pursuing further testing to determine whether I actually suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, or the like. I have an appointment with a specialist in January. I'm not hoping for some major disease (please, Lord, no!), but I will be very relieved if I can get a diagnosis that at least tells me that I'm not crazy or lazy!
Anyway, that's another whole blog post in and of itself. I'm mainly sharing the good news that my hubs is back to work and we seem to be finally creating our "new normal."
