I spent most of the last week battling an overuse injury in my shoulder that invariably spreads into my neck and hurts beyond a lot. I decided that needle-felting a textile project that is very large, by hand, was a great idea and it was fine until about Wednesday when the pain, numbness and tingling set in. My Thursday, my neck and right shoulder were starting a painful freeze up... I was never so grateful for the Chinese massage therapists at the mall for their walk in services! 20 minutes of work on my back and shoulders did the trick... it was a little better Friday and tons better today. I have also keep up a steady dosing of naproxen to prevent swelling. To mostly NOT be in pain after several days of severe pain is a blessing. However I felt compelled to reneg on my volunteering for the Tough Mudder tomorrow... don't want to exacerbate my shoulder and I need a day to clean.
I also think I had a very small version of whatever in the hell the rest of the family had the previous week... something sinusey and energy draining. I was in a weird fog all week, though very effective at work, clearing many disease cases that had backlogged during August... the month of Tdap Shots & TB tests galore... especially the latter! We did 45+ tests in the month of August, 36 of which were in the last 2 weeks... which is a staggering number considering our usual 5ish a week. I don't know why they were all crawling out of the woodwork, but crawl they did. However, all the clinic busy-ness, prepping for our annual employee health fair,and stress over waiting to hear about the job applications just made for a very distracted month. The good part about quickly clearing the backlog is that I know that I can handle a large volume of cases in a short time, which will be very useful in a place as busy as Seattle/King County will be sure to be.
One important FYI, since we are deep into tick season... wear repellent and long pants/sleeves if you go into tall grass or the woods. Ehrlichiosis has been remarkably bad this year with most cases meeting at least what we call "probable" case definition, if not confirmed. In years past, the number of probable/confirmed cases has been quite low... but we are seeing the opposite this year. I also haven't been seeing a great deal of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever... just Ehrlichiosis out the wazoo.
I am looking forward to the new job where I can give up some of the hats I have been wearing for 7 years at Callaway. A narrower focus and more honed specialization is appealing. It will be nice to be able to buckle down to a task and not be called away to have to give a shot, take a blood pressure, or help someone with their computer. I have already received welcome e-mails from my new co-workers in Seattle... I can't wait to get in and get going with them.
However, I am leaving a most excellent group of people at the Callaway County Health Department. I almost feel like I'm leaving home to go home. I also am leaving some amazing connections at the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, especially Drew & Terry. I will miss having their voices on the end of the line when I have an outbreak to report or a question to ask.
Today has been a restful day, just kind of recovery from a long week of illness and pain. I got in a nice 6.25 mile run/walk on the MKT and managed to shave a couple of minutes off my previous 10K time. It's a work in progress to be sure... and somehow, I am managing to progress. As with other parts of my life, progress is happening.
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