I was given the opportunity to pick up 10 hours of work at a quiet facility between friday afternoon and saturday. It was not in my plan. Resting and recuperating was in my plan. However, it was good money and a chance to see some patients that didn’t otherwise have a therapist due to unforeseen circumstances. I had the opportunity to have a regular saturday gig and i quit on day 2. Trust me, i have my reasons. When you walk in and you just know this is not going to work out but you give them 6 unpaid hours of your time between 2 days anyway and then pull the plug on something that’s not gonna make sense financially or mentally and emotionally due to what can only be described as “chaos”…. This quieter facility is my almost regular gig’s sister facility. I will likely only work there on saturdays to cover therapists’ vacations or sick days. This will not be a regular gig, but the work is paid hours and the people and environment are calm and kind. I would rather have a once in a while saturday gig at a quiet facility than an every week gig at a place that will leave me without my mind. With all that sussed out, i couldn’t really say no to 10 juicy hours in 2 days so i took a bunch of supplements, ate a lot of oranges, and paced myself. I managed to get through the 2 days without backsliding into symptoms but the fatigue was still quite present. Yesterday i helped a rather involved patient toilet and i was glad i had left her treatment for the end of the day because i had to lock the office door and take a 12 minute nap in the office chair before i could make the drive home. But, the patients were all lovely and i got to work with some awesome CNAs. I was happy to have grabbed the assignment and i made a few hundred dollars which is always welcome these days. I had all these plans about how i was going to clean the whole house today in anticipation of the laundry machine delivery on thursday. I was going to sweep, dust, scrub the sinks, the mirror, and the toilet…. I was going to get up early and make it all pretty. I fell asleep yesterday with one of the dogs around 3 pm and didn’t wake up until 7:30. I fell asleep again around 11 and didn’t wake up until 3 when i took morning meds and went back to sleep until 5 when i donned my night retainers which might as well be day retainers at this rate. The rubbing alcohol is bleaching them white but i can’t put them in without killing the illness germs so it must be done. At 5 am i put both Sili and Cashew in the bed and laid down. Cashew had been so good to howl at maybe 45 different alarms i had set to wake me up only to find that i’d turned it off each time, given her a pat or a cracker, and gone back to bed. She never gave up and threw the towel in even though i was making sounding the alarm clock wake up call pointless. I felt she deserved to sleep on the memory foam for a few hours so i put her on the bed. She stayed draped over my leg, everything but her head and front paws covered with the blanket. Sili stayed on the pillow next to me with a paw draped over my arm and her back feet tucked against my ribs. I covered her with the blanket as well. It was dark and the perfect temperature. Both dogs were cozy and settled. I decided we were sleeping in. Cleaning would have to happen another day. I would get up and let the dogs and chickens out at 8 and then go back to bed to web surf and nap while the temperature was perfect and the time was there to rest. I would get up at noon and steam all the masks i wore this week in the pressure cooker but other than that, i was taking a day off. Rest felt good now that my symptoms had subsided enough to enjoy it. I had to chuckle to myself that i’d worked friday and saturday and i was this exhausted. I’d had the weekend, monday, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday to rest at home but it doesnt really feel like rest when you’re sick i guess.