Insanity Everywhere I Turn

Lately, I have been stretched so thin, and extremely stressed. Last week was probably the worst in a long time. I had a ton of work to do all week, but was only able to get a small amount done and get the rest semi-organized. Thursday, we had vistors from Atlanta in our office, so I spent the morning trying to make my desk look slightly more presentable. Friday, one of them was here again, the one I work with most closesly. I spent all morning and a large part of the afternoon with him trying to fix a problem. That turned out to be a huge waste of time. Oh well, it was still nice to get to work with him face to face rather than through e-mail or phone.

Thursday evening, Wil and I went to a work party (with my boss, the vistors and a few other people in the office and their spouses). Wil ended up sitting across from Russ, my boss, which made me a little scared since I've never really been around him in a non-work setting. I sat across from Melinda, who is the wife of one of Russ' work friends as well as the recruiter who placed me in my job. The dinner went very well and, thanks in a large part to Melinda's friendly-ness and talkitiveness, Wil and I had a great time and were able to talk without feeling awkward. Melinda was talking to Wil and I about wedding plans, where we'll leave, and what Wil does. When we explained that he currently doesn't have a job and is just going to school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, she offered him a job for a week. Wil met with Melinda on Friday and got it all worked out.

Saturday was rough for me. Wil and I took Rain to the groomers, but I couldn't find her current vaccination records so we had to reschedule. We then took her to the vet because she has a fairly large lump on the side of her neck. It's been there for quite a while, didn't seem to bother her, and as far as we could tell, wasn't growing. Anyway, we decided to have it checked out. The vet and the vet tech both said that she seems to be in great shape. The vet told us that the lump could be three different things, first, a mass cell tumor (like a cancerous tumor in a human, but this is the dog version), second, a beign/fatty tumor that wasn't a big deal but could be removed if we wanted it to be, and third, it could be an infected cist, in which case they would either drain it, or it would eventually drain itself and be resolved. Of course, I was hoping for the 3rd option. It turns out that the lump is actually a mass cell tumor. While the vet went over what should be done, I listened and refused to look at Wil or Rain because I would have likely started crying. The vet left the room to get us an estimate of how much the surgery would cost to remove the tumor (while they did that, they'd look for others just to make sure she doesn't have on in her organs or anywhere else). Once she left, I broke down and cried on Wil's shoulder for a bit. He did what he could to comfort me and I was able to gain control before the vet tech came back in with the estimate and to walk us out so we could set up an appointment for the surgery. I've been trying hard not to think about it, but I'm scared to death that she'll have more tumors and they might not be able to remove them safely. I felt like kicking myself for not getting it checked sooner, but as Wil reminded, I didn't have the money to get her checked out then, let alone the money I'd need for the surgery. Anyway, her surgery is a week from Thursday. Wil has agreed to take her in while I go to work. I'll pick her up afterwards (scary thought).

Wil started his job today. He works 8 hours a day today through Friday in the excavation department at my work, Sinclair Oil. It's a great job oppertunity, even if it is only for a week and mainly involves filing and other mind-numbing tasts. He and I met for lunch and he seemed like he was doing well and was pleased with himself. I am so excited for him. Even if he doesn't end up getting a permanant position here at Sinclair, Melinda can hook him up with other temp jobs so he can get a variety of different jobs under his belt and hopefully find something he enjoys doing so he can turn that into a career.

Anyway, I have a massive pile (actually a few of them) of work that I still need to work on so I'll end this for now.