Post-Trip Recovery, Setbacks

It's been a rough re-entry to post-trip life so far.

I knew that I would have trouble with jet/trip lag, especially after taking the red-eye back to the east coast, which was the best of the few options for nonstop flights. So I planned to get home Friday morning, giving me Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to start recovering, and hopefully get unpacked, before going back to work.

This plan had only mixed success.

Friday: I got a couple of hours sleep on the plane; I didn't have trouble falling asleep, but I couldn't seem to find a position comfortable enough to stay asleep, so I kept popping awake again. I actually dozed off in the car on the drive home, and took a nap after I got home. Friday was about as much a write-off as I expected it to be. Very tired, not sure what time zone I was in, and everything hurt, from the combination of hauling all my luggage around* and being confined in cattle-car plane seats for so long.

*My suitcases do have wheels, but it's still a workout and on a trip this long, I was clearly not up to the task.

Saturday: I slept well Friday night, but in setback #1, I had to be a grown-up all afternoon. It was the celebration of life for my Mom's best friend who died last year, so I had to dress in real clothes and make conversation for a few hours. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to go, but the timing was unfortunate. Then we had to run up to Costco for a prescription Mom needed that day, which took what little energy I had left. I think I was asleep before 8 Saturday night.

Sunday: I woke up after 11 hours sleep, far more than I usually get, and though I wasn't exactly bouncing with energy, I was hopeful that it was going to help. I fed the cat, got my coffee, went to sit on the couch ... and setback #2, I overturned the entire large coffee. 

It. Went. Everywhere. 

What a huge mess. I had been cleaning it up for an hour when my mother got up; my sore muscles were screaming at me, and I was pretty upset. Bless her, she took over the clean-up and let me go sit and stare into space, but it definitely took every bit of energy that I had built up and more, and the rest of the day was pretty much a write-off as well.

Monday: I probably didn't feel worse than I had on Sunday, but because I had to sit at the computer and work, it seemed worse. Impossibly long day, sore, no energy, and turning the light off to go to sleep at 8:15.

Tuesday: Almost 10 hours of sleep later, I felt marginally better! Not as sore, some energy! I finished my work project and thought I might get a little unpacking done ... and in short order, though I did get a bit done, my body was all, "Whoa, whoa whoa! Dial it back, there!" and I realized that I had used up all the energy I had, and was back to "let's sit down and stare into space, occasionally picking up the phone and then putting it down again because it's so heavy." Work wasn't as busy, so I was able to spend some time just sitting, or with the lap cat, or reading, so it wasn't as bad a day as Monday, but still, not much got done, which was frustrating.

Wednesday: I had been sleeping well since I got home, but at 3-something-AM, that ran out, and I was awake for more than an hour. And a bit headachy. Overall, marginal improvement from the previous day (in spite of having to go to the dentist, ugh, but it was just normal levels of unpleasant), but not much energy, not much. Though I did notice my arms didn't hurt they way they had been, so that's good.

And now it's Thursday. I feel almost human (in spite of the building getting power-washed today, so there was a period where I could feel my skeleton reverberating in my body). And hopefully, I can get fully unpacked soon.

Still to come: photos from my trip home, including MANY of my brother's cats!