Shout Out to My Coworkers

For people that don't know I am working in a grant funded position at a crime lab that does not have benefits and only gives me 5 sick and 5 vacation days a year that have to be accrued.  When I decided to donate most of my time was already used on other things.  I have the option to work Comp time which I started to do as much as I could (without getting burnt out) to get as much paid time off for the surgery as I could with a goal of 3 full weeks off.  This week I realized I was 2 days and 5 hours short with plans to find time to work 5 extra hours to make it only 2 days.  I only was able to do 2 extra hours this week, but thankfully my coworkers pulled together their comp time which my Boss let them donate to me.  This means I do not have to worry about missing pay while out, which is one less thing to worry about.  Hopefully, now I will only need the 3 weeks I have planned to heal.  I am grateful to work in a great environment with a awesome boss and such thoughtful coworkers.  Their support in my decision to donate means a lot especially since I know they are going to have to pick up some of my daily tasks while I'm out.

Also, I am going for my preop appointment today so hopefully everything goes well.  We are now less then one week away from surgery.  So I will update later with that.

Getting Things Together

I am feeling good about the surgery at the moment.  I only need 5.5 hours of comp time (which I can get) to take off just shy of 3 weeks of work.  Meaning if I stay out for 3 weeks I'll only miss 2 days of pay, which is exciting, and some people may still donate some of their comp time to me so I may be fully covered!  I also set up the spending log already so it will be easier for my coworker to do while I'm out, and I will try and put in payroll as far out as I can with the information I know on Thursday so that is take care of as well.  Its nice to have time to prepare things before the surgery.

Then at home Dave and I are doing ALL the laundry this week/weekend, and cleaning up our room and stuff so we don't have to worry about it much after the surgery.  I think we should probably go grocery shopping sometime next week so we have food around the house after the surgery and don't have to go get anything.

Its getting more real with every passing day, I keep waiting for something to delay it again (although I DO NOT want that to happen), but hopefully everything stays on track.  Some days I am anxious about the whole thing and others calm, but overall no matter what I'm feeling I cannot wait for the relief and freedom Dave and I will feel after the surgery is over, when the kidney is working, and when everyone is healed!  The idea of not living our lives around a dialysis schedule, the thought of Dave being healthy and happy, is enough to keep me excited and ready for the surgery.  

New Date

We have a new date!  May 15th.  This means I can still do the Warrior dash on May 10th!  Also due to it being pushed back I may have enough time save to take 3 full weeks off with pay!  At the rate i am going I only need to make up 22hours of comp time (and work good Friday) between now and the 15th and that is doable, might be difficult but doable.  Time to actually start coming in a half hour early and stay a  half hour late.

So what this means is I have to do the pre-op blood work again but I cannot do that till after April 17th!  I also have to meet with the anesthesiologist and do the pre-op apt with them and finally schedule a time to meet with my surgeon to sign surgical consents.  But things are moving along!

The only hiccup in this so far is Dave was given a blood transfusion yesterday and will receive more blood on Wednesday.  This can mess up the cross match.  But hopefully that doesn't happen!  A final cross match won't be done till the week before the surgery so no use in worrying for that long, just have to hope and pray everything works out the way it is supposed to.