The Corporate Woman

Hello all – as promised, this is my final report out on my surgery results from Feb.  I would say I have reached full recovery now.  Still some minor pain on big sneezes and occasional twinges but good for my purposes.  Now for the good news – did it deliver on all the anticipated benefits?  I give it a resounding YES!

1)  Am I sleeping better?  You betcha.  I not only sleep better, I dream more.  Go figure on that one… or perhaps I just remember my dreams even more.

2) Is my husband sleeping better?  Yes indeed.  If anything, the total silence when I sleep is a bit concerning for him.  He has yet to adjust and still checks to see if I am actually breathing now and again.

3) Am I breathing better overall? Yes, I am.  It still feels a bit odd to actually be breathing on both sides of my nose but I am doing much better.

4) Do I have more energy? Oh yes… I haven’t had this much energy in years.  Must be a combo of more oxygen in my blood and better sleep but I am loving it.  I feel like my energy level has improved significantly.

5) Would I recommend the surgery to others? Yes I would.  It hurt more than I thought going in (and I thought it would be bad) but it was worth every bit.  I genuinely wish I had done this sooner. 

As a reminder, I had the “snoring surgery” and repair for a severely deviated septum at the same time.  The two together is what resulted in more pain than I anticipated.  For those who are going for one or the other, the recovery should be easier.  Throw in the fact that I lost five pounds during the recovery, which was a lovely added bonus. 

This makes excellent progress on my personal goals for the year.

Tags: Health, positive, results, surgery, wellness

Sorry for not posting for a bit but I have been sick (again) and feeling pretty muzzy when I am awake.  Not exactly at my stellar best when I am upright and (relatively) mobile.  I have the opportunity to work from home on some days, which definitely helps but I still operate at something less than optimal brain efficiency.  Add to that – my husband and daughter are both getting tagged with each cold/flu/whatever. 

Due to a weakness in my lungs (long story/another post covering allergies, asthma and turpentine), I get sick quite a lot during the winter.  I’ve learned to manage, no doubt just like all of you. 

My top things:  drink lots of warm tea (preferably with honey and lemon) and work from home whenever I am able and sick (which helps me rest more and not share the germs with co-workers).  What are your top tips for working through illness?

Tags: Family, Health

I have a lovely, long holiday planned with my husband and daughter.  Sixteen days off.  A rare thing in my life.  Normally, I only have a week off at a time (total of nine days), so this rarity will be something to treasure.  I’ve spent a fair amount of time the past few weeks encouraging my team to do the same.  For a Customer Insights organization, the end of the year is not a crazy one like some parts of the org, more a time to wrap up projects. 

I believe in setting a goal to try to get to zero by the end of the year when it comes to vacation time.  There is a reason we get that time off – it’s for balance, for health – both physcial and mental.  And it’s important to take time off.  This year, I won’t quite make zero – I’ll be short by a day and a half but that’s pretty darn close.  And it’s important to remember that there’s no award or recognition for not taking time off.  So if you are one of those types – you know the ones, the hoarders of time (I am a reformed hoarder, so I know what it’s like) – then try it for just one year.  Make it your goal in 2009 to get to zero vacation days by the end of the year.  You never know, if you try it once, you might find you’ll never go back to hoarding again.

Tags: Balance, Customer Experience, Family, Health, Vacation, Wholeness, Work

The Tea Fire here in SB is finally under control (I call it at 80% – I know that’s not a 100% but that is pretty darn good compared to completely uncontrolled).  I don’t know about others, but I struggled with how to feel all weekend.  On the one hand I felt so happy that we didn’t end up having to evacuate, much less lose our home.  On the other hand, I felt so awful for those who did lose their homes (no lives lost, fortunately) and I ended up sneezing and wheezing all weekend from allergies to the air quality, which added a layer of yuck to the whole thing.  It was a crazy surreal weekend, filled with thoughts like… is it okay if I decide we will still go out to eat this weekend, like we do as a family just about every weekend?  And yes, we did go out to eat.   And we saw a lot of others do the same but there was more greetings and “is your home safe?  I am so glad to see you!” even from the staff.  What amazing grace and strength we have as human beings, what wonderful small tales will go untold during this tragedy.   So I can embrace the feel good and feel bad at the same time.  Guess that just makes me human (-:

Tags: Change, Family, Health