Well, I didn't quite dodge the whole bullet... and adventures in rural mail delivery!

My first day of my new job was yesterday, and it was a fairly easy, if incredibly long day.  My task for the day was to practice casing the mail (separating it according to address) and to ride the route with the regular carrier so that I can know how the route runs and if there are any tricky spots in it. No big deal, I know the basics of how to case and pull down (remove the mail from the case in delivery order) because I have been doing that 5-6 days a week for over a year. That means that I basically just need to learn where all the addresses on this route are so I can not take forever to deliver. This will come in time. This route is 30 miles long and gets a little twisty so I will admit I am nervous about when they send me out on my own, but I know I can handle it and absolute worst case, I have great coworkers, and many of them have told me that I can ask them if I get stuck because they know the route pretty well.

I finally talked to the doctor on Friday morning. After looking at my labs, he is concerned about the long-term ability of my body to use the insulin it makes, not quite diabetes but not quite completely in the clear. Basically, if i don't get my act together I am looking at the dreaded D-word. Between diet and exercise and yet another pill, we hope to be able to call me completely in the clear if I can stick to some lifestyle changes.

I can and I will.

Most of my other labs came back great, including my cholesterol which was, and I quote "beautiful." That may be the biggest shocker of all, my love of cheese and all things cheesy and burgers and bacon and all the other crap that is high in cholesterol is no secret, and I have no clue why it came back so pretty. I know the doctor was surprised and I was too. There are a couple of other things we are going to watch but I don't incredibly understand what they mean, so I am not going to stress about it until I have a reason to. Part of the new healthy Stacey involves exercise, I have exercised more this week than I ever have in my life, I need to keep it up though. I found a video I can do at home when work keeps me occupied during all the daylight hours (we are heading into the dark time of year, which is my favourite when I am not at work), and when I have daylight I have my .75 mile hilly route to walk by my house. 2x is a mile and a half, and so far I have done the route 2x twice in the last week, and might get in another go tomorrow after work.

This new pill though... it sucks. I took it for the first time yesterday, you know... the first day of the new job.. and I made sure to follow all the instructions about eating and when to take it and how much water to drink (If I am going to pay a small fortune to see the doctor ((I have a ludicrous co-pay and can't wait to get new insurance)) I am going to do what he says, I don't pay good money to ignore the man) And maybe 2 hours after I took the pill, I start feeling terrible. Cold sweat, shakiness/lightheaded, excessive tiredness (agreeably I didn't sleep well the night before but this was extreme) And I remembered reading the info pack that came with the new pills. These aren't supposed to cause low blood sugar but they can, and this time they did. I grab my satchel and pull out my emergency sugar supply, shove about half of it in my mouth and hope this works because passing out on the first day of a new job (even if everyone knows you already) would be embarrassing and suck mightily. A few minutes later I decide more sugar is necessary and finish my pack of Boston baked beans (those yummy candied peanut things) Feeling a little better I keep working while the regular carrier takes off to eat his sandwich. I try to do this all without anyone knowing anything is wrong. When he gets back I decide that even though it is early I should eat my lunch, I felt so much better after eating the lunch. It was like a heavenly gift of baby carrots, string cheese, and slices of ham. I know I can't get a hold of my doctor until Monday at least, but I do know someone who is getting a phone call tomorrow morning.

Next thing I know I am being loaded into the back of a mail truck (complete with a seat and seat belt) and am basically buried underneath parcels. It was kind of entertaining, but definitely not comfortable at all. And after five hours (I got to stretch a couple of times) of sitting in the crazy chair in the back, my butt was numb.

I came home and immediately went to bed (checked the mail, opened my door, put down my bag, and face planted into bed)... at 6pm. I then woke up later and figured it was midnight or something... nope! 8:45pm, watch a bit of television, surf the web and back in bed by ten! Woohoo. That nap has cost me though. This is why I am completely awake and blogging at 3 whatever in the morning.

In other news, I paid $2.85/gallon for gas today. It was awesome.

And, I do in fact think I am going to head to bed again, the morning fast approaches and this postal minion has Amazon parcels to deliver today.