The ongoing issues with The Other Half's sciatica have come to a close, at least for now. It's taken two rounds of anaesthetic shots to the L5 nerve, and he's still prone to discomfort and fatigue after long periods standing, but he has been released to return to his "day job". He started Monday, on a 4 x 10, 1300 to 2300 shift. Since my shift is currently 1000 to 1800, this means that four days a week, I'll be on my own for dinner -- and hopefully asleep when he gets home. It also means having to take care not to wake him when I get up at 0600 to take my morning ride. (Unfortunately, neither of these has happened this week -- nor have my Monday or Thursday morning rides.)
This is not terribly new. Since April of 2006, we have been more often on conflicting schedules than on complementary ones. Generally, his schedule starts and ends later than mine. In theory, this works because I'm more of a "morning" person, and he hits peak somewhat later in the day. It also means I can make dinners he won't generally touch, and since he's more likely to eat out, he can have foods I won't allow in the house. That's good for me, not so good for him.
On the other hand, it still means that I'll need to make sure coffee is ready for him, that he has something "reasonable" for breakfast, and that I'll likely need to have his dinner packed before I head off to work. (Nothing new there.)
It also means another period of adjusting to new work schedules, and with them, new social schedules. Friday night computer club meetings will be on my own; Friday night movies, a thing of the past -- until the next schedule change. It means he will be able to get me to my Wednesday night meetings over at Vector (I've been a Cutco rep since February) and we will be able to attend as many Saturday and Sunday social events as our budget allows (not that it's allowing all that many right now).
Most importantly, it means hope that we will be able to catch up on some of our outstanding bills, and as I progress towards the end of my three-month probation at the "day job", be able to afford to do more than just mark time on some of the less-immediately-pressing (but still important) aspects of our medical care.
