USC III

Well. The $30 I spend on Life Alert monitoring/emergency services is worth it – I have a broken patio door to prove it.

We docked and had to be off the ship by 9am sharp Tuesday morning. So remember what I’d said about the schedule in my last post so allow me. There was a day party Monday from 12-6, limelimelime, a night fete from 9-4, then there was las lap from 4-7. I went to everything although I had to squeeze in a power nap from 1-2 so that I wouldn’t fall off Optimus fus I was beppin. I tell you all that to say that essentially, I’d been up since I woke up Monday morning. Our flight back to Atlanta was 2 or 3 something so ASal and I didn’t have to rush back to the airport to catch our flight. I don’t have to tell u that I was sleeping from the time I boarded and fastened my seat belt; flight was uneventful and I was back in my apartment around 7pm. Now over the years I’ve learned that anytime I go on a hectic trip, I need recovery time. In fact anytime I travel, I usually make sure that I have at least one rest day between reaching home and going back to work. So..we got back on Tuesday and I didn’t go back to work till Friday.

As much fun as the cruise was, I was ecstatic to be home – I could sleep most comfortably in my own bed…I couldn’t wait to get a full night’s sleep! Got ready for bed and lifted my right leg (as I always do) to get into the bed and uhoh, I couldn’t get it all the way up. Try as I might I just couldn’t muster the strength to lift it all the way – I’d been going hard for 4 days, of course my body was tired! Thing is, I HAD to get in right? So I tried a few other techniques and when I thought something worked it hadn’t and I had no choice but to slide off my bed. Deep down I think I knew that if I didn’t have the strength to lift my leg to get on while I was standing up, getting up from the ground at that moment would have been an exercise in futility but I tried anyway and failed each time. It was 9pm. I was tired, frustrated, angry…all those things and sleepy. I had an idea, I could just sleep for a few hours, the body will be rejuvenated and I could try again. I dragged my comforter off my bed, wrapped up in it and went right to sleep.

I think it was about 2am when I woke up and tried again. I won’t bore with the details but it was around 5:30 when I remember feeling totally dejected and having the thought that I don’t want to see myself on the ground (I’d been in the dark all along and the sun was about to come up), that I pressed the Life Alert button. All that time, I’d been telling myself that I could do it, I can get off this ground and I kept trying different ways to get up and each time I failed. I guess it was my pride? I don’t know…in fact when the EMTs got here (in about 5 mins mind u) and asked me why didn’t I get them sooner, there wasn’t much I could say to justify my actions. They picked me up, put me in the bed, covered me up and walked out the door. I’d been on the ground from 9pm to 6am; they were in and out in half hour – what was I thinking??? The only problem that I have to this day, is that I cannot open my patio doors – that’s where they broke in – because for some reason the apartment management company is having issues replacing them.

I’m going home for Carnival soon. This time, I’m staying for 2 weeks. I figured I might as well build in my recovery time at home – why rush back?