Blog on the Lillypad
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
 | Working Woman
It seems that in a day, or a week at most, I went from being physically strong, in shape, and able, to being handicapped and then sidelined by these back problems. And now I feel frail some of the time---diminished. I spent about two hours on concrete yesterday, wearing my steel-toed shoes and hard hat (and safety glasses) to go over the lyophilizer (a freeze dryer) at work. We're building a new vaccine plant, and though I am billed as a tech writer, I spend time going over the equipment that has to be documented for FDA approval. |
| When I got back to the office trailer from the new building, I kicked off my steel-toed shoes and set down my hard hat as I collapsed into my desk chair, but I was so tired from all that time walking and standing on concrete (sometimes I have dizzy spells when I am standing in that building) that I couldn't finish the last hour at work and went home 30 minutes early. Today it was more of the same, though I withstood it better. I wouldn't make it without my inversion table, which I have come to rely on, especially on days when I have to walk around the new building and its concrete floors. |  |
 | There are a lot of systems that run through the lyophilizer: nitrogen gas, for one thing, as well as scalding hot water, scalding hot steam, pressurized air, and city water. So there's a lot to learn. And I am coming along nicely, I think. But the spectre of becoming too old to work like I used to is starting to worry me. I have worked all my life, and I realize that I've taken fewer rests than most people. And now suddenly I am tired, achey, and at the end of myself when the day is over. I hope that my current client will decide to hire me as a permanent employee. That would certainly make life easier to bear. |
