Over but not out. At least not yet.
Allie visited for several days in the week just gone by and - tragically - I barely saw her.
Not only was work above & beyond its usual levels of stress, the week just finished was particularly stressful, much more so than usual. In it, I had a major project to complete (Australia go-live), the workflow project to complete (follow-up from last weeks go-live), a major set of data extracts (the NPV analysis, requiring several days of work), and on top of that I had to write and deliver a 10-minute presentation in German to a crowd of over a hundred people on a subject that was unfamiliar to me - whilst C had a doctors appointment on Thursday (at the doctors request!) to 'discuss her results' of her recent blood test.
So. Firstly, C is fine. Anemia, but now being treated for it. She's been plagued by it for years and she has all the symptoms (fatigue, fogginess, bruising, shortness of breath). With luck, after a few months of iron tablets (and drinking slightly smaller cups of tea) she should see some improvement - though I suspect it'll be from "how are you upright?" to "this is lower than it should be".
Secondly, I achieved it. I managed to do every single one of my tasks, without exception - on top of doing Christmas shopping, sorting out the finances and mustering up enough social capital to attend the works Christmas party on the evening I gave the presentation.
Go me. I am beyond tired. But I did it.
There are, obviously, a load of things left for me to do in the remaining 4 working days I have this year - but I think/hope that I am now over the worst of it and can face a degree of "gliding to the runway" - as opposed to having to constantly avoid a barrage of heavy flak.
Thats the plan at least.
