First Day Back at Work...

Whoa.... That was quite a bit more difficult than I thought it would be! Let's see, it started with me (the lightest sleeper EVER) completely not hearing my alarm for 35 minutes, and only waking up when my dog was nudging me, confused about the ongoing beeping. Then there was the trip to the gas station to get air in my tires, which cost 50 cents, which I didn't have, so I had to go to Tim Hortons (and still off coffee so that was just a mean, tempting trip). They screwed up my order somehow, giving me some sort of bagel with every seed imaginable and loaded with butter, when I ordered the whole wheat with light cream cheese. And then there was construction getting out of the gas station so I had to backtrack several blocks just to get back on the road to work... bad start to the day.
OK, but then the drive to work wasn't bad because I missed all the traffic. I didn't even have to take the 407 and still made it in an hour. Something positive!!
I have to say, the open office environment is not conducive to this hearing / ringing issue. It seems that the ringing gets louder to compensate for the white noise and various conversations around me. Within a couple of hours I had a killer headache and I was exhausted from trying to concentrate on the conversations I was having and tune out all the background. I'm sure I will get used to this though.
I do have to say how proud and thankful I am for my team at work. They were so supportive throughout my time off and have really stepped it up without me around. They barely need me so really this has been a huge blessing for them (learning and empowering) and for me (to relax and let them be more independent). Bridget and Erin totally rock! This will totally help me to back off from work a little and enjoy a bit of life.
For now, I think it's off to bed early and I guess I will have to actually close the windows to block out the bird chirping instead of rolling onto the good ear...