For the better part of 8 years, I have worked an “Individualized Work Schedule” or IWS. This has allowed me to work extended hours for 9 out of 10 days in a 2 week work cycle, and have the 10th day off as a “Pass Day.” I work the same amount of full time hours as I always did, I just work them in 9 days instead of 10. This has allowed me a dedicated day to schedule what ongoing infusions, medical appointments, and procedures I could to limit the amount of time I had to charge, depleting my time accruals. This has been a huge asset, and I am grateful my workplace has been willing to accommodate in me in such a way.

But that’s all coming to an end now. Today is my last Pass Day before returning to a normal 10 day work schedule. I requested to terminate my IWS for 3 reasons:

1. With the new med, I am moving from in-lab IV infusions to at home injections, and will no longer need to sit for 3-4 hours hooked up to an IV, which was the primary reason I requested an IWS.
2. My agency has approved a permanent telecommuting program – 2 days a week – which I am not eligible for while I work an IWS. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided working from home 2 days a week was more valuable to me than having a day off every other week.
3. I’m tired of working extended hours, and look forward to returning to a normal 8 hour work day every day.

I think it was the right decision and I have no regrets.

So what am I doing to celebrate my last Pass Day? I started the day by collecting bodily fluids, packaging them up for travel, heading to my Primary Care Physician’s office to have blood drawn, then headed over to my Gastroenterologist’s office to drop off my “specimens”.

After returning home, I placed a delivery order for groceries from a nearby grocery store to be delivered later today, loaded the dishwasher with breakfast dishes, cleared the dining room table of the week’s mail and package detritus that had gathered there, stored away all the bulk food items we had received this week from various sources, and took out the garbage and recyclables.

Then I sat down and made the calls I’ve been dreading – one to my insurance company and one to my GI’s office – to figure out why I was being billed $12,000 (ZOIKS!) for an infusion which was pre-approved, and should have been covered, by my Insurance Company. Fortunately, it was all resolved (allegedly) and I am now off the hook for the bill. WHEW!

I do not have to prep anything for dinner tonight, because we have plenty of left over Ziti from last night. For those who asked, the ZenB Penne pasta (made from yellow peas) was fantastic and we will definitely order more. The pasta smelled a little funky after I cooked it (to be fair, I’ve never liked the smell of peas, so it’s no surprise that I didn’t find this odor appealing) but that odor faded quickly and the taste was wonderful. It was my first time making Baked Ziti (can you believe it?) and I think it came out rather well, considering it was a makeshift recipe cobbled together from various recipes I found on line. I did not have quite all the ingredients for a proper Ziti, according to all the recipes I found, but I was able to cobble together a close proximity from what we did have: gluten free Penne pasta, marinara sauce, crushed tomatoes, ground turkey, diced onions and peppers, shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, Parmesan, and plenty of seasoning. Along with the Ziti, we enjoyed a bottle of wine (Pinot Noir) and some gluten free bread sticks. A lovely dinner indeed, and we look forward to repeating it tonight.

Now that all the adulting is done for the day, I get to do more entertaining activities: read comics, crochet, watch episodes of my favorite superhero animated series’ on TV, nap with the dogs, and maybe bake something in our new multi-purpose Ninja Foodi grill/baker/broiler/hot air fryer.

All in all, not too bad a day, (bodily fluid collecting and needle poking aside,) and I am looking forward to Jeffrey returning home so we can enjoy the rest of the weekend together.

Stay safe, everyone.