Since 2 October, I have been under constant observation by my beloved wife.  She has been my side every day and helped in many ways throughout my ordeal.  It has been a true blessing to have her around.

Her job also helped her to get time off in October, without using the precious PTO hours, as colleagues from all over the firm donated hours to her.  What a great company!

From November until mid-February, she has been allowed to work full time remotely, while I was still recovering.  This was a tremendous help and really allowed me to focus on recovering.

If she was not able to be with me for some hours, as we have appointments and activities for the kids, we would organize for friends to come and look after me.

Part of me was bothered and embarrassed about needing 24/7 attention, but the other half was extremely grateful.  Without this support, I do not think my recovery would’ve been as successful as it has been.

With me being back to work full time again, although still remote, we also have to accept that my wife’s working arrangement will change.  We have to go back to before the incident, and that means she needs to go to the office more frequently.

This week was the first week where she would go to the office for three days.

We were both rather apprehensive about being apart for a full day.  We’ve had a few days where she was away for 2-3 hours with the girls, but not a full working day.

Anxiety started to grow.  I had to tell and remind myself that I’ve been feeling totally fine since before Christmas, and I have my body under control.  I have access to medication and 9-1-1, and everything will be perfectly fine.

We kissed goodbye and I logged on to start my workday.

The first few hours were strange.  The house was empty.  No sounds except my own breathing and typing on the keyboard.  So, I turned on the radio and started my first assignments and had several conference calls.

Before I realized it, it was lunch time and I had more meetings in the afternoon.

I felt a bit like Kevin McAlister hearing all the strange sounds the house makes and trying to make it a normal day.  Cleaning up the kitchen a bit.  Folding some laundry and watching the news on TV.  The house was not trying to eat me and I was healthy.

Kids started arriving home from school early afternoon. They started their homework. I continued my work duties and suddenly it was dinner time.

I prepared the meals for the family while on conference calls, and 30 minutes later my wife walked through the front door all smiles.

We had both been anxious, but we had accepted the new normal and we’re embracing our lives again.  It was a good way to go back to work, and it went really well.

The rest of the week went smoothly and I even decided to do a guest appearance at the office, much to the delight to many colleagues.

I can only be grateful for having such a flexible and understanding company to work for.  My colleagues have been amazing and this is part of the reason I have healed.

As we move forward, our days will continue to change and new challenges will present themselves.  I’m no longer scared and my wife has also eased up a lot.

Heck, while writing this post I’m enjoying my first glass of wine since Christmas 🙂

Life is good, and I’m loving it!

How was your return to work?

Did you have any concerns or anxieties?

How did you overcome them?