Wild (weird) Week

I am struggling to believe that I went aq week without posting. Sadly, that is in fact the reality, though. I found myself overwhelmed by meetings and events for most of the past week, and on Friday morning we departed on our trip. The strategic planning meetings on Monday and Tuesday were incredible, but they overwhelmed my body on Wednesday. I did still manage to get some housework and yard work done, though. Unfortunately, that effort coupled with more meetings and errands on Thursday left me FAR behind in my trip preparations. I stumbled out of our office on Thursday night around 11 PM, took one dose of Xyrem, and knew that I would need to get up as early as possible without a second one because I still had far too much to do. It was also the second night in a row with a solo dose.

I did manage to get up between 4:30 and 5 AM, but I still delayed our departure by nearly an hour and a half. Fortunately, my wife and daughter remained calm. I did do some driving (about an hour and a half in the middle of that leg), but it wiped me out. We also got stuck in ridiculous traffic around Chicago. Being the car so long and the fact that I was baking on my side of the car left me with a horrific headache. Fortunately, my wife and daughter still went and enjoyed the dunes on Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, I was unable to awaken for my second dose that night, thus it was three nights with only one dose of Xyrem. The trip from northern Indiana to Tennessee was even longer than Friday's drive. Again, my wife did a bulk of the driving, but I again took a 1.5 hour section in the middle. I was fading badly at the end, and we wound up snapping at each other, but reconciled over lunch. The worst part of the trip came at the end. After 550 miles of driving, we spent nearly two hours covering the final 30 miles because traffic into Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN is so awful. Again, I was shot and baking.

I did get an okay sleep last night, but am also frustrated because our resort only has ONE internet computer available for guests. At some of their other resorts, they at least make wifi available in the lobby of the clubhouse, but at this one they CHARGE for it! So, I am sitting in the parking lot of a McDonald's using my new Qwest WiFi (available through AT&T). Of course, it took forever to make the connection work right, so I am only going to get a couple of chances to write on my blog. Worse, I truly had hoped to do a little work while I was here. Hopefully, I will work something out. I certainly plan to enjoy our vacation, but this is the first long trip that we have taken with me trying to cope honestly with my narcolepsy. I functioned poorly today (at best). We are going hiking tomorrow and rafting on Tuesday. While I am excited about those activities, I am also worried that I will be unable to do much else. I know that will frustrate my wife and daughter. We will see what tomorrow brings, though. I need to run now. I need to get gas for our car and to get groceries.