Pure Panic

On Tuesday when I opened the door to let the cable guy in I found a note outside my door. The next day building management would be setting off 'bug bombs' in my building and two others and I had to empty all my kitchen and bathroom cabinets and vacate for approx. 5 hours.

My body was flooded with panic and adrenaline. I don't like surprises (understatement there) and I have arthritis to that seemed to me to be insurmountable by the next morning. Strangers in my house-my week was blown-one day to do this, two days to put it back in and 3 days to recuperate from screwing up my back. Little did I know.

Luckily for them the cable guy was there for another 45 minutes so they didn't get the full force of panic. The last time they had to do something in my apartment I was given a week and emptied cabinets unnecessarily. Nope--this time it was for real. They are only obligated to give us 24 hours notice. Hmm, a note left in front of someone's door is notice? Had the cable man not been there would I have even opened the door? Plus I had to find somewhere to go-being out first thing in the morning meant sleeping at someone's house the night before. So I basically had 8 hours to do all this.

The interesting thing here was that when I was full of panic, now that I am aware of Asperger's syndrome, I gave myself permission to feel that way. Instead of feeling out of control and unreasonably upset a part of my mind was saying 'surprises, things not where they should be, change in schedule' all are things that upset a "normal" person with Asperger's. Knowing why I felt so freaked out enabled me to 'dial it back' eventually when I did contact the office.

The problem I've run into in the last few days is that I can taste the powder where I haven't gotten it up yet. (Anyone else would say it's all in my mind but thankfully I now know sensitivity to aromas/textures is another aspect of AS) I never realized/thought that the powder, or whatever, would be on every surface in my kitchen, living room, dining room and bathroom. (One BR apt and most rooms are connected). And my back hurts. And I can't sit for very long, I get to edgy when I think of the boxes that have to be unpacked. So I have to clean first.........

And the cable company screwed up my order so it took three days to get online. I got them for phone also and so I couldn't figure out how to access my dial-up account. Got cable, cancelled dial-up, but not before they charged me for this month the day before. If I had gotten hooked up when I was supposed to--oh well.

Now I must be back to work. Or back to taking it easy--sitting at the computer doesn't do my back any good either.