June 12th

Yes, I know I have been bad about updating.

This last week I only worked one of my assigned days.

I went to the hospital for a test to be done on Thursday. I was expecting an hour or hour and a half and then going home to bed. OOhhh nooooo, I went in at 07:30 am and didn't get released until 01:00 pm. Having no time to sleep, I didn't make it in that night. Then I went in Friday night and within two hours had a headache the likes of which I have never known. You see, this test they did Thursday was to put a dye directly into my spinal fluid so they could get a clear picture of a bulging disc in my lower back. Well, it seems that dye made its way to my head and caused the headache from hell. It was so bad the little red LED lights that indicate an open door on my control panel seared right to the back of my skull. I became shaky and nauseous to the point I actually had my wife come pick me up, as I didn't feel that I should ride the Goldwing home. (I'm telling you folks, it is a BAD day when I don't want to ride the bike!!)
So, home to bed in a dark room with a cool towel over my eyes for the rest of the night.

Then Saturday they called me to work an extra shift. It was only an eight hour shift, so I told them I would come in. I STILL had that stupid headache that evening, but it was a little more manageable by then. (Thanks to my friend Vicadin) Got a call to go in again Sunday night for a twelve hour shift. That headache was still my constant companion, but had moved to the back of my head and was just a slight dull ache by then. It has finally gone away now.

They called me to work again Monday, but by then I was pretty much burned out and decided I needed a day off. This is my long week and I have to go in tonight.

Work has been pretty quiet, we now have two sections of my unit filled with the DSU inmates. It has gotten a bit loud in the evenings, but they are still pretty good about bringing the noise level down when the lights go out at 10:00 pm.

The Special Housing Captain sent out an email last week, encouraging us to hold the line and make these guys from DSU follow the rules. He wants us to set the tone right from the start of this new transition. I just hope the administration has the balls to back us up and let us do that. One of the most frustrating things we have dealt with is doing our job, writing people up for rule infractions, and then some prick from hearings dismissing or lowering the charges. If they want us to hold them accountable for their actions and to do our jobs as intended, they have to stand behind us so we are taken seriously when we have interaction with the inmates. That hasn't been happening as it should for a while. I hope to hell this change will make a difference and we as line staff start getting the support we need.

Time will tell....