~Never Again~

Never again will i allow myself to be in the position I've been in with this move, of my health interfering in my ability to do what i need to do.
This has been the 2nd worst move of my life.... (the worst was when the movers left half my stuff on the lawn & took off the minute they got paid, & i had to move it in myself for 9 hours, till 5 am, when Hannah was still nursing...)...& believe me, I've moved LOTS, & had many bad moves, but this was particularly horrible...
...here's the Reader's Digest version....
1st, i had 5 hours sleep total the 2 nights before, trying to finish packing...(never quite got done, but close...)...then, the movers show up with no dolly to move the piano (up stairs!) & no blankets to cover the TV, computer monitors, etc. I should've fired them right there, & called the other company. Professionals.
It was mostly teenagers (children of the woman who owned the truck) & they kept taking off, standing around...when they took the job i was clear that i could do NO lifting, & that when we moved it in to the new place, i needed things put in certain rooms, & needed to be able to direct them as they brought things in...they said that was no problem...it suddenly was, halfway through the job.
They just started passing things to the top of the stairs & dropping it there, i kept asking for someone to help on the inside, they'd stay 5 minutes, & go outside again...
...I ended up doing a ton of lifting, out of necessity, Hannah, too, (she worked harder than most of them!!!) & was soaked in sweat, could barely stand, was in more & more pain, going into asthma breathing, almost fell a few times, dizzy, exhausted...
..by the time they were off to get the last load, i was having pains in my chest & shoulder, took sitting for almost 20 minutes to get my heart rate to slow down, i thought i was having a heart attack...i was nauseus, soaked in sweat, dizzy, & it took a long time to catch my breath...i kept trying to stand up & keep working, & couldn't be on my feet more than a minute...
.so i did something foolish, that I'll always regret..i sent Hannah with them to make sure they got everything, & to lock up. The woman had been very nice to Hannah, talked with her lots, & even gave her a new pair of shoes she had, we'd driven back & forth with her twice, & she was friendly, chatty, etc.
When Hannah asked for the keys to lock up, the woman headed out to the car, & her boyfriend wouldn't give her the keys, said he always left them on the door a certain way...she asked again, he said it again, she was intimidated, being in the apartment alone with him, suddenly realizing everyone else had left, so she went to the car, ...they left through the balcony door....that remained unlocked....
...I got a call the next morning saying whoever stole the (brand new, $600) air conditioner had till the end of the day to return it or the police would be called.
It's been total chaos ever sinse, with dealing with the police, the building manager, social services (this woman was on dissability yet owned the truck & was working under the table...), trying to find out if I'll be charged/have to pay for it...finally got told this morning that because I'm on dissability, I'll likely not be billed for it, but will definately lose my damage deposit.
Of course Hannah feels bad that she didn't even think about locking the balcony door, but under the circumstances (she was exhausted, bruised & blistered, & scared...) of course i don't blame her, i blame myself...& my lousy health. It's robbed me (& her!!!) one last time, & never again! Of course i never should've let Hannah go with her to lock up, i should've forced myself to go, or borrowed their cell phone & called a neighbour to make sure it was done, but was so out of it i just wasn't thinking straight...I'm normally, according to everyone i know, over-protective.
I can still barely walk, 3 days later. My hands are both numb, & barely usable. I've been so stressed that, even exhausted, I've barely been able to sleep. Of course I've still had to work, to get things livable, though we've done little unpacking, but I've had to clear paths, set up some kitchen stuff, beds, etc.
Oh, yea....they also stole my fan (couldn't sleep more than 5 hours that night, it was too hot)...I prayed it'd cool off till i could replace it, & it's been raining ever sinse...& they stole our power bars, a big bin of organic produce, & other stuff...& of course they took the legs off both of our beds to be able to get them in the door & promptly lost one of each of ours!
If i was healthy, it never would've happened like this. I would've been packed in time, & not started the moved already exhausted, i would've been able to handle their leaving so much work to me, & i would've gone & locked up myself !!!
Time to get healthy...before i ever have to move again!
{ I stayed pretty raw through all this, but actually, barely ate. I lose my appetite when I'm tired. Don't know if i lost any weight, can't find the scale...}