Into the night

Work has been rather hectic of late. We struggle with the machinery we use as it is ageing and this affects our ability to produce for the masses. Still, in these uncertain times it's a job and I'm glad I have one.
I had a meeting with a manager high in the food chain yesterday at 6am (my start time) asking me a huge favour. In recent days we have lost 2 managers on the nightshift. One has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and the other sadly passed away on Friday. Such sad news and it has hit the dept hard.. not just through staffing but as they are a close knit dept folk are understanderbly subdued.
So, I've been asked to join the nights team for 4 weeks, ending 21st Dec to support them. I said yes immediately for 3 reasons:

1. Having never done a night shift I'd like to experience it (crazy as it may seem)
2. Helping them helps me as my normal shift follows on and it means my own team will benefit (selfish maybe?)
   
3. Saying yes proves I'd like to keep my job no matter what. This will help me.

So as of this coming Thurday evening I am to turn nocturnal. Something I have never done. Sitting here with a coffee this morning I as thinking hard. How on earth do I change my body clock from days to nights in such a short time? So it's a decider between 2 choices:

• Go to bed real early Weds evening and get up early Thurs, nap in the afternoon to catch up and wake at 6pm ish, go to work at 8pm and try to stay awake til shift end 08:30am?
• Go to bed real late Weds, sleep in til 12pm ish Thursday and stay awake all shift til I get home at 9am and go straight to bed?

Any ideas?

It will affect some future important dates. My good friend and I go to Dublin a week today. I was due to work Sunday and have Monday off. I now need to have Sunday night off which is beneficial as I'll finish 08:30 Sat Morning and have the weekend off - This is good.

I am due to sit an important exam on the 15 & 16th Dec for a course I've been doing through work. Food safety level 4 is a big deal as it's one step shy of a degree so I'd like to be able to be awake to sit this exam. This means I'll not be able to work night of the 14/15 and 15/16. All these dates are my alloted shift days so I'm going to need to re arrange some working hours to fill my contract quota. Things may get complicated but I'm happy to help out.

In otter news, I was awoken by Tessa in the early hours of Saturday morning. She was crying and I went to see to her only to find her running circles in the kitchen. I let her out to pee only to notice she had a very poorly tummy. She seemed fine after she'd done her business so I let her back in, settled her down and trudged upstairs climbed back into my warm bed only notice it was 04:25am and I was to get up in 35 mins anyways so what was the point.
Saturday night Husband noticed orange/pink staining on the sitting room carpet. I checked Tessa and she had what looked like blood stains around her mouth. So I checked her top to tail. No signs of any cuts. Baffling.
Husband checked the garden yesterday thinking she might of eaten something but there is nothing untoward out there. Either she's killed something and a cat as picked it up for sloppy seconds or she's consumed it all.. hence the rotten guts. Whatever it was, it's unusual for her to such a thing so we're keeping an eye on her.
The tablets she is on now are helping a great deal with her arthritis. She's got plenty of energy. She is 13 though. I make no bones about the fact that this is good for a Labrador when the average age is 11-12 years. I am greatful each and every day she is with us still. Yet I'm not ignorant enough to not think about the inevitable so I've been making plans so when the time comes it will be easier to deal with rather than thinking of what to do in times of grief. It's a morbid thing to do but I guess it's the same as making a will for myself... I know what I want done with me so I'm making plans for my gorgeous girl.