Be careful for what you wish…
Mamma always said… No I’m not going to quote Forrest Gump. But I have heard that you should be careful of what you wish for, you just might get it. Meaning not in the way you want. That’s pretty much what happened to me. Working two jobs has lasted far longer than I’d ever like. It seems like all I ever do is work. I generally work much more than 40 hours a week, especially since I don’t get overtime. Fine, whatever. It’s making money.
There are times I would wish, hope and/or pray for time off. Just when I finally had as much as I could take, and started making plans to just get out of town for a weekend by myself… I injure my knee. All because I was rushing to pick up for someone who needed the night off. I got to work, grabbed the orders and SNAP, SNAP! I fall to the ground in pain. Stubborn as I can sometimes be, I still finished the night out. That was the last night I worked over two weeks ago. Well at the night job anyway. Thankfully my day job is a desk job.
I certainly got the time off. In a good amount of pain. I can’t walk without crutches. I was hoping to be back at work by now. Instead, my knee hurts worse today than it did the past couple of days. I’m still waiting for the MRI I was told I needed. Someone else who had a similar injury said he needed surgery and 8 weeks of recovery. That scares the hell out of me. Of course, someone is dragging their feet on authorizing the MRI. Not helping at all.
I don’t know how much longer I’ll be out of working the night job. All I wanted was a break from the relentless work hours and some free time. I got it. It’s more costly than a weekend getaway 😕
AAAAHH! OUCH!
Actually I think my first word after it happened was, “Motherfucker”. With some serious exclamation points after it. It started out so innocently. I got called into work on Sunday the 4th. I clocked in a 4:14pm and by 4:40pm, I injured my knee.
My first set of deliveries for the night. Three of them, stacked in my arms. All I was going to do was load them in the passenger side of my truck. As I swiveled my body to the right, my foot decided not to follow. Two loud cracks and I hit the ground in agony. Dropping the hot bags of food on the ground.
A very nice woman in the parking lot heard my pain and went inside to get the manager on duty that night. He and a young lady that works with us, helped me up and inspected the food. All was good, and I limped my way to the first deliveries. I call it dedication to my job. Others may call me stubborn for not going to the clinic right away. Though they closed at 4pm, so it would have to wait until the next day. On my way back I grabbed my knee brace and continued to work the rest of the night, slowly but diligently. That is until I couldn’t take the pain anymore. About 9:30pm. I didn’t realize I had actually injured myself more seriously than I had first thought. I made an incident report, photographed it and went home to rest.
They took X-Rays of my knee at the clinic on Monday but didn’t really say what was going on other than that they didn’t see any broken bones. I went back today and the physician on duty assessed it was a tear in my Meniscus. While common, it takes weeks to heal. Longer if it needs surgery. Which they want to have me go in for an MRI in the next few days.
As you can imagine, I’m not thrilled. Sure I have been complaining that I’ve been working too much this past several months. Averaging 50 – 60 hours a week. This isn’t how I wanted to spend my time off. On top of which, now I’m losing money. I am of course filing paperwork for Workman’s Comp. Though that apparently doesn’t always go smoothly, otherwise we wouldn’t have so many lawyers that specialize in that category. I guess I get to find out if the new owner is a good guy or not. Pray for me please to not fall behind on bills and to heal quickly.
I was just planning a weekend getaway too. Even if it’s just to a hotel out of town. That and my plans to see my son and grand kids will be put off. Can’t really play with kids when I can’t hardly walk. I hope I don’t run out of food either, I don’t relish using one of those electric carts at the store. {shutters at the thought}
The woman who got me help, left right away. I wished she would’ve stuck around so I could properly thank her. Maybe even buy her dinner the next time she comes in. Maybe I’ll see her again some day.
My Old Friend…
Dear Insomnia,
Hello my old friend. Of course you and I both know that’s simply the euphemism we use. We only kid ourselves with what we know to be true. We are one another’s archenemy. We have been for many years. So long in fact I forget why we became unfriendly with each other.
I propose strike an accord. I think we should work together.
Hear me out. You help me break the secret of creating Flying Monkeys. We train them to attack the stupid and the environmentally inhospitable. You can prey on those you find despicable as well. As the sleep deprived are much easier to conquer. Our strengths combined we will be able to reduce the human population while keeping those who would save our way of life and the planet of which we inhabit. Once we accomplish that, we can then rule the world!! [insert evil laugh here]
What do you say old friend? You give me peace and I give you an equal share in world domination 😈
I’ve Given Up
On Soda Pop that is. It’s taken me a very long time. Years in fact. I gave up marijuana decades ago. While still in High School. As I didn’t want to turn into my uncle who merely sat at home after work and smoked weed. That was easy to do.
Shortly before I joined the Navy, I was up to 250 and needed to lose 60 pounds. I managed to do it in a summer doing a stupid diet. I don’t recommend this. I rode a Mountain Bike everywhere in Petoskey. From Brutus at first. Which is roughly 14 miles from Petoskey. (Well at least until I moved into Petoskey itself.) I worked at a Hardee’s. So I only had one meal a day. My free lunch. Outside of that, I spent all day biking. For energy I drank Pepsi. I wasn’t into coffee then. That was a bad, bad idea. While I did lose the weight, I got addicted to Pepsi.
During the Navy I got hooked on cigarette’s. Did that for nearly 15 years. Took forever to get off of them, now I find it easy to keep off of them as the smell is intensely gross to me. Turns my stomach just to be near a smoker or ashtray. However, during the Navy it was hard for me to keep the weight off. Desk job mainly while I was there. Smoked and was stuck at sea for months on end. Crap food. The crappier, the better it seemed. So junk food became a staple for me. After the Navy, my love of video games took over and I kept a desk job. Still have it. Just part time. So a desk job, Pepsi, junk food and video games. A recipe for how I became overweight.
It wasn’t until I got weighed at the doctor at 360 lbs. My marriage was on it’s way out and I said enough is enough. I had just quit smoking finally but the damage was done. More than I realized. I started walking around the outside of a local mall. Between that and changing my diet to lower my cholesterol, I lost 20 pounds. Then I moved and started walking around the Patrick Henry Mall outside and walking up to 3 miles a day at the least. More if I could take it. Sadly I only lost another 20 pounds. I still drank Pepsi regularly and it all caught up with me. My heart started to fail.
It took me several weeks to regain enough strength to start walking again. Thanks to my dog Chase, I at least walked in a field with him at first. Then back to my 3 miles a day. I got down to just under 310 pounds. This is where I plateaued until this past summer. Between working two jobs and still drinking too much pop/soda. I just couldn’t shake the weight. In fact I gained 10 pounds. I’ve given up smoking, never really drank, changed my diet a couple of times and put in exercise. It just isn’t enough. Especially since winter keeps me indoors and working puts me at walking only in the summer on my days off. And my exercise bike isn’t getting used much. Currently it’s trapped among extra chairs and boxes that are still in my kitchen. So as of two weeks ago, I finally had enough. If I’m to lose more weight, I need to cut sugar significantly. So no more pop/soda. No ice cream or sweets in the house for me. Yogurt will be my treat. Frozen fruit (and my low fat smoothies). Now if mother nature would warm us up and stop with all this insane precipitation. (It’s flip-flopping between rain and snow and it’s driving me nuts!!) I sincerely hope this will help me finally achieve 220 in the next year or two. Where I want to be.
Eight Years Smoke Free!!
Eight years and counting. No smoking for me. I’ve outlived my doctors expectation of 2 years by another 3 years as of last month.
Yippee for me 🙂
So my cardiologist said…
So I saw my cardiologist last week about the discomforts I’ve been feeling. In the past two years I’ve had two angina attacks. One per year. On October 21st, I woke to having some rather radical heart palpitations. Not to mention, my upper left shoulder has been numb for two weeks.
Thankfully a couple of visits to my chiropractor my shoulder is feeling better. Still, I’ve been worried I may have more serious problems. Of course waiting for a doctor appointment you think of all sorts of things. Everything from medication adjustments, to having surgery to add a new stent, to open heart surgery or ending up unable to work. None of which sound real good.
I spent a weekend wearing an ECG monitor. They found nothing serious. The heart palpitations were not any indication of a heart attack. So I’m pretty much still just as I was. So the doctor thinks. We discussed my medications for Coronary Artery Disease. My heart seems to be doing alright. Still a bit enlarged. So the doctor simply added a low cost cholesterol medication. Even though I’ve been able to keep my cholesterol in check, he says the medication will help relax my arteries so that it may prevent palpitations. He also switched me off Effient to Plavix to save me some money. Thanks to Obama Care, the $250 Effient was only covered to an $80 copay. Plavix should be a lot cheaper. Though I haven’t tried it yet. Still have 2 months of Effient. Now if I could to something about the Ranexa I take. It’s also $250/$80 copay.
While it’s not clear yet if I’ll need anything more, or if these new medications will help me as expected. I’m assured some day I’ll need a new stent or two. If I can avoid a more serious surgery, I’ll be happy. I can say that the new cholesterol medication has made me feel sluggish so far. I am told the effects can fade and I should feel more like I have the past 4 plus years.
Princesses, Puppies and Pabulum
Yeah it took me a while to come up with that title. Fits, but a bit stretched 😉
Darla seems to be making a fast recovery from her surgeries already. She’s back to work earlier than expected, though I still caution her to not overexert herself. No matter what her coworkers may try to get her to do. Like it or not, she’s still healing.
This means I’m going to try to take my Sunday’s back. Again. However, the night job boss seems less than willing to even listen to me lately. I’m averaging just under 60 hours per week and would like to trim it back to the average 40 hours between both jobs.
Darla was diagnosed with Celiac Disease when this all started. That determination was concluded from a blood test. Her surgeon never seemed to agree with her Primary Care Provider. The surgeon did an endoscopic biopsy last week and we found out she in fact, does not have Celiac. She can eat whatever pleases her. Which is a good thing. A gluten-free diet is terribly expensive. It over doubled our weekly grocery budget. Much of the products offered taste horrible, is hard to chew and some of it even gives the worst diarrhea imaginable. So we pity those who must suffer with this.
Also, we are looking to adopt a puppy or dog. One of the hardest things I ever did was leave my most precious friend behind when I moved from Virginia to Michigan. You see him pictured above. When we rescued him from a shelter, his name was Chauncey. We shortened it to Chase. He was smart and gorgeous. A very unique mutt. He was there to help me through anything and was always glad to see me. Leaving him behind broke my heart so badly. It hurt worse than the heart attacks. I couldn’t find a place that would allow pets, plus he was getting old. Michigan winters would’ve been really rough on him. I always question if I made the right call leaving him. It hurt worse when I took him to the shelter because no one would take him when I offered. Of course once I did, my ex-wife rescued him. If he’s still alive, he’s with her. I hope he’s happy there. I still think about him daily and miss him like crazy.
It’s been a few years now and I live where I can have pets. I’m not much of a cat person. Neither is Darla. My mom’s cat is cool. Though a cool cat like her is a rare find. So we’d rather have a dog. I miss playing with Chase. I miss him snuggling up to watch movies with me. I miss him nudging my hand to let me know he loved me. Even when the world seemed like it turned its back on me. He was there.
I know I can’t replace him. Never expect to. However finding a dog around here is proving difficult. The shelter rarely has any dogs. The only one we’ve seen is a Pitbull mix who was so high strung it was scary. That and “do not put dog bed in cage” was a sign he’d rip up the house. I don’t see any postings in the paper or on craigslist. Everyone who has a dog, says they got it out of town. So if anyone knows of a dog or puppy who needs a home, let us know. (or call us of course) We don’t need a pure breed of any kind.
Old ‘n’ Moldy
No I’m not describing myself. Though I feel that way some days. I just realized I’ve been doing this two part-time job thing for over a year now. Wasn’t my intention by any means. Every week I’ve looked for a new job. One that would be full-time and I would find satisfying to do. Of course there is factory work. I simply couldn’t deal with the lack of mental challenge. I would die inside of intellectual boredom. Doing the same repetitive thing endlessly.
With Darla needing two surgeries, I’m the only income this house has now. So I have to work my hind-end off just to make the bills and minimums of daily life here. It’s going to suck for about two months, give or take. I was doing 45-55 hours a week. Now it looks like I’m going to be doing 60-70 hours a week. Yikes…
What I do isn’t really the problem. Tech by day, delivery driver by night, tech and web designer on the side. In so much as I’m just becoming bored of doing it.
Yes, I gotta do what I gotta do. Better this way than begging for overtime in a dead brain job. Especially if I already hated working 40 hours a week doing it. That would suck.
Sadly with the increase in hours I’m working, I won’t be able to do much side computer work between jobs. So I’m suspending computer builds and repairs until things get to back to normal. Hopefully that won’t take all summer. However, small website jobs and WordPress themes I can do and it will help make money for the household. I’ll even do them on the cheap to make it more appealing.
For Locals Only! Get up to a 5 page informational website, with contact form page for only $50! Get a custom made WordPress theme for only $20! If you need a domain name or webhosting, call (989) 217-8890 or Email for more Details.
Wedding Postponed
If you missed Darla’s Church Announcement, our posting on Facebook or missed the private message we sent to some of you… The wedding has been postponed for a year. We still wanted to keep the date, so we moved it a year back. Although we hope we caught everyone before anyone shows up at church Tuesday and realizes it’s closed.
The reason is, that Darla has some unfortunate issues that need surgery. So we made that the priority so she can use her existing insurance. As we said earlier, she has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Being diagnosed so late in her life, the symptoms had gone unchecked all this time. Creating an issue in her intestines. Something that has been causing her discomfort for the past couple of months. Another minor issue was also found during her doctor visits and will also be rendered during this time.
Your prayers and thoughts are welcomed and appreciated. We will keep you up to date with the progress of Darla’s surgery and recovery.
It’s a Gluten-Free World After All
A few years ago, the only time I saw the word Gluten was on the High Gluten Flour bags at the pizza shops I worked at as a teenager. Never heard, nor ever knew about Gluten allergies until a couple of years ago. As a society we always have some sort of food diet craze going on every few years. Carbs, Peanuts and so on. The most ridiculous of them was the Atkins diet. Within a couple of months, all the restaurants and stores had Atkins menus and sections. It was insane and drove me bat-shit crazy hearing it at every turn. Funny they vanished shortly after Mr. Atkins bit the dust. ?
Now is the time of Gluten-Free. So I looked it up on a few major medical sites and they all say 1 in 100 are affected. That’s a 1% chance of having it. Period. But suddenly, just like Atkins, it took over restaurant menus and grocery store sections like wild fire. Every place I went. And I still think it’s mostly a fad just like every other diet craze we’ve ever had in my lifetime. Sure there are some who are actually, genuinely affected by Gluten. But for the most part, everyone else is just jumping on the band wagon. Either for the monetary gain or because they want to be part of something. Much like those who suddenly have anxiety. It’s the cool in thing. Or Medical Marijuana. We have 6 Subway restaurants in this small town and 12 Medical Marijuana dispensaries. Tell me that isn’t a fad. Doctors must be giving those cards away around here. It’s freaking insane to have that many. I digress.
Well it turns out my beloved, Darla was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Having had these discomforts most of her life. Recently they became more of a very serious issue for her. Thus the reality of the Gluten-Free diet has come home. It wouldn’t be fair to have her change her diet and I continue to eat everything she now can’t. It would just be rude. Plus, there’s the cross contamination issue to consider. So we’ve been hard researching the foods and the serious increase in cost to buy them. It’s a burden enough to deal with all my medications, let alone a new food regimen. Thanks to a couple of handy websites, a nifty database for looking up foods and my daughter-in-law, who has also suffered from Celiac; has been very gracious with a few suggestions. So we will get through this and I will be on the Gluten-Free diet as well. Even simple things like a toaster, you really don’t want to toast regular and gluten-free bread in the same toaster. So new toaster it is to go with our new diets. Of course any money saving tips and recipes are highly welcome if you care to share 🙂
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