It has been months since I thought about writing a blog post. The last thing I talked about was the revision itself and ended by saying I was going to hibernate a month. In truth I have been gone from Blogger for much longer. I was so down for so long that I stayed away so I would not spread my negative feelings!
So here is the update on life.
Surgery was about 75-85 % successful Most days I can walk with out a limp. I even began walking the dog again over the summer and on some days I was able to walk a 1.4 mile loop. However I have chronic pain issues and the nerve damage has never resolved. I live on Tylenol#3 and Gabapentin for pain and nerve damage. I would like to find a way to ditch them but I am never out of pain. This is in some part due to the joint pain throughout my body. Getting hit by a car really screwed up my joints. I am concerned that I have done something to my right hip because it has started acting up and feels like the left one did when I had the torn labrum. This does not make me happy at all.
As far as the PVNS goes I don't think it is back, but now that I have metal in the hip, they will not be able to see anything on an MRI, until it is huge. I had a visit with the Orthopedic Oncologist earlier this year but I have no plans to ever see them again. I think they are a waste of my time, and I am sure they think I am wasting their time. So I am going with no news is good news.
For the first part of the year I was in a quandary of what to do with my life now that going back to a Biomedical Electronics job was out of the question. The more I tried to hold on to the idea that I could return to the Biomed/Field Service job and everything that was "normal" the more things fell apart.
I have always been interested in Psychiatry and have had the Psychiatry Today magazine delivered to my house for years. I was looking through it one day and I found some information that delineated the ways in which someone could work in the field today. I thought I would not be able to go into psychiatry because I was starting out so late. I decided to research it furthur and found Walden University and their Mental Health programs which are online and accepted the narrative grades from Antioch Midwest and did not require the GRE to get into graduate school. I applied and was accepted to the program within the same week. I started taking my first class in July and I am now on track to complete a Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling by 2017. I will be 51 when I am done but I figure it is a job I can do for many more years.
I was on the fast track to losing my house in July and it was all because I was unable to make several payments. I decided to put it on the market in hopes that I could sell and break even. I also applied for a government program that helped people save their homes and barely made it before the program was shut down on 7/31/14. In the long run I ended up being able to save the house. The government program gave me the money I needed to get caught up and if I stay here another 5 yrs the money is forgiven. This was a very happy solution to the problem of housing and I immediately took the house back off the market.
I also have a contract with my LTD carrier who is working with me on vocational rehabilitation. So while I work on my new career I am working part time and still getting my LTD. I make 60% of my previous salary and can work at a part time job and the contract allows me to match 100% of the previous salary. If I go over then the LTD company would deduct from the money they send me.
My part time job is at the local hospital working as the receptionist and answering phones and giving directions etc. at the information desk. My schedule which gives me 20 hours a week is enough to qualify for benefits. I now have insurance again! Yay! Since my COBRA ran out a my lungs got jacked up and I ended up going to EMERGENCY three times. Once because I fell and thought I had damaged the hip and the other two were lung issues. Each of the three I will be paying for out of pocket along with a crown that my dental insurance refused to pay for. grrr.
I will attempt to stay in contact more often now that life is looking up and I have more positive things to write.
So here is the update on life.
Surgery was about 75-85 % successful Most days I can walk with out a limp. I even began walking the dog again over the summer and on some days I was able to walk a 1.4 mile loop. However I have chronic pain issues and the nerve damage has never resolved. I live on Tylenol#3 and Gabapentin for pain and nerve damage. I would like to find a way to ditch them but I am never out of pain. This is in some part due to the joint pain throughout my body. Getting hit by a car really screwed up my joints. I am concerned that I have done something to my right hip because it has started acting up and feels like the left one did when I had the torn labrum. This does not make me happy at all.
As far as the PVNS goes I don't think it is back, but now that I have metal in the hip, they will not be able to see anything on an MRI, until it is huge. I had a visit with the Orthopedic Oncologist earlier this year but I have no plans to ever see them again. I think they are a waste of my time, and I am sure they think I am wasting their time. So I am going with no news is good news.
For the first part of the year I was in a quandary of what to do with my life now that going back to a Biomedical Electronics job was out of the question. The more I tried to hold on to the idea that I could return to the Biomed/Field Service job and everything that was "normal" the more things fell apart.
I have always been interested in Psychiatry and have had the Psychiatry Today magazine delivered to my house for years. I was looking through it one day and I found some information that delineated the ways in which someone could work in the field today. I thought I would not be able to go into psychiatry because I was starting out so late. I decided to research it furthur and found Walden University and their Mental Health programs which are online and accepted the narrative grades from Antioch Midwest and did not require the GRE to get into graduate school. I applied and was accepted to the program within the same week. I started taking my first class in July and I am now on track to complete a Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling by 2017. I will be 51 when I am done but I figure it is a job I can do for many more years.
I was on the fast track to losing my house in July and it was all because I was unable to make several payments. I decided to put it on the market in hopes that I could sell and break even. I also applied for a government program that helped people save their homes and barely made it before the program was shut down on 7/31/14. In the long run I ended up being able to save the house. The government program gave me the money I needed to get caught up and if I stay here another 5 yrs the money is forgiven. This was a very happy solution to the problem of housing and I immediately took the house back off the market.
I also have a contract with my LTD carrier who is working with me on vocational rehabilitation. So while I work on my new career I am working part time and still getting my LTD. I make 60% of my previous salary and can work at a part time job and the contract allows me to match 100% of the previous salary. If I go over then the LTD company would deduct from the money they send me.
My part time job is at the local hospital working as the receptionist and answering phones and giving directions etc. at the information desk. My schedule which gives me 20 hours a week is enough to qualify for benefits. I now have insurance again! Yay! Since my COBRA ran out a my lungs got jacked up and I ended up going to EMERGENCY three times. Once because I fell and thought I had damaged the hip and the other two were lung issues. Each of the three I will be paying for out of pocket along with a crown that my dental insurance refused to pay for. grrr.
I will attempt to stay in contact more often now that life is looking up and I have more positive things to write.
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