Potholes

Hello all,

I have been back at work a month now and I've done a few things here and there.  I think I have made some mistakes too.

The hardest has been the commute.  I hate having to drive to and from work.  I don't bus cause I hated bussing even more, besides, with the fibro now that is not overly feasable most days.

My commute is 20 minutes on a good day, 45 minutes most days, due to traffic.

I leave home 1 hour before my shift starts.  Ughhhh.

Last week, during my regular commute, I almost had an accident twice and hit a crater-like pothole on my way to work, and all this on the SAME DAY!

So now my car is damaged until I can figure out how to pay the repair costs.  I took care of the more urgent but less pricey part of the repairs (Smashed rim and damaged tire) but the suspension is a little more complexe to take care of right now.

The news said there were 16 other cars, but those are the ones that did stick around to be counted like me, how many others were victims of this pothole?

I filed a claim with the city to cover the costs of the repairs.  I am sure many more will file claims too as the newspaper article about this nasty pothole advised to file a claim as the city had been aware of the pothole for hours before the morning rush hour and could have done something to prevent so many vehicles from being damaged.

One of the dents in the rim

The garage I went to said that I wasted my time in filing a claim for the damage, that the city is unlikely to shell out any money, that they do everything to not have to pay, including dragging on the issue for months, and sometimes years.  It's worth a try.  I could also file a claim with my own insurance but the repercussions of filing this claim on my insurance, including the deductable is unsavory.

So now my commute, using a different route for the moment, is that much more exciting.

Also, as some of you know I have been fostering a cat which had been fighting with my other cats.  Well he has calmed down considerably but one of MY cats (Trix) has not forgiven him for his scrappy beginnings and still initiates fights with him.  Well Sylver the foster will give as good as he gets in a fight and bit Trix in the face.  The bite developped into an abcess.  Now Trix has this big gaping wound in his face a bit smaller than a dime.

We brought him to be checked out by the vet and they shaved him to uncover the wound (poor thing lost his whiskers) and cleaned the wound.  He's got antibiotics and needs to go back to be checked in a little over a week.

It's been and interesting few weeks.

Thanks for reading.

Life Goes On

As you know I am back at work and my silver lining luck is holding out.

What is silver lining luck you say?  Sounds good does it not?

Silver lining luck is bad luck with a silver lining.  Bad luck that could have been worst but was saved from the worst scenario by a smidgen.

Last time I had to file my EI report for my last week of EI, I had to call then because I declared that I had returned to work the second week of my report.  It took a few days to reach them so my half payment was delayed by a few days.

Last week I found out that my paycheck would be delayed (or reduced?) as I had an over-payment of vacation.

I have no money and bad things happen but it could be a lot worst.  For example, I have food to feed us, I have a roof over our head and during the worst of the deep freeze we were warm.  I also have a car that works, has good tires and gas in it. Now I am scared that insurance will not cover me as I probably screwed up the phone interview but at least my part-time pays as much as full EI. It would be nice to have more as my bills are more and the cost of going to work (gas\parking) is putting a further strain on my budget, it could definitely be worst.

Another new thing that is happening is that I have started group therapy for social phobia.  It's too early to tell if it will work yet but we seem to have a good group.  By their reaction to some things I can tell we have a lot in common.  By the end of the first session, their was already some small bit of bonding going on (that's pretty good for people dealing with social anxiety disorder).  I did sign a confidentiality agreement so there is a lot that I can't share, but I can admit to being in a group.  I have hopes that this group will help with my discomfort around people.  It may not cure the revulsion part.  (Natural part of a person who doesn't like people over much working in client service for too many years.)

On a side note, it's almost tax time.  I hate doing my taxes but I LOVE getting refunds.  I hope I will get a refund again this year, it will help a lot.

Well that's it for now, thanks for reading!

Back @ Work

My return to work has been so far fairly uninteresting for anyone, including myself.

Sunday to Monday night I barely slept, I was so so very nervous.  I go up extra early to start getting ready and wound up watching TV for a few hours.

I get to work and I get a lot of uncomfortable questions from people like "How are you?" and "Are you happy to be back?"

My boss tried to cage the extend of my limitations by asking question about what kind of activities involve stressful reactions.

Duh, the letter said so, I can't take calls.  I can do anything that doesn't involve having to deal with people.

People are my stressors.  He doesn't need to know that I have social phobia.  He needs to know that I have a medical reason for avoiding taking calls from irate or difficult clients.  I mentioned to him that the job description which was being used was very out of date and did not include the new program or the increased back up.

Anyway, so for the week i was given very little to do, which was good on Friday but not the other days.

On Friday, I was sick.  I could barely stay awake at work, I could not read or focus for the life of my and was scared driving home in the freezing rain feeling like that.

When I got home I crashed for the next 18 hours (almost).  I did wake up to give medications to a cat I am currently babysitting, take my pills but otherwise, I slept and was pretty much out of it until Saturday morning.


Well that' it, thanks for reading.

Having Little to Say

Hello all

Happy new year.

I apologize for my time away, also for restricting my blog temporarily.

You see I have had very little to say in the last little while that was not a mere repetition of what I have previously already said.

There are just so many ways you can say the same thing without just becoming dull as, well what exactly is that dull?

I am going back to work soon and my return is already not going very smoothly.  Also, the new year has not started very well either as my son's laptop has broken.

I am due back at work on the 7th of January.  It scares me.  I am not sure I am quite ready but I have to face the music eventually.  I am to go back part time, which will pay about the same as when I was on Employment Insurance.  I hope to qualify for my insurance to pay the balance but I have yet to know if that will be the case.  There are no guaranties you see.

Some limitations and accommodations are suggested for my return as I should not yet deal with difficult clients as I have yet to start my therapies.  These things take time.  If they cannot accommodate me then I may not be able to return as quickly, so the insurance will become paramount.

I am still not sleeping very well and the times I sleep best are in the morning.  Unfortunately, it's morning I am to work.  Maybe I will be able to change it later if it's not working.  We'll see...

I am on medications and they are helping with my mood but I am still wrought with moments of anxiety and despair at times, so fearful of setting the house on fire.  Needless to say I still struggle with my self esteem.

It's unbelievable that I have already been off work for three months.  I have done so little.  Time has flown.

I will let you know how things go once I am back at work.

Thanks for reading.

Sodium

Lately I have been obsessed with the thought of sodium in my food.  I can even taste the saltiness in foods where before I did not particularly taste it.

I look at the sodium content on food packages and at times I am shocked and astounded by the sheer quantity of sodium in the foods we eat everyday, the food we think are healthy.

Take for example whole wheat nachos...

You'd think that by making it whole wheat it would be healthier, and it is, by a smidgen.  I was comparing the nutrition content on the packages and the whole wheat option had MORE sodium than the "bad" regular nachos.

Why is it necessary to add so much sodium to foods?  Our bodies definitely don't need it, in fact it's bad to have too much!

Even if we respect serving sizes, by eating many prepared foods, we exceed out daily quotas by so much it's unbelievable.  Since I have been on sick leave (which is ending in a few short weeks) I have had more time to actually cook, so I am sure my body is benefiting from it.

I use very little salt in my cooking. always have, which is good since prepared food, the stuff I usually wind up making when I work for its convenience is so full of sodium.


Hummmm food for thought.



Thanks for reading!