And so this is Christmas …

I work hard these days. This isn’t to say I was slouching on past jobs, but my current position drives home how random the assignment for pay for work is. I’m making more than I’ve ever made before, but I’m working harder than I ever have before. Yet I see co-workers in different locations doing the same job as I who make as much or more and go home at the end of their shift and don’t come in early. I see people in other positions at my own location who are doing nothing but hard manual labor making a quarter (or less) than I do. I’m coming to this conclusion late in life, but I think I finally realize that while training and a degree should count for something, the intesity and demands of the job should count for more. Should count for much more than they do in this current economy/society/mentality.

Interesting. Five minutes ago, when I sat down to write, that wasn’t at the top of my list of things I wanted to say. Seems to have been boiling just under the surface for a while now.

MEDICAL UPDATES skip if this stuff bores you
As I started to say, I work hard these days. I leave home by 6:30 in the morning most days (by 4:30 some days, depending on my assignment that day) and seldom return home before 7:00 that night. I make overtime, so the pay is good, but there’s still more work than the day is long, and as much as I want there’s simply no energy left over at the end of the day to make entries. But today is a holiday without much in the way of obligation for me, so I am the recipient of a day off, a full night’s rest, and the only remaining obligations for today being a few presents that require wrapping.

There’s a few things that require catching up on since my last entry from the end of August. The biggest news item is that I had a right hip replacement in mid-September. It was necessary; I was on the edge of being unable to do my job. Hell, I was at the edge of being able to get in and out of my car. Recovery is different for everyone, so if you are facing one of these don’t assume my experiences will be yours. The easy talk pre-surgery about how they get you up and walking the same day and how you can return to normal duties within six weeks (some people return to work after two weeks) failed to play out for me. I did six weeks of physical therapy before the surgery, which is probably good, but I was still on a walker for two weeks, and dependent on a cane for five weeks after that. It’s only in the past two weeks that I find I’m no longer thinking about how I’m going to get up or down a flight of stairs, or searching to find the absoute closest parking spot at the grocery store. Today I can absolutely state that this surgery is the greatest thing since sliced bread and peanut butter, but even two weeks ago I’d have been a little less enthusiastic about it.

On a somewhat lesser scale, I’ve also had an infected sebaceous cyst removed from my back. The Professor had been broadly hinting since soon after we met that he wouldn’t be displeased if I’d had the cyst removed, but until the end of November it wasn’t bothering me, and I saw no point in yet another scalpel cutting through dermis and nerves. I’d had the cyst for about two decades, and while I never got around to naming it, the damned thing had begun to feel at home on my back. I’d even gotten my University Dermatologist to give a look at it as far back as 2003 and gotten advice to leave it alone unless it starts bothering me. Well, the ungrateful growth started bothering me about four weeks ago, until it got to the point where The Prof took a look at it on Saturday night and convinced me that it wasn’t going to wait until Monday for my regular doctor to take a look at it. We ended up going to one of those doc-in-a-box places at nine in the evening (a great deal financially since the cost was a simple co-pay instead of a $100 emergency room fee). I ended up with the know-it-all doctor from hell though.

I suppose I was overdue for this, since I ordinarily have great luck with doctors. I think the thing that pissed me off the most with him was his lack of knowledge about the blood thinner I’m currently on, Pradaxa. He went off on how he thought that was a bad idea because it couldn’t be reversed, unlike warfarin (which is the blood thinner I’d been on for over fifteen years until I was switched in October). I told him that that had been true, but that there was a newly released reversal agent called Praxbind (idarucizumab) that was stocked in the local hospital. His response was to tell me he’d worked in emergency for over 40 years and that I didn’t know what I was talking about and that I should talk to my doctor about getting back on warfarin (which has a higher incidence of serious side effects). I had no choice but to let him drain and pack the cyst, but the experience taught me that these places don’t exactly hire the top of the line professionals.

HOME UPDATES
Still in the same condo I’ve been in for nearly a decade. All cats in the household are now various degrees of special needs. The Little Grey Shit still has feline triad syndrome and is diabetic (same as always), The Little Black Shit still has inflammatory bowel and diabetes (same as always). The Little Brown Shit was diagosed with hyperthyroidism earlier this year, so she’s now part of the twice-daily pill-fest. And finally, the Fat Black and White Shit, who is probably making her first appearance in this journal (though we’ve had her a few years now) was adopted as a diabetic, making her part of the twice-daily poke-’em-with-a-needle-fest. I love them all, but since cats are the first thing I need to attend to when I get up tired, and the first thing I need to attend to when I get home tired, I am seriously beginning to doubt if I’ll ever get any more when the herd finally begins to thin (with two beloved senior citizens, that’s a reality that grows ever more present in my mind). It makes me wonder what kind of veterinarian I am that I’m starting to resent the time-suck my animals have come to represent

On an entirely different subject, I totalled my Prius a year ago October. I was preparing to purchase a new car anyhow (my generation one Prius was over ten years old and its time was coming), but that forced my hand a little more quickly than I’d thought. Fortunately, I knew exactly what car I was going to get next, so there was no frantic researching and shopping around to do. I am now the owner of an 2015 Vitamin C Hyundai Veloster Turbo with all the trimmings. I got the sun roof, the spiffy wheels, the Sirius radio, the SEAT WARMERS! (how did I ever live without seat warmers?), the leather seats, the blue tooth, the works. I’ve never had a non-practical car before, and I love it. I’ve never gotten a ticket in my life, but since I can absolutely state that the car handles well at 110, it’s safe to say I’m well overdue on that score. (No, I don’t make a habit of doing that, but when challenged by a freaking Subaru WRX there was honor to be kept. Freaking Japanese wind-up car toy ….).

The Professor is doing well, teaching full time while working on his PhD in higher math at a Big Name University in the Big Shitty nearby. He’s got his own journal if he ever gets around to making entries, so I’ll leave his stories for him to tell if he chooses.

And so this is Christmas
A few shout-outs to people I virtually never speak to but still think of often and fondly. SWAM and Curmudgeon – best of everything to you. Kimi, Franny, Welshie, Viivi – Hoping your holidays are simultaneously relaxing and invigorating. FutureCat, Allimom, 404Error – Joy and Laughter and hopes for good surprises in the new year about to crash down on us.

And CoolKid. Rosie. If you’re out there, please know that there still isn’t a week that goes by that you don’t cross my mind. I hope you found your way. My dearest wish for you is that you discovered your bliss, whatever that may have turned out to be, and that “all the nights that hope has slept [have awakened] to days of laughter”.

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7 Comments

  1. I’m still here! I’ve missed you and I’m overjoyed to hear from you! We finally got a Prius (after Kendall totaled my Hyundai) and we love it– mostly. The need to replace batteries every couple of years kinda sux, but it’s better than all that gas, I guess.

    Love you and miss you!

    Toni/Cali/404error

  2. Lovely to see you, Sal. I often think of you, and wonder how things are going, so it’s great to have a catch-up. You’re obviously super-busy – thank you for making the time for such a thorough post.

    Please say hello to the Professor for me. I have lots of great memories of our interactions, mostly online but also having had the great good fortune to meet him in person.

  3. Yaaay! It’s been far too long since we’ve heard from you here.

    Curmudgeon appreciates the shout out and he misses seeing you, too. He’s glad your hip is better. It made a huge difference in his dad’s life after he got his repaired – and my sister-in-law’s.

    Jingle jingle jolly jolly to you, too!

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