2009 July | Just Thinkin'

I got the results from the follow up CT scan of my lungs that I underwent a few days ago at the VA and the results show my lungs clear of any dark areas which the doctors saw in the initial CT scan after my surgery in early June.

After opening the envelope that arrived in the mail this morning and reading the contents I was rather surprised to find myself breathing a small sigh a relief at the results. I had known about the dark area they spotted in the bottom of my left lung during first CT scan I underwent 3 days after surgery and was assured by my surgeon that it was probably just a bit of pneumonia, not exactly an uncommon occurrence when one has the type of operation that I had.

No problem, I thought. Perfectly understandable. Heard about that sort of thing myself more than once over my lifetime so I put it right out of my head that there was a possibility, however slight, that it might be something else.

Still, there must have been small part of my wee brain sitting in a dark room worrying it’s little head off about this so I figure it must have been this same little guy that heaved that sigh when the results of the CT scan filtered down to it’s small room, knocked on the door and asked to be let in.

Now I suppose I could end this post with a smartass line such as; “Now where did I put that pack of smokes?” but since I gave up that nasty habit well over 3 years ago I’m afraid it wouldn’t be appropriate or reflect on the true nature of the situation.

So I guess I’ll have to leave up the last line to the imagination of (all 5 of) my readers?

I woke up this morning. Will miracles never cease to happen?

Nearly two years now since my disabilities forced me from the working class and you’d think I’ve become used to used to this new “life in the slow lane”—but I’m not. Sure, the effects of these disabilities, especially the one which recently required surgery, kept me down and out but it didn’t stop me from getting frustrated with the whole mess.

Now it’s down to taking the time to get back on my feet from the surgery itself. Once I do that I’ll have to bounce going back to work against progressive deafness and the increasing chronic pain due to a back injury (limits me to light labor only). This would be no problem if I was say about 230 miles farther south than I am since work opportunities there for my type of folks are much more plentiful shall we say than up here near the border of Canada even in this day and age. But up here I am and up here I stay so I’ll just have to deal with it when the time comes (there is plenty of advantages in living up here though, both present and future, aside from lack of employment opportunities).

The problem with combination of living here and the idea of possible employment is that this town has one of the highest unemployment rate in the state of Vermont (17.8%). The other problem is the majority jobs that are available often require heavy labor which leaves me right out of the picture. The other types of jobs require a CDL which I can’t get, being an adult supervisor to troubled kids/impaired adults with behavioral problems (uh…no thanks) or being a certified nurse (nope). I also don’t have a teacher’s certification and that about wraps it up for available jobs around here.

I’m not really belly aching about this as I still have a ways to go before I can even begin to consider working again but once in awhile I just have to get things of this nature off my chest and that’s what this blog’s all about.

In the meantime, I just wish it would stop raining long enough to let me finish mowing the lawn.