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Tag Archives: Work

There’s Always Something

29 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Depression, Family, Retirement, Twins

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

College, Job, Work

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I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but I’ve been doing other things and I haven’t taken the time to post.  To be honest I’ve been rather depressed as of late.  The fact that I’m not working anywhere and not able to keep my mind off of things makes it difficult to not get depressed.

Both my daughters graduated in May and here it is the end of June and neither one has any job offers on the table.  One of my daughters has a teaching degree and has had a couple of interviews but no one wants to hire her.  The other has some sort of advertising degree and she’s got several applications in but hasn’t had any interviews yet.  They have six months to get a job to start paying their loans back.  My son went through the same thing and we were prepared to help him with paying back his loans but as luck would have it, he got a job right at the end.  Now we have two that we’d have to help and right now there is no way we can help.  We just can’t afford it.  I guess, if worse comes to worst, we could get some kind of load to help but I don’t want to get back in debt again.

The sight of my daughter getting so excited to get an interview and then wait for a phone call that never comes is more that I can handle.  She says she’s alright but I know just how disappointed she is and I’m disappointed for her.  What makes this thing a little worse is that she does have a part-time job working at the YMCA.  The thing is that they’ve hired too many people and now only works every other week so she’s not making the money she was promised. At least my other daughter is working, at least until the end of July until she has to move out of her apartment and then she will be out of a job.

I guess it’s all part of parenting. There’s a lot more I’d rather do as a parent than to watch them struggle.  My son, who I was worried about when he graduated, now has a job making nearly twice as much as I did when I worked thirty-two years and he’s only worked for about four.  Go figure.  Maybe my girls will end up doing the same thing.  I pray they will.

 

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When Did I Find The Time To Work

18 Monday May 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Retirement

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Tags

Flower bed, Landscape, Retirment, Work

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I’ve always heard people say that once they’ve retired and I never believed it.  Well, until now.  Do you remember me talking about having to remove my shrubbery?  I’m still working on getting everything put back in place.  When I removed the shrubs, a ton of dirt was removed with all the roots.  It left big holes in the ground which I had to purchase a couple of loads of dirt to fill in these holes.

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I’ve got the holes filled in, all the rocks removed and leveled out.  Then I found out that I needed to turn the new soil in so, I removed my Mantis from my shed and turned one side of my flower bed.  That thing wore me out.  After about thirty minutes of that thing, every muscle in my body was sore.  Thank God the next day was Sunday.  I could barely move.  Today it rained so I went to pick up our taxes and to pick up a few items from Lowes.  I’ve still got to turn the other side of the flower bed and relevel everything.  We’re in the process now of trying to figure out what to plant.

I’ve already got a project to do after I get done with my flower bed.  I’ve already got most of the materials for it so I’m hoping that step is done with.  I’ve got to add gutters to my sunroom.  I’ll be glad when I get these projects done.  I’d like to take a day and go fishing.

It Was A Tough Decision

17 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Diabetic, Disability, Retirement

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Tags

Diabetes, Disability, Work

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February 14th, 2014 was a date that I will never forget.  One reason is that it’s the date that I asked my wife of 28 years to marry me.  She said yes, obviously.  The 14th was also the date that I was diagnosed with CML, Cronic Myeloid Leukemia. My life has not been the same since.

Prior to being diagnosed, my weight had increased over the years and my diabetes had gotten out of control. My doctor sat me down and told me that I had better start doing something about it or I wouldn’t live to see my kids graduate high school.  That woke me up a bit.  I started watching what I ate, I started walking some and a friend of mine got me riding my bicycle.  In 2012 I started riding my bike religiously; up to 20 miles a day and up to 30 miles on the weekend.  Even after my diagnosis of CML I kept riding.  In 2015 I rode over 7,000 that year.  But that would soon change.

In 2016, I spent a total of four weeks in the hospital.  Not all at one time but through the year.  My cancer meds were causing fluid to be collected around my heart and lungs.  This was also the time I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and diastolic heart failure.  This was also the time that my vision got blurry and I was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy. I had to take injections in each eye to remove the blood that was pooling up behind my retina.  Because of all my health issues, I had to take off from work a lot because of doctor’s appointments and hospital stays.  Some of the meds I was on also caused memory loss and I started making mistakes at work.  One was a bad mistake and I was given a choice to either get fired or take a lower position.  I took the lower position which I also got lower pay.  Since 2016, I have been in the hospital at least 2 times a year spending at least 4 days each time.  I missed my daughter’s high school graduation because I was in the hospital with the flu and pneumonia.  I also missed my wife’s birthday twice because of hospital stays.

Some years back the company I worked for raised the age at which you could retire.  Because I had been there so long, I was grandfathered in and I could retire at the age of 55 because I had over 30 years of service. When I got grandfathered in, I had 42 months until I could retire.  I counted each day.  I couldn’t wait.  On August 15th, 2018 I retired.  I retired because I couldn’t do the work they were asking me to do.  My memory had gotten bad, I couldn’t walk without having to stop and take a breath and it was taking me too long to complete my jobs.  I knew if I didn’t retire I would eventually lose my job.

Since I was diagnosed in 2014 with cancer, I was asked several times why I didn’t try to file for disability. For me, disability is for someone who can’t work.  Even now I still think I can do something.  In reality, I know I can’t.  At my age, now 56, I doubt anyone will hire me with all my health issues.  It took some convincing from my wife and some of my other family members, I filed for disability in Septemeber of 2018.  Of course, with any filing, the first attempt is always denied, at least that’s what I was told.  And with that, my first filing, I was denied.

The simple fact that I can’t do anything but short term because I get so out of breath.  Walking, climbing stairs, going up an incline, carrying anything of any distance; things such as these I get so tired with fatigue and afterward I have to go and lay down for a while to get my energy back.  I can’t see any employer letting me go lay down after I do a job.

So, I got denied.  I immediately called a lawyer that had been highly recommended to me. When I filed for disability myself, I had to send in a lot of documents from all the doctors, the hospitals and such that I had.  It took me about two months to gather all of the information.  After about a month after I filed, they wanted more information.  Another month goes by gathering more information.  So, I had saved all of the documentation that was requested by the Social Security office and I sent all the documents I had saved to my lawyer.  After one year and six months, I had my hearing with the Social Security judge.

I met with my lawyer right before the hearing and he basically told me what not to say and what to say to the judge.  He told me to tell the truth and to tell him exactly what was going on, and I did.  They had a doctor on the phone that was representing the Social Security office.  To say that I was concerned would be an understatement.  My lawyer tried to calm me down because he could tell I was nervous.  The judge asked me a series of questions all of which I answered the best way I could.  The judge then turned to the doctor on the phone.  My anxiety levels hit the roof.  The judge asked him a series of questions regarding my work record, my work skill level and then he started asking him questions like, can he lift 50 pounds, can he crawl on his hands and knees, can I stand over thirty minutes without difficulty, can I sit for thirty minutes without difficulty.  The list went on and on.  To my surprise, the doctor said NO I can not do these things.  The Judge thanked him for his service and said I’m done.  That’s all I need to hear.  And with that he said we’re done.  I was in his chambers for less than 10 minutes.  The guy before me was in there for nearly an hour.

After I left the judge’s cambers my lawyer came and spoke to me.  He said that he felt really good about my case.  I am to call him in three months.  The decision could take up to six months.  But here is the kicker.  If I receive disability, I am supposed to get back pay from the date I filed or somewhere near that date.  He mentioned a figure of $2,100 a month for the backpay as well as my monthly payment.  I know he’s supposed to either get 25% of the back pay or $6,000, whichever is less.  I have a lot of need for this money so I hope I get it.

After all this, I still think that I don’t deserve disability.  I know a lot of people who are in worse shape than I am and they can’t get it.  The system is totally screwed up.  I know I have issues but I feel like I can still do something.  I’m not sure what but I think there is something out there that I can do.  The trouble is getting someone to hire me.

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Retirement

06 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Uncategorized, Weight Loss

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Tags

Job, Life, Retirement, Work

Only 163 more days. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, although dim, I can still see it. Some days, like today, it seems that it will never get here. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing once I retire but I’m sure it won’t be dealing with some of the crap that I have to deal with now on a daily basis. I know that I’ll have to find something to do otherwise I’ll get as big as the side of the barn. I have several hobbies that will keep me from sitting on the couch and there’s always yard work to do. Maybe I’ll find a job that I can drive people around a couple days a week. Who knows?

05 Sunday Jun 2016

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Photography

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Tags

Back to Work, Flu, Pneumonia, Sick, Vacation, Work

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Tomorrow will be my first day back at work.  It’s been two weeks and I’m not real excited about going back.  I’m to the point that I just don’t care any more.  I had to use up all my vacation time and I’m scheduled to take a week of vacation in two weeks. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.  My plans are to take a week off without pay. We’ll see how that goes.

It’s going to be rough getting up in the mornings because while I’ve been home I’ve been sleeping in to at least 8:30 or 9am.  I’ll have to get up at 6am to be able to get to work on time.  I think I can do this as long as they don’t have me climb a bunch of stairs or do a ton of walking.

365 Day Photo Challenge 353/365 “Friday’s Failure”

18 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Cancer, Leukemia, Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, Failures, Pain Meds, Work

I got up this morning, pain was somewhat minimal.  I got a shower and started getting dressed when the pain started increasing.  I went ahead and got dressed and took my pain meds before I left for work.  The temperature had dropped and caused my windshield to be coated with a heavy coat of ice.  By the time I scrapped all the ice I was in considerable pain.  I was determined to make it to work my I just couldn’t make it.  I turned around just before reaching the interstate.  I made it home just as my wife was leaving for work.  I went inside and took two ibuprofen PM so I could at least get some rest.  I woke up at 2pm when my oncologist called to tell me that my medication had been approved by my insurance company. After a few phone calls to the pharmacy and to the drug manufacturer I went back to bed. It is now 10:30 pm and I haven’t been up long.  I’ve already taken my pain meds and I’m going to take a shower before going back to bed.  I haven’t eaten anything all day because I just haven’t felt like it.  Maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 345/365 “Road Trip”

10 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, HVAC, Job, Road Trip, Travel, Work

The good thing about being the only HVAC tech in a large company is that you get a chance to do a lot of road trips.  The bad thing about being the only HVAC tech in a large company is that you get a chance to do a lot of road trips.  During my thirty years I used to travel a lot doing preventive maintenance on equipment all over our state and even into Georgia.  Since we’ve gotten our new boss nearly two years ago my traveling came to a complete halt.  He wanted this hand picked team to go and I wasn’t included.  Didn’t hurt my feelings none because I’d rather go home in the evenings instead of being off somewhere away from the wife and kids. Now since we’ve been losing people left and right because of our boss’s attitude I’m the only one left and now I have no choice but to go on these road trips.  Tomorrow I leave again for another road trip.  It’s two hours away and I’ve got at least six hours of work there and then another two hours back.  Going to be a long day tomorrow.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 341/365 “Back to Work”

06 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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365 Day Photo Challenge, Flu, Sick, Vacation Time, Work

After being off since Wednesday afternoon with the flu I’m heading back to work tomorrow.  I’m not really feeling like I need to go back but my vacation time tells me otherwise.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 290/365 “Mismanagement”

16 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

365 Day Photo Challenge, Bad Management, Retirement, Work

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I’m trying so hard to keep a positive attitude but it’s becoming very hard to do so.  We lost one of our guys today due to the management of our department and several more are talking about leaving. I’ve been with the company for nearly 30 years and I’ve never seen it this bad.  I asked on of the guys I work with what he thought we could do to boost the moral in our department.  The response he gave was to somehow obtain a new manager.  As much as I’d like to see that myself I don’t believe that’s going to happen anytime soon.  You see, the upper management likes my manager and believes he can do no wrong.  It doesn’t matter what our opinion is of him because ultimately it’s our fault that we have a problem with him.

My boss never gives one encouraging word.  You can bust your butt for hours and maybe days on end on a project and when you’re done it’s–“You missed a spot” not, Oh, you did a good job and I really appreciate what you’ve done but this is where you didn’t complete the job.  He always sees the negative and never sees the positive.  How can you work with someone like this?

I’ve stated before that I have less than 3 years left before I can retire from this job.  I’m having to bite my tongue on a daily basis not to say something that could get me fired.  I just hope for my families sake that I can hold out to either I can retire or the management sees that our management needs an overhaul.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 151/365 “Gremlin at 4 o’clock”

02 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

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Tags

365 Day Photo Challenge, Alabama, Tannehill, Work

It never fails when I have plans, that gremlin shows it’s ugly head and causes trouble and it’s always at 4pm.  My work day begins at 7:30 am and ends at 4:15 pm.  I stay busy throughout the day doing preventive maintenance, too hot/too cold calls, some plumbing issues and general everyday maintenance issues.  In a company that houses some 3,000 employees, most everyone knows the hours that we work but they always wait until 4 pm to call and tell us that they have an emergency that needs to be taken care of right away.

A few months ago I got the call at 4pm which stated that the person had water dripping from the ceiling.  I get to the call and of course there’s water dripping from the ceiling.  I asked the guy who made the call how long had it been leaking. I almost lost it when he told me that it had been leaking since before 10 am that morning.  Why did you wait until 4pm to make the call to maintenance and he told me that he knew that we left at 4pm and he decided that he’d better call before we left.

Most of the 4pm calls are not calls that only last a few minutes and your done.  Oh no, these calls can last from 3 hours to 10 hours to several days.  The one I got today involved water under the floor in our computer room.  Never a good thing to have water underneath a raised floor.  Once we found out where the water was coming from it took us several hours just to vacuum all the water up.  Needless to say that I did not get to ride any today.

“Life Goes On!”

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