Seeing a Little More Light at the End of the Tunnel

Posted on September 12, 2023 by cordeliasmom2012

Sometimes fate (or God, if you’re religious) makes decisions for you.

I’ve been struggling with when I will finally fully retire.  My bosses know I’m on the way out.  Originally, I promised to  stay until the end of the year.  But I’m tired, the commute is long, and both hubby and I have been experiencing some age-related health issues.

Hell, I’m 71!  How long do I need (or want) to keep doing this?

So I’ve been going back and forth between an October 30th end date or a November 30th end date.  If I stay til the end of November, I can get paid for Thanksgiving and the day after.  But by then there could be snow (NOT doing any more winter driving!) and it’s one more month of stress which I most definitely don’t need.

I feel an obligation to my bosses, who have been wonderful to me over the years, but since the full-time staff employee left in April and hasn’t been replaced, it’s become just too much for me.  The bosses did bring in a temp to help out during the recruitment process, but I haven’t seen them intervew a single permanent employee.  I don’t know how long I can wait.

Already, I’ve become a somewhat undependable employee, due to my own health issues and hubby’s, and I’m feeling a little guilty about that.  When I can’t make it in, there’s no one to do my work.  It’s not fair to the others to have to cover for me so often, but they’ve been very patient.  And it’s been especially hard on me because I then have to catch up when I’m able to return, and since at most I work 3 days a week it can be difficult to get everything done.

So – Maybe it was stress.  Maybe it was  a bug or spider bite.  Maybe it was some kind of food allergy. Maybe some stranger sneezed on me.

In any event, on Thursday, my first day off last week, I developed swelling and pain on the right side of my head under the ear, which then moved to the left side of my neck under the ear.  By Saturday it had moved up to my left cheekbone and left temple, with a small strip across my forehead (even my husband noticed!).  Then it went back to the right side under the ear and the forehead rash had grown.  Topical hydrocortisone wasn’t working.  On Sunday I tried Benadryl, which also didn’t work.  I briefly considered going to urgent care but since I wasn’t having any breathing or cardiac problems, decided to wait until Monday when my primary doctor would be in his office, assuming the whole issue hadn’t resolved by then.

At any rate, fate (or God) seems to have stepped in.  I woke up yesterday looking like this:

And it’s not even Halloween!  I scare little kids with my normal face, but this?

I did go to work since I couldn’t immediately get through to my primary physician, but I only managed an hour there (during which time I accomplished absolutely nothing) before reaching my doctor, who advised me to go to urgent care or the emergency room. I opted for the ER because urgent care probably would have sent me there anyway.  6 hours later I was released on antibiotics and steroids.  No definitive cause was determined for all that swelling, other than it was probably some kind of viral infection that I couldn’t throw off due to my being immune suppressed from my Remicade treatments.

So today, I’m off work again, not looking much better.  But at least the headache and neck pain are gone.

And I’m a little closer to making my decision.

I think I’ve had enough.  I can probably make it through the rest of September, but I’ll never manage the end of November.  Considering the above photo, perhaps it’s appropiate that I plan my last day to be October 31.

Now I just need to drop that bomb on the bosses.  I feel bad that I may be leaving them in the lurch, but they’ve had plenty of time already to get fully staffed, and they’ll have more than a month’s notice to do what they should have already done.

Harsh?  Probably.  But my health and my family’s health is more important.

I’m exhausted.  I’m overly stressed.

I’m DONE.

Time to think of myself for a change.

Feel free to comment with your own thoughts, below or by email to cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com.

Hugs, all.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Health, That's Life | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Going to Ground

Posted on August 17, 2023 by cordeliasmom2012

I’ve had it with the working world.

Winter is coming, I don’t feel well, and I simply can’t face doing it any more.  After only three days of work, which includes a stressful commute to and from, I need the next four days to recover.  Then I do it all again the following week.  I’m too old for this.  It’s time to retire fully.

So, even though I told the boss to do it, it was still somewhat unnerving to see my job posted on an employment agency website.  Sure, I suggested he might want to hire someone to not only replace me but also cover the open position created by the secretary who left back in April, and yes, I did indicate that I couldn’t guarantee I would make it to the end of the year due to my current health, and yes, I was emphatic that I could not continue to cover both positions (one full-time and one part-time) even if my health miraculously improved.

But still, seeing that ad gave me a little jolt.

At least until I realized it’s to my advantage.  I can continue in my current job for as long as I wish in order to train a new employee and to help the associate attorney close out her files so that she, too, can retire.  And at the end of the day, I will know that I didn’t leave anyone in the lurch.  The new employee, assuming he or she works out, should be able to handle the remaining managing attorney until such time as he also decides to retire – which probably isn’t going to  be anytime soon.  It could be valuable job experience for a younger employee, or an excellent way for a more mature employee to stretch out his or her remaining work years.

Hopefully, a win-win for everone.

Teddy Rosalie likes books. too.

Meanwhile, I’m looking for ways to cut expenses in light of my pending drop in income.  Hubby suggested maybe I could stop buying so many books.  Say what?  Reading is one of the few pleasures I have left, and due to his fear of catching diseases from strangers, he doesn’t want me to start getting books from the local library.  So, book purchases through Amazon or other online retailers will continue, and I’ll find some other way to save pennies.  Hopefully, since my unemployment will mean less gas for the car, no work lunches, and no need to spend money on work clothes, that will somewhat offset the cost of my reading addiction (and let’s not forget the yarn for my crocheting addiction).

Wish me luck, folks.  A new phase of my life is about to begin.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Health, That's Life | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Ear’s the Thing

Posted on August 3, 2023 by cordeliasmom2012

Poor Puppy Cody.

As a human, I can understand that growing old[er] comes with various aches, pains, itches & twitches.  But dogs only know that something is not right.

First, it started with twitches in Cody’s hind leg whenever someone would pet her head.  While it can be amusing to watch a dog’s leg pumping up and down like a sewing machine needle, I’m sure Cody wasn’t enjoying it all that much.  We mentioned it to the vet at one point and were told it was simply a scratch response (known as the Pinal-Pedal Reflex).  The solution seemed to be to stop scratching her around the head and ears.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, Cody began shaking her head nearly constantly.  Hubby and I both looked in her ears and saw nothing.  No bugs, no irritation, no debris.  Just in case, we decided to use a little doggie ear wash to clean out anything that might be deeper than we could see.

As soon as the first drop of ear wash hit Cody’s ear canal, she went ballistic – growling, snarling, struggling.  She looked like a nasty, scared wolf with her bared teeth.  She even tried  to bite me – although to her credit, while her teeth left a mark on my hand, they did not actually break the skin.  I guess even in extreme discomfort, Cody didn’t really want to injure her owner.

And also to her credit, when I forcefully told Cody to “STOP IT!”, she did- immediately.  Good dog!

So, we took her back to the vet.  The exam showed no infection and no debris in the ears, but the canals were red and inflamed.  No wonder Cody reacted to the ear wash like she did!  If I had an earache and someone put cold liquid into my ear, I guess I’d snarl and bite, too.

A course of prednisone was prescribed, which seems to be working.  The head shaking has stopped, and – maybe it’s just my imagination, but – it seems that I can pet her around the ears again  without her twitching her leg.

Now, if we could only get her to stop rolling around on the ground so that whatever got into those ears in the first place doesn’t do it again …

[Well, that’s all great, Cordelia’s Mom, but we’re getting a little tired of Puppy Cody stories.  What’s going on with you?]

Nothing much, really.

My boss is frantically contacting clients and clearing files in anticipation of her retirement, and I’m frantically shoving as much cash as possible into savings so as to be able to pay expenses once my job ends.  Hubby is still working, so until he retires, we should be able to get by for quite awhile.  Eventually, we’ll have to give up the house, but not until such time as Cody is no longer with us – it would be cruel to relegate her to some rescue agency just so we could move into an apartment.  For now, the plan is  to hire people to help with whatever lawn care and snow removal hubby can’t manage.

Teddy Rosalie DOES enjoy the commute, but she’s not in charge – even if she thinks she is!

I’m still debating whether or not I want to continue to work part-time after my current job ends.  If I do, it definitely will be somewhere closer to home as I’m not enjoying the commute these days.  If I were independentally wealthy, or had tons of money in a 401-K, it would be a no-brainer, but Social Security only stretches so far, and there’s still that mortgage to pay.

Just living the dream, as always.

Hope all is well with all of my readers.  Leave a comment below (or even just “like” this post)  to let me know you’re still with me.

Hugs, all!

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

 

Posted in Teddy Rosalie, That's Life | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

‘Cause Dogs Gotta Breathe Too

Posted on June 29, 2023 by cordeliasmom2012

Ok, so this isn’t California or China, where I’ve heard it can be nearly impossible to breathe outside at times.

But even here in Buffalo, NY. USA, the air quality has been bad recently due to smoke coming down from the Canadian wildfires.  There have been many days when air quality advisories were issued and people were told to stay inside with AC and air purifiers running and to wear face masks when outside, especially those people who are elderly or who suffer from a medical condition which could affect their breathing.

On the worst recent day, hubby commented that it was too bad no one made face masks for dogs.

Say what?  I knew that wasn’t true because I’ve seen pictures of military and police dogs wearing gas masks.  Surely, there was something similar for ordinary dogs.

Like many people, my favorite website since the beginning of the pandemic is Amazon.com.  Searching there for “face masks for dogs” not only came up with the full-face military doggie gas masks (probably very effective but a little pricey), but they also had masks similar to those worn by humans – a simple design with a strap going behind the ears.  I ordered one (only $7.99) just to try it out.

Puppy Cody wasn’t thrilled.  Immediately, she pawed the darn thing off, and in the  process she managed to get her front dew claw caught in the strap and nearly broke her leg before I could get to her.  That was a little scary, needless to say.

However, I think the mask will work just fine when she’s on leash, walking and distracted by other things (like other dogs! squirrels! bunnies! or who’s been peeing on that hydrant/tree/planter?).  She’ll need a smaller size, though.  I purchased a medium, but it’s a bit loose on her face – probably a small size will work better for her.  We’ll see.

To anyone who’s now frantically searching Amazon for the same mask for their dog, bear in mind that the mask was shipped directly from it’s manufacturer in China and took a few weeks to get through customs before arriving at my home.  This seems to be a relatively new product so I would imagine that if the doggie masks become popular enough, someone in the U.S. will either start importing them or making them here, but in the meantime allow time for shipping.

And to those of my readers who live in the U.S. – have a happy upcoming Fourth of July.  I searched “noise canceling headphones for dogs” on Amazon, and yes they do exist but the good ones are fairly costly.  We’ll just keep Cody inside with us, with ACs and air purifiers running, the TVs on loud, and allow her to hide in whatever corner she chooses.  That worked well last year so long as we managed to get her out early enough before the fireworks started so she could do her business.  Within a day or two afterwards, she was back to her normal loveable but annoying self.

Hugs, all!

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
__________
Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Health, Pets, That's Life | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments