December 24, 2021
A Pyrrhic But Satisfying Victory
Art by Itou: Who truly seems to understand what it's like to work for U.P.S. at Christmas.
My physical therapist was against me going back to work 3 months early after the stroke. My neurologist was skeptical. However, I got a general practitioner to write me a note and my general manager at work gave me the chance, and authorized my use of a face shield (since the mask use at work is believe to have caused the stroke).
A pyrrhic victory is one where any more like it will probably kill you...and that certainly applied here.
I am DONE.
However aside from the 2 days I was waiting for van parts at the beginning of the month, I didn't miss a day after Thanksgiving. My own family did not think I could do it as I was still troubled by stairs.
But I worked Christmas at U.P.S..
Instead of paying for physical therapy I was able to turn my physical therapy into positive cash flow. I even passed a kidney stone at work this week. So that's one less of life's little curveballs I'll have to deal with going forward.
And I was able to reinstate my insurance. Yay!
This was not our heaviest year by a long shot, but it was the most difficult Christmas I've worked in 29 years, not just because of my physical limitations but because by the end, our building was so short-handed that we would have been short handed during the regular year.
No one wants to work.
A pandemic, a supply chain collapse, and...Christmas...but we got all the packages out of the building today.
I honestly don't think I could have lasted many more days of this, but I made it till the end, and can look forward to retirement in August. Next week the hours are going to be a tad longer than average (due to gift cards) but much more reasonable.
I did have one terrible moment this afternoon after I got home. I found that both my washing machine and dishwasher had given up the ghost. After the frustrations of the water heater (which I should be able to fix when the part comes in in mid-January) my rage at the world nearly peaked. Then I realized I'd cut off the hot water line to tinker with the water heater. All is well. There is a lesson in there somewhere, I'm sure, but If I were able to recognize and learn lessons I'd probably be on a yacht right now.
I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you are celebrating.
Thank you all for all the kind words during this. It meant more to me than any of you know.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
07:26 PM
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1
Merry Christmas, Brickmuppet!
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Fri Dec 24 22:56:18 2021 (kDsYc)
2
Merry Christmas, Brick. We've all been pulling for you.
Posted by: JT at Sat Dec 25 01:06:29 2021 (0EkmO)
3
Yes! Let's hear it for positive cash flow, and looming retirement!
Posted by: Mauser at Sat Dec 25 17:15:46 2021 (Ix1l6)
4
Dude.
I'm glad you made it through Christmas! A belated Merry Christmas, too. Hope you have a few days off to recover.
I'm glad you made it through Christmas! A belated Merry Christmas, too. Hope you have a few days off to recover.
Posted by: Rick C at Sat Dec 25 21:40:45 2021 (2Mei2)
5
Merry Christmas!
It was a merry Corona Christmas for me. I vaxxed 2 doses in October and in December it was Covid. Funny how I did nothing and visited all the superspreader events for 2 years, but as soon as I was jabbed, I got it. Honestly I'm wondering if the "vaccine" re-tunes the immune system to respond to a specific variant at the expense of general response. Not like I understand how any of it works.
It was a merry Corona Christmas for me. I vaxxed 2 doses in October and in December it was Covid. Funny how I did nothing and visited all the superspreader events for 2 years, but as soon as I was jabbed, I got it. Honestly I'm wondering if the "vaccine" re-tunes the immune system to respond to a specific variant at the expense of general response. Not like I understand how any of it works.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Mon Dec 27 12:36:17 2021 (LZ7Bg)
6
Hooray for surviving, and double congrats for doing it on your terms!
Posted by: DougO at Mon Dec 27 18:41:24 2021 (Rau32)
7
Pete: There is some speculation that at least one of the vaccines makes you more vulnerable, not less.
Apparently, one of the mechanisms is converting muscles to producing the protein that the immune system is supposed to react to.
This obviously suggests a possibility of chronic immune reaction, or of mis-classifying the proteins as being normal and not meriting an immune system response. (If your immune system attacked every protein that your body produced, you would die. There is some form of white listing mechanism, and I do not know how well we understand it.)
Keep an eye out for getting sick, and then losing a ton of muscle condition. What of that I'm aware of /may/ be a coincidence, but...
Posted by: PatBuckman at Wed Dec 29 07:11:18 2021 (r9O5h)
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