Other What's ruining your life right now?

My dentist is trying to talk me into having my wisdom teeth out

 

We probably would pay you late as well. What are you going to do about it? Sue us?

Something similar ruined my day today: Was told to deduct a cash discount of a few percent off an invoice from a little local compandy "to increase pressure". Basically they were to told to either accept the discount or f*ck off.

I hate my job.

 

What are the terms of their account with you? They do not dictate the payment terms, you do.

 

In the hospital indefinitely. I'm in worse shape than I've been in for a long time-and it's my own fault. I'm here willingly, I'm cooperating, but there's talk of damage to multiple organ systems as well as an infection I had no idea I had (WBC of 14,000, average is 4,000 to 10,000 at the highest.) There's a lot of stuff we don't know yet, and most of it we suspect bad. I'm fearing that this is a major turning point in my health, though they're trying to make it a major turning point in the quality of my health care, which is a positive thing.

 

Ok Here it goes (sorry for the small book and this is the shortend version)

When I joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1994 I was 6.1 and 3/4 inches tall. I had a few minor back injuries while on active duty then and was told that they were nothing to worry about. I was in pain pretty often and they would not do anything for me. Fast forward to 2004 I was in Kuwait waiting to go to Iraq and I got injured on a working party to clean up some scrap wood, I went to medical and they gave me mortin and Flexaril (aspirin and muscle relaxers) and I was put on quarters for a few days and put on full duty.

Fast forward to about SEP 2004 I was working on an up armored HMMV (HUMV for those of you who don't know the correct spelling) and I had to replace a chasie wiring harness which meant that the body had to be removed from the frame. Well the body on a HMMV is made of alu and with 4 doors weighing in excess of 250LB each I had to remove them in order to not destroy the body. We removed the doors and the body from the chassie and all was fine. Well a few hours later I was told that we needed to move the doors from the truck out of the way. Well the first door went fine but when we had to move the second door is when the accident happened,me and another guy Picked up the armored door and started to move it to the back of the vehicle and he tripped over a pallet that was in the way and dropped his end. I had a split decision to make (the first armored doors had a 4 inch ballistic glass in it and a steel frame around it) do I let the door go and have it fall on him and crush or kill him or do I hold on to it to keep him from getting injured. Well for me there was no choice but to hold it to save him. After the incident I was carried to medical and was seen and told that I had a back sprain and nothing more, since my unit was slated to go home in 3 to 4 months the decided that I was not sick enough to be medievaced out of country to Germany. So for the next 4 months I made numerous trips to medical and was always given percocet and flexaril and sent home with no duty.

When we finally returned home and started the endless paperwork process of returning I went to get out of my friends car and both my legs gave out and he had to pick me up and put me in the car and take me to the ER. From there they medicated me and gave me more perocet and flexaril and sent home with no duty. After that I was transferred to a medical hold unit for further evaluation and treatment. I was sent for several MRI's and several specialist (the one I ended up with was Navy) and he was a neurosurgeon. He looked at all the films and results and told me that I had 2 herniated disc in my back l4-l5 and l5-S1, he said that I was a serious problem but he didn't want to operate on my because of my age I was 28 at the time. So I end up getting epidural steroid injections about 6 times. After the injections and Physical Therapy (PT) I was told I needed to see the doctor that was in charge of medical hold. Well this doctor was brought in for a purpose (to get rid of people on med hold so they could shut it down) we sat down he looked at my record and told me I had a back sprain and I was no longer going to be allowed anymore treatment so did I want to stay in the army or get out. At this time i had around 12 years so I told him I wanted to stay. 1 day later I received orders removing me from med hold and returning to my unit.

Fast forward to 2006 when I went to another Army school the instructors had us doing exercises in the dirt with large rocks poking out of the ground. I talked to the instructor and let him know there were better places to do this and I was ignored (we were the same rank). Well I started doing sit ups and hit my spine on a rock where I had had the first injury in Iraq. So the Army does what they do best and they drugged me up and sent me on my way. Well after my school I was sent to WA State for duty, I continued to have issues and while I was getting out of a HMMV someone had put a lot of cables in front of the door and I tripped when I got out and instead of falling I jumped out and both my legs gave and another trip to the hospital. After that I had another year long deployment to Iraq, I continued to have problems with my back and legs giving out and the Army's answer was... you guessed it give him drugs.

I returned from my second trip to Iraq and was sent here to Miami Fl and this was the best thing that I could do. I had issues with my back one day and the Dr. sent me for an MRI and xrays and they decided I had back problems. I talked with my neurologist which I see for migraines/headaches/cluster headaches(he has several specialties) and he took a look at the results. His response was what the hell is going on with your back? I gave him a quick run down of the chain of events and he was not happy to say the least. I was sent by the Army to several pain management specialist and suffered through about 6 more rounds of epidural steroid injections for my back and 3 for my neck with no improvement. So after a few more visits with my neurologist he finally got fed up with the Army's BS and wrote a letter to my primary care physician on what he seen and the urgency that I needed to have it fixed. So my primary care sends me to see a neurosurgeon for a consult and within a few weeks I was in the hospital getting prepped for surgery.

Well I was taking fentynol patches (75mcg) and lozenges (800mcg) before I went in for surgery. I showed up at the hospital the day of surgery and asked if they needed me to bring my patches in and was told no that everything would be fine and taken care of. Well after a surgery that was supposd to be 1.5 hours drug on to 3.5 hours and who knows how long after that the first thing I remember in recovery was waking up screaming in the worst pain I have ever felt like someone had cut me open with no medication. Well after about 3 hours of this they finally go talk to my family and ask if I had been on any pain meds, they were told what I had been taking and the guy in recovery turned a different color and his jaw popped open. He hurried back in to recovery and started making phone calls to get the medication I had been on ( they had only been giving me the equivalent of delauded that my patches equaled) so they basically cut me open and put in 2 titanium rods with no additional medication that what I usually took. Things got a little better when they got my patches and maxed me out on Delauded, they were finally able to move me after 12 hours. I suffer through the time in the hospital like a good little soldier and work on physical therapy. When my Dr. came to check on my post surgery he told me that he had thought it was a success but there was a tremendous amount of damage he didn't expect when he got in there. Both sciatic nerves were caught between the disc that had been damaged and they had been compressed for years, they recovered slightly but he didn't think they would ever bee the same and there would be permanent damage.

The final count of damage was there were 2 2" Titanium rods holding L4-L5 apart they had to remove part of that disc and they had to pack L5-S1 with bone paste after removing part of that disc. I have recovered as well as possible from the surgery but now I have issues with my shoulders (one has been put back together) with tendonitis, both hips with tendonitis, and my right hip with bursitis. I also suffer from Migraines, chronic headaches, and cluster headaches. I also have chronic pain syndrome and my legs can give out at any given time. Remember how tall I said I was when I started I am now 5'11" I have degenerative disc disease which has worn my spine down along with the injury.

Now the kicker, the Army says I can still do my job but they don't think that I can be retained any longer due to my injuries/illnesses. So I am waiting to see what kind of compensation that I receive for giving my life and my body to the military for the last 19 years. I have a lot of other issues I didn't mention in here because it would take an entire page and it's already long enough that most will not read. So here I sit with a uncertain future, loosing my the way of life I have lived for over 19 years, and not knowing how I am going to work (if I can work) and how I am going to support my family after they give me the boot. Now with the government shutdown nothing is happening with any of this because the branch that is doing the paperwork is not working.

Thanks for listening and for your support.

P.S. WOW that's a lot longer than I expected I have almost my own page!
Mechh69

Sorry now it is in smaller more digestible chunks hopefully it's a better more comprhendable read. My apologies for my poor structure I was at work and frustrated and was just trying to get everything down my mind works faster than my fingers.

Sorry it's been a rough day and my PTSD got the best of me and I made a comment I shouldn't have and now I have to go apologize at work for threatening someones life.

 

might need to break that wall o' text up into paragraphs Mech

 

Was just going to say. That's quite the piece!

 

There's a few options. Depends what kind of customer you are. It's all politics.

 

WHOA.

That sounds horrible but sadly typical of the US military at the moment. The ranks swelled post-9/11 and they find themselves writing too many cheques for too many things now, so they'll leave just about anybody out in the cold.

While you're considering your options, I'll leave these here in case you feel like talking to someone who can help you:

These are mostly PTSD resources, but I'm sure just talking to someone who gets you and your problems will help, and you may even get advice on your current situation.

 

My Dad is a self employed painter/decorator. He did a job for a large letting agency, it was mostly snagging work on new rental properties but there was allot of material costs involved.

Anyhow's they kept delaying payment, we we went and undid half of the work one weekend : P

He made a point of never handing back the keys until he'd been paid.

 

It's me vs. a much, much bigger company, sadly not much point in pushing back as I know I won't get anywhere, and cannot afford to get the money any later. My terms are normally payment by return if there is no deposit involved, in this case there was not. I got the project through like a third hand referral, so the payment terms which are normally sent out by them with any engagement of work didn't end up reaching me. If it had, I would have told them where to shove it.

Sounds like you've had a double fusion then. On the upside that sounds like the right course of action for what happened to you (my other half and father have almost exactly the same issues as you). All I can say is, the physical therapy is crucial, fusion patients can see improvement for 18 months at least. you probably already know this. But it also sounds like the surgery was done so late that there must be some pretty permanent damage. Sorry dude, that really does suck

 

I also learnt this lesson the hard way Julian, and can still barely believe they can get away with it. My business cashflow has actually been screwed since the start of 2013 because of it, and I now have a policy of taking at least 20% of material/equipment costs as a deposit from clients on large jobs before any work is started.

 

Bobby was right it was the little switch by the external flash. It works perfectly now. Feeling much better now.

 

Massive result!

 

Excellent

 

Thanks so much guys

 

My Razer Imperator 2012 died last night. Not life ruining, but still an annoyance. All the buttons work, but the cursor isn't moving. It's possibly the most comfortable mouse I've ever used too...

Sent from a demo handset at a mobile phone store

 

I'm off work next week (mildYAY!) but that means i need to get change management stuff in place this week for what's happening next. Twice now i've filled everything in only to get an unspecified error and have to start again. I have an hour left to get it raised as it needs to start at 4am Monday and have 72 hours lead time. And I have two of them to raise

 

Still in the hospital. Can barely use my legs. Worst of all, there is zero pain control. It's gonna take a long time (if at all) before I get my legs back. Felt like shouting because I got a shower today.

 

Damn. Best wishes Kayin.