Work/Health Update

Now that the fun stuff has been reported,  I can start talking about the other two issues that take up the majority of my time:   work and my health.

Work:   

I had posted a while back that my business unit (HPE ES)was going to be spun off and merged with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).Not too long after that announcement I was told I would have to move into a different building in preparation for that merger. I was not happy about it but I decided that I would try to make the best of it. instead of having a dedicated Cube,  I was going to be what is known as a “mobile office worker”  meaning that I would carry my laptop and whatever else I need it into the office every morning and search for an empty Hotel Cube to work from during the day. This did not sound too bad initially until I investigated the hotel cubes  and realized  most of them were very substandard  to work in. If they had a monitor it was small and very few of them had keyboards. None of them had mice. None the less I put together an adequate workstation and called it my home. other people that were forced to do the same thing became my new neighbors and we became friendly, having lunch together on occasions and chatting during our breaks.

The building I was moved to is an older building and has not been updated in many years.The network connectivity is not consistent and a few times over the last 3 months I have been unable to work from the cube that I called my own. The first time that it happened it was resolved the next day And my productivity was only minimally interrupted. the next time that it happened it affected multiple people for about 2 weeks. I cubed hopped  the first few days and then work from home the next few days. during the second week one of the gentlemen who sat near me told me he found a stable area across the hallway in the other Hotel Cube area  so I followed him and set up shop there. I contacted both the Real Estate Group as well as the facilities manager to let them know of the situation. explain to them that I needed a permanent or semi-permanent or Carrier and that you Poppin and carrying around everything that I need on a daily basis was not conducive for me to get any work done. I courtesy  copied my manager on this just so he would know it would not be surprised in case anybody asked any questions. The very next day I was visited by the facilities manager who told me to find a spot that I like that he would have that Cube assigned to me. whether or not that has been done I don't know but I am they'll happily sitting in a much better Cube That has a stable network connection.  sometime soon I plan on bringing in the rest of my office equipment that I had in my permanent Cube in the other building.   that will include a 24 inch monitor, a nice clean keyboard,  and a docking station to bring it all together.

To add to all of that, my 4-5 year old work laptop Failed to be upgraded to Windows 10 and had to be manually  rolled back to Windows 7 costing me two days work. while I will admit that a fresh reinstallation of Windows 7 has made my old machine see much better,  I was surprised on how long it took to get everything installed Kama configured, and encrypted. Normally a person would get a new laptop after 3-4 years  but in this economy and considering we are in the process of a spin merger,  I cannot get a new laptop and Windows 10 seems to fail too often on this model for them to attempt it again.

Health:

I have seen quite a bit of difference in my health since this time in 2014. 2 years ago I was running 5K and half marathon races. today I am lucky if I have the energy to walk 5K after a full day at work.  I certainly do not feel 51 years old. I feel about 10-15 years older.

In early of 2015,  I was officially diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. at that time it was in the very early stages and  its effects were very limited on me. because I appeared to be progressing very slowly, my neurologist decided to attempt another treatment to see if his diagnosis was possibly incorrect. all of the other tests ruled out every possible illness with the exception of multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN).   the most common treatment for that is IVIG therapy with Privigen. The treatment for that begins with a 3 day booster (4-6 hours each day for three straight days)  that will  make even the healthiest people feel horrible. The biggest side effect it had on me was massive headaches. By the time the third day rolled around I certainly did not want to be there and the nurse to administer get my third dose said I should be proud of myself for sticking through it. She said many people do not bother and give up. I figured that if I was going to have to pay for this then I was going to stick through with it.

After the initial booster I had to come back every 30 days for a maintenance load.   With the maintenance load I would sit in an infusion chair from 4-6 hours With an IV in my arm. I had to do this every 30 days until they knew for sure whether or not the treatment was working on me. I received three or four maintenance loads  but they were not having any effect. when I went to go see my neurologist for my quarterly visit back in August he agreed with me that I did not have multifocal motor neuropathy what he was saying was a slowly progressing Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS).

Needless to say this has been tough for me to deal with. When I was first diagnosed with ALS in the back of my mind I kept thinking that eventually someone would find out that I had something else and I would be treated for it and recover.  However now the reality has set in and I am becoming more despondent each week. I am having trouble getting comfortable at night sleeping due to the pain in my left shoulder. the normal positions that I am comfortable sleeping in are not possible due to the pain add my left shoulder. I am unable to extend my left arm out Like I am signaling for a left turn. My wife tells me that I look very miserable when I am first attempting to get comfortable in bed. I guess I can get some pain meds but I really hate using them because the potential for addiction can be quite great.

I am not sure how much longer I will want to continue working. I have not saved up enough money to live off of and there is always the possibility disability but it only pays 70% and I'm not sure that my doctor will be willing to sign off on it yet. He told me once before that he would but I'm not sure if he was just telling me that or he was being sincere. I think he looks at me as being healthy enough to work so he wants me to continue. working would be excellent for my mental health but due to all these stressful changes here in the office I'm not sure it is something is conducive  to a healthy lifestyle or not.

I have vacation scheduled at the end of the month. I am not going to join my wife at the beach like she wanted me to. I'm actually quite tired of going to the beach every year and she knows it. since I'm not going with her she has decided to take an extra weight and swing by and visit a friend of hers in Georgia. that means for 2 weeks I will be on my own without any assistance around the house which is not a major problem. generally I can do most things reasonably well on my own.

During the time she is gone we will be having some work done around the house. First we have a plumber coming over to replace all of the shut-off valves in the house. next we have a contractor coming over 2 power wash and Stain our fence.   while he is there he is going to replace the turbine vents on a roof that were damaged after the last hail storm. my wife has also told me that he will be doing some touch-up work under warranty go on a couple of places on the outside of the house.

I am hoping to be able to run around with my friend Alan Mabry at least 2 or 3 days during the time she is gone. he wants to make a geocaching run into Oklahoma  And I would love to join him as we have a lot of fun on our road trips.  That road trip to Oklahoma has not been confirmed yet but if he has free time we will be going.