(This post is from the summer of 2009 - I just discovered it in my drafts and was intrigued to read through and see how far I've come along in my knowledge of how the world works and how my perception of things has a great deal to do with how I experience my world!)
When I first lost my job a little over five months ago, I vowed to make the most out of it. I was determined to not let it get me down. I was awash with excitement for all the possibilities that this unfortunate twist of events would afford me. I made some preliminary plans to do a few things I had always wanted to do with my life but never had the chance to. This was not going to be the end of anything. I was even excited about being able to work out at the gym any time/day I wanted to!
Then I fell into the bureaucratic nightmare that is the Unemployment Insurance Agency of Michigan. I discovered quickly that the words, "Pursuit of Happiness" doesn't really mean what you think it means. It means that at every opportunity, the government is going to make things really dang difficult for you to do even the simplest of things.
See, plan A was to arrange for the bank to take back the house, sell everything I owned, get a position with some world mission group, hopefully someplace like Africa or China, and go for a few weeks of backpacking thru Europe while I waited for my posting. Then in a few years, when the economy stabilizes, come back and get a job with some non-profit and just enjoy the rest of my life. That one went down the tubes because the same barrier I was experiencing in the job market, overqualified/under-educated, is currently affecting all postings with world mission groups. No degree, no subsidized volunteering.
So, okay, plan B. I was in the military long enough to know that you should always have a contingency ready to be deployed. Plan B consisted of finishing school. I have limited training in nursing from my Army years, so if I build on that, I can get an RN associates through the community college. RNs are needed all over the world. This would open doors to just about any mission group I wanted to join. So now I just need to work out the voluntary foreclosure with the bank, sign up for benefits through the UIA, get enrolled in their No Worker Left Behind program and wait for school to start. Once I get approved, I can go find a part time job somewhere and all's good for the next 4 semesters, right?
Wrong! First of all, the bank is being utterly non-compliant about the whole foreclosure situation. They won't even talk to me until I've missed 3 or more payments. Well, okay, so I stopped paying the mortgage in February, so that shouldn't take much time. Let me go take care of my appointment with the social worker and get signed up for school. If nothing else, I can at least get a part time job while I wait for school to start.
No go. There's a 2 month waiting list to get in to take the test. Then after the test, you have to wait to be assigned a worker. Then once you get assigned a worker, you have to wait for them to schedule an appointment for evaluation and approval of your program choice. Meanwhile, I can use my DuPont educational benefits to get a jump start on school, right?
Wrong! If you are going to school, you aren't available for employment. If you aren't available for employment, you can't collect unemployment benefits. So, I can't find a full-time job. I can't find mission work. Now I can't even go to school on my own? Well, shit. What the heck? Okay, so, this slows a few things down, but still, I'm not going to let it get me down too much. After the first full month of dealing with the UIA and the bank, I'm a little weary. I haven't been to the gym in a few weeks. I'm not sleeping very well. But it's not the end of the world. Once I have my nursing degree my employability situation will be so good, I'll look back at all this and laugh, right?
Wrong! I finally get in to see my social worker and he informs me that the state isn't putting anyone else in the nursing program. The schools are so overloaded now with nursing students that there isn't a class available until 2011. What the heck? Oh, and anyways, they won't pay for the select admissions test or the pre-requisite classes, so there's that. Okay, so, now what? As I scan the list of programs the state will pay for, I don't see a single occupation that pays over $10/hour. I need a frikken degree to make $10/hr? I'm currently overqualified for every $10/hr job I've applied for in the past 3 months!!!
Okay, so, I decide that business admin looks like the most straightforward program. I can do that one with one arm tied behind my back. If I'm going to be out of work for the duration, and living on someone's sofa, I could probably even finish in 3 semesters instead of the usual 4. Now, when I met with my social worker the first time, he instructed me that email was the best way to contact him. He said that if I don't get a reply in 3 days, resend. He said it sometimes takes 2 or 3 tries before he gets to it.
So, I send an email to him and tell him this is my chosen program. After 3 days I resend. And after another 3 days, I resend. And again. I start to resend it to him on a daily basis. I figure the squeaky wheel get the oil, so I start squeaking. By now, 35 days have gone by and we're coming up on the cut-off date for enrollment.
So I send him a note and tell him that I'm not waiting any longer, I'm going to go enroll in school, do my placement tests, etc. and he can let me know what he needs on his end to complete his paperwork. I figure, if worst comes to worst, I'll pay for it and get the reimbursement from DuPont and the UIA can kiss my butt, right?
I finally get a phone call after 46 days. I have been reassigned. This time to a woman who leaves me a voice mail as well as an email. I call and get her voice mail. So I send her a reply and let her know that I had all my ducks lined up, what does she need and when? I figure it will be a while before I hear back from her, right?
Wrong! She replies that day. She's totally impressed with the amount of footwork that I've done in preparation for approval and that she needs whatever forms, which I immediately provide. She sets up my appointment for the following day! I can't believe this. I slept a full 5 hours that night! So when I go in to see her the next morning, she's even doubly impressed with how organized my files are. The only issue she had was that I was signed up for the Business Admin, General, program, and according to the rules I need to be signed up for a specific program.
So, I decide to select Marketing, which she approves without hesitation. She also commented that with my organizational skills, this may be a great field of study for me. So then she goes over all the paperwork that will be required to be filled out and mailed-in weekly; this will give me a waiver that will entitle me to continue receiving unemployment benefits during the course of my education. Also, I have to turn in forms to collect the stipend they provide for gas, books, school supplies, etc.
Then she tells me that the state can be as much as 3 months behind in paying tuition. Because of this, I will be receiving phone calls, emails, and paper notices from the school stating that I'm going to be dropped for non-payment. She hands me this orange piece of paper that contains FAQs about the process and tells me to read it over and over again every time I receive one of these notices and to not worry about it, they have a flag on my record that will protect me from Administrative Action since I'm in the NWLB program. Great! That's not going to stress me out at ALL!
So, now I'm enrolled in my classes and waiting my start date. I can relax and enjoy the summer, right?
Wrong! First of all, the stress from the whole school/UIA thing caused my eye thing to return. This left me hiding in my room for a week, black out curtains and pain killers and eye-patches, oh my! My eyes are so sensitive to light, I can't even use the computer! What the hell? Oh, well. It's so cloudy and cool. It's not like I'm missing much.
This was followed up by a nasty sinus infection/summer cold/allergy whammy that left me nearly incapacitated for almost a week. I finally regained strength enough to get through a day without needing a nap. We scheduled a trip to Cedar Pointe. Yeah!
Halfway through the day I'm standing in line to go on a water ride and I notice a red patch on my ankle. As the day grows longer, the patch grows bigger. Now it's stretching up toward my calf. Then I spot a small patch on my other leg and some misc bumps on my shins. Crap! I go to the docs the next day and she confirms. MRSA! Crap! It took me almost 2 1/2 years to get the last bout under control!!! UGH!
The worst part about the MRSA is that the antibiotics are photo-sensitive, so you can't spend any kind of time in the sun. Plus you aren't supposed to over-exert yourself or tax your immune system in any way. She tells me to limit my exposure to small children since they are huge carriers of bacteria. Then there is the problem with the quantity of Benedryl it takes to stop the itching. This had me knocked out in a Benedryl coma most of the time. SUPER UGH!
On the fifth day the drugs finally started to show signs of working. The rash went from screaming, angry red to a dull brownish tone. Then it started to recede altogether. It was hardly noticeable by the last day of pills. Hurray! Only, no. I woke up the next morning to a new batch of little itty bitty red spots all over both legs from the knee down. Oh, and now I have some on my hands and arms too. This sucks!
I had my follow-up on Monday. She confirmed that this was another manifestation of the MRSA and besides another regimen of the drugs, also drew some blood so they can see exactly what is up with my immune system. Consider I suffer from several systemic problems, the eye thing, the ear thing, and now repeated bouts of MRSA, she wants to take a deeper look. Finally! I've been fighting the stupid health insurance bureaucracy for 3 years now trying to get something done about all this. She tells me that if this run of drugs doesn't kill it, she's going to biopsy a spot and get a solid diagnosis so the insurance company will approve IV antibiotics. FINALLY!!
Oh, and then I get to the pharmacy to pick up the anti-fungal, (all my lady friends will understand why I needed this with an antibiotic script) and they tell me the insurance only covers 2 pills per month. So, why didn't they fill the whole prescription and charge me for the third pill? Oh, she says, you want to pay cash? Well, did I really have an option? I need to take all 3! Two pills will not do the trick! Believe me, that is an itch I could go a lifetime without ever experiencing again!
If what doesn't kill you really does make you stronger, Atlas can move on over, there's a new strong(wo)man in town!
