Here and back again. Sort of like a seizure. Having them every day sucks.
I finally have an appointment with an Epileptologist tomorrow and that is the adventure. See, I live in Yuma AZ and I get to go all the way to Phoenix (~200 miles) for the appointment. I'm taking an airport shuttle van to Sky Harbor Airport and then a shuttle to the clinic. And back home in PM.
continued under the orange seizure.
It will be a long day, about 16 hours. Unless they want me to stay.
I also have another serious neurological problem, nuropothy in my legs that makes getting around hard and painful. I suspect the long ride will be very uncomfortable. I will not be able to bring any of my pain med of choice since it is illegal without a card I do not yet have and I will have to go through a Border Patrol/Custom checkpoint and the Feds don't like them that there medical MJ anyway.
I have seizures so I can not drive. I have nuropothy in my legs so walking any distance is slow, painful and tiring. And I love to walk.
I had to quit my job because of my health issues but have some resources thanks to a STD insurance policy from a well known supplemental insurance company. I also still have my 'Cadillac' health insurance for up to at least one more year if I can keep coming up with the money. It covers just about everything and I rarely need to get approval. Having to apply for SSDI sucks but I need to do it, have to pay the student loans back.
I went to college first back in 1980. Went to a really great school, Mary Washington College, I studied political science and literature, I really screwed off and dropped out my junior year when our friend Ronnie Ray gun tied student loans (pdf) to parents income. My parents were not going to pay for me to get C's and D's and I can not blame them. To much beer and spades and not enough class attendance.
Went to a travel agent school and had a successful 17 year career as an agent. Did a lot of work doing international groups early on. I have seen how insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies spend our health care money. One thousand insurance agents and spouses to Switzerland for a week at a $500 nite hotel. Spent the last 11 with AAA. I have a partial pension that is safer than most. I got to see a lot of places. It got boring and I hated selling Disney.
I had dreams so I decided to go back to school at VCU. I quite my job at AAA with 6 weeks notice. My last day as a travel agent was Saturday the 8th of September, 2001. I had also planned to take the fall off as I knew I was going to rake up some student loan debt and would probably not be retiring any time soon. Get a few months of retirement and fun living.
I had already helped some of my best friends move to Yuma AZ in 2000. He got his dream job as Theater Professor at AWC. She works in the health care industry and makes the real bucks.
I was born nearby, El Centro, and the desert just felt like home. Went out again in November of 2001 and helped them move into the home we now live in. I'll try to get some pictures up on backyard bucket sometime.
I started classes at VCU and quickly decided on Biology as a major. Secondary science education was original intention but my first dealings with the Education Department derailed that idea. I could never work with such useless paperwork hoops they created. I did well and was moving along.
Helped some other friends move to Yuma over Christmas of 2002. I found out NAU Yuma offered a BS in Environmental Science-Biology emphasis. I had already signed up for Spring 2003 at VCU so I finished and sold my house and moved west. Broke the 100K barrier in the neighborhood and signs started sprouting like weeds after I sold. The glory years of the housing bubble.
I took a year off in AZ to get in state residency. Went to a Spanish school in San Miguel de Allende for a month. It helped but I just don't learn languages well.
Finished and got my degree in the Spring of 2007. I may have a record because it took 246 hours of classes to get that degree. I missed my graduation ceremony. My last semester I took a class on the environmental science of the San Juan River Basin. The class concluded with a one week float trip down the San Juan river collecting data. I did a plant collection. Much more fun then wearing a silly robe.
I worked for the microbiology professor at AWC while in school as lab tech and TA as well as tutoring for math and chemistry. I also had an internship one summer for the FWS as their Pelican rescue person in Yuma. Ended up transporting about 30 juvenile pelicans to rehab. Did a lot of other things like check rain gauges in the desert.
Had a hard to finding a job when I got out of school. Worked for just under 3 months for a microbiology food testing lab. They did not train me and then fired me after they got a visa for one of their Mexican workers (they had labs south of the border as well) saying I was not trained.
Ended up roofing for a few months in the Spring of 2008. It gets hot on a roof in Yuma AZ in May. Got to pay them student loans.
Got a dream job working for the Cocopah Indian Tribe as their Environmental Director. Water testing, restoration on the Colorado River. It did not pay great but that was OK. It was enough to pay the student loan, buy a few nice things. I got to go to San Francisco and other great cities for meetings.
I even quit drinking. One to many three day hangovers. I have had more than my fair share of beer already so I will leave it to others. Enjoy.
Then the blackout seizure on the way to work last Spring. The tests. Epilepsy. I may have had it for awhile. The medicine that worked at first is no longer working. Weakness started developing in my legs. I started having skin problems on my hands. I could not drive. It took ~2 hours each way to get to work on the bus. Amazing that I could but the Cocopah have invested in YCAT for their members.
I took off 12 weeks leave. I still was not in any shape to return and do the job as it should be done. They would have let me but they deserve more than I could give.
Here's hoping that the good doctors in Phoenix can help me.
The journey of life can lead one anywhere.