Smaller Demands Equal More Energy

Owners have sent help here and I no longer have the same physical and mental demands that I had when I was first released from the VA and returned to Leesville/Ft. Polk.

I had a few months where I was able to be first on the job and last to leave. Sometimes, during train unloads and high tonnage shipping days, that took 16 hours. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of it but things changed when my stroke preventative script was added to daily meds.

I was losing my balance and fell down on the job several times. One time, I was in the office when I fell and it was witnessed by guys that worked in another Division. I'm sure they told the owners and thus the additional employee sent to relieve the pressure. (The owners are superb business managers and some mighty fine fellas. They've stuck with me even when I was only given 3 to 12 months to live. They never gave up on me).

This new script I have to take only added to the problems. I thought I was simply suffering from "Aye-Troe-Fee" or whatever it is that you call the condition that exists in your leg muscles when you've been in bed for most of 9 months. Basically, I wasn't using any of my leg muscles because for the most part, I was off my feet from June of 09 to March of this year.

I didn't know it at the time but the radiation damage to my skull included my inner ear. That apparently effected my equillibrium and in part, was the cause for the imbalances that found me on the floor or the ground after I lost my balance and didn't have the strength in my legs to stop the fall. When they added the anti-siezure meds, that's all it took to put me down on a regular basis. I don't know how many times I've fallen but it's alot.

I have to take 1,000 mg per day of a med that Kristin calls "Kepra". It's two 500 mg tablets and I try to take one right after work so I can sleep while it's working. Regardless of the method you use to take it, (how you time it), half of the 24 hour day, you're drowsy and dizzy.

Having failed at the physical side of the job, I'm trying a new approach. I don't take my pill until the afternoon after I've finished most of my work for the day. That way, I'm clear headed early in the day and don't have the instability I had earlier on in the mornings.

I can get up in the morning, drive to bid lettings, pick up the drawings and specifications for the job, drive to the job sites, estimate/confirm the amount of construction aggregates that are needed, determine the number of miles that exist between the stone yard and the job, log all of that information and do all of that with a little help from a new Garmin gps unit and one of the new guys who does some of the driving and almost all of the walking. Not a bad deal, huh!

In any event, the new set up allows me to take advantage of a much easier situation here. In addition to that, I'll be able to prove my worth in a relatively short period of time. The jobs that I'm bidding now are pretty big jobs and only require a few weeks to a month after bid submittal to begin.

Hopefully I'll be able to set some sales records and stand up to the rigors of the job that now have so many physical demands removed. Tim Jr tells me that the Kepra is "from now on" and if that's the case, I'm gonna be in trouble. Despite that, the owners will give me all the time I need to work it out and see if I can stand up to the demands while taking the meds.

As I've been saying, I've come to a Crossroad in my life and I'm pressing ahead with as much of a positive attitude as I can. If I can't make it, I'll have to get a note from the boss that I tried but just can't make it.

I've been told by the VA that they will accept that and change my Pension/Compensation to 100% disabled and I'll take an early retirement and focus on the rest of my life regardless of how long or short that may be.

I'm hangin' tough. More as all this unfolds.

Tim Sr.