Hi everybody! I MISS YOU!!!!!
I don't really know where to begin, but it all started late February/early March...
Gary and I have been trying to get a new job for basically a year. Licensing and new regulations have dramatically changed the industry in which we work, and not only are analyst positions at brokerage firms shrinking rapidly, we're an odd bill to fit as a man-wife team with a record of publishing rather outspoken, very independent stuff.
Well - we had a GREAT meeting at a mid-size firm in early March. They said they were going to make us an offer. That afternoon, a friend called and said "You HAVE to meet with this firm I just met with!" We spent a couple hours on the phone with the head of one of the departments, and decided it was worth a meet. So the following Monday, we get an offer from firm A as we're heading into the city to meet with firm B. To make a long story short, we'd be happy with either job (with ANY :censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor:' job in our line of work!), but firm B and the opportunity is superior. So we come up with issues with Firm A's offer. They immediately come back and say it's all fine, they'll meet what we want. So we started with other delay tactics, and did our best to press upon Firm B the urgency in their dealing with us. But the guy responsible had appendicitis and was in the hospital and recouping, so that lost us close to two weeks. My fingernails are completely WRECKED.
Firm B finally sent up an offer - this past weekend. It stank, but only because this would be a new department for them and they're totally unfamiliar with this type of business and how to structure it. We immediately got back to them with all the problems, and they're supposedly getting it together and getting us an offer we can accept this afternoon or this evening. Meanwhile, we haven't turned down Firm A yet just in case... and we are under so much pressure to accept that offer. It kind of feels nice to be in this "wanted" position (after struggling so dang hard for so dang long), but the tension is going to push me right over the edge.
*************
AND... just when it finally looks like we'll be employed for salaries again, THIS had to happen. Many of you know that Gary has had many health issues over the years. Well, he's got a real doozy this time.
Anyone heard of "Cluster Headaches?" They really shouldn't call them headaches, because that conveys the wrong thing altogether. They should be called attacks. Researchers in the field believe that those who suffer from cluster headaches suffer from the worst pain a human can experience, and partly because anyone who has them says they're the worst pain they've ever experienced. Though most sufferers are men, the women who do have them say that it's far more painful than giving birth without any anesthetic. Bear in mind that Gary was in the army and involved in the Lebanon war. He has 385 jumps, broken almost every bone in his body, has had four major back surgeries and is constantly suffering back pain; he's had surgery to remove a tumor from behind his eye, ulcers, has been blown up, had 3rd degree burns, suffered everything you can think of with his teeth; he was hit with shrapnel (and still has some in his legs), has no cartiledge at all in his left knee and needs a new knee. This is a man who is constantly dealing with managing pain. I've never seen him cry from pain before. These things.... are just devastating.
Cluster Headache sufferers get "clustered" attacks that are far worse than migraines. They get between 2 and 10 attacks a day, and they go for weeks or months at a time. The attacks last from 45 minutes to hours at a time. Some "chronic" sufferers have less than two pain free weeks a year. Hopefully Gary's not chronic - but he hasn't had one single pain free day since the beginning of March. It is an incredibly debilitating problem. There are drugs that work on some people some of the time to abort the pain once it starts. And there one or two drugs that work on some of the sufferers some of the time to prevent the attacks. But we don't have insurance now and can't afford treatment.
Over half of cluster headache sufferers have considered suicide because the pain is so great and so relentless.
"Clusterheads" say it is impossible to lie still during an attack. Gary either lays on the floor crying and thrashing around, or he stands up banging his head against the wall. I am convinced almost every time he has one of these things that I need to call an ambulance.
And they happen mostly at night for most - but Gary also gets them during the day. They almost always start right at the beginning of REM sleep, so clusterheads become afraid of going to sleep. Gary had gotten about 8 hours of sleep in 10 days. "Exhausted" doesn't even begin to explain where he was....
THANK GOD we found a site dedicated to cluster headaches (it's how we figured out what it is that he has). They have so many suggestions as to how to deal with them, and now he's got Oxygen and is taking Kudzu Root, which are both helping. But it's a horrible battle, and JUST as it looks like things may be starting to turn for us (i.e. getting a job), something like this has to happen. How will we work full time through something like this?
When will it stop???????????????????????????????
Boy - I sure hope things are going better for all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really do miss TCS, but I am spending most of my "free time" on the net these days over at the cluster headache site, searching, searching, searching.....
All my best to everyone, and hoping I get not only to spend more time here, but that I actually have good news one of these days, lol!
I don't really know where to begin, but it all started late February/early March...
Gary and I have been trying to get a new job for basically a year. Licensing and new regulations have dramatically changed the industry in which we work, and not only are analyst positions at brokerage firms shrinking rapidly, we're an odd bill to fit as a man-wife team with a record of publishing rather outspoken, very independent stuff.
Well - we had a GREAT meeting at a mid-size firm in early March. They said they were going to make us an offer. That afternoon, a friend called and said "You HAVE to meet with this firm I just met with!" We spent a couple hours on the phone with the head of one of the departments, and decided it was worth a meet. So the following Monday, we get an offer from firm A as we're heading into the city to meet with firm B. To make a long story short, we'd be happy with either job (with ANY :censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor:' job in our line of work!), but firm B and the opportunity is superior. So we come up with issues with Firm A's offer. They immediately come back and say it's all fine, they'll meet what we want. So we started with other delay tactics, and did our best to press upon Firm B the urgency in their dealing with us. But the guy responsible had appendicitis and was in the hospital and recouping, so that lost us close to two weeks. My fingernails are completely WRECKED.
Firm B finally sent up an offer - this past weekend. It stank, but only because this would be a new department for them and they're totally unfamiliar with this type of business and how to structure it. We immediately got back to them with all the problems, and they're supposedly getting it together and getting us an offer we can accept this afternoon or this evening. Meanwhile, we haven't turned down Firm A yet just in case... and we are under so much pressure to accept that offer. It kind of feels nice to be in this "wanted" position (after struggling so dang hard for so dang long), but the tension is going to push me right over the edge.
*************
AND... just when it finally looks like we'll be employed for salaries again, THIS had to happen. Many of you know that Gary has had many health issues over the years. Well, he's got a real doozy this time.
Anyone heard of "Cluster Headaches?" They really shouldn't call them headaches, because that conveys the wrong thing altogether. They should be called attacks. Researchers in the field believe that those who suffer from cluster headaches suffer from the worst pain a human can experience, and partly because anyone who has them says they're the worst pain they've ever experienced. Though most sufferers are men, the women who do have them say that it's far more painful than giving birth without any anesthetic. Bear in mind that Gary was in the army and involved in the Lebanon war. He has 385 jumps, broken almost every bone in his body, has had four major back surgeries and is constantly suffering back pain; he's had surgery to remove a tumor from behind his eye, ulcers, has been blown up, had 3rd degree burns, suffered everything you can think of with his teeth; he was hit with shrapnel (and still has some in his legs), has no cartiledge at all in his left knee and needs a new knee. This is a man who is constantly dealing with managing pain. I've never seen him cry from pain before. These things.... are just devastating.
Cluster Headache sufferers get "clustered" attacks that are far worse than migraines. They get between 2 and 10 attacks a day, and they go for weeks or months at a time. The attacks last from 45 minutes to hours at a time. Some "chronic" sufferers have less than two pain free weeks a year. Hopefully Gary's not chronic - but he hasn't had one single pain free day since the beginning of March. It is an incredibly debilitating problem. There are drugs that work on some people some of the time to abort the pain once it starts. And there one or two drugs that work on some of the sufferers some of the time to prevent the attacks. But we don't have insurance now and can't afford treatment.
Over half of cluster headache sufferers have considered suicide because the pain is so great and so relentless.
"Clusterheads" say it is impossible to lie still during an attack. Gary either lays on the floor crying and thrashing around, or he stands up banging his head against the wall. I am convinced almost every time he has one of these things that I need to call an ambulance.
And they happen mostly at night for most - but Gary also gets them during the day. They almost always start right at the beginning of REM sleep, so clusterheads become afraid of going to sleep. Gary had gotten about 8 hours of sleep in 10 days. "Exhausted" doesn't even begin to explain where he was....
THANK GOD we found a site dedicated to cluster headaches (it's how we figured out what it is that he has). They have so many suggestions as to how to deal with them, and now he's got Oxygen and is taking Kudzu Root, which are both helping. But it's a horrible battle, and JUST as it looks like things may be starting to turn for us (i.e. getting a job), something like this has to happen. How will we work full time through something like this?
When will it stop???????????????????????????????
Boy - I sure hope things are going better for all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really do miss TCS, but I am spending most of my "free time" on the net these days over at the cluster headache site, searching, searching, searching.....
All my best to everyone, and hoping I get not only to spend more time here, but that I actually have good news one of these days, lol!
