A Long Journey
I shared with y'all before in my post "Good Day" that my mom hurt her back at work, well after many doctors visits and x-rays we found out that she has artheritis in her lower back which made her back weaker and more easily injured. Her doctor gave her a note to take to her work that limits her lifting abilities to 20lbs. After long talks with her management and her union rep (which it's my personal opinion that unions don't actually help people) they told my mom that it would not be possible for her to move to a less physically demanding department. My mom was hurt that it seemed as though no one wanted to help her but she kept trudging through in her department. Then after 2 weeks her boss started putting her in positions which required her to lift 65lb boxes (there wasn't anyone scheduled, she was in her department alone). My mom started to really look into working for a different company because she knew her body wouldn't be able to keep up with the rhythm of her position with that company. She went on a few interviews and finally found what she believes to be her 'realistic' dream job, and she was offered the job. The Catch: she has to take 2 insurance test to get her insurance license before she can start, which means she'd have to continue working until then.
On January 5th at 1:35 am my mom knocked on my bedroom door. When I answered I found her standing in the hall in front of me, her face red and streaked with tears. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she just hurt too much and she couldn't do it anymore; so, she quit. After I comforted her and got her to bed I went back to my room to share the news with my husband. As I said to him, I'm grateful that she's done with a company that I hate and people who don't care about her or their other workers BUT I'm worried because I know that this means that even though that stress is done there would be a new stressor; lack of money.
It's now January 28th and it's just as stressful as I predicted, maybe even more so. What makes it stressful though is HER reaction to being forced to tighten our belts a bit. She is so stressed that her stress often shows itself as anger, she gets mad when football is left on the TV or when the toilet seat is left up or when you ask her 'what's up?'. Plus then she says she's worthless or stupid for every little thing (which we all know she's not, she's just frustrated). Most days it's like a switch, you never know which mom you're going to get; will you get the mom who's annoyed about everything or the mom who loves you and can laugh and just enjoy the fact that she's alive.
It's been a long, hard and trying journey but her test is on February 5th so we're all just trying to hold on to any thread we can find and praying A LOT.
On January 5th at 1:35 am my mom knocked on my bedroom door. When I answered I found her standing in the hall in front of me, her face red and streaked with tears. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she just hurt too much and she couldn't do it anymore; so, she quit. After I comforted her and got her to bed I went back to my room to share the news with my husband. As I said to him, I'm grateful that she's done with a company that I hate and people who don't care about her or their other workers BUT I'm worried because I know that this means that even though that stress is done there would be a new stressor; lack of money.
It's now January 28th and it's just as stressful as I predicted, maybe even more so. What makes it stressful though is HER reaction to being forced to tighten our belts a bit. She is so stressed that her stress often shows itself as anger, she gets mad when football is left on the TV or when the toilet seat is left up or when you ask her 'what's up?'. Plus then she says she's worthless or stupid for every little thing (which we all know she's not, she's just frustrated). Most days it's like a switch, you never know which mom you're going to get; will you get the mom who's annoyed about everything or the mom who loves you and can laugh and just enjoy the fact that she's alive.
It's been a long, hard and trying journey but her test is on February 5th so we're all just trying to hold on to any thread we can find and praying A LOT.
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