Some say the world will end with fire.

Others say with ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those that favor fire.

But if I had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate,

To say that for destruction ice,

Is also great and would suffice.

Robert Frost



"YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID" - Ron White



"Good things come to those who wait, but, only the things LEFT by those who hustle." - Unknown (at least by me)



"Life is wonderful, without it you are dead." - Hy "Pete" Peterson - Park City and Kenecott Miner



"Don't worry about those people in your past---there is a reason they are not in your present." - Unknown



"Life's tough - it's even tougher if you're stupid." - John Wayne



"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary!" - Vince Lombardi



"If you aren’t living on the edge, you’re probably taking up too much space.” ~ Attributed to Jim Whittaker by Doug ‘Swani’ Swantner, Alaska Smokejumper and Air Attack Base Manager (Ret.)

About Me

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I am married and have seven children and twenty grandchildren. I retired January 1, 2010 after working 39+ years for the Forest Service...NEW CHAPTER IN MY LIFE HAS BEGUN!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

OUT OF THE FIRE

This has been an interesting week. My second daughter had surgery over the weekend that took over 8 hours to complete so she was pretty sick and sore. My oldest son and his wife got full custody of their kids back from DCFS through the courts. My spouse went North to help my daughter, I went south to represent our family in court. Both efforts were successful depending on how you spell success.

On Tuesday I went to the Doctor to see if things are getting any better with my Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) that has been diagnosed (and I believe the diagnosis is incorrect). I don't know if this was successful or not but the Doctor told me he couldn't believe how clear my lungs sounded and wanted to know if there was anything else that I needed checked. I talked to him about the phone calls I get from the insurance company every month and the questions they keep on asking. He ordered a breathing test at the hospital, to answer the questions asked by the insurance c ompany, from which he will determine how bad my breathing really is (I keep telling him it is only in the bronchial tubes and not in the lungs at all). At the hospital I told the technician what was ordered and why. I also told him I thought the diasgnosis was incorrect. He ran the tests and the results haven't been delivered to the doctor yet but several things I could read from the test were: I have over 500 percent additional breathing capacity than I use when breathing normally; I can expel 25 percent more air from my lungs than I expel when breathing normally - good or bad (?) I don't know but it looks pretty good to me; my oxygen saturation level is at 103% - which I do know is very high and very good - I have never seen anyone else tested that came in at over 98% - and I see a lot of these tests in fire camp; they gave me a breathing treatment with albuterol and then retested all the parameters - every single test came back worse after the treatment and they should have improved significantly with the medication if I have COPD; as I was leaving the Technician muttered "you in fact may be right." I stopped to get the results today but they haven't yet been delivered. I keep telling the Doctor that the only place I have trouble is from my vocal cords to the root of my tongue - I think he believes me now.

He gave me a pretty thorough physical and ordered blood work for prostrate cancer screening and other things like glucose levels and cholesterol. The cancer test was negative. The glucose level in my blood was elevated so I have to have that checked again in six months. My blood pressure was good (120/78) so he said I could take the baby aspirin a day to satisfy the people in my insurance company that keep asking me about that if I wanted to but that I didn't really need to. My colesterol levels are elevated. I can't give you the numbers because they didn't show on the test result sheets I got back but he recommended medication so I will take it for a while - unless it makes me light headed like it has several of my co-workers - then I will flush it and never take it again.

How does all of this add up to out of the fire?

When the judge made the decision to give full custody back to my oldest son and his wife I decided that I have had enough work in my life and am going to get out and enjoy the rest of it - if that is possible - I cannot see things ever getting any better than they are right now. Nothing, not the work situation nor my health so January 2, 2010 is the end of my career. THE END of a very long career. Thirty nine years of which I probably really enjoyed somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty seven and a half years (and maybe a little more than that). I have dearly loved my job and don't appologize for what I have done but I have, in fact, had enough.

ENOUGH.

7 comments:

Lindsay Logic said...

Good for you! I think that you ought to move North...the air's better up here. (Except for the mild winters we have) lol

Delirious said...

wow...you have had a GREAT career! 39 years....that's pretty amazing.

Have they thought about testing you for asthma? Some of what you say sounds like normal asthma.

Nene said...

Well you're in a lot better shape than my husband. I wish he could get off of his high blood pressure and high colesterol meds. Hope the rest of your tests come back okay. So what are you going to do in your retirement?

Amber said...

well I'm glad your health is pretty good, and I'm REALLY glad that the kids got custody back, and I think your retirement is well deserved :) enjoy it!!

MJ said...

I think you should move up here too! Glad that everything is looking good

Native Minnow said...

Are you sure you're going to be able to handle the monotony of being at home with nothing to do all the time?

Dee Ice Hole said...

I will - Inklings probably won't - but I'll find something else to mess around with even if it is just moving stuff around the heated garage. There is a reason I bought all the handtools through the years.