A Massive Weight Has Been Lifted From My Shoulders

Friday, October 6, 2023 started like every other Friday. Hal and I went to the chiropractor and then picked up groceries. We had a minor scare when the low tire pressure light came on in the car, so I drove to the neighborhood AAA service center and they quickly determined that the low tire pressures were due to the change in temperature over the last twenty-four hours. I was so happy that the problem didn’t require new tires, because mine are only two years old. I couldn’t afford new tires right now.

All in all, it was a day like any other. There was no indication nor warning that things would change very rapidly, with no time to react. We got home and relaxed for a while. I had a phone call with the company that sent my CPAP machine a few days earlier so I would understand the basics of how the machine worked, and how to care for it. Then I went to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. Everything was cooked, it just needed some in the microwave, and dinner would be all set. I enjoyed the comfortable feeling I always get in the kitchen. I love to cook, the only problem is I have to stop from making too much food at any one time.

Cooking for two people is always a challenge.

So, the afternoon was poised to pass uneventfully, and I was fine with that. This time of the year always affects me in unusual ways.

After all, it was three years ago that I was hospitalized. There were days when it wasn’t clear if I would live, or if I would die. Basically, almost every day between Labor Day and Christmas 2020, I was in the hospital. There were a few days when I was home and tried returning to work, but I always ended up in the hospital again.

Even now, I still have hallucinations that I’m back in the hospital. The visions aren’t necessarily frightening but they hit me at random times when I’m at home. I swear that I see reality as the dream and that I’m really still in the hospital. I don’t know what that means, but I’ll talk with my therapist about it.

I went on Short-Term Disability for approximately ninety days, and then was approved for indefinite Long-Term Disability. That situation lasted for just over a year. In May 2022, my disability was abruptly terminated although I had followed all instructions and provided updates as requested. I was forced to live off my savings. I retained an attorney who went to battle with the disability company and that fight dragged on for more than a year.

Altogether, the fight lasted more than two years.

I understand the horror stories about people who give up fighting for their rights because they run out of resources, or they simply get tired of the stress. There were times when I thought about giving up, but Hal wouldn’t let me. Hal saved my life.

I am eternally grateful for the attorney I chose to represent me. Hal liked him right away, and that convinced me that this was the attorney I needed. He waded into the fight and never gave up. For nearly a year, he kept punching. He uncovered evidence that the Long-Term Disability (LTD) company violated their own written rules and regulations when they denied my appeal. My attorney cut the LTD people off at the kneecaps, and they knew it.

The next thing on the list from my attorney was going to be a lawsuit, and the LTD company wanted no part of that. If I had to fight the LTD company alone, I would have given up long ago.

Numb is how I felt when my attorney called and told me that my appeal was successful. Three hundred pianos dropped off my back all at once. I immediately put the call on speaker so Hal could hear the great news along with me. I will be paid back to the point of wrongful termination, so approximately eighteen months, and my monthly payments will resume going forward.

Now I wait for the check to arrive, or the direct deposit to be made. I couldn’t sleep Friday night. I know it was all the repressed tension and stress leaving my body. I knew that the situation was eating at me from the inside, but all the meditation in the world couldn’t truly alleviate things, and for it all to end so suddenly came as a shock to me.

Im looking forward to less stress in my life. My first objective is to clear my debts. After that, I’ll probably have some much-needed dental work done. I know that this is just the close to one chapter in my life and the start of the next one. Moving forward, I’ll definitely contact that attorney again if anything ever goes wrong in the future.