Yes, this is probably one of the longest times I’ve gone without writing anything.
For starters, my health is the same. My wounds are STILL not healed. So, I see the doctor in about a week, and the chances are good that I will need surgery to fix things. There are stitches that have not reared their ugly heads yet. So, this is not something I am looking forward to. The GOOD news is that a trip to my gyn/onc shows no spreading of my cancer. 🙂
We have been hit with rough times, though. On August 6th, Brian went on strike with his union against Verizon. Verizon was looking to cut pay for their employees by $20,000, and then expect them to have money left to still be able to start paying for medical benefits (they never had to pay for them before.) As well as paying for benefits, they’d also have an increased co-pay, higher deductibles, less overall medical, etc. Oh, and pensions would be FROZEN and the company would have more rights in regards to firing. The company was not bargaining in good faith, half the time not even coming to bargaining sessions at all with the unions (IBEW and CWA.) it is sad to have to strike to KEEP what you already have! So, the striking continued until yesterday, when they mutually decided to go back temporarily. They will return on Tuesday, under the same extended old contract, and work through negotiations as long as Verizon bargains in good faith. This is good news for me, because during the strike we were not getting paychecks coming in. Also, Verizon threatened to cut off medical benefits at the end of the month if the strike continued. With all my ailments, we can not afford to start paying for my doctor visits. So the strike ending also put a stop to that ending of our medical. The downside? Because of the way payroll works, pay is a week behind. So we will not see a paycheck for 2 more weeks. But, hopefully, we will survive until then. At this point I am just too happy for words that the strike is over. And I pray that negotiations are reached swiftly and fairly.