Lucky Me

One of my first jobs was at a sandwich restaurant. I wasn’t the best sandwich artist who ever lived, but I got by. One day, I came to work ill with a sinus infection. Instead of sending me home, my supervisor watched as a sniffed and sneezed through an eight-hour shift that left one customer refusing to accept the sandwich I had made.

Thank goodness things have changed because my current lifestyle would not fit with the you-or-your-child-can-never-get-sick policy.

With a trip to St. Louis coming up, I was hoping Lily’s new hearing aids would be ready before we left. But unfortunately, they won’t be. So instead of spreading out my time off from work, I will have to be gone two and a half days in a row. We will leave for St. Louis one day, have her appointment and leave the next morning. Then when we get home, I will leave work by 2 to drive to Lily’s school, pick her up, take her back to Tulsa for her appointment and hearing aid fitting, and by then it will be too late to take her back to school and go back to work.

Thankfully, my job provides plenty of sick leave and vacation leave so I don’t have to take time off unpaid. But, rarely is there a day, week or month when I get to take off to truly relax or do something fun. If I take a vacation day or vacation week, I always schedule as many of Lily’s doctors’ appointments as I can so I won’t have to leave work another time. I admit that is a bummer.

Working full time and traveling to and fro among three specialists, a PCP and Shriners Hospital in St. Louis isn’t easy. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure my daughter has the best healthcare possible. And I am so very, very thankful that I have a job that gives me plenty of vacation and sick leave so that her health is never compromised.

Our newest guest blogger, Cindy, wrote an article in our October issue about her daughter’s victories and struggles with Torticollis. Come back and read more from Cindy in the next two weeks…

Cindy’s Bio: I am a wife, mother, writer, photographer, part-time instructor and graduate student. When I have free time, I like to play “Annie” with Lily or cook delicious, you-never-miss-the-wheat, gluten-free meals. I also like to sing and tinker with my acoustic guitar.