Journal Entries
And another chapter of life begins (long story)
Posted Dec 18, 2019
Over the night of May 9th / May 10th, 2014 - my heart experienced serious failure. Officially viral induced dilated cardiomyopathy. My heart was moving about 30% of the average blood of an adult.
By April 28th, 2015, medications alone were not helping enough with the efforts of my left ventricle. So to assist matters, a Cardiac Resynchonization Therapy - Defibrillator was installed under the skin of my left breast. (I named the device Phil)
Sometime around October or November of 2018, the makers of several such devices issued a letter to all North American people who had received one of more than 30 models. The batteries in such sealed devices could develop lithium crystals between the post of the battery - eventually creating a bridge that could deplete the battery in mere hours. The known incident rate was quoted as about 0.3% chances.
On November 6th, 2019, Phil was tested - put through all the tests and paces possible. He was performing fine, and still had 2.25 to 2.50 years of battery life left.
Not long after - December 9th, 2019 - Phil began to struggle and set off his internal alarums. Somehow, I did not feel the 4 notifications over a span of about 26 hours. But a radio-linked device at home detected the distress, and reported it to the maker's monitoring site. Who then quickly called the medical team that I dealt with.
The upshot of several fast phone calls had me under a scalpel again on Friday the 13th of December, 2019. My scar was re-opened, Phil was disconnected from the installed leads running to my heart, and . . . A new friend named Buck was attached to these wires, and tucked into the vacant pocket under my skin. I was sewn up again and sent home.
And life goes on, again with an expected 7 to 10 years of service from Buck. (As opposed to the 4.6 tears that Phil served me)
Discuss this Journal entry [8]
Latest reply: Dec 18, 2019
What enough bad PR can do . . .
Posted May 10, 2017
For quite some years, our military was seriously under-paid. Especially under our Liberal government who really didn't want to have a military. They couldn't disband us, but they could slowly starve us out, and over a decade or so - they did close about 70% of the bases and smaller units that we had.
One of the favourite tricks was the handling of almost annual cost-of-living raises. The national Treasury Board would set the rates, and as it was pointed out publicly, over 17 years they fudged some. If the unionized public service were given a 4% pay raise - the uniforms saw 2.5%. Over the years, the disparity grew to about 30-some-percent difference.
Coming on election time, there was a spate of news stories of soldiers, sailors and airmen subsisting on Welfare support and food banks. Injured veterans fared even worse under changes to compensation. The static in the media got so loud that the government created a "Standing Committee On National Defence and Veteran's Affairs" - SCONDVA. A group of senators criss-crossed Canada - all with fine hotels and per diems - holding town-hall and one-on-one meetings. After 2 years, to the chagrine of the leaders, this committee was fair and honest, reporting exactly what they found.
In the end, the Department of Veterans' Affairs was dismantled and a whole new Veterans' Affairs Canada was stood up, revamping the care and consideration given to our injured and lame. The serving military themselves saw vast gains after a 7-year pay freeze. Over a span of perhaps 5 years, the pay of the uniforms caught up with the public service and even surpassed them in some fields. In all, some 40% of pay hikes, with fair view given to cost-of-living raises subsequently.
I 'retired' from the uniform after 21 years of service - and just before these raises began to roll in. So my retirement annuity, paid into every month, was still a pittance. And to this day, subject to a 30% claw-back at age 65 or if collecting a national disability income.
The renewed veterans' services did become far more reasonable and understanding, though an uphill fight sometimes could still just drive applicants away. Some 18 years after I dropped the uniform, my heart stumbled and force me into retirement at age 54. But I finally had the time to persue some compensation. Seriously noisy work environments had degraded my hearing immensely, and also left the tinitus of 1,000 cicaeda my 24/7 friend. I was successful in winning 2 fairly tidy lump-sums of compensation, as well as hearing aids for both ears and their maintenance for life. The first hours of wearing them, I was astounded at how much around me had been missing for years.
This week, I was advised that a government had finally accepted a decades running report reguarding the under-scaling of veterans' compensation, and a 14.some% raise was applied to any pay-outs since 2006. So within a week, my bank account should be gifted with an additional $4,300 (Canadian).
The moral of the story? If the wheel is squeaky enough, it really will get the grease.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 10, 2017
Questions that keep you awake at night . . .
Posted Apr 21, 2017
A tune that I quite liked in 1972 rolled around on my play-list today. I won't post the whole tune - copyright concerns, probably. But I can pose some of the questions (?)
Here's the first:
Where do butterflies go when it rains?
Discuss this Journal entry [3]
Latest reply: Apr 21, 2017
I think that stuff is really done here ...
Posted May 25, 2015
Yeah, I've been tracked and stalked and watched for a mis-slip of a word or phrase. But when "Traveller-in-Time" is being modded?
The site has lost ... a lot
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: May 25, 2015
Well now, should I or should I not?
Posted Nov 10, 2014
It would seem that I am now unemployable. A silly pump thing in my chest has decided to go wonky, and a cardiologist figures work is a pretty quick road to suicide. Not one that I care to take.
So, now living on a pair of little pensions earned over 37 years of working, and an income from an insurance plan - not a penny given by government supports or hand-outs, I might add - I have many hours on my hands.
Hmmmm ...
Discuss this Journal entry [22]
Latest reply: Nov 10, 2014
Back to Rev Nick - dead man walking (mostly)'s Personal Space Home
Rev Nick - dead man walking (mostly)
Researcher U14756795
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."