My evening went like this: (side note, for those who don't know, my husband Jack has degenerative disc disease and severe arthritis in his spine and because of this suffers from chronic back pain)

Jack walked threw the door, home from work as he does everyday. Only this day the look on his face was of pure pain. I knew right away that something was wrong. He was holding his backpack as if it was the heaviest thing in the world. I grabbed it from him and set it down "jeesus are you ok?" I asked. The pain was so bad he could hardly open his eyes to look at me or see where he was going. He was trying desperately to get to his chair. Once in his chair he explained that two of the younger guys at work called in and instead of the supervisor getting someone else in the area to do all the heavy lifting that two young men usually do, he had Jack do the job by himself. "WHAT??!"I was furious and came unglued. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? "They KNOW you have back problems, didn't you say anything, didn't you go to your boss?" He didn't want to get fired for being old and having health issues so he thought he'd just do it and suck it up. Now he's half lame and I honestly didn't know if he'd make it out of bed to go back today. We depend on his income as the major source of our survival so having him down is not an option. He HAS to work.

I brought him two percocet's, the heating pad and dinner in his chair. About an hour later he could move about but very slowly. He fell asleep shortly after finishing his meal. I kept shaking my head trying to understand this old man's thinking. I guess it must be pretty scary being nearly 60 in the work place these days. His normal job is that of a 'lead' person who keeps a packing area performing smoothly. He usually sits behind a desk or packs small parts. He's loosing his eye sight rapidly and the back issue is getting worse and worse each year. I'm not sure how much longer he can keep doing this, but we need his income so badly right now.

I heard him waking in the other room so I said my goodbye's to my online friends. When I got to him he was trying to get out of his chair. The combination of the medication and the pain made him look like someone I didn't know. I spent an hour giving him a rub down with menthol oil fed him a snack and sent him off to bed. He slept soundly and was up this morning getting himself ready for work. I must have fallen back to sleep because I never heard him leave and had to get out of bed to check and see if the truck was still here. I guess he was ok.....I hope.

So I'm off now to get my work done and worry sick about him all day. I hope everyone has a great day and it's full of joy and happiness!

Susan
~peace~