(Cross Post) News - Bad.

The news is not good.

Don't worry! I'm basically in good physical shape, I'm down 85 pounds since surgery. My blood pressure has dropped, my sugar levels are down to near normal without meds, and I can walk more, do more physically than I have been able to in a long time.

However...

Alright, since surgery, I burp constantly. The more I talk, the more I burp, and the burping eventually becomes painful. Spasms that accompany the burping intensify, and eventually I start bringing up acid. The best way to avoid the spasms intensifying? Avoid talking. This has meant I have been unable to return to my job in a call center.

My surgeon thought that the problem would go away at first. He thought a few extra weeks and my tummy would calm down, but it didn't. Then he thought that I was just swallowing too much air when I speak, so he referred me to a speech therapist. I had my initial consult at the speech and swallowing clinic in late February, and it took a full month after that for me to finally get an appointment with the actual speech therapist. Melissa (the speech therapist) looked me over and said "You aren't swallowing that much air."

After thinking it over and discussing it with her, the fact that I'd had a severely nervous/spastic stomach as a child (think eleven or so) came up. She recommended that I get an appointment with a GI specialist. He looked me over and said that based on what I was describing and what he was seeing, he felt it was likely that the trauma to my digestive system of the surgery had re-triggered my old spastic duodenum which had not really bothered me much since 1982 or so. I have GI tests scheduled for this Monday morning. If the return of the old spastic stuff is confirmed, they will probably just give me an anti-spasming drug and I'll probably be fine within a couple of weeks after that.

However, while this has been going on...

Now I knew that I had been denied extensions of short-term disability pay, but I had been told that it was separate from my medical leave (FMLA). I wasn't so worried. Yes, I have been dead broke. Still, I figured there would be a light at the end of the tunnel.

However, about two weeks ago, my supervisor called me and told me that as far as Comcast was concerned, I had been away from my job without medical leave since January. I tried to get it straightened out as quickly as possible, but due to a nearly humorous series of mishaps (apparently my surgeon, though a terrific surgeon, sucks at paperwork; My computer at home has died and due to a lack of funds I can't afford to replace or repair it so I was unaware of something emailed to me by the company that handles FMLA stuff for Comcast...if you're wondering, I'm writing this on a computer in my apartment complex business center), I was unable to straighten it out in time and Comcast has fired me.

So, to Legal Aid I go on Monday to find out if I have any recourse. What I just can't understand why no one from Comcast wrote or called to say "Hey, we don't know where you are or why you're not here" for more than 2 months and then couldn't give me 2 weeks to try and get things straightened out. Tennessee laws are awful as far as workers rights go (or so I'm told), but if nothing else I'm mad enough to want to annoy the hell out of Comcast if at all possible.

Do I regret having the surgery? Not for a second. However, I think I might have tried to get it arranged for someone smart and tenacious to deal with Liberty Mutual for me afterwards. The truth is that with talking being painful after a not-very-long while, I was probably not as aggressive with them or with Dr. Husted's office as I should have been. Also, I was mentally foggy for most of the first eight weeks after surgery. I don't blame Comcast for my misunderstanding, nor for the fact that I was not as dogged as I might have been with Liberty Mutual. As I said though, I DO blame them for not telling me back in January that there was a problem. Really, if they had called me when I'd been away without medical leave for a few days or a week and then gave me little time to straighten it out, I'd understand that better.

But...to say nothing to me for two months? And then to give me less than 2 weeks to coordinate between them, Liberty Mutual and my surgeons office?

Well, I don't know what my options will be, but here we go.

Wish me luck. I'm terrified because I won't have insurance when I'll need it to get my nutrition levels tested. I can live close to dead broke. I've done it before. I'm just...scared.


Sarah M.

Oh my gosh, Sarah.   I wonder if there's anything that I could do to help?  

I am a witness that things are not in favor of employees in Tennessee.   But I really don't think that there's anything that they can do about FMLA.   I wonder if there's some way that FMLA can be effective, only in retrospect?

I think it really sucks that the employer can call you to let you know you're sacked, but can't be bothered to let you know in advance that there's a problem!

Maybe if you could get your PCP or somebody that you trust to write a letter about how you couldn't possibly be working at this point.  

I wonder if you could pose is somehow that it's an obesity-related discrimination issue?  Threaten a lawsuit?   

I hope that you or your doc or somebody comes up with a wonderful bit of advice that makes this go away for you.   Soon!

Dennie