An overview of the last two months in our lives

My wife was fired from her job because she was unable to meet with the medical professionals her job required of her during a global health crisis. 

So let me take you back and with her permission, give you the details I’ve been withholding for the last two months during my struggles to write. 

In early march, the COVID-19 craziness officially hit Utah, closing all restaurants and cancelling all events that would be gatherings of 50 or more people, and the LDS church stopped all weekly meetings. The stress was monumental, both at my job and Annie’s. My job was just insanely busy with people of course buying all the canned foods and toilet paper. With Annie’s job as a Funeral Director, she was tasked with making sure they were following all guidelines set out by the government with all current and future services she planned. The stress of it was monumental. 

On Wednesday March 18th, Annie woke early with severe dizziness and nausea. She called and asked me to hurry home from work. I recognized the symptoms she was describing as vertigo. Having known a little bit about it, I decided to take her to a chiropractor to have her upper back and ears adjusted. While there was a little relief it didn’t help much. She spent the rest of the day being unable to keep any food or water down. I had her sleep in our recliner that night to restrict her movements and keep her head upright. She woke up that on the 19th with still no relief. I made the decision to take her to the emergency room to get her hydrated and hopefully get some answers. She finally saw some relief from the dizziness and nausea with the medications they prescribed. The ER doctor told her she was not to drive until 1 week after the dizziness subsided. She immediately called work and let them know what was going on.  I took that Friday off work to continue to care for her.  On Monday March 23rd, she had an appointment with a nurse practitioner at Hurricane family clinic in Hurricane Utah. There she was given more information about Vertigo (BPPV). The nurse practitioner gave her a link to a youtube video of a maneuver that “should” help. She continued to do it on her own until she realized it wasn’t helping. The NP at the clinic told her the methods we were using up to that point were not the correct methods of treating BPPV. We decided to reach out to some friends to see what helped them with their vertigo, at their suggestions we made an appointment with Troy Gubler, at Gubler’s Physical Therapy in Hurricane. For the first time that week she felt some relief and comfort from a medical professional is trained to help with these issues. She again called her employer to keep them updated on her issues and see what they needed from her in this situation.  She continued to do the maneuvers at home to continue her recovery. She was  beginning to feel better, but we hit another wall. She wasn’t feeling like the maneuvers were working so we made another appointment with Troy. At that appointment on the 8th of April, Troy reassured her that she was making progress and that recovering from BPPV is just something that takes time. Every person is different and it just takes work to get back to normal. She again called her employer to give them an update. They asked that she get a letter from Troy giving her a release for work, and what her limitations are or would be.  Her employer expressed interest in getting a letter from an officially licensed MD rather than a Physical Therapist. The letter from the ER and the letter from Troy would not suffice. She spent the next week trying to get into a Doctors office. She did not and still does not have a primary care physician. She called numerous offices to be able to be seen, even if it was a telehealth appointment. At this point the COVID-19  pandemic had shut down and limited many things, so we knew that trying to get into a Doctor was going to be difficult. She had officially been released to work on light duty from the the Physical Therapist on April 9th. She was sure to relay this information her employer. The expressed that they didn’t want to have her endangering herself as a full-time employee and that they simply did not have the work for her to do on light duty. Her employer asked her to write a recount of all that had happened and all that she had done, as well as her intentions with work. She worked for a small business. She saw the owner regularly at work. During all of this she never once heard from him, her contact was simply with the person designated as manager. She never got to speak to the “man in charge” so to speak. They asked her to come in to meet with them on the 16th. Upon arrival, the owner quickly left with so much as well we wish you well. During this meeting she says they talked about the lack of a position for her on light duty and their need to have someone in her position. They decided that because she could not get a letter from an official MD she could not be placed on a medical leave. She was then effectively terminated, but she could contact them and see about returning to work if and when she felt good enough to work at 100%.

So, fast forward two weeks, we had received our government stimulus, and that provided for us to pay our rent for the month, but I also let her know that I could not continue to cover all the bills on only my income. I did not want to pressure her to go back to work before she was ready, but we needed something. Again fast forward to where we currently are, she’s decided she feels comfortable and able to work. She polished her resume, and for the fun of it applied for some positions at other Funeral Homes. She also  contacted her at this point former employer about scheduling a time to come back. The manager expressed the need to speak with the owner.  In the two days it took them to get back to her she heard from some mortuaries outside of Utah. We talked about what we were comfortable with, we talked about what needed to happen before I was comfortable to drop everything and leave. We made plans to prepare ourselves to move. I feel that I am not comfortable leaving until I can also have a position that would offer me day time work, or a position in field that I’m interested in making my career. When she finally heard back from her former employer, the manager expressed that they did not have a position for her. That they would not have one for her for the foreseeable future. This was an absolute punch to the gut. For the both of us, but especially so for her.

This has been hard. I have seen struggles in my marriage and my life that I never dreamed of seeing. I’ve felt confined. I’ve felt incredibly lonely. I want to be the kind of person that says you jump I jump. However I’m not. I don’t do things on a whim. I have plans for everything. I can’t throw myself into the void and hope things work out. So here we are, looking for stable ground when nothing has stability. In my eyes, my Wife lost her job during a global health crisis because she could not get in to see a doctor. Doctors that were busy trying to treat this virus, doctors that are busy doing everything they can to prevent the further spread of this.

 I completely understand that small businesses need to protect themselves in order to flourish. Maybe its naive of  me because I work for a big box retail store, to think that a small business would value their employees more than that of a big box store. I guess I should have known that wasn’t going to be the case when they refused to even offer her health insurance. 

I am incredibly grateful for Walmart and all that they do for their employees. I am thankful that I have health insurance, I am thankful that we were able to get married. I am thankful for that because it made a way for me to ensure Annie had health insurance during this difficult time. 

We will rebound. It’s what we do. I just felt the need to get this out to the world. I know there has to be many more people that have been experiencing things like this during this pandemic. I just needed to get the reality of it all out there for the world to see. The main lesson I have learned from all of this is, protect yourself, don’t over work, don’t sweat the small stuff, don’t put work over your family thinking that your employer will appreciate it. They probably never will, but your family will always feel the effects of  that.

 

Annie, I love you. We will make this work, and one day we will be able to move anywhere and be successful. I know I can do anything with you by my side. Thank you for understanding my needs during this. Thank you for allowing me to tell your story.