Freeze Flame Productions Inc

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

2000-2009: Decade of Development

PART 14

PREVIOUSLY; 2007, Busy year for work & Education; FT job and college program, nights and days, respectively; Another EX-revisited, A new CD on the street a couple part time jobs, A really happy friendly dog, And another incident that I neglected to mention....

It was Halloween morning, October 31, 2007 about 8am. I was driving home from work, in my newly restored vehicle. It had been off the road since late July/early August 2007. We had to replace some gaskets within the top half of the engine, and the car was now running like new. The road was dry, but it was kind of foggy. I was driving from North York to Milton, about half way there I stopped at a red light, and as I looked up into the rear view mirror there was a car not about to stop any time soon. He slammed into me and smashed the back end of my car. Just what I needed. This was the second rear end collision with this vehicle, so they wrote it off.

I went to my family doctor within a couple days, because the stiffness was slow to hit this time, but I had something new, while I was talking to a police officer giving the accident report, I had to sit down, I was struck with a dizziness that I had never felt before.... residuals which I live with day to day ever since.

My doctor advised me to find a lawyer and referred me to a physiotherapist. It wasn't until about the second half of November 2007 that the physio started. After my summer of BBQ up north, I had gained about 40Lbs and my previous gym membership from Alberta had expired, so I had joined another one where I could use more than one location. By the time of the accident, my old injuries from the past car accidents had not so much passed, but were feeling much better.
By December 2007, I had been done school for a few months, and was working FT nights, and a part time job. I now was also going to Physio therapy 4 days a week, including a Saturday. This gave me an idea, so I started going to the gym before going to Physio and the combination did wonders for the pain I was in.

January 2008, My therapy was in full swing, I was working steadily with a few new limitations and some pain. One thing I noticed that I just wasn't happy with anything for some reason. I had previously reached out to a couple female friends for guidance, then I got a call from that girl from work. I was very excited, we talked a little and she and her friend told me they were going to introduce me to a friend of theirs. That was nice of them, but before I got that chance I was started to get attached to the girl from work. We started getting to know each other and seemed to hit it off. We went out to lunch one day, and that day became known to us as our first date. We spent the day together, but was denied when I tried to give her a kiss goodbye.

IN early February 2008, I got really sick with a lung infection. This had become a regular thing for me since about 2004. It was really bad this time and affected my routine to a point where I missed close to two months worth of Physio, and a lot of time at the gym as well. I was also now seeing this girl on a regular basis, but neither of us could take the other home because of distance or roommates, etc. This meant we were just hanging out or driving around.... I decided that I was going to start looking for an apartment. It was the middle of February 2008, when I moved into the basement unit of a house. We had a place to spend time together and rest after working a night shift, I would take her home around lunchtime. The new place was walking distance from Yorkdale Mall, an area I had never lived, but fairly close to places that I had.

In March 2008, I was able to start getting back on track with my Physio it was much needed by that time, so I made a point of going as much as I could, but there was another problem. My new/used car was a problem, I had got it shortly after my last accident. It was an older vehicle than the one I had, in worse shape and there was a problem almost every month after I got it. This is how March 2008 went for me, Problem after problem. This really affected my physiotherapy.

April 2008 was more of the same, we couldn't find the problem, but had a good idea of what it was and just dreaded the thought. The car was always overheating, oil was leaking, hoses were bursting, power steering line severed one night as I pulled into the parking lot at work. The problems were non-stop. We changed the thermostat several times, replaced the hoses, Water pump went out twice. The fan clutch stopped working, so we installed an aftermarket fan that was just a blade. Battery was always dying because the headlights were manual and I forgot that sometimes and didn't shut them off.
My New girlfriend also moved in with me on the First of April 2008, it was a happy moment for me. It took her awhile to trust me, knowing about my Ex's and some of the issues related.

It was May 2008 by the time I got back into my physio routine, I didn't get to the gym much any more, as my time was occupied by other important things. We tried to make our apartment a home, but it quickly got small. Too much stuff, but not enough space and yet, there was enough space for more furniture, but no room no get it into the house. We had a side entrance between two houses and the staircases was a quick twisted to our front door. I brought my dog home for a time, but this proved to be a bad move after learning about our upstairs neighbors.

June 2008, was another interesting month for the car.... and almost to the date of the previous year, our entire shift was laid off again. This was the last time for me, and my girlfriend. We decide to move on, away from the company as soon as possible. The same week we started our job search. We went to about three agencies to start, and my girlfriend was able to get some temp work almost immediately. I was trying to get work, but because I had a new diploma I wanted to try and get something within my field. This proved much more difficult than I thought it would, however, I still had my PT job at the Auto Auction. I was told that after six months I could apply to internal job postings. I started looking at them while at work, I could also put more time in the days that I was there because I wasn't coming from or going to another job.

It was July 2008 before I was called by any of the agencies, one in particular. I went to a Purolator for an evening shift. Then they called me back for another shift at a location across the street at a Cross dock loading facility, driving forklift. The Job they gave us was to make three trailers full of broken/old equipment to be recycled, into two trailers. We were scheduled for 2 days, but the job was done in one. After that, it was just more of my part time job, and applying.

In the last week of July 2008 when I was called back to the same job as before. This time it was supposed to be for a week. I made it to Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Our job was similar this time, but now we had to get all the old/broken equipment out of the trailers and into bins outside. This was supposed to be a forklift job, but the stuff was just piled in, and some of it was huge. Conveyors with giant platforms and attachments. I had to clean off the top section of one, and climbed up to do so. While trying to get down my foot hit the roller and I went over the end. I was about 5 feet high, inside a trailer at a loading dock....explain that to WSIB. I landed with both arms straight like a push up position. When I landed my arms gave out and I was lying flat on my stomach with my arms stretched out over my head. I struggled to get up and when I did couldn't move my arms, so I crossed them over my chest. After I did that they didn't straighten again. The guys I was working with helped me get to the office and wait for an ambulance. After about eight hours in the hospital ER, they let me go without really doing much just X-rays.

I showed for my PT job the next day because I wasn't going to go back to the loading dock. They told me to go home because my injury was so fresh and I was still in a ton of pain. The other problem was that I had been hired already for an internal job at the auction, by that time I was so desperate for work that I accepted it not thinking about my arms. It was set to start in August 2008.

It was late August 2008, when I officially went FT at the Auction. By this time I was very behind on my bills and rent, so I didn't have much choice but to work. I was working modified hours at the time the new job was to start, but only 5 hours/week. It just wasn't enough.
I had been getting E.I. for short time, but it wasn't enough to make rent. I had to continue driving, which was so much more painful now, I could only use one arm and was driving under the influence of some very strong painkillers almost constantly. My prescriptions we getting expensive.

In September 2008 WSIB had issued one check, for about $150. I guess they thought it was over by then because when I went from working modified duties to FT at the auction, they temp agency suspended my claim. I was in constant pain throughout the summer and fall months while working outside, but it wasn't until the winter weather came that I really understood what pain was. Almost as fast as it got cold, my arms started getting worse. I was still going to regular physio for my 2007 MVA, but the arms were not part of the coverage, so treatment wasn't really permitted. The therapist did show me a few things that I could do to strengthen my arms.

From October - December 2008, my condition steadily worsened, and I began to missed days at work. I had been trying to make ends meet by working both positions at the Auction, but they disallowed me the hours after a while and I had to stop. At Christmas, I took a full two weeks off to rest and try to recover a little. I had given up a PT job at the auction, a job that I could have kept doing, for a FT job that ended up costing me money to keep and costing me my health. The First Winter with broken bones was the worst, I couldn't go to the gym anymore, I just wasn't strong enough. Physio was running out, and my WSIB case was suspended somehow....

TO BE CONTINUED.... 2009 Pain & Suffering

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