We expect that he will start working sometime late in July, which is perfect timing because his severence and benefits from his old company expire at the end of July. The only concern we have is that the new company has a three month waiting period before their health insurance kicks in, so we're looking at potentially two-to-three months without health insurance. And, before you ask, we have already explored the COBRA option. At more than $1,100 per month, we simply can't afford it. So we're looking around for some gap coverage.
In addition, the whole time we've been dealing with the job loss and job search, we've also been dealing with my mother-in-law's declining health. She's 84 years old and has been in reasonably good shape until recently. Since May she's had a mild stroke which has left her with significant weakness on one side, a surgical procedure to open a blockage between her kidney and bladder, and now she has hairline fractures of two vertabrae.
She can no longer take care of herself and, even though one of her daughters lives with her, family members have had to step up to help take care of her. For me, that means cooking meals to send down to her several times a week. For Patrick, that means helping transport her from home to medical testing and doctor appointments a couple of times a week. It also sometimes means just sitting with her. It's been keeping us busy.
Now, about my long absence from blogging ... I don't really know how to explain it. Patrick and I were talking about it last night. It's like this whole experience just kind of stole my voice. I would think of topics to write about. I would even start writing. But I would not or could not finish and publish them. Our life went on almost like normal. We never missed a paycheck, but there was a huge feeling of loss. I can only compare it to the death of a loved one. There was always this spector of impending disaster in the distance.
Thank you to to all of my blogging buddies who have checked on me from time to time. I can't tell you what that meant to me.
I would also like to thank the staff at the school where I substitute. The ladies at Wood River Primary School, especially Dawn Denman who handles scheduling, kept me working almost every day from the time I told them that Patrick was losing his job until the end of the school year. I truly appreciate their thoughtfulness and support. It would have been so much harder without them.
I'm hoping that as he goes back to work, life will get back on track and I'll be able to get back to blogging on more of a regular basis. I guess time will tell.
