I was told today that I should take the next two weeks off work to recover from the removal of my gall bladder. Laughing hysterically I informed the nice discharge nurse that I would be returning to my home, and hence my office, and hence my computer by 2 pm this afternoon...and look, I'm early!!
As most of you self employed types will attest, being seriously ill can be a catastrophe when you have a business to run. Just like the rest of the working adult world we get sick with colds, flu, a pulled muscle, a broken arm etc. Unlike those with a paid job and a generous employer (i.e my husband), we do not get paid when we are ill. It's bad enough if you don't get sick pay from your job, but at least there's long term disability in most cases or even SSI if its serious such as cancer. I know that's not much money or much comfort but when the only income you have is from the daily activity you produce....well its scary.
Last year I had breast cancer. They told me I would be unable to work at all for 6 - 8 weeks and then back on light duty for 4 more. I was in despair. My magazine is published monthly. At best I have a 5 day window near the end of each month when I can relax enough to get housework done and weed the garden! If I am really careful and manage my time, I can squeeze in a week with my daughter in San Francisco, or even a road trip with my man. (Of course I pay dearly for that when I get back and have to cram billing and accounting into 2 days instead of 5, and designing the next months edition into 3 days rather than 7.) The prospect of being sick for months with chemo etc was a daunting prospect and I seriously wondered if I could continue to work. Then I wondered how I would survive if I didn't continue to work!
Cancer made me really get my act together. I delegated, I organized, I managed the processes of my magazine carefully. I figured out how to do as much as I could with a dropbox, logmein and cloud computing. My iPhone was absolutely my best friend. When the iPad came out I bought version 2 and love it. I can work anywhere! I paired down my busy work and concentrated on the key things that I needed to personally manage each month that were bottom line issues. Somehow it worked and I put out my magazine 5 days after a double mastectomy. I was in pain, I was tired, but I was determined...and self employed.
This time it was my gall bladder and my first mistake was checking into a local doctors office rather than driving to Vanderbilt in Nashville. (I keep telling myself I have to give the local physicians a chance, and then I do ...and I tell myself it will be the last time LOL) The doctors here are generally fine. They care, they're personable and their staff have the ubiquitous southern charm. But they over test, over operate and over book! Of course that's just my opinion, but this is my blog!
I went to the emergency room over 10 days ago with a bad gall bladder - Start the $ signs rolling because these docs are self employed! During the first 10 days I have had an endoscopy, CT scan, 6 sets of blood work and saw four doctors. (And they wanted to do a Colonoscopy as well!) Each billed me for an office visit, hospital visit, and tests. After three days I went home. By Monday I am writhing in agony...simply unable to eat, drink or sleep. back to the hospital for another day and a half. It took 10 days to get my gall bladder taken out! 10 days of being too sick and on too many pain meds to really work.
Being self employed is great. I love it. AND, being sick and self employed can be catastrophic. I guess figuring what to do about that and how to head off a disaster is a whole new blog! For now I just want to keep healthy...and I'm waiting for that horrendous bill from the hospital and those 4 doctors. I'm sorry but taking two weeks off from work is just not an option for the self employed.
OK, I just had to write it!!
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