jammns

Towards “RETURN TO WORK” goal : there have been two moments of REVELATION in my recent journey with GBM (**) in 2023.

Oddly, the first was not January 5 : My first brain seizure day, nor January 11 : the brain surgery.
No, the first was while SCHEDULING the radiation + chemotherapy treatments on 2/10/23… I describe it as my “STUNNED” DAY. It’s like the INITIAL MOMENT the weight of my death struck me all at once.

The second day was Thursday May 11, 2023 : When the helpful nurse-assistant from the UW Medicine’s Alvord Brain Tumor Center asked (paraphrased) : Joseph, why do you consider yourself disabled? What are the symptoms of your disability? (and/or) Why can’t you work?

Even up until THIS WEEK – when I was asking my wife : why would I / should I work? is that stress worth it?

Then today – 06/09/2023 – I get the letter from Kyruus’ Sun Life Long Term Disability insurance company. Turns out the financial benefit does NOT take into consideration my most recent pay increase, because at the time of my disability (01/09/23) , my salary was lower than presently. BUMMER.

To the point, this moves my progress towards the goal of “RETURN TO WORK” from ZERO to 15% because now I see a very definite financial reward for doing so…. several hundred dollars per month in my bank account for the remainder of my mortal life! That’s incentive!!

(*) PS – Yes, I’m keeping specific numbers vague since I intend to share this with other professionals on my team!

(**) See other posts in my WordPress <category Brain Cancer> on my blog for back-story.