Can you say, frazzled?

Normally, most of us think of summer as a relaxing time to kick back and chill out, but this summer is anything but that. In recent years, staff vacancies from extended medical leaves have strained our staff at work to near breaking point, and this summer is no exception. It's getting to be a rarer thing to have a nice easy summer at work, and by the time it's all over, none of us is ready for the onslaught of the school year and all of its attendant demands on our time and energy. This summer finds our staff short due to a co-worker who had a hip replacement in May and whose recovery is apparently going a lot slower than anyone expected. It's now been six weeks since her surgery and by all accounts, she's still barely able to walk and still requires the use of a walker except for when she's puttering around her house. My mom had a hip replacement last year and recovered surprisingly quickly and my co-worker is a full 20 years younger than my mom! But my co-worker did put off surgery for an awfully long time and by the time she went out on medical leave, she could barely walk. So it could be that she'll be out on a rather lengthy leave and may not be able to return to work until sometime in the fall. And my boss refuses to hire a substitute staff person to fill her place because he thinks that by so doing, he's saving the library a ton of money, but other departments fill temporary vacancies with subs when they need them, so I don't know why my boss is so averse to hiring someone to fill in and take the burden off of an already overstressed and frazzled staff. Most of us are beyond tired and need a break and my fear is that my vacation this summer will be rescinded like it was this spring due to staffing shortages. I haven't had any significant time off since December and I am genuinely in serious need of down time right now. I have had a rough year as it is with all of my medical concerns and with all of the staffing issues we've had at work and I really, really need a break. But given that my spring vacation was rescinded, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I won't be allowed to get away this summer. I've been fairly depressed of late and that would really send me over the edge if I couldn't get away on vacation when I feel like I am near breaking point. Vacations are a must for mental health's sake and I feel a real need to get away and forget about things for a bit and to refresh myself so that I can face what will surely be a difficult autumn, especially if my co-worker is still out of commission and cannot return to work anytime soon, which it's looking more and more like what is going to be the case. I just don't understand why my boss won't hire a temp to fill her place. It sure would take the burden off of a tired, frazzled staff. Not to mention, it would also probably help someone who wouldn't mind a few weeks or months of some extra work, especially in these tough financial times. And it might just allow people to take their normally scheduled vacations, which would do a lot for staff morale, which is pretty low right now. When you're the boss, you can't just think of yourself, you have to consider the needs of your staff. Patting yourself on the back for saving your employer money is one thing; taking into consideration the needs of those who work for you is quite another. I know where my priorities would lie if I were the boss. But then, this is just my way of thinking. Employees first. Company second. You can't run a good company without good staff morale.

SURGERY?

I went to see my orthopaedic surgeon yesterday about my injured Achilles tendon and the news wasn't good. I may need surgery on it, but first, I will need an MRI next Monday and then I have to go to another orthopaedic surgeon to find out if I will have to have it or whether I should just continue wearing the air cast for a while longer. But before I can even have an MRI, I need to have my orthopaedic surgeon's office call my insurance company just to get the whole procedure approved. Insurance companies playing doctor - BAH! That's exactly what is wrong with things in this country where health care is concerned. So needless to say, on account of my co-worker's recent hip surgery, everything would have to be on hold until she is either declared fit to return to duty or has to take a medical retirement. So even if this Dr. Bennett I am seeing says that surgery is a must, I will have to delay it until I know what my co-worker's situation is, and that could be months down the road from now. I'm willing to stay in the air cast as long as need be, even if it means a few more months, but my co-worker's situation has thrown a real monkey wrench into things. I will have to wait for her situation to be resolved before I can do anything at all to act on my situation. In the meantime, I am consigned to heavy lifting every day which cannot be good for my health. I probably ought not to be doing such things given that I not too long ago had a nasty case of tennis elbow that was the result of too much heavy lifting at work. And I am not eager to have another case as it's downright painful and I have had more than my share of physical pain this year as it is. I just don't know what to do about all of this stuff and it's stressing me out big time trying to figure out what to do or how to deal with all of this where work is concerned. I don't want to cause any more problems as it is and I may just tell the surgeon next week that our workplace just can't afford one more long term staff vacancy this year since my boss refuses to hire subs when employees go out on lengthy medical leaves. I don't want to go out on a long leave and anger my boss and fellow employees, quite frankly. People can get mighty pissy when someone goes out for a long stretch and they get stuck doing extra work. No one likes it and everyone ends up being rather testy after a spell. I just don't want to cope with people acting like I'm somehow inconveniencing them by having to go on any kind of medical leave, so if the doctor says that I need surgery, well......I may just say, not for now. Let things at work settle down a bit for a while before I go and throw a monkey wrench into things. I want to do this surgery before the year is out if it's absolutely necessary because I've met my medical insurance deductible this year, but I can't get any more physical therapy until next year because I am just about out of my yearly allotted sessions, so.....I may just wait until the week after Christmas to do this so that with the coming of the new year, I can get rehab on the ankle since I'll have my 30 yearly allowed sessions back by then. BAH! Medical insurance SUCKS! When, oh, when will we have universal single payer health care at last like the rest of the civilized world?????