A New Change in Life

So it is official, I will be working soon for the IRS. I am nervous, scared, but mostly EXCITED! I have been at the same job for 7 years. I am ready for a change of pace. I have been saying for years that computer voice recognition programs are taking over my type of job and that I wanted to get out before there is a massive job displacement in my field. So here I am embarking on a new adventure.

I went to my orientation meeting yesterday (can you say boring!) and had a moment where I almost cried. I realized that this is an answer to prayers, a blessing from the Lord. I will be paid for sick leave, vacation time, have life insurance, and hopefully I will be able to qualify for health insurance. The insurance coverage looks wonderful but they said we have to find out from the manager if our job is considered certified for 6 months. It has taken months for this new job but I am now looking forward to it.

I will be working the swing shift which turns out to be the best for our family. John is sick most mornings and is not able to get up and around until around lunchtime. So I will be home with the 2 little ones in the morning and will have to leave around 3:30, so I will miss seeing Zlee in the evening but I will have the mornings before school and the weekends available to spend time with her. That will be the hardest part about this change, being away from the kids. I will miss nighttime rituals but I think that daddy can handle that just fine. It will be nice to be able to know that when I am at work, I am at work and there will be no little ones interrupting me asking me for this and that. Also when I am at work I am getting paid for being there and not just for what I have done in the day, no waiting for someone else to do their job so that I can then do mine. YEAH!

They told us that it is a seasonal job but it is also a permanent job so if we run out of work we will be put on furlow and called back when the work is ready again. Benefits and all will stay the same, such a wonderful thought.

The worst part of all of this was telling my current job that I was quitting. Last Friday I had to send my 2 weeks notice to my supervisor and it took me half the day to get the courage to write the e-mail (pathetic I know). I had tears in my eyes while writing it and feeling bad for leaving my job, but I know in my heart that this is the right thing for me to be doing at this time.

Also of note, John was sent to another specialist, who is reported to be the best in the country, but who is retiring in July. So we saw him on Saturday and he said essentially what took you so long? We explained what has been happening and what the primary car doctor's ideas were and he said that he needed to see all of John's previous records to make a decision. We explained that it was going to be a novel and he said that he enjoyed reading novels. John's PMD wanted this doc to do a procedure to severe the nerve permanently. This doc said that he would look over the records and decide which procedure would be best and then while he was inside of John he could do a gastric bypass since it would only take another 45 minutes. What a blessing that would be. We have spent the past 2 days going to different doctor's offices to request records and when we went to the hospital medical record department to fill out the release of information paper, the lady there said that we just have to have the doctor send in a fax requesting the info. John got upset with her and said that he was there to sign the papers and she said that there was no need to. He had to at every other office and could not understand why he did not need to for the hospital. They wanted to charge 28 cents to us if we got the reports ourselves and after 9 years, 22 hospital visits, and too many ER visits to count, we decided it would be too expensive for us to just get them for ourselves. Oh the fun of dealing with other people!