Hi guys. I've been on home time for about a two weeks. I'm scheduled to
start driving again on 6/16, after I attend Caleb's Commissioning as a 2nd
Lt in the Army and his graduation as a business major from Seattle Pacific
University. I had an MRI a week ago because of horrible back and leg pains
I've been living with over the last 12 weeks, along with other symptoms I've
developed. I saw my doctor the next day, and when she walked in the room it
was obvious from her demeanor that she had really bad news.

Well, it turned out that I have severely ruptured disks from L5 on down to
S1. I have near total compression of several nerves and partial compression
on the rest. My doctor can't believe that I made it through the last several
months driving truck. She is looking at this as a near surgical emergency,
and was able to get me scheduled for surgery this coming Monday at 1:00pm.
Her immediate concern is that any further compression will cause permanent
nerve damage and varying degrees of paralysis. Jill was with me during the
appt. and immediately forbade me to even think about doing anything with
driving, or any other physical labor, until after recovery. At that point,
it looked as if I wouldn't be able to attend Caleb's commissioning or
graduation, and that hurt more than anything. I had looked forward to this
since Caleb entered college, and the thought that I would miss this is
crushing.

I have little idea how Werner will respond. They really like my performance
as a trucker, so I am hoping they will agree to just put me on unpaid leave
until I can return. Recovery from surgery well enough to drive truck, can
take 9 to 12 weeks. I guess I'll be finding out what Werner will do when I
call them with the news. After all the hard work over the last nine months,
I feel like all of this may be for naught.

PS...As it turns out, with the Drs help, and serious instructions on
limiting the extent of activity, I was able to take heavy doses of several
pain meds and fly over and back on the day of his commissioning. I won't be
able to attend his graduation tomorrow, but I'm OK with that. It was a real
struggle, but well worth being able to pin his bars on, with his mom, and
render him his first salute.

PPS... When I talked with Werner, they were very gracious. They wished me
the best for the surgery, and said that I had until June 30 to return to
work. At that point they would consider my absence a 'voluntary quit'. As
soon as I received medical clearance, I could reapply for my job.


--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you,
and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan