The Final Coat - Doctor's Orders
Two weeks ago, I rode to the hospital, ridden
with a painful, inoperable shoulder, ready for an operation to fix 16 years of
drywall rigor and an inane insistence to defer a necessary surgical procedure.
Two weeks ago, I rode to the hospital, ridden with a painful, inoperable shoulder, ready for an operation to fix 16 years of drywall rigor and an inane insistence to defer a necessary surgical procedure. My doctor finished the repair in an hour and ended my years long suffering. And to further his merit, he started the germination of the topic of this blog (I’ll likely get billed for this, as well) with a comment he made to me at a follow-up appointment.
After looking at X-rays of my healing shoulder, the doctor inquired about my expectations for a return to work. With associated surgery costs forefront, I forecasted a sooner than later return, even as he reiterated a four to eight week timeline.
“You know,” he started, “if you had a job like your wife’s (software programmer), you could have returned to work much sooner.”
Yeah, I thought: If I was a software programmer, I likely wouldn’t need the surgery in the first place. I can’t plead ignorance though, as good doctors who treated me through the years for muscle and bone problems uniformly suggested I change careers. But, my programming reality is to hang, tape, finish, sand. And then repeat. Again and again….
Perhaps this cycle is worth breaking, especially considering the prolonged duress of the construction industry. Yet, with a lack of jobs and keen competition for each one, a career change from construction seems dubious.
So, for now, I write and recuperate, while wondering how construction career switchers have transferred skills and made them applicable to a different occupation.
Two weeks ago, I rode to the hospital, ridden with a painful, inoperable shoulder, ready for an operation to fix 16 years of drywall rigor and an inane insistence to defer a necessary surgical procedure. My doctor finished the repair in an hour and ended my years long suffering. And to further his merit, he started the germination of the topic of this blog (I’ll likely get billed for this, as well) with a comment he made to me at a follow-up appointment.
After looking at X-rays of my healing shoulder, the doctor inquired about my expectations for a return to work. With associated surgery costs forefront, I forecasted a sooner than later return, even as he reiterated a four to eight week timeline.
“You know,” he started, “if you had a job like your wife’s (software programmer), you could have returned to work much sooner.”
Yeah, I thought: If I was a software programmer, I likely wouldn’t need the surgery in the first place. I can’t plead ignorance though, as good doctors who treated me through the years for muscle and bone problems uniformly suggested I change careers. But, my programming reality is to hang, tape, finish, sand. And then repeat. Again and again….
Perhaps this cycle is worth breaking, especially considering the prolonged duress of the construction industry. Yet, with a lack of jobs and keen competition for each one, a career change from construction seems dubious.
So, for now, I write and recuperate, while wondering how construction career switchers have transferred skills and made them applicable to a different occupation.
