Now... where to start?

Well, I'll start with the basic updates I guess. I started having problems with a cavity I had filled last October. it was bad, and near a nerve. The dentist I just recently started going to was kind enough to fit me, a new patient into his busy schedule and for that- I will be eternally grateful.

Dr. kirby is by far the kindest, nicest and most gentle dentist I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. It was recently determined that my tooth had a dead nerve which was causing me uncontrollable pain. i could either have a root canal, or have the tooth pulled. Afetr hearing the horrors of root canals, i had opted to have the tooth pulled. not to mention thatit's about $500 cheaper. but Dr. Kirby explained that it would be in best interest at my age to go with a root canal. And with as much pain as i was in, I didn;t care at the end. i just wanted anything done to stop the pain!

So Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., I sat in his dental chair. one caable of reclining, lowering, lifting, sucking, squirting... and it had trays upon trays of gadgets that scared the beejeesus out of me!

It wasn't long before he numbed me up and went to work. To my extreme delight, the only painful part of the procedure was the numbing. I lefrt laughing as I had had nightmares of all the horridness of a root canal. And truth be told, i would go thru another root canal over a filling any day. Unfortunately, I have 3 more fillings to go. le sigh.

******************

Work has been kind of nerve wracking. They just had a major meeting last week with our union reps, a guy from the union HQ, and all of the hourly workers en masse to discuss early negotiations of our next contract. our contract doesn't expire until January, but the company came to us and asked us to get a jump start. I was shocked though...

You see, our other "sister" plant down state was also given the option to enter early negotiations and they agreed. They were asked to concede 4.00 an hour from somewhere, our company didn't care where. Ie: hourly wages, vacation pay, bonuses etc. Well, needless to say they turned it down and in the end couldn't agree on a contract.

So the company sends out a press release of a 60 man layoff which only 2 weeks later turned into another press release.... they're locking the doors, closing that facility and moving the work.

So, now the company comes to us. But with us, we make less and didn;t have all the benefits the other guys did. so they say they don't want us to conceded anything. But, if we do negotiate a contract by the 24th, 2 weeks from the time negotiations were to start... we would get work from the closing plant. Giving us 40 more jobs to fill.

Kind of sucky knowing they're closing a sister facility and relocating potentially to us. those are our union brothers and sisters. however, were they in our shoes, they'd do the same, i know it. They didn't come to us until after the decision was made to close them down. But that doesn't make the people down state very happy. I can imagine. it's sad.

But all of us where I am now, worry and worry and worry. We all believe for the most part, that by the 24th, if we have no contract and negotiations are a bust- it won't be long and we'll all be out of jobs too.

And I'm a bit paranoid about negotiations because one of the top concerns on both parts is Health Care. Wer have awesome health care right now. if it changes, I am set up for this gastric bypass surgery. I have come so far to have it all ripped away now. So I am praying that our coverage doesn't change. but who knows, ya know?

So, that's been my life in a nutshell. Stressed out, nerve wracked and dentally challenged.

Stay tuned for my update to follow on where I am at with the upcoming gastric bypass I will be going through.

Be well!

Simply,

Sara