Dealing

As of today I have been officially unemployed for one week. I know it sounds stupid but I am seriously having to ask what day of the week it is every now and then.

I haven't heard anything from the place I had an interview with on Monday. I haven't given up hope but I'm also not holding my breath. I am continuing to apply to jobs.

But I really wish the stress would stop piling up. I called unemployment yesterday to make sure they had received the fax I sent on Tuesday. They did receive it and apparently they also received a response from my former employer. That honestly surprised me. I was a little worried that they would drag their feet a bit. I don't think they are going to fight it. At least not based on what they told me when they let me go. So I asked the unemployment person I was talking to how long it would take for unemployment to decide whether or not I'm eligible. Three weeks was their reply. Three fucking weeks. I honestly wasn't expecting it to take that long. I panicked a little bit after I got off the phone.

Then Master reminded me how long it took when He applied a long time ago. Honestly I had pushed that out of my mind because His former employer had fought it and so it had to go to court and the finally He was approved.

Later on in the day I spoke with my mom and she told me that when she had applied, which again was quite some time ago, it took them five weeks. But again her former employer had fought it. She didn't have to go to court though because unemployment decided she was eligible regardless of what her former employer had said.

Both Master and my mother said that if I get anymore paperwork from unemployment I need to fill it out and fax it to them that same day so the process isn't stretched out any longer than it has to be. I'm just hoping they don't need any further paperwork that requires a reply and it doesn't take the full three weeks. The good thing is that if they decide that I am eligible that they will back pay me to my first weekly claim, which would be this week when I file on Sunday.

But that wasn't the only stress that I had yesterday. My grandfather is in the hospital. He is 74 and has had a bad heart for a long time. In fact the bottom part of his heart is dead. It doesn't do anything. He only has two working arteries and they have been blocked up several times. He's had four triple bypass surgeries over the years and has a pace maker. Yesterday his pace maker wasn't doing him any good. His heart was racing and they couldn't get it to slow down. They put him on blood thinners and were also trying to handle the other things that were going wrong. His body is attacking it's own organs and are actually trying to reject them.

A normal heart beat rate for an adult male is 70. By the time they had him on blood thinners for over four hours his heart had slowed down to 155. They apparently actually shocked his heart but that didn't do much either. They ran a shit ton of tests and still aren't sure what is going on.

My mom gave me another update later on in the evening and things hadn't really improved. The only thing that did change was that he basically kicked out my father and my uncle (his sons) telling them to go out and take care of his dog. He was more worried about his dog than himself. He wanted to be alone.

I haven't received any updates yet today. I plan on calling my mom a little bit later in the afternoon to see what is going on and if there have been any changes. I'm actually a little pissed that my dad didn't call me. So it was left to my mom to do so. This shouldn't be very shocking. That's how it normally happens. My dad does not deal well with this kind of thing at all, so he basically tells one person and then it has to go through the grape vine. This time it was my uncle, who then told my mother and brother, who then in turn told me. This is how it's been every time Grandpa ends up in the hospital.

I teared up a bit when my mom was telling me all of this. But now it's just a waiting game. They either figure out what is fully going on and can treat him and get things as close to normal as they can... or they say there is nothing they can do but keep him comfortable and let nature take it's course.

This may sound very cold but honestly I think I'm handling the stress pretty damn well. I haven't had any sudden mood changes. I haven't become depressed. I have been sleeping a bit more but I think that has more to do with the fact that my body is shutting down so I can deal with the stress in a more healthy fashion when I am awake.

And by I think I'm handling it well I'm not just referring to my grandfather. I'm also including the whole being fired and worried about unemployment as well. I'm a little surprised. I was worried that it would topple me into a deep dark depression but none of it has. One domino after another and I'm still standing on my own two feet and working through it the best I can. Master has been keeping a very close eye on me, which I understand. I think He is worried that the next domino may push me over the edge. I also think that He is surprised none of them have done so yet.

So now I wait on pins and needles about everything. My grandfather, finding a job, and seeing what the hell unemployment is going to do.