Homelessness came to me in the summer of 2007. A mysterious malady overtook me after becoming dehydrated while hiking in the Sandia Mountains in late June. I became infirm, moving at first home with my mother, and after dodging a near death experience involving public aide and the homeless shelter across from University Hospital I took to the road.
My health recovered somewhat in late 2008, I returned to the work force in January of 2009, and while I've been quite comfortable the last twenty months in this company provided efficiency, that's still officially homeless.
Today my run as one of America's dispossessed comes to an end …
I had a marvelous, comfortable life, which I didn't truly appreciate. A two bedroom apartment five minutes from my kids, a few blocks from a wonderful woman I was dating, and two blocks off Omaha's extensive bike trail system – a little slice of heaven, looking back on it all.
But I became … unwell. And I packed, and I returned home to live with my mother.
And then this happened, my grand adventure of 2008. I started writing on DailyKos, I became sick enough to end up in the homeless shelter across from University Hospital, just so I could be close to the doctor. Iowa is kinder than most states, but the public aid medical system is a miserable piece of shit based on my experiences. They treated me like a mental patient, and my loser of a GP, Glenn Abernathy, labeled me a “suspicious malingerer”. Thanks, Glenn, you useless piece of shit. Not, that I'm bitter about the wasted years and long term damage to my health thanks to the utter failure on his part to do any serious diagnostic work, mind you, I'm just sayin' …
So it was, in no particular order, a kidney stone triggered by dehydration, Lyme disease that I'd caught and fought off, and another Lyme infection that I acquired four days after the diagnosis of the first. I'm free of antibiotics now and just coping with adrenal glands that go on strike periodically; not a perfect situation, but it's workable.
Part of coming undone meant sleeping outside or in the car, which I've done in a long arc from northern Vermont clear out to the wilds of Utah.
I am truly blessed to have a skilled trade that can't be outsourced; every rural internet service provider has to have someone that does what I do, so I got back to work the second day of 2009, on what was supposed to be a one day consulting gig. Twenty months later I collect 60% of the income typical for this job and I work three days a week doing it for a company that doesn't mind that I use about one sick day a week.
This employment has been an absolute gift to me. My story is not one that people typically pull out of; had I not had an extraordinary run of luck, some very good friends here, that trade that put me back to work, and the world's most understanding employer I would likely have continued the downward spiral that leads first to the street, and then to the grave for someone facing the health issues I have. The combination of medications that keep me upright is about $400 a month and I have a quarterly specialist's visit that runs nearly $1,000 with travel included.
Spedwybabs closed her cafe in Pennsylvania last December and after a little decision making process she ended up here. We knew we'd be moving after returning from Netroots Nation and it's not a moment too soon – this space is cozy for one, cramped for two.
We're on the mend, physically and financially. The house is 25% my income, utilities included, and with just a little more elbow grease to Progressive PST her income will cover it should mine fail for some reason. I have my fingers crossed that health care reform is going to lead to my actually having coverage – Lyme is contentious, but the obvious adrenal troubles I have are not and should be within the bounds.
But mine is just one story among millions. I see John Boehner talking about teachers and police being “special interests” and I know what that's code for – breaking the last surviving unions and cementing the plutocracy's control of this country. We're not going to let that happen. I see the work the Union of Unemployed is doing, I see One Nation warming up for a march in D.C. … and a whole lot of follow on action right behind it.
This is our country. Every one of us, born here or naturalized, and we're not going to let the white trash media, led by the likes of Glenn Beck, confuse the issue. This country belongs to every human citizen, even if the Supreme Court, filled with corrupt ideologues by George Bush, is willing to put our politicians up for auction to corporations, domestic or foreign, via their incredibly flawed Citizens United decision.
But it's going to take more than clicking recommend on a photo diary to make sure that remains true. I don't care what you do, but go do SOMETHING, and do it RIGHT NOW!