Another Of My Illness Stories

As a person who has his own personal medical issues that are making him rather nervous in his life right now, I am certain that you will understand why I am writing a column such as this one.

Everything seems to be going so much quicker now respecting what is going on around the world. Obviously, just consider the number of people who have been identified as picking up the horrific disease in so many different places.

Take a look at the interesting early paragraph of a story I just saw a recently that caused me a lot of trouble:

“The coronavirus crisis inevitably prompts comparisons with the last epidemic that shook the world: the Spanish flu. Although the Great War overshadowed it in the public consciousness, this outbreak killed at least 30 million people worldwide – with some estimates even putting the figure at 100 million from 1918 to 1919. But are the two epidemics really comparable?” (Stéphanie Trouillard, France24.com, March 20, 2020) 

If that in itself does not make one quite upset, at least the last paragraph of the article should make one feel a little bit better:

“We learned a lot of lessons from each of these epidemics, with a much more efficient monitoring system – and we’re even better prepared today,” Rasmussen said. “Let’s not create more fear; the current state of affairs already provokes enough anxiety. It’s a different world now from the one that saw the Spanish flu. Things are done on a different scale now, with much more research and a much more efficient approach to dealing with diseases. There are great reasons for hope.”

The reason why I wanted to post the remarks above from my perspective is to confirm what I believe that you have been dealing with as well. There are so many stories coming out about different topics respecting this disease these days. Some of the stories talk about one side of a matter while the other stories deal with the other side. Your position, like mine, is which article should I accept when both of them seem to be so well researched and written.

Clearly, there is a lot of research going on by scientists around the world to come up with some kind of a medical treatment to provide assistance for citizens everywhere. I thought that I saw recently that there are two or three possible solutions that have been discovered but unfortunately it may take quite a bit of time, at least a year, for any one of them to be approved for usage anywhere.

Just consider the stories that I have read recently and what was written in them. What do I mean by recent… How about the last day or two:

--the US and Canada are effectively closing down their border crossings except for a limited group of those who require it to remain open for business purposes

--we are told to live now in “social isolation” to help provide us with protection against illness

--effectively universities in many countries are now educating their students in the computer world since classes cannot take place in classrooms at this time

--500,000 people this week in Canada sent in applications for unemployment benefits

--job losses in the US in April could go up to 5 million people

--many business operations are closing down for at least two weeks because of the medical situation here, with many of them at least providing financial assistance to their employees during this timeframe

--grocery stores are taking specific action to make sure they can remain open in order to provide clients with the food that they require, especially now when so many people go into the stores to get food for fear of some catastrophe happening

--the banks are changing how they do business and many of their employees may be losing their positions one day soon if some of their facilities are closed down

--the stock markets worldwide have done extremely poorly in a very short period of time going up and down like a yo-yo over the past week

--the US may well provide over a trillion dollars to citizens and business operations to help them concerning the disasters that are going on. Canada is talking about $100 billion. So far.

I could go on and outline more of the stories but I am certain that you understand what I am talking about just by looking at the ones that I have mentioned.

Just Some Short Stories

There are lots of different things that I have been thinking about over the past little while. I thought that what I would do this time in one of my Blog articles is post a few of them in which I hope I have made some interesting comments for you.

Here are the stories that I thought that I would set out.

WILL EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS DECREASE

One of the interesting things that I have seen these days is how employees are being treated by some of their employers. So many employees are effectively being laid off for a period of time that is unknown to any of them right now. I am sure that most of those employees expect to return to work probably by the end of this month. Hopefully, many of them will receive their salary money even though they are not going into work.

However, I wonder if all of these people will have a job when the crisis is over. Or, is there a totally different reason why people are going to be laid off supposedly temporarily. Here is the news article which prompted my comment:

“Bank of Montreal said on Tuesday that it will temporarily close around 130 bank branches, approximately 15 per cent of its branch network in Canada. It will also cut operating hours, although the new hours have not yet been announced...

The Royal Bank of Canada said on Tuesday that it will temporarily close “a number of branches, starting this week,” although it did not specify how many…

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said late Monday night that it would close 206 “adviser centres,” which do not offer over-the-counter teller services.” (Mark Rendell, Globe and Mail, March 17, 2020)  

Do you see what I mean? Is this nothing more than the Banks, which may be already planning to reduce their operation by getting rid of a number of bank branches, merely experimenting right now to see what happens using the branches that they are dealing with today?

NEW PLACES FOR EMPLOYEES TO WORK

I wonder if companies in the future are going to need the size of buildings that they have now to carry on their business. They have a lot of employees who are doing work for them in their various office complexes.

However, a number of years ago I had a problem with one of the operations in my house and had to call the provider’s Customer Service Office to talk to them about sending one of their service people to my place to fix the problem. It was a rather difficult conversation that lasted quite some time but ultimately I was successful. However, notwithstanding how difficult our conversation was, the operator and I got along very well and she made sure that a good service person would be sent to my house as soon as possible to fix the problem.

No big deal, right? Yes it was! I found out that the person was in fact not working at the provider’s Telephone Centre but rather was working from her own home. That is right, people in her Department did not have to go in every day to her employee’s office to do her work. Rather, she did it from her own office.

Interestingly, something similar happened to me recently once again. A problem arose with one of the companies with which we deal when we buy a certain kind of food. Something that my wife and I purchased at a grocery store seemed to be quite dirty inside the package when we opened it up. I was quite nervous about eating that food at all. I spent about 15 to 20 minutes with the person on the phone discussing the issue. Again, it was quite a good conversation and the lady with whom I was dealing agreed to provide us with coupons to buy their product to replace the ones that we had to throw out.

The lady with whom I spoke had a very interesting accent. When the conversation about the product was over, and before we both hung up the telephone, I asked her where she was working. I assumed that she worked in Canada. However, I was wrong. She actually lived in the United States working for the parent company of the Canadian one. While her function was to deal with Canadians who called, she did not live in Canada. Moreover, as we spoke, I learned that she was not working in an office dealing with the issue but rather was working in her own home.

This is not the first time that I spoke to someone who represents a Canadian business but who lives in the United States.  How many other times will it happen where the employee is not Canadian? What will that do to employment numbers in Canada!

What Will Happen Now

It is remarkable what is going on in our country today and in that of so many other countries around the world. Oh sure, we have dealt with serious matters in our health section and now, here we go again. Here is the latest that should confirm what we can be facing at this time:

“the deadly coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, despite increasingly strict quarantine measures around the world. As the number of cases grows, experts are warning that life worldwide will be severely disrupted for many months.” (Siobhán O'Grady, TeoArmus, Rick Noack, Brittany Shammas, Marisa Iati, Washington Post,March 18, 2020) 

Basically, almost every country around the world is taking steps to protect itself, and its citizens, from a horrific illness that may be spreading. We have read so much about it happening so quickly in very little time. Yet, in talking with others, some are not really certain what is happening. Do we or don’t we have such a serious illness as appears to be our situation now? To be honest, I do not have the faintest idea.

Clearly, if the disease spreads, quickly too, then populations worldwide are under severe risk. Yes, there may well be a vaccine or other medical product that people can take to help minimize the intensity of the illness overall. Regretfully, that medical solution may not be available for about a year because it is something new that is being developed by scientists around the world. Testing with respect to this matter does take a lot of time.

Fortunately, the number of sick people in Canada is very low right now. I wonder if those numbers will remain low. I remember seeing a comparison between various areas in the world now. What I found fascinating is that, in each of the countries where the number of sick people now is quite high, their early number was very low as well. Will the same thing happen in Canada? Can that number be kept low in our country because of the various steps that are being taken now to minimize the health risks? Just to make you feel quite awful, here are some numbers that I saw for the illness that took place in 1918 that I pray will never happen in our time frame:

“The 1918 influenza pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920; also known as the Spanish flu) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus, with the second being the swine flu in 2009. The Spanish flu infected 500 million people around the world, or about 27% of the world population of between 1.8 and 1.9 billion. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest epidemics in human history.” (Wikipedia)

Here is what is happening in Europe right now:

“Desperate travellers choked European border crossings Wednesday after countries implemented strict controls to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has now infected more than 200,000 people worldwide and killed more than 8,000.

In releasing the new figures, Johns Hopkins University also said more than 82,000 people recovered from the virus, which causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough for most people, although severe illness is more likely in the elderly and those with existing health problems.” (Canadian Press, March 18, 2020)

Based on those numbers, I need to ask whether anyone can claim that there really is no major problem that we are facing with respect to the new illness that has come out. We will know what the answer is one day but I am not sure when that day will arise.

I would think that politicians around the world believe that the medical issues are real and must be addressed. Take a look at what was announced today in Canada as an example:

“The federal government will deploy up to $82 billion in direct spending and deferred taxes to help every Canadian get through the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

``In these extraordinary times our government is taking extraordinary measures,'' Trudeau said in a news conference outside his Ottawa residence.

He said the package is aimed at ensuring people can do what they need to do to protect their health and that of others without fear of not being able to feed their families or pay their rent or mortgages.” (Canadian Press, March 18, 2020) 

If you think that is a lot of money, take a look at what is being proposed in the United States. It involves a huge number that starts with a “T”:

“Trump Pushes $1.2 Trillion Stimulus, $1,000 Checks in Two Weeks

“Many Americans could get 2 $1K checks, starting April 6

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is discussing a plan that could amount to as much as $1.2 trillion in spending -- including direct payments of $1,000 or more to Americans within two weeks -- to blunt some of the economic impact of the widening coronavirus outbreak.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pitched $250 billion in checks to be sent at the end of April with a second set of checks totaling $500 billion four weeks later if there’s still a national emergency, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“Americans need cash now, and the president wants to give cash now. And I mean now, in the next two weeks,” Mnuchin said Tuesday at a White House briefing alongside President Donald Trump.” (JoshWingrove, Laura Davison and Saleha Mohsin, Bloomberg, March 17,2020) 

I think I will leave everything right here, dear reader. That is what is going on now. Just keep on watching and see if you can get a better idea about what the situation really is and what will happen next.

Blogstory Update

An Update of the story that I posted earlier today. It is not something that I ever expected to have to tell you about at this time, dear reader.

Who would have believed it? I was not expecting to meet with my Cancer doctor until Tuesday morning. Instead, I received a phone call from him a very short time ago!

To be blunt, I was stunned. Who would have expected something today, a Sunday. I intended to call his office tomorrow morning to see if anything was going to change about my appointment there soon because of the illness that is spreading in this area. Obviously, I had the need to do so because the results of my two month radiation treatment were going to be disclosed and I was going to learn about my health condition.

When I heard his name at first, I got very nervous. I immediately wondered why he would be calling me on a Sunday afternoon except to make sure that I was coming to his office on Tuesday. I started to freak out mentally that what he wanted to talk about was NOT something that would be very positive for me. What else could I think.

The phone call was very short. 

Basically, he wanted to let me know that I was in pretty good shape and that any negative blood readings were extremely low. In other words, I was in an excellent medical position!

This was absolutely fantastic for me!!  It was certainly something for which I had hope but was not  positive I would receive.

He told me that it was the Hospital’s view that patients like me should not attend a meeting at the Hospital at this time because of the seriousness of the medical conditions that have hit this area so strongly.  It was perfectly satisfactory for him to call me on the telephone as he did to provide this  positive information to me.

He then said that someone from his office would contact me shortly and set up a meeting in six months time for a further checkup.  End of call.

That is all that I need to tell you, dear reader. This is such great news about which I am so thrilled. The great care by the Hospital staff in giving me my two months of treatments has proven so positive.

My Life Situation Now

This is a very personal article, dear reader, which you may or may not want to read once you know what it is about. You may find little value in it for how you are handling your life these days. However, it is something that I believe I must write given my situation.

I am trying to set out as best as I can my own life experiences these days. I feel the need to write about it to help myself by trying to get my concerns out of my system the best way that I can right now. Oh, it may not make a really good “news” story but it is just something that I must do for myself given what is happening to me in this very strange environment that we are now in. Who knows, it may impact something that you are dealing with as well.

I have a lot going on in my life now most of which was totally unexpected until fairly recently. These are now life-critical issues with which I must deal whether I want to or not. What is taking place right now is something that I am finding so difficult to handle.

Let me explain the impact this new situation is having on me.

As I am sure that you know by now, dear reader, there is my own personal, medical condition that could have very serious consequences for me. It is a well-known disease, cancer, which has treated very many people harshly for so many years. Then add on something new that just broke out that is impacting negatively the entire world it seems: coronavirus (COVID-19)! If you have been reading the newspapers or are watching the news on television recently, then you will now know much about a new illness that has all of a sudden arisen.

I have learned how to handle better my own situation because of the assistance that doctors have provided to me based on their medical experience. Yet, I cannot understand what is going on with respect to the new medical issue around the world. I have never ever seen anything like this before. I cannot believe that what I am reading is happening in so many countries everywhere at exactly the same time. I guess that I should be happy that, so far, no one has this disease in my area.

How can this be? Is this the new world in which we are living where there are no secrets anymore? Shall we now expect that, when something happens, we will learn about it right away because of our access to the Internet? The difficulty I am experiencing is how do I act now when something so disturbing like this arises near me, especially when I have new problems myself.

A proper question to ask now is how real is what we are seeing. I am wondering if this new disease is something that is actually taking place. Could it be instead that what is being put forward is designed to take advantage over us for whatever reason? Is it unreal propaganda that someone wants us to have to disturb us for reasons unknown at this time?

For me, while I appreciate this major, new, worldwide issue that has just arisen, I am living in different circumstances completely now compared with most other people. In several days, I have an appointment with my cancer specialist who is going to tell me what he believes are the results of the two month medical radiation program in which I participated. As you know, I was receiving treatment to eliminate or, at least minimize, the cancer that was found within me. Based on the results of some tests with another doctor whom I see, I am hoping that everything will turn out quite well.

I try very hard not to think about what is going to happen, even a few days before this appointment. In the past, thinking about the seriousness of my position caused major problems for me that seemingly caused me horrific medical issues. In fact, if you remember, in one instance, I had difficulty even walking because I was so upset. In reality, my condition was mental, worrying so much, when I thought it was all physical. To be honest, it was something that never happened to me before in my entire life that I can ever remember.

But, given what is going on now, should I be worried about myself at all with my own disease? I have seen some very high numbers about people who could be impacted by this new worldwide medical condition. So what if I have been treated well for what I have in my body now if this worldwide issue spreads so horrifically everywhere. I might find that I could pick it up quite easily with all of its negative effects quite soon. While you may not think about it the way that I am, and even not take what I am saying seriously now, let me tell you that this thought has come out and is giving me additional difficulties which I really do not need to have.

This whole worldwide medical condition is so bizarre in the Windsor area these days. News like this is coming out all the time now. I just saw the Windsor Mayor’s note on March 14 on the Internet which stated:

“Over the past few days, global circumstances have changed dramatically such that we have been concerned about our ability to return to Canada in a timely manner. Our efforts to return early have been futile as flights from Jordan are all full since this country announced the cancellation of all flights effective March 17…

New rules that went into place today now require my family and I to self-isolate for 14 days upon our return.

Although I (and my family) feel great and have no symptoms of any illness I will certainly follow the best advice of our medical professionals. Those who are travelling outside of Canada should follow the same protocols so that, together, we limit the possibility of spreading this virus.”

What is going on? He is not the only person who will be living in isolation for around 2 weeks as the media has reported. As an example, the Prime Minister has just announced that he is also going to be in isolation for 14 days. The Mayor of Toronto will be off for 12 days after returning from London, England. 

Nevermind just individuals, Government Offices are closing down for several weeks now for public visits, many retailers are sending out notices to their customers about how they are going to act so they will keep their business running and a number of organizations are closing down their operations for several weeks.

The obvious question to ask is how much more of this will we be seeing in the next little while. How much more will impact me?

I do not have the answer for anything. I have no idea how real or how significant this new disease is. I do not know if it will be experienced in our area anyway. At the least, I trust that the solution to cure anybody who may pick up this disease is discovered and is made available as soon as possible. (This result, regretfully, may not be finalized until sometime next year.) Naturally, until a few days from now, I can still start all of a sudden worrying about my existing illness and what the impact will be on me once I hear from my doctor.

Whew, this was quite something for me to sit down and write. When I read it again, before publishing it, I was pleased that I seemed to be better from an emotional perspective after understanding that I am trying very hard to deal with the situation I am in. I will still be nervous when matters like this arise again and scared too. That is just the way my life is now. I will have to learn though how to deal with this kind of situation. Hopefully, as I should learn shortly, I will see how successful I can become.

My New TecumsehCityBlog Story!

Well, here I am again! I am going to be writing again some articles that interest me and, hopefully, are subjects that you will enjoy reading.

I cannot believe that it has taken me so long to write another article on my website. I have to admit that I had no real interest in doing so. Deep down, I just could not do the writing required. I wanted to make sure that everything was fine with me after taking treatment at the hospital that ended almost 2 months ago for the Cancer in my body. It does take quite a bit of time for my body to come back to normal I was told. I am going to be finding out the results of my program in a couple of weeks. I do have to take tests shortly for my doctor so that he can make decisions about what my status is.

My fingers are crossed about what the outcome will be. I just attended the office recently of another doctor of mine and, wonderfully, the results of the tests for his work were fantastic for me. I am just hoping that an excellent result happens once more.

Of course, now that I want to start writing again I am faced with difficulties. Obviously, I write about a lot of issues that take place in the City of Windsor and the surrounding territory. Oh sure, there are a number of media outlets and websites that provide information that I write about. However, as should be obvious from what I have written previously, a lot of my postings are based on articles in the Windsor Star. Well, the Star has changed its appearance but more importantly has set up a system that is supposed to prevent a non-subscriber from reading more than ten of their articles a month. In order to read all of them, one must pay them a subscription fee.

Regretfully, as a retiree, I need to look after my money. With the stock market going down as it has over the last few days, sources of revenue for people like me are quite limited. Accordingly, I do not intend to take out a Windsor Star subscription even though I do want to read the articles so that I can write stories about them. I will have to try and figure out how I will obtain the information I need to write articles. I must admit that I do think that there is a solution now that does work but I will keep on trying to see if I am right.

Let me just talk shortly about one situation that interested me recently:

EMPLOYMENT IN WINDSOR

Or rather, unemployment in Windsor!

I do not follow subjects now as closely as I did in the past. If I had done so, I might not have been surprised the way I was when I read about the unemployment rate in Windsor recently.

I thought that the situation had improved remarkably in our area. I can remember our unemployment rate dropping magnificently recently. Then, I just saw the new rate. Perhaps my memory was not as good as I thought it was. Windsor was the worst area in the entire country with the highest unemployment rate:

“Windsor tops Canadian jobless rate at 8.3%

Last time rate was above 8.3% was January 2016

Windsor has the highest jobless rate out of any municipality in Canada, according to the latest Statistics Canada figures.

StatsCan's January 2020 employment data sets Windsor's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 8.3 per cent…

Windsor's January 2020 unemployment numbers show a 0.8 per cent increase from December 2019's 7.5 per cent figure…

Translated into more understandable numbers, Stats Can's latest figures show approximately 15,000 unemployed people living in Windsor. (CBC News, February 7, 2020) 

Huh, how was that possible? I thought everything was so wonderful in our area. I do not remember anyone being concerned about job losses, certainly nothing so bad to make us #1 in Canada.

If you think that was bad, dear reader, then, if you have not been following the media recently, you will have missed this story:

“Why life at Windsor Assembly will be 'difficult' for FCA workers still inside after loss of third shift

One-third of feeder plant workers to be laid off as well, says Unifor Local 195

About 1,500 workers at Windsor's FCA plant are expected to be laid off as of June 29, but the announcement has left those who will keep their jobs concerned as well...

On Thursday, FCA announced it had finalized a date for the elimination of the Windsor Assembly Plant's third shift — which has been in place since 1993. The termination date was previously given four extensions.” (CBC News, February, 28, 2020) 

Nevermind just these employees, how many workers who are employed by FCA contractors will be let go because these companies will not have as much business as they have now with FCA. What will the employment rate percentage for this area be when summer comes here? Take a look at that news article and see exactly what I mean.

Of course, this is terrible news. But if you think it is so bad, then read this that was also in the story. I find it completely and totally astounding. Why wasn’t anything done to prevent this from happening when a senior person in this area in the Government, Windsor’s Mayor, was supposedly so concerned and so long ago:

“Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said he was "not completely surprised" by the news of the third shift's termination "based on the information we had about a year ago."

He points to the company's move as a clear sign that the city needs to "redouble its efforts" in developing an economic diversification strategy.

"We're working on that right now. That will include widespread community consultation from the public and from city council," said Dilkens...”

Perhaps you will understand why I am back to writing articles again!