'Difficulty' and 'Implications'

Two itsy bitsy little words with huge meanings.

Many of you will know that I lost my Job last week. It wasn't a very good job, it paid the bills, more or less (mostly less) but it was a job. This Thursday (tomorrow) I was due to have surgery for prostate cancer, which was discovered by biopsy in December. Yesterday I found out that the surgery has been canceled due to a hospital double booking screw up. Currently it's rescheduled for the 26th of May, although there appears to be a chance that it will be sooner.

It's weird isn't it how difficulties like this come along in groups like buses.

I've been coping with the fact that I have 'the C word'. I'm fortunate that the cancer is a slow growing variety that is not likely to be fatal for me, but it's still cancer and has a certain amount of fear attached. I feel like I've got dog crap on my shoes and I'm walking around on a white carpet trying not to leave any evidence.

My job situation has been coming for a while, I knew he was a snake, but I didn't think he'd be this cutthroat. He's been frustrated because I wont negotiate deals with straight out of college newbie contractors that effectively box them into $6 per hour pay rates or less. The minimum wage here is $16 per hour. He expects his workers to do unpaid overtime, sometimes several hours of it a night! He's been taking away my autonomy for several weeks, instigating forms that I have to have countersigned before I can hire anyone etc. So it's not all bad that this job evaporated... it's just the timing.

Making me redundant less than a week before an op that would take me out of the labour market for a month was really low down of my ex employer. However, I have seen a job somewhere else, I've responded to it, had a telephone interview which went well, and I have a proper interview for it today. But what will I tell them? I WAS planning on being up front and telling them that I wouldn't be able to start for about a month. Now I don't know if it's even worth going in for the interview and wasting their time! They're after someone who can start right now... I'm not likely to be available for 2 months... or they could have me for less than a month and then I'd be off for a month... which won't sound all that attractive when I'm up against younger healthier alternatives I'm sure.

So the implications of the junior underpaid badly managed clerk at the hospital having missed the fact that the surgeon does a 12 week rotational clinic in Bundaberg that would prevent him from attending a surgery on the 5th of May in Brisbane are multiple. It's possible that I won't see another suitable job go past for months, it's a desert here for me. Without income, we could have to move. There IS something positive in here... I KNOW there is, it's just that right now I'm struggling to see it.

... and to think that I used to think it was my destiny to be a millionaire!