Off The Road
So I'm looking for work again after getting let go from Werner. I didn't come back from a leave of absence after 30 days, and don't have the money to fight it. As I went on leave because Blue Cross decided to take a month to approve a sleep study, and then another month to approve the CPAP. My doctor wouldn't clear me for the road again until after three weeks on it to make sure the treatment was working.
I went in for my physical on Jan 5, with my med car expiring on Feb 1. Were it not for being on a Sears account, my fleet manager would have let me do it earlier: holiday season freight uptick. Whether or not I could use FMLA for the full 3 months or not is also in question. As technically I had the CPAP by the end of month two, and was "cured" by Werner standards. Despite, as I mentioned above, being required to have used it long enough. Which was an understandable request by my doctor too. Usage times were slowly going up as I got used to it. It's June and I'm barely using it a full eight hours now.
Will I get another trucking job?
Perhaps not, I'm only on a one year med card now, and need to get a check-up on sleep apnea every three months. It really wore me down being on the road 27 out of 30 days. With constant 14 hour shifts, and hardly a weekend stuck at a truck-stop for 34 - 48 hours; This was due to the DOT "1-5am for two nights" rule in effect at the time. With four days off starting at midnight, even if it took until 6pm to get home that day. Constant bullshit like that sours your impression. Of course there is the lack of time to shower. They ran me so tight it was either be late on delivery, or take a shower. So it wound up being once every 3-4 days because that's when my timetable allowed me to park at a truck stop instead of a rest area for the night.
My ten hour restart was the only fucking thing I had off. So I had to buy stuff at truck stops to eat for breakfast when I fueled and knew I was going to be at a rest area. Otherwise it was an MRE breakfast.
Remember that Walmart truck that hit the comedian because the guy was tired coming off home time?
Yeah, I understand the reason behind it. The driver is at fault, but so is Walmart. They do the same thing as Werner. Your home-time is up, get back on the road, or get fired. Factor in the DOT is pushing closer and closer to military medical standards, and we are fucked. Not just drivers, but the nation. It will come to a point we don't have anyone able to drive on a CDL and WANTS to drive on a CDL.
My doctor described the changes last July to the medical rules for examiners. It went from a small how-to book, to an accounting sized textbook of regulations. He spent a long time getting certified to do it, a requirement that didn't exist before. So a chiropractor could do it. Since it was checking your eyssight, hearing, blood-pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes, and strength. It was a good system, they weren't too strict, and just made sure you were in good condition. The same standards a high school athlete gets check for so they don't drop dead on the field, and become a liability to the school.
The machine itself is great (ResMed Airsense 10), and expensive; Super-quiet is the best way to describe it. Unlike my grandfathers that you can hear through the wall. Because insurance would only approve a home study, it's an auto CPAP. Most of the machine cost went onto my credit card. I may force my doc to give me the prescription so I can choose one next time. Mostly because the truck-stop five minutes from here sells filters, tubes, and masks for a couple of models: instead of driving to W. Hartford to pick them up. In the end, despite costing $400 a month ($100 me/$300 Werner), they didn't cover much. Along with fighting me just to use the deductible. I was still covering 80% after the deductible too.
Universal health-care? Fuck no! Get rid of insurance companies that just result in prices going up. You know secretly pushed for Obama care in order to get more people on them, because they still pull the same bullshit not covering things. They even tried to say sleep apnea is not a real medical condition to avoid coverage! Despite me having my O2 level drop below 85% or stop/struggled breathing more than 400 times during my test. Obama care has benefited insurance companies more than hurt them, and before I could get on Medicaid easily. Now it's hard for me to even do that! The idiots at the CT exchange keep screwing up my paperwork. I've been trying since march to get on something, and even if I do get work. At least I can claim a coverage exemption because I'm unemployed AND the exchange keeps screwing paperwork up.
Were it not so expensive, the fine is approx. $2k if you make around $30k., then I wouldn't bother at all. Stupid "shared responsibility" bullshit! My numbers are based on the overcomplicated (wouldn't be the IRS otherwise) worksheet.
I went in for my physical on Jan 5, with my med car expiring on Feb 1. Were it not for being on a Sears account, my fleet manager would have let me do it earlier: holiday season freight uptick. Whether or not I could use FMLA for the full 3 months or not is also in question. As technically I had the CPAP by the end of month two, and was "cured" by Werner standards. Despite, as I mentioned above, being required to have used it long enough. Which was an understandable request by my doctor too. Usage times were slowly going up as I got used to it. It's June and I'm barely using it a full eight hours now.
Will I get another trucking job?
Perhaps not, I'm only on a one year med card now, and need to get a check-up on sleep apnea every three months. It really wore me down being on the road 27 out of 30 days. With constant 14 hour shifts, and hardly a weekend stuck at a truck-stop for 34 - 48 hours; This was due to the DOT "1-5am for two nights" rule in effect at the time. With four days off starting at midnight, even if it took until 6pm to get home that day. Constant bullshit like that sours your impression. Of course there is the lack of time to shower. They ran me so tight it was either be late on delivery, or take a shower. So it wound up being once every 3-4 days because that's when my timetable allowed me to park at a truck stop instead of a rest area for the night.
My ten hour restart was the only fucking thing I had off. So I had to buy stuff at truck stops to eat for breakfast when I fueled and knew I was going to be at a rest area. Otherwise it was an MRE breakfast.
Remember that Walmart truck that hit the comedian because the guy was tired coming off home time?
Yeah, I understand the reason behind it. The driver is at fault, but so is Walmart. They do the same thing as Werner. Your home-time is up, get back on the road, or get fired. Factor in the DOT is pushing closer and closer to military medical standards, and we are fucked. Not just drivers, but the nation. It will come to a point we don't have anyone able to drive on a CDL and WANTS to drive on a CDL.
My doctor described the changes last July to the medical rules for examiners. It went from a small how-to book, to an accounting sized textbook of regulations. He spent a long time getting certified to do it, a requirement that didn't exist before. So a chiropractor could do it. Since it was checking your eyssight, hearing, blood-pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes, and strength. It was a good system, they weren't too strict, and just made sure you were in good condition. The same standards a high school athlete gets check for so they don't drop dead on the field, and become a liability to the school.
The machine itself is great (ResMed Airsense 10), and expensive; Super-quiet is the best way to describe it. Unlike my grandfathers that you can hear through the wall. Because insurance would only approve a home study, it's an auto CPAP. Most of the machine cost went onto my credit card. I may force my doc to give me the prescription so I can choose one next time. Mostly because the truck-stop five minutes from here sells filters, tubes, and masks for a couple of models: instead of driving to W. Hartford to pick them up. In the end, despite costing $400 a month ($100 me/$300 Werner), they didn't cover much. Along with fighting me just to use the deductible. I was still covering 80% after the deductible too.
Universal health-care? Fuck no! Get rid of insurance companies that just result in prices going up. You know secretly pushed for Obama care in order to get more people on them, because they still pull the same bullshit not covering things. They even tried to say sleep apnea is not a real medical condition to avoid coverage! Despite me having my O2 level drop below 85% or stop/struggled breathing more than 400 times during my test. Obama care has benefited insurance companies more than hurt them, and before I could get on Medicaid easily. Now it's hard for me to even do that! The idiots at the CT exchange keep screwing up my paperwork. I've been trying since march to get on something, and even if I do get work. At least I can claim a coverage exemption because I'm unemployed AND the exchange keeps screwing paperwork up.
Were it not so expensive, the fine is approx. $2k if you make around $30k., then I wouldn't bother at all. Stupid "shared responsibility" bullshit! My numbers are based on the overcomplicated (wouldn't be the IRS otherwise) worksheet.