From idea to actuality!

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, been a hectic couple days. We got this great (we thought) load going from arkansas to washington....but the we got stuck in a blizzard and had to shut down for a day. The when we finally got going, our heat and defrost in the front of the truck doesn't work. So we relayed our load to another driver in Sioux City, Iowa and will be going to the shop at 7 AM in the morning so they can fix that. Atleast our heat in the bunk area works since its 6 degrees out right now lol.

Thanks Sammy!!!
Oh it was! The next step at the moment is getting home and reading over my orientation packet that Christine (my recruiter) mailed me. I will be home for our two week Christmas/New Year's Vacation and will also be getting my CDL Class A Permit and my DOT physical during this time. Then it will be a waiting game until Jan 24th which is when I start school at Crowder College in Neosho, MO.

Thanks! I don't know about easy, but the step atleast

I know how you feel! I have been doing a little reading from my phone but I too am way behind on a lot of threads lol.

Thanks and I will make sure to keep you all updated as I know stuff.



Katey

 

Well... things did not go as I hoped...

We got home a few days ago and I got my regular license renewed. I also got the application for a CDL permit (have to fill one out 48 hours before you wanna test here in KY). After I left the driver's license office I went to a local clinic that is DOT certified to get my physical done.

This is where things started going wrong...

When I got there things started out normal, filled out a BUNCH of paperwork and waited to be seen. We the nurse called me back she got my height and weight and asked me to stand on this specific spot on the floor for my vision test.

I knew I didn't have great long distance vision but I feel comfortable that it was good enough to pass. It was not. She had me cover one eye and asked me what the lowest line I could read was. I told her 4 and she asked me to try reading line 6. I tried but wasn't able to make out anything more than fuzzy black shapes on that line. She said I could not pass my physical unless I could read that line.

At the point I got very upset. She, seeing how upset I was, said not to worry. She said that as long as I passed the rest fine I could just come back once I got glasses and redo only the vision test and they would sign off on my physical. That was a relief.

Then she brought me back to an examination room and took my pulse and tried to take my blood pressure. After she was done letting the air out of the cuff she said she wasn't able to get a reading and was going to try again. This continued for 7 trys. After the 7th attempt she said she was going to let the doctor take it when she came in.

At that point she began asking me about allergies, family medical history, my medical history, etc.. After about 15 minutes of questions she left saying the doctor would be in shortly.

When the doctor came in she tried to take my blood pressure and after 2 times looked at me with a troubled expression. She said that the reading she got was 140/102 and that she was confidant that was pretty accurate as her nurse had got a similiarly high reading on her last attempt.

She told me with a blood pressure that high I could not get my physical card signed off and that I would have to see my doctor about getting it under control.

At this point I was in tears. I felt everything I had been working so hard for falling apart. The doctor tried to calm me down but I was too overwhelmed. I explained to them that I haven't had insurance or seen a doctor in over 2 years and wasn't in a position financially to be able to do so now.

The doctor told me that there was nothing more she could do and left. The nurse came in and, thankfully, was much more compassionate and understanding. She told me of a clinic in the area that takes patients no matter income and you pay on a sliding scale. She gave me their number and directions and told me to get in to see them as soon as I could and then call her back.

The next day I got in to the clinic at 2 PM with one of their doctors. Her checked my blood pressure right away and found the same thing. His reading was 150/98. He told me he could prescribe me something to help get it down and set a follow up appt for late Jan.

I got the prescription filled and have been taking them for 4 days now. I am nervous and have no idea if it is helping. I am going to call the place I got my physical done back tomorrow as instructed and see what they say. I wish there was a way I could check my blood pressure to see if the pills are helping.

After I talk to them tomorrow I am going to have to call Con-Way and postpone everything. I hope that I won't loose my pre-hire because of this but they are very strict on everything so the health problems or the postponement could do it.

I don't know how much I'll be posting for a while, being on the forums is upsetting to me right now because it is a constant reminder of what's going on.

I really do appreciate all of y'all support for the past month or so.


Katey