The Wealthy Worker

I’d like to go a little off topic and talk about my back problems. As an IT consultant I’ve been sitting all day for years. I’ve often slouched in the chair at work as I got tired during the day. I also play guitar all the time so in 2001 my back finally had enough. I’ve been having problems with it ever since, but a year or so ago my back pain went to a whole new level.

I finally got an MRI and it showed a couple bulging disks at S1 and L5 and that my S1 disk didn’t fuse as it does for most people. But no one thought it was bad enought to warrant surgery so I started Active Release Therapy (ART). Turns out my piriformis muscle under the glutes was really tight. The ART or something triggered severe spasms in the piriformis. It was excruciating. I was working in Victoria at the time and having trouble walking until it would start to loosen, and I would also get brutal spasms at 4 in the morning. I was trying traction and core strengthening to help but nothing was working.

Back in Calgary I started Intramuscular stimulation (IMS) where they stick needles deep in to piriformis, much deeper than acupuncture. After a few months it started to feel better. I started to do a few exercises and it came back screaming fast. The IMS didn’t work this time, they tried another machine and finally sent me for a nerve root block at S1 disk level. The radiologist tries to hit the nerve before he injects the material. After a while he couldn’t find the nerve so he just released the material in the general area. I wasn’t confident that it would work. I couldn’t believe it but that made a huge difference within a day. I went back for IMS and the needle didn’t do anything (normally it triggers the muscle to twitch). So it made me think the origin of the problem is the nerve root itself. But the IMS staff didn’t want to do any more injections because they wanted to be conservative. They were worried about long term effects of the injections. But after reading some information online, I realized that the injections were often used as a diagnosis. To me the process hadn’t been completed since they only did one injection. In other words, they didn’t although they came close to discovering the root of the problem (bad pun), they really didn’t fully diagnose the issue to completion.

So I went to the walk-in clinic recently and explained the story. The doctor had no problem sending me for two more injections, this time in the facet joints. It pays to be persistent!

After a while I still had the problems in the morning, nowhere near as bad but a little annoying. It’s been about 2-3 months now so I went in for a couple facet joint injections and they don’t seem to be helping. So next I’m going to try a nerve root block at L5 and S1 (again).

Lessons learned: A person can persevere through a lot of adversity. And second, like any problem, you need to keep pursuing a solution and never give up. Okay, three, try to maintain good posture during work - use a lumbar support if your chair doesn’t have a decent support.

There are so many posts out there about ‘How to Survive the Recession’. I find them so annoying. Here’s the reality: there’s nothing you can do if you haven’t been preparing for a rainy day.  Kissing up to the boss and working OT isn’t going to save you now.

Instead use any problems you’re having as a learning experience for next time. As I’ve mentioned a ton of times, aim to start contracting and get a high rate in a niche as I explain in my ebook. Make sure you are saving money - forget 10%, I aim for 75%. I only spent a few thousand per month and the rest is saved. It’s really that simple, but it’s not really possible as an employee. Even managers making $150K will have a hard time after all the tax deductions, and government programs (like EI and CPP in Canada).

Having savings and paying off debt does so many things, even ones that are intangible. Like giving you confidence to negotiate an hourly rate, reducing fear of losing your job and so on.

Tell yourself ‘Never again’ and start preparing for the next downturn. Because there will be one.

The other day a colleague I had worked with emailed me out of the blue. I hadn’t spoken with him since we worked together a few years ago. Turns out he was working out of town and wanted to return to Calgary. He asked me about a specific opportunity that he had heard about. Come to think of it, two different people contacted me around the same time about this opportunity, even though they hadn’t contacted me since we parted ways.

I helped them out as much as I could, but it reminded me that as employees or contractors, we need to keep in touch with our network on a regular basis, not just when we need something. Perhaps forward a bit of interesting news, a relevant opportunity or just say hello. In other words, make it a two-way relationship. Don’t always be taking and asking from others.

So if there’s anyone you haven’t talked to in a while, drop them a line for no real reason at all!