Moving forward

Evening all!

It's Thursday evening, which of course means only one more day until the weekend.

You've probably been wondering: Dr Loxley, why have you been so moody lately? And where is our next MaliQuest update?

Well the moodiness I'm sorry to say has stemmed from a couple of things, a cold that refused to shift and also an ongoing issue with my workplace.

You see for those who don't remember, back in May last year I had an operation to remove my defective gall bladder. Before that I was regularly getting woken up at 2am with agonising pain, which would carry on for the next 4-8 hours.

My workplace has a rule about sickness, and after 'x' amount within one year you get put on a watch list. Around Xmas 2011 I was admitted to hospital where it became so bad I had to spend 4 nights under observation (that was when we arranged for my May operation). On paper however this put me from being on the observation list to being on the warning list. I was required to have 0 sickness (other than enforced hospital trips and my operation) for 12 months or else a disciplinary would be held (this is standard practice for people who work for a Police Force).

So I had my operation and within a couple of weeks felt like a new man.

Then in November, just a few weeks before my warning was to be wiped clean, my entire house was hit with Nuravirus (sp?) forcing me off work for 4 days while I was unable to move away from a toilet & bucket.

Since then I've had this stupid "unsatisfactory attendance panel" hanging over my head, where the choices would be to either wipe the slate clean, increase the watch period, downgrade my pay, send me to a different role or dismiss me altogether.

A couple of things occurred to me as the months rolled on, and November became December, followed by January, February and now March: if they wanted to fire me, they would have done do already, same with pay and position, so either they are going to just wipe the slate clean or extend the watch period.

Well yesterday I finally had the meeting. Honestly, they said that they cared about the fact that I had been seriously ill (defective gall bladders can be life threatening if they rupture into your blood, as in 2 hours, you're dead!) but I don't think they did, all they cared about was the numbers, and my poor attendance made them look bad.

The point is however, it was decided that they were going to extend my watch period by another 12 months, but backdate it to last November so there's only about 9 months left.

Sure it means if I get sick again then I'll be back there having another panel meeting justifying why they should keep me in my role, but 9 months isn't that long and if I worry about it then it'll certainly make me ill.

But what I noticed last night, for the first time in months I felt like I could relax properly. You see I didn't realise quite how much it had been bothering me having the Dismissal of Damocles hanging over me like that.

So with hindsight, no wonder I've been a moody little grott these past few weeks.

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Next up: MaliQuest updates...

Yeah I don't have any for you.

Sorry, but with lots going on at the moment u really don't have the time, especially as I'm booking my exam resit for 30th and I need to get that stuff in my head.
- it's fine, and the new reading material I've been giving is helping loads, but that plus the usual evening requirements is really limiting the time I have to give this right now.

There's an update coming, I promise. I just have to be responsible and focus on getting this studying done.

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Anyway, that's it from me.

I hope if I've pissed anyone off recently we can at least draw a line over it, but I know that I've been snapping and grouching and ranting at nearly everyone in sight.

Anywho, stay safe and I'll see you breachside!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley