A lot happened today. I’m still processing much of it. My future revenue streams became much more unclear. I have $4 in my checking account right now, and no more checks are on the way. The disability insurance people have decided they know best and I’m ready to go back to work. This really complicates things for me. If I’m able to collect benefits until January 2nd things work out much cleaner – basically everything is wrapped up in a bow. If I’m no longer getting benefits I’m going to have to apply for unemployment. In order to do that I’ll need to tell my job I’m now capable to work and that my last day of employment needs to be updated so that I can apply for the benefits. If my last day of work is updated to some date in December instead of through the beginning of January, I’m going to have to start paying $400/month for my health insurance in January instead of not having to start paying that until February. I’m not excited about this. I’m going to get a hold of my awesome doctor’s athletic trainer tomorrow and ask her to help me out. Hopefully we can get this sorted. I’m moving out of my apartment at the end of this month so I won’t have to pay another month’s rent which is really helpful in this whole situation. I’ll still have a car payment to make this month and a credit card payment to make soon. I’m guessing worst case scenario is they’ll both be late. If I start getting disability checks again I can afford to keep my car, but if not I’m going to sell it as quickly as possible. I did some looking around online and I’m pretty sure I can sell it for a few thousand more than I owe. As much as I don’t want to sell it yet, it would be great to not be as stressed out about money.

There are positive aspects to this whole situation. Mainly, my response to all of these problems. I’m concerned and a little on edge about it all, but I know it’ll all work out somehow and I’m not losing my mind over it. In the past stress like this would have really done a number on me and I’d probably be sleeping a ton and depressed. I’m much more focused on the solution now and convinced that things really will work out. If I have a credit card payment that’s a little late life will go on. This has also motivated me into action. I spent a few hours going through stuff in my apartment tonight – mostly papers and junk I don’t need, but don’t want to throw away without looking at. I’ve got a few weeks to get out of this place and I’d like to thoroughly go through everything. Things I don’t need or want will get thrown away or donated. I don’t plan on moving anything into storage I don’t think I’ll need in the future. It’ll be a nice cleansing of sorts. I also plan on starting to move things to my parents’ house or back home as soon as possible. This will be much less stressful if I get rid of everything slowly and don’t end up needing to do a ton of moving related things at the very last minute.

The actual doctor’s appointment went pretty well, too. My doctor said she’d be willing to remove the screws, but not until she’s certain my knee has healed. She said the earliest she’d usually do it would be 6 months after surgery, ideally waiting until 9 months after. Since this doesn’t work well with my current plan of going abroad mid-February, I asked her if she would do it any earlier. She said as long as she can tell it’s definitely healed she could do it sooner. I’m hoping when I go back mid-January to find it’s all healed and she can go ahead and remove the screws. She also said when I was in a month ago she wasn’t certain it was going to heal, but after the x-rays today she’s pretty sure it’s going to heal up alright in time.