Here’s a rare personal post. I am currently on medical leave from my second job due to my knee. For months now there has been a sharp pain in my left knee. At times it feels like it’s tearing and at times it feels like something is being stretched. This has made bending, kneeling, walking up stairs, and any other function involving the knees difficult.
While on vacation the pain started to spread from the left side to all over. Due to the pain, I avoided steps as much as possible and made an appointment with my doctor as a result. It’s a small step to figuring out what’s wrong but the causes of whatever it is aren’t hard to figure out.
Years of abuse from football and weightlifting are starting to show as well as working too much. I have worked two jobs for almost 5 years now and only had one vacation during that time frame. For most of these 5 years, I was working 6 days a week. For about 4 months last year, I worked 7 days a week. In 2021 I decided to take one Sunday off a month so that I could have one weekend to rest.
I started working a second job because I wasn’t making as much as I needed to survive working as a teacher. The money coming in from the second job not only finished paying the bills but allowed me to do other things. Things like going out for dinners, paying for a new computer, and other luxuries I would have never had on my teacher’s salary. It’s a sad state of reality when a teacher’s salary won’t allow them to afford a steak dinner out but that’s what teaching in American has produced.
The problem now is the toll that it has taken on my body. I do not know what’s to come with my visit but time will tell.
D. W. Saur 