October 31, 2009
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Mastercarp
I have had this pain in a very personal area for some time, so decided to get it checked over. I went to a sports injury specialist who thought perhaps it was a hernia, and referred me to another specialist for further checks. I headed in to the hospital that evening, and was told I had a mild hernia, and that I should either wait to see if it healed or go and get it sorted out with an operation. As I had had this pain for some time and it had not got better I told him to schedule the surgery for as soon as possible. The operation was then planned for the following week.
I booked 2 days off work, and was happy to finally be able to recover – playing football when you can’t kick a ball because of the pain is not my idea of fun, and anyone who knows me knows how I love my football. Claire wanted to come with me to help – checking me in to the hospital and helping me to get all the pre-checks done, blood tests and blood pressure, and so on. Then came the interesting part. I was about to be checked in to the hospital when I was asked for my health card. I handed it over, but the company had not paid for my health care, and so the card was invalid. So this would mean I either have to wait or I have to pay myself. When I asked how much, the answer was “a lot of money”, and as I do not have “a lot of money”, that one was out of the question too.
I took the next day off work as well anyway, because it was already booked, Claire was free, and I thought sod it. The day after that was a typhoon day, so three days free, plus the weekend made it a nice mini vacation, although I would have preferred to have managed to get sorted out with the op.
When I made it back to work, I told everyone that I had had the surgery – and that the company owed me 40,000 Taiwan Dollars as it had not kept my health payments up to date. When I asked about the status of my work permit and visa, I was informed that actually nothing had happened as they did not know what to do. Glad to see I was working illegally for 4 months. Incompetent workers who prefer to say nothing so that they can save face. So for once I did not get mad, but just suggested that they find out how to resolve this situation, as I can’t afford forty grand every time I get ill. And that – finally – got the ball rolling for the process of my work permit and visa. Two months later, after much labour trying to get all the documentation sorted out, I was informed that my work permit was approved, and that I could collect the document from the department of labour. The only snag to this was that my work permit expired 11 days after it was issued, which is one more prime example of the fine, forward thinking attitude of the company I work for. So the paperwork got started all over again, and I am finally assured that it will be extended by a year. And I have an 11 day window to get to hospital and get my surgery done.
Claire will book me in at the hospital where she works, get me a doctor she trusts, and I should be back on the football pitch, making my famous howlers, by early in the new year. With just a couple of cameo appearances this season so far, I miss my football. I was thinking of hanging up the boots, but there is no chance of that just yet. Maybe after a couple of frustrating Red Lions games my mind will be changed once more, but until then, I will be happy just to play without the jolt of pain in kicking.
