Sitka spruce Spurtles made from antique grand piano soundboards. Great for cast iron cooking but do not rest your spurtle on a hot skillet unless you like the smell of burning Sitka spruce. Ask me how I know.
In my last post, I mentioned that since my back surgery in June, I had been unable to drive.
Well, I can drive now. Watch out, though. Just kidding. I restarted physical therapy, as I mentioned previously. It was the right thing to do but I did make a small discovery. The first day after my first PT appointment, I got on the floor to do some back exercises that the PT had assigned me and after I did them, I sat up and as I began to stand up, I realized I COULD NOT FEEL MY LEGS OR FEET.
Sound familiar? Yep, that’s the very thing that led me to need back surgery. I won’t bore you with the details, but basically, no more back exercises for me and the nurse practitioner prescribed another round of prednisone to calm down those mad back nerves.
I continued with the physical therapy but we focused on balance and upper strength exercises. I had 6 weeks of physical therapy, once per week and we ended with some exercises on the “machines” that my PT assured me I could do at my YWCA.
Unfortunately, my YWCA doesn’t have ANY exercise machines that work for a person who is 4’10”-ish. Sigh. It’s always something.
BUT, I am driving now. I can feel enough with my right foot to press the gas pedal and I use my left foot for the brake. My ankle gets tired and achy but I don’t plan on driving on a trip that takes several hours. My dad assures me that race car drivers use their left feet for braking and since I’m ambidextrous, I guess my ambidexterity applies to my feet, too. I’ve had no issues.
At my follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon in September, my neurosurgeon, based on the incident with my numbness in August and my description of what I do for my job (piano tuning), recommended that I not go back to tuning pianos for awhile. He said this nerve problem might take as long as a year to recover. He asked me if I needed a “note” for my boss.
Well, no, since I am my own boss and have been for almost 30 years as owner of my piano service business.
I have had several folks suggest that I need to apply for disability. Which leads me to ask, what is the definition of “disabled”?
I can drive. I can walk…slowly…but I’m not in a hurry. I can dress, bathe and feed myself. I can communicate. I still can’t operate a VCR, but thank goodness those are gone.
I can understand why there’s a push to use “people first” language, such as using “person with disabilities” rather than a “disabled person.” Even a person with a disability has some kind of ability, just not necessarily one that can lead to full-time employment. Just saying that someone is “disabled” does not consider the whole person.
I decided yesterday, while working in my woodworking shop, that I’m not disabled.
However, I also realized yesterday that I am probably UNEMPLOYABLE.
I have worked for almost 30 years as the sole proprietor of my piano service business. Almost half my life has been as a self-employed person who specialized in one thing…tuning and repairing stringed keyboard instruments (pianos, harpsichords, clavichords.) I have spent the last almost 30 years learning and doing pretty much one thing. I also earned a BFA in Art (Painting and Printmaking) which also makes me unemployable! Ha!
Last year, when one of my feet suffered an insufficiency fracture, I was able to take 6 weeks off and subcontract out my tunings. Also last year, when I ended up with a chipped elbow, couldn’t straighten my arm and needed a cortisone shot and 10 days of no tuning at the busiest time of a piano tuner’s year (Christmas), once again, I was able to subcontract out my work.
What employer wants that kind of employee?
“Sorry, but my foot broke…again.” “Sorry, but I need back surgery.” “Did I mention in my job interview that I would need more than usual amounts of time off for bone issues and doctors’ appointments? I’ve got this thing called XLH.”
So, my business is still “open” but the short woman who used to tune the pianos has been replaced with a tallish man. People ask if he’s as good as I am and I say, “Yes, but he’s not as cute.”
I’m still tuning harpsichords and clavichords, though. I’m up to 10 harpsichord clients and 2 clavichord clients. And all the church harpsichordists (3) want them tuned at Christmas for Handel’s Messiah. That’s a day’s worth of work.
So, I’ve made it my goal for the next year to not even consider applying for disability. I am trying to cobble together a job of keeping my business open and subcontracting out all of the piano work, teaching music (I have 4 students currently), doing harpsichord and clavichord work and my newest creative enterprise, making wooden kitchen utensils out of antique Sitka spruce piano soundboards that I have salvaged from a piano rebuilder. I have sold quite a few and I will save money at Christmas because ALL of my family members will be receiving these for Christmas. And birthdays.
As my dad has always said, “It’s not how much you earn…it’s how much you save that counts.”
Cream cheese, anyone? Served up with a Sitka spruce spreader made from antique grand piano soundboards.
Copyright 2019, S. G. Hunter and Banjogrrldiaries. All rights reserved.
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