Truck Drivers News

Well, some of you might be wondering what has been going on with me for the last couple weeks. I know it seems as if I have fallen off the face of the earth, and I am sure some of you wish this would happen. Anyway, I have been running ragged going to several different doctors appointments. Funny how one day you are healthy as a horse, then all of a sudden you are sick and have several health issues going at once. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT looking for any sympathy here I just figured I would explain why I have been absent for a few days.

Back in April, some of you might remember me telling you about spraining my ankle as I climbed off the back of my tanker trailer. Well, this is an ongoing problem now, I still am unable to drive because of the pain when I move my foot from the accelerator to the brake and apply pressure. It also has cost my job as a truck driver, as I was released to return to work but, the company required a DOT physical in order to return, I failed the hearing test part of the physical making myself ineligible to drive a semi. I guess it is not meant to be, when you are 6′5″ and 480 pounds to step down off your trailer like I did. I recently went and did an FCE test, to determine what (Kind) of job I am able to do. This test also brought out another problem that I have. Now seems as if I have pinched nerve in my lower back not allowing me to lift anything much more than a 12 pack of pop from the ground, without severe pain. This was either done when I hurt my ankle and it is just now showing up, or it is a result of the 55 pound truck hood striking me in the head/neck/upper back back in 05.

While I have been off, my left leg and ankle has swollen to an unbelievable size. Swelling I am used too, most truckers have poor circulation in their legs and they swell up. This is defiantly something different because the right leg swells but, not as bad. It started effecting the bottoms of my feet as well, so I finally made an appointment to go see the doctor. She ordered a blood test first thing, and also an Electrocardiograph of the heart. The heart test kinda worries me, as she explained she wants to see how much dead tissue is located in the heart because of me having had sleep apnea. I go and have this test done today.

I was called into the doctor yesterday to be given the results of the blood test I had done a few days earlier. They don’t call you in to give you the results of a test unless something is NOT right. Well, the news was not so good. I found out yesterday that I now have class II diabetes, she put me on pills and explained this is what I could take as long as I would keep it up, but if I got LAZY and didn’t try to control it, then it would turn into type I and I would have to be given the shots. This evidently is what was causing my feet too feel like they were on fire. Diabetes effect your feet and eyes first, if untreated, then you start losing toes, then your foot, then the leg. Eyes, you will lose your site if not taken seriously.

And lastly, I have been scheduled to take another sleep study in order to get a machine back in here so I can use it again. My last machine was stolen several years ago from my truck and I just didn’t ever get it back.
In closing drivers, don’t take your health for granted get regular check ups when you can so you can avoid having your career taken away from you, like mine has been.

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