Oct 18, 2005 was the day I had the first of my 4 or 5 strokes. Oct. 19, 2005 was the first day I missed work because of them. Therefore, April 19, 2006 is the 6th month I will be out of work and the day that my employer will become my former employer. I was a consulting software engineer. I worked mostly with Enterprise Java applications for the telecom industry. It is now obvious to me that I will not be able to be back at work before my 6 month date. It is my employers policy to terminate after holding the job for 6 months. Don't get me wrong, I think it is generous they have held my job for 6 months. I just don't want to lose one more thing because of these damned strokes.

I count the calories, carbs, protein, fat and fiber I eat almost in a fanatical way. Last night I tried to do some subtraction by hand and could not have gotten it without my wifes help. Companies don't pay consultants to come and advise them on how to build software that can be accessed all over the world that can't even do simple subtraction.

So... this is a milestone, it is another milestone I don't want. It is one more thing I'm losing that I don't want to lose.