Opinion
Val Finnemore
My Rocky Trail to Retirement
With great anticipation, I could see light at the end of a tunnel that I had
entered well over two decades ago! My plan was to retire from a gratifying
teaching career in December of 2016. I anticipated counting down my final
school days, then raising my arms in celebration as I walked out of that tunnel
into the sunny liberation of retirement. Little did I know that I was to take
a breathless plummet into the combined worlds of E. Munch’s Scream and
Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory.
On June 23, 2014, I was lounging
on my deck contemplating the
beauty of my yard and life in
general, but my thoughts drifted
to the declining physical condition
that I had been experiencing since
March. I had painful mouth ulcers
and was unable to eat properly,
which was leading to greater than
usual fatigue and weakness by
this time in the school year. Tears
unexpectedly fi lled my eyes as I
saw the writing on the proverbial
wall, and my intuition was telling
me that I was unlikely to make
a full recovery by September.
However, I was determined to
endure to the end of the year with
my students.
I had been working part-time
the last few years because of
previous medical conditions. If I
needed an extended medical leave
beyond September to recover, I
would not be able to pay my bills
based on the allotted income
from my part-time salary. I had
to retire! The fi nal week of school
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was a whirlwind of winding up
with my students, conferring
with my principal, handing in
my resignation, and submitting
the required forms to begin
retirement — not to mention
cleaning out years of accumulated
teaching materials from a
classroom and storage area.
On July 17, 2014, I arrived in
dire condition to an appointment
with my rheumatologist. He
immediately asked my friend to
wheel me across the walkway to
the emergency department at the
University of Alberta Hospital.
This physical whammy proved not
to be a quick fi x!
I had again wandered into
the wiley world of the ‘wolf’ by
encountering a multifaceted
lupus fl are-up that looked very
diff erent from my previous fl ares.
My fl are-ups usually presented
with painful, red, and swollen
joints. This time, my immune
system went haywire with a litany
of symptoms that would endure
for the next year and a half.
The painful mouth ulcers made
eating diffi cult, and weakness
and signifi cant muscular atrophy
required months of using a walker.
I had blistering rashes, and the
skin on my fi ngers peeled, making
them very painful. Pericarditis
was aff ecting my heart. I suff ered
two unexpected medically induced
allergic reactions. Weakness and
fatigue were continuous challenges.
Eventually, having baffl ed the
doctors, I underwent six months
of outpatient chemotherapy to
knock out my immune system in
order to reboot it. Two cataract
surgeries were also thrown into
the mix. Finally, I had a bout of
pneumonia that warranted my
third hospital stay. It was quite a
rollercoaster ride of decline and
recovery throughout that year
and a half. Mentally, I suff ered
states of disbelief, disappointment,
anger, and depression. So far, my
retirement had been a physical and
mind-bending bomb blast!