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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / starving!!!!!!
- - By Redfaceok (*) Date 10-14-2009 03:45
anybody know about any pipeline jobs that might need welders. I am hurting.
Parent - - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 10-15-2009 22:57
Sorry to hear that. I keep hearing about lots of guys eating their boots. Couple welder buddies around me just barely staying afloat, one guys working on cars, motorcycles, lawnmowers! Doing whatever it takes to survive. Good luck!! Hope something turns up for ya
Parent - - By Johnyutah (**) Date 10-16-2009 00:27
One thing you never want to do is wait around for the draw it's nice to sit on the couch for a few days but then you have to get right back to it no matter what it may be. Over the years I have done whatever it takes I go back to operating, run hot shot, work single hand for who ever is hiring. The thing is until you have the money in the bank you can't afford to be proud and even then pride can still be your down fall. I guess my point is this just keep swimming your a rig welder but thats not all you can do and anyone you work for honestly looks good on your resume it shows your not to proud.
Parent - - By rigchaser85 (**) Date 10-16-2009 01:07
Johnny
You said it all.
Parent - - By JLWelding (***) Date 10-16-2009 04:23 Edited 10-16-2009 04:47
Yea things are tough for everybody, I have three jobs in the making and if one of them dont come thur I may be eating beans with no bread. On top of that my house got taken over with mold had to haul it out and build a 1100 square feet new house and now I owe my family and in laws 35kfor coming to my rescue, then wife left, cant say as I blam her, Found out I have hipitius c( liver dease) taking treatment and it is about to kill me been taking it for 5 months and got five more to go. Dogs old and cant get around anymore, oh he's got worms on top of that, cant bring my self to put him down, nor have the money to take him to vet, my mother is almost 80 and she needs help but you know out of everybody she is doing the best god bless her someone needs to because I damn sure aint in good sourts to be any help.
But we do the best we can and keep pluging at it and always remember that someone eles has it worse off than you and I, I know that sounds weird after rereading post, but hey. God Bless, Right? Oh almost forgot had two mini strokes back in January damn near killed me, quit smoking after 38 years real fun to be around after 10 months. Got to take 14 pills a day and give my self a shot from he!! once a week but that will be over with in 5 months and only have to take 3 or four a day after that. I guess thats enough.
Parent - - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 10-16-2009 13:59 Edited 10-16-2009 14:07
Hi JL Welding!

If anyone understands what you are going through it is me! I just celebrated twelve years  of living with the Gift of Life when I received a liver transplant back on October 8th, 1997 and understand what it's like to be scared out of your wits when you got the news from your Doctor about being infected with Hepatitis C since that was one of the main reasons why my liver failed also even though my liver was destined to fail even if I wasn't infected by the virus due to the fact that I had a degenerative condition in my liver which I was born with prior to being infected as a result of receiving a blood transfusion back in 1997 because I was assaulted by 5 s@umbags in a subway station in Queens NY on my own day of infamy, December 7th,1986.

I lost a few pints of blood from the assault because I fought back and was left for dead but thankfully, a witness called 911 and two police officers in a squad car decided not to wait for the ambulance and instead, put me in the back seat of their squad car and drove me to the nearest hospital ER which was fortunately, only four blocks away from the subway station.

I managed to recover in a relatively short period of time considering what happened, and for a relatively good amount of time passed form the incident until 1992 rolled around, then suddenly as if to catch me off guard intentionally, I received notice in the mail after applying for a position, and hoping to settle down from all of the traveling as an NTL boilermaker at Con Edison of NYC that they found some abnormalities in my blood work as part of the medical exam they give you once you pass a battery of test to determine your capabilities form a theoretical perspective as well as from a practical standpoint in order to see whether you had what it takes to be a pipe welder there and you only take the medical as long as you do well in both the theory and practical tests...

So as a result of that letter, I went to see my primary care physician to run some more sensitive blood work on me and the results came back with a positive marker for hepatitis C and then I was asked all kinds of questions like did you ever do drugs intraveneously, or was your sex life very promiscuous ,and I answered a resounding NO to both questions and felt as if I was being interrogated by the police at that point and was very upset with the fact that it came to me almost instantaneously that I must have became infected back in 1986 as a result of the blood transfusions I received form being assaulted back then which seemed very logical since they also asked me if I had received a blood transfusion also, and I did answer yes to that question yet, I felt after wards that they were not believing me when I told them what happened because as I found out at a later time that most infected individuals got infected from sharing needle during drug use and I never did drugs!!!

So, I understand the trauma and the stigma you must be facing once other people in your life found out that you are infected with the Hep C virus!!! However, you must learn not to let it get under your skin, and I nkow that this is going to be hard for you to comprehend but, you must learn to be grateful that they caught the viral infection in time since they now have better screening protocols these days compared to when I was first diagnosed back in 1992, and there is much better treatment options available now than when I was going through what you are now!

Back then, I had to inject myself with thre times the amount of Interferon Alfa 2b than what they prescribe today and I had to inject myself everyday as opposed to nowadays where you only have to take a shot once a week because the medicine lasts longer in your system than what I was taking... The quality of the medicine is much better than it was when I was on the treatment back then and it didn't even work for me because I had to go back on it two more times for a year ech time, and ended up having to be put on a liver transplant waiting list because of an incident which occurred on the job as a boilermaker, and I ended up waiting four years for one even though I was still on treatment that is now considered obsolete... In other words, I went through hell and yet I still managed to survive in spite of all of the setbacks in between!

I also lost everything that I worked so hard to achieve back in those days yet, I have emerged from all of the catastrophic events I experienced while waiting for my transplant, the setbacks and near death experiences after wards, the diagnosis of cancer more than once, and from different origins and diabetes a few years ago and yet I'm still here so, please take some solace that no matter how frightening things may be at times - so long as you do not lose your faith in the God of your understanding, you will overcome and find a sense of serenity even though right now what I'm sharing with you may seem far fetched, you only need to open up your bible and read the story of Jobe (it's spelled a bit differently in the old testament) because it wil inspire you as it has me with the trials and tribulations I have gone through in my own life.

It's really quite simple once one realizes that in order to overcome any calamity that may frighten us to no end, one must learn how to turn, or convert their fears into faith and as simple as it sounds, it is much more difficult to do in practice yet, you already will be winning half the battle so long as you do not resort to removing yourself from the people who care about you, or from welcoming help from total strangers who may also be helpful in supporting you as you go through this crisis... In other words, please do not succumb to pushing people away from you when you are feeling angry or depressed of your situation because you will only make it harder for yourself to cope with your situation.

what I learned to do is to Keep It Simple Stupid, otherwise known as the K.I.S.S method of living life on life's terms and accepting the fact that sh!t happens and there's nothing I can do to change it once it does happen which kind of simplifies everything as opposed to letting everything become more and more confusing as well as complicated when I try to understand why all of these things have happened to me, and why do I deserve all of this misery especially when you know deep in your heart that you are not a person that went around intentionally harming others, and probably would give the shirt off your back to anyone in need...

When I realized that I wasn't immune from bad things happening to me just because I was always a good person towards others is the time a great feeling of burden was lifted from my spirit, and this can also happen to you if you accept the fact that you are no different than anyone else who has suffered whether or not you feel you didn;t deserve it or not!!! This is what you need to learn how to think from now on because if you do not, you will continue to let these crisis that seem to keep coming at you, one after another -overwhelm you and giving you a feeling of hopelessness that can if you let it, paralyze you from overcoming what may seem at first to be insurmountable devastation due to the overwhelming fear that is controlling your thoughts, your spirit, your life!!!

You need to let go and let God!!! Do it!!! Don't just say it and, live every day as if it were the very last day of your life by accomplishing as many what may seem at first, very small, insignificant objectives and goals, and then soon enough at the end of each day, you will realize that there is something worth living for, and that will be what you couldn't accomplish that day which you will be able to get to the next day!!!

And then slowly but, surely one day follows the next and before you know or realize it, you now have an ever growing list of accomplishments that you can look back at and be proud of being able to achieve them no matter how trivial they may seem at first!!! and this is how one repairs and gets their life back from the abyss IMHO. and I can say this because I've been there and done that more times than I care to remember, but remember I must because I cannot be helpful towards others if I forget from where I came from!
I still remember those 53 pills a day I was taking while I was waiting for my transplant like it was yesterday and that is a constant reminder of how grateful I am to have overcome what I've managed so far and how much better prepared I am for any future situations.

So, I'm going to stop here and hopefully you will get something out of what I have shared with you and use it so that it works best for you which may not be exactly the same way it worked for me - CAPECHE??? In any event, I will as I know others here will also pray for you and your family! :) :) :) NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Respectfully,
Henry 
Parent - - By Ringo (***) Date 10-16-2009 14:48
Man,you must be one tough son-of-a-gun.That would have killed most people.I think everybody should call you "The Ultimate Survivor"
Parent - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 10-16-2009 15:22
Hi Ringo!
Nah... I'm just a simple man who is too stubborn to give up so easily and with God in my life, it sure makes it easier to carry on! ;) But thanks for the compliment!!! ;) ;) ;)

Respectfully,
Henry
Parent - - By JLWelding (***) Date 10-16-2009 14:49
Thanks Henry, I have two people I need to go talk to. Bill and Bob I havent been around in a while.
Parent - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 10-16-2009 15:19
They are two of my best friends besides the Almighty I choose to call God... That's for sure!!! Well! What are you waiting for??? They're expecting you and have a seat with your name on it!!! :) ;) :)

Respectfully,
Henry
Parent - - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-17-2009 04:04
Henry you always come thru with all of us and i am going to remind you and also tell Joe to P.U.S.H. Pray Until Something Happens because of you Henry telling me this during my trying times i will nevr forget this my step son even made up bussiness cards laminated with this logo on it and handed them out to his friends to get everybosy praying for ryder As for joe man this is the best place you can come to with your trubles if ya dont believe me just do a search for RYDER or Pleaae pray for my son and youl'll see ryder is my son we lost him to brain cancer lats year he was 10 months old and pretty much everybody in here knows his story and what was going on with him every minute of every day these guys and gals in here are the best friends youl'll ever find so Joe just P.U.S.H. brother and let god deal with it
Parent - - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 10-17-2009 06:33
Thanks for those kind words Shad! ;)
I read that for the moment you're working nowadays again. is that right? If it is, I'm reall happy for you Brother!!! Even if it is temporary, as long as you can keep the bank off your back for the time being, then just about anything is better than nothing at all especially in these days!!! :) :) :)  Dios Te Bendigas Mi Amigo!!! ;) God Bless You My Friend! ;)

Respectfully,
Henry
Parent - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-18-2009 02:48
yea man start on monday and i agree with ya shut them bankers up damn they act like money grows on trees
Parent - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-18-2009 16:01
Henry you were there form the get go with Ryder and your words as well as the words of many of the others here in this great forum helped me get through it. I will never forget to P.U.S.H. because of you thatnk you brother for being 1 of the many rocks i found to lean on during my trying times.
Parent - - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-17-2009 03:50
hey man it may look and sound bad but you could be like ryder and 6 feet under be glad god has givien you the strength to keep goin itll all work out it always does maybe not like you want but it will trust me I KNOW
Parent - - By shorthood2006 (****) Date 10-17-2009 11:16
if it werent for craigslist and the trifty nickel magazine, i would be starving too. If you have the gift to buy, sell and trade anything.. it will work for you!!! It has worked for me!!!! From oilfield pipe to vehicles.... it will work.
Parent - - By JLWelding (***) Date 10-18-2009 04:37
Yea man I sat back one day and started felling sorry for my self, and started writing shi- down and I dont know what came over me just busted out laughing it was like what the he!! That list is just the tip of the iceburg.A lot of crap has come down pike this year, for everybody.
Parent - - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-18-2009 04:57
get up dust yourself off and get back on
Parent - - By shorthood2006 (****) Date 10-18-2009 14:09
amen!!!! the work is slow...but a man has to be diversified. Im pouring concrete this week on a small job and trenching waterlines too.
Parent - - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-18-2009 15:59
i ahve begged and pleaded with the bank and phone company til im blue in the face and finally something came along. ill be building hand rail in a waste water treatment plant most likely gonna be a S&!^ job lol but its money they also said they need some buckets repaired and rebuilt on some equipment said id be here in austin a month maybe more lets hope for more. my wifes cousin got me the gig and said they are alwyas tearing stuff up so we'll see
Parent - - By JLWelding (***) Date 10-19-2009 04:03
Shad do you know how much they pay for mat.? I will call tomorrow and get a quote. If we can make a dollar and not do anything.
Parent - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-19-2009 10:42
i wont no knowing until today
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / starving!!!!!!

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