Never give up! Don't let anyone give you the "you'll never fly again" line.
Honestly, if you were to tell me right now that in the snap of a finger everything could go back to normal, but I could never fly an airplane again, I would take that trade without a doubt in my mind or a single regret.
Until you lose your health in a major way, you don't realize how trivial everything else is. Even airplanes, which have defined my entire life in some way or another become unimportant when you lose "normal".
Crap of it is, the lyme and whatever else I may have is hitting me neurologically. I've been dizzy/lightheaded, basically drunk feeling for nine months straight. I've had the equivalent of an astronauts/presidential health work up, and the only thing that comes back positive or abnormal is blood work for lyme, plus the EM rash I had when this all started. I just cant freaking beat it unfortunately. I am going to beat it, I know that. I'll never give up, but man this is sure a fight.
This isn't exclusive to pilots, but I hope the dudes that fly professionally really consider my story. Early thirties, healthy as an ox, flying brand new business jets to every corner of the globe and happy as a pea, and in the snap of a finger whole world gets turned upside down.
Thank goodness we have been smart with our money and lived within our means. We make a crap ton of it, and although we could have bought a much fancier house and cars, we didn't and that is proving to be invaluable. Even at 60% of my salary (disability), we can still pay every single bill and still save a little. We're not taking annual vacations to the Caribbean anymore, but other then that, financially we aren't disturbed too much. I can't imagine going through a major health issue and on top of that having to worry about how you will pay bills.
I don't even know how I got started on this. Be smart pilots of AH. We work in a profession where health is everything, and losing a medical can happen to anyone. That and, enjoy each click into your five point harness before each flight...You never know...
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