Some days are stressful. One big thing goes wrong and a few more little things are bothering you and, before you know it, stress and anxiety are overwhelming. Well, that was my day yesterday. I had been somewhat stressed already, but then the big one hit and put me over the top. So I apologize for no blog yesterday. I couldn’t focus, concentrate or even try to be funny. I’ll explain.
My younger daughter started her senior year at college which takes place off the main campus. I worry a lot. It was a new location and I always hate it when my kids have to drive anywhere anyway. She had never parked in a parking lot…I worried about that.
I saw my oncologist this past Thursday. I got a good report, except they saw something on the bone; she thinks it’s nothing. But, she wants me to have a bone scan. My husband already took Monday off so we would be home for my daughter’s first day. I decided to make the appointment early, for when she would be in school. I had no idea it was three hours between getting the radioactive shot and the actual scan. I had no idea that they made a 10 am appointment and had no intention for giving me the shot till 10:30 am. I raced there, in the heat, to be on time. We had to walk almost a half mile from the train. Then I sat and waited. Once I got the shot, we went to have a breakfast at McDonald’s to kill part of the three hours. They did not call me for the scan until 1:40 pm. My anxiety was climbing as I wanted to be home or at least near home, when my daughter left school. She was let out early, 2:10 instead of 3:30, and I was still in the scan. I waited to take the train home until I knew she had gotten home safe. Meanwhile, the thought of the test results are subconsciously eating away at me.
I get home, hug my daughter, and we talk about her first day. I begin to relax. My husband comes up with a piece of mail in his hand. That is never a good thing. The bank says there was a security breach three months ago. A computer got a virus and it may have the potential of allowed personal information him to be accessed. It’s too late to call the bank, they are all gone. So I called yesterday at 8:30 am to speak to the branch manager. I got the Asst. Manager, Nancy. She could not answer my questions, but said someone would call me. Five hours later, after no one called, I call her back. She asks, “No one called you?” I said, “No, that’s why I am calling.” All the while my anxiety is going through the roof. She tells me she will take it upstairs herself right now. Forty minutes later I get a call from Joe Pompalone. He is sorry for the “inconvenience.” I ask all my questions, but I am not very reassured. My husband will have to have a :Fraud Alert” placed on his credit file with all three credit bureaus. The bank is paying for 12 months of credit monitoring to protect us from their mistake. I tell him, first of all we do not bank online nor do we pay bills online to protect ourselves. It’s you that exposed our information to the internet. Secondly, your own company, BreachSecurity, says that we need to be vigilant about checking our credit for 12 to 24 months, but you are only providing 12 months…who is supposed to pay for the additional 12 months? He agrees to throw in another 12 months of credit monitoring. My husband just has to go to the bank and speak to Nancy, the Asst. Manager.
Now, if nothing happens, and I pray to God it doesn’t, that is enough of an “inconvenience.” But if there is a case of identity theft, well that is a horror story I would rather not think about. Unfortunately, I can’t stop my subconscious from thinking about it. So I woke up five times during the night and haven’t been sleeping well, even though I am dead tired.
We have been banking with that branch for over 30 years. Since before we were married. We opened our first joint account there to save up for our wedding. We open our savings and checking there, after we married. We got our home mortgage from them. We have our IRA there. We trusted that bank to protect our money and our personal information. Now, I have to be thinking about this for at least 24 months, and that’s if no other bank or business compromises our information.
That’s why there was no blog yesterday. Life threw me a curve ball and hit me in the head. Hopefully, I will begin to relax soon. I am still waiting for the scan results. My daughter has managed to complete two days of school and tonight is her big “white coat” ceremony! I am so proud of her and I will focus on that today.
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