Why I Find Big Ed's Demotion To Weekends Troubling

[stopbush]

67. My wife went through chemo and radiation for breast cancer back in 2004.

She's been in remission for over 5 years, so she's considered to be cured.

I didn't have Ed's financial resources at the time to take more time off from work than I could possibly spare. And I certainly didn't have the resources to opt for cutting back on work to spend more time with my wife.

No, I had to go the opposite way, making sure that she or I had a job where she could be on insurance just in case the cancer returned. It meant finding ways to bring in more income during those periods where we had to go on an expensive COBRA. We went through the scary times where businesses I was working for closed up shop, and you couldn't be sure that you'd be able to even afford the COBRA.

The one thing I wished for during those years was a steady job that I could count on.

Ed's situation is different, of course. He has an MSNBC contract and a radio show, so he doesn't have the same kind of worries. I'm just saying that people don't always have the option to chuck their day job because a spouse is sick. I'd have to think that even a well-compensated star like Ed needs to run the numbers and see if he can or can't make a move like going to weekends on MSNBC. Such a move could hurt his brand and hurt his prospects for long-term financial health.

Changing jobs or responsibilities is tough enough. It's worse when you're dealing with a family illness. if anything, you don't need that kind of change in your life when you're already dealing with the changes brought on by illness.