Settling In

After three months at home, I've realized that this is going to be more long-term than I orginally expected. I've run into more complications with my Medical Clearance for the State Department. Which, to anyone who knows me is completely ridiculous. I've never been sick a day in my life. I've caught a flu or a cold, but nothing that I ever had to miss a day of school or work over. But apparently, I have TB. This is nothing new. I've had at least three positive TB skin tests over the years, but always a negative chest x-ray and never a sign of active TB. I was probably exposed to it when I was younger and it never leaves your system. So now, I'm probably going to have to complete 6-9 months of inconvenient treatment before I'm cleared for overseas employment. That's not even the worst of it though. This spring, after multiple blood tests, it turns out that I'm not producing enough neutrophils (bacteria-fighting white blood cells). Neutropenia is usually a symptom of lymphoma or leukemia; of which, I have neither. What really gets me is that in all my traveling I have always been the one who stayed healthy. I have never gotten any kind of bacterial infection, ameoba, parasite, nothing. It's just so frustrating that they received these test results nearly 8 months ago and are just now taking notice. I've been in pre-employment screening for almost a year now. Actually almost two years ago to the day, I decided that I wanted a career in the Foreign Service. I never thought I would still be waiting. Even two months ago, I thought for sure I would be packing my bags by January. I refused to settle in here and accept that I might be living at home for more than a few months. Now I guess I have to face the truth. So what do I want to accomplish here? How am I going to best use my time in Colorado? What's my next move in terms of advancing my career while I wait for my job to come through? I'm sure working at P.F. Chang's isn't going to get me very far.