Re: CP and continued Employment.

[Guest guest]

-Hi Colin,

I'm so sorry to hear of your current problems with pancreatitis and

work. I too had a very stressful position with Hertz Rent-A-Car as

the Region Revenue Manager for the Southern Region (USA). The

territory I was responsible for was fairly large and required a

tremendous amount of travel(if you are familiar with American

geography, the territory covered from Austin, Texas to the west to

Charlotte, North Carolina to the east and Memphis Tennessee to the

north, and New orleans, Louisiana to the south. I was based out of

Atlanta Georgia). I was able to fulfill all of my work obligations

for over 4 years, but I had many setbacks along the way that I was

hesitant to explain to my employer due to past work experiences and

job losses caused by this illness prior to my securing a proper

diagnosis of Pancreas Divisum back in 1990. Well eventually, I

couldn't continue the charade and had to " come clean " with my boss,

the Region V.P. He at first tried to work with me but, as time went

on and I continued to experience my health problems, he decided that

I needed to reduce the stress I was under and replaced me with

someone else. I was not given any specific responsibilities

initially as they wanted to see how my health would be now that I was

released from my position. This was hell for me as I am not good

at " busy work " , finding things for myself to do throughout the course

of the day. I needed specific goals to attempt to achieve and this

position (if you can call it that) did not afford me the opportunity

to achieve anything as nothing was expected from me. I continued in

this way for about 3 months until one really bad day of this

illness. That was when I told my boss that i was going to go out on

Short-Term Disability to

try and get a handle on my health. Unfortunately, it took me much

longer than I expected and rolled into Long-term Disability. That

was when I was told that I need not try to come back as there was no

position available for me to come back to except for an entry level

management position. Naturally, I refused to take such a drastic

step backward in my career and so I applied for my Social

Security/Disability benefits, which I got on my 2nd attempt (I'm not

certain if you have this or anything similar in your country but I

hope you do).

I am not telling you all of this in order to strike fear in you,

don't get me wrong. I just wanted to share my personal experience

with this illness of pancreatitis in relation to my most recent

employer. Naturally, everyone's experiences will differ as we all

have varying degrees of this illness and work for different

companies. However, if I were you I'd watch my back since your story

sounds extremely close to what I had to go through and I would hate

for you to be blindsided by your employer.

Take care of yourself, that's the most important thing. You can

always get another job, but once you do damage to your health, there

is no 2nd chance.

Andre'

-- In pancreatitis , " Colin Steele " <colin@c...> wrote:

> Hi again.

> I realise that it is early days for me as I have only recently been

diagnosed with having Pancreatitis.

> However as I have already discussed my pains are getting more

frequent and as they have been on and off for 6 months now, I feel I

may have Cronic Pancreatitis. However upcoming tests will show the

situation more clearly hopefully.

>

> One other question which is swirling around in my mind is regarding

my job. A month ago I did ask for a change of role. I currently am a

branch Manager in charge of 2 offices for Halifax Bank of Scotland

(Branch Banking). I felt the stress of the job was affecting me and

aggrivating my " stomach pains " which I have had since December 2003.

This together with triple heart bypass surgery 2 years ago made my

mind up that I needed to switch roles within the Bank to something a

bit more focussed and less stressful going forward. Also, my wife has

been diagnosed with eye problems which may lead to near blindness

with her in around 10 years.

>

> Since my vacation to USA my position locally has now been filled so

I am somewhat in limbo at present and my boss does not want to

discuss future options until I am well enough to return to work. (I

am currently signed off work for 2 weeks following hospitalisation in

the USA during my vacation).

> I would like anyones views or experience as to employers reactions

to this illness, especially as there may be many days coming up I may

feel unwell enough to attend work. There may also be times that I

need to attend hospital for pain relief or further tests. As I have

worked for the organisation for 23 years I would get a reasonable pay-

off with immediate pension and as my wife works as well, we would

manage just fine. My own views are positive towards this. The rule of

thumb seems to be if you have an illness where you probably will not

recover from, and I assume CP falls into this category. I am only 40

years old, but am sure that if required for financial or sanity!

reasons I could pick up a small job to supplement our income.

>

> Anyones views are appreciated.

> Good Health

> Colin

> Blairgowrie

> Scotland

>

>