From: das@canctr.mc.duke.edu
Newsgroups: alt.med.cfs
Subject: Re: Job-search advice wanted
Date: 8 Jan 93 15:16:25 GMT
Reply-To: das@canctr.mc.duke.edu
Distribution: na
Organization: Duke U. Med. Ctr., Durham, NC

In article <93Jan08.071854.22290@acs.ucalgary.ca>, machampi@acs.ucalgary.ca (Mary Ann Champion) writes:
>[stuff deleted to satisfy requirements of this stupid editor...] 
>My question is, how have other people dealt with this with their 
>employers?  Has anyone out there gone job-hunting knowing that 
>they might be laid low at any time?  Has anyone found an 
>understanding employer?  I can't afford to be unemployed for 
>much longer but I wonder if anyone would hire someone who's out of 
>commission as often as I am.
>
>I'd appreciate hearing other people's experiences or getting some 
>advice on handling a job search under the circumstances.  Thanks!
>
>Mary Ann
>-- 
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---Mary Ann Champion---  | "You know... I'd rather see this on TV."
> machampi@acs.ucalgary.ca |  		-- Laurie Anderson
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was diagnosed with CFS in September 1989 after one year of total confusion
and misdiagnoses by several doctors within the same medical establishment.
(I have since been re-diagnosed as having migraines and panic disorder, and 
have been placed on a couple of drugs which actually work and allow me to 
function - at about half the speed I was at prior to October 1988 :-(  .)

The employer I was with at the time I fell ill was very understanding - in the
beginning.  But chronic fatigue, constant headaches, dizzy spells, etc. are NOT 
visible and I just didn't LOOK sick.  For a number of reasons I made some major
changes in October 1989.  I moved out of the SF Bay area to reduce the stress
of city traffic and high pressure employment.  I was hoping to find NC to be
a more peaceful, medium stress environment.  I have not been disappointed :-).
 
I moved in on my sister, a graduate student, with the understanding that since
she was barely able to support herself that I would leave at the end of Jan '90
(3 mos away) if I had not found steady employment.  This meant agreeing to fall
back on plan ZZZ - moving in with my parents; a horrifying concept I was 
determined would not occur.

I had given this a fair amount of thought.  How much money did I need to earn
to cover expenses?  What type of work could I do that would allow me to earn
this salary without wearing me out completely?  How far away from home could
the job be?  How tired I would be at the end of the day was a real concern as I
would still have to be able to drive myself home. I had decided that I needed
to work at mid-level clerical - secretary or bookkeeper would be my best bets.
(By the way, I really HATE being a secretary, but it does pay the bills.)

Finding a job was more difficult than I had imagined.  Not only did I have to 
contend with being new in town, unfamiliar with the ropes and an entity not to
be completely trusted by the temporary agencies; but I also had to deal with
the guilt.  You see, I had decided the only way I could HOPE to find a job was
if I lied and said I had no medical problems.  After all, I knew it wasn't 
something that could be seen or even discovered by a physical.  But I hate to
feel guilt.  I got lucky right off.  The only temporary agency in town willing
to pay me anywhere near what I needed to earn was also desperate for good 
workers and within a couple of miles of home.  Duke Temporary Services kept me
busy for 10 wks.  I worked my tail off and slept from 7 PM to 7 AM every day.
I got good reports from the departments I worked with and finally landed an 
assignment in the department I'm in now.  I've been here for three years but
I doubt I would still be here if I hadn't been diagnosed with migraines and
gotten started on the drugs I'm on now.

The first year at my new job was hell.  I hated being a secretary.  I didn't 
have the energy to be productive past lunch.  I have perfected the ART of 
appearing to work without accomplishing a thing!  But I had gotten lucky.  My
boss NEEDED ME!!!  This is a person who has very exacting standards and I am
able to meet those standards (hey, I don't want to brag here but a person 
capable of getting into Mensa ought to be able to type a memo or make copies 
that meet the requirements of the boss); not only that but she is very much 
like me in personality.  We actually understand each other.  Don't ask me how
it happened, but I, with my intensely foggy brain and chronic fatigue and pain
had managed to locate probably the ONE person in all of Durham who would be
willing to keep me.  She hadn't been able to keep a secretary for years, and
these days people ask me how I manage to stay with her.  :-)  Well, I certainly
don't admit that I'm terrified of looking elsewhere!  

So, I guess in my case I got lucky. And all that stuff about planning what I 
needed to earn and do - it wasn't as easy as it sounds.  Back 3 yrs ago I
couldn't even balance my checkbook.  Fact is, I made a mistake and it took 
until my first cost-of-living increase before I was able to break even each
month.  But I don't know that I qualify as having CFIDS.  I've got one doctor
out in San Jose who believes that's what I have.  The folks at Duke don't 
believe it exists.  Nothing wrong with being conservative.  It took me a year
after I got here before I was sick enough to overcome my guilt at having dared
to obtain a job at a place like Duke to be willing to see one of these nice
specialists.  And, like I said, things aren't peachy keen but I'm not in 
constant pain any more, I can make it 6 hrs a day instead of 4, and I don't 
have to worry about being fired unless I get a few people mad - which isn't
likely to happen.  But if I hadn't seen the doctors here two years ago I 
probably would have lost my job from being off too often.  I'm still out a lot
but when I'm here I get a lot more accomplished.

This has really gotten too long but I'm going to post it anyway.  I don't know
if I have CFIDS but I know that I'm still tired all the time; I still feel 
guilty about not being able to be productive an entire 8 hrs each day; I'm 
happy that I'm on a treatment program that is helping but am not totally 
convinced of the accuracy of the present diagnosis.  Perhaps that's why I
subscribe to this newsgroup?

Good Luck Mary Ann!  I sincerely hope you can find work you can handle.
I gave serious consideration to trying to find work at home or to pushing to
be declared disabled but am still leaving those choices for the future.

----------
Lora M. LeMosy
das@canctr.mc.duke.edu - or - 71544.467@compuserve.com
I don't speak for the university and the university does not speak for me.
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          /
Newsgroups: alt.med.cfs