Working

[rebekah]

Oh my gosh, I've missed everyone so much! Sorry, I haven't been super active on here lately, but I started a full time job as a pharmacy tech at the hospital. It's super exhausting and I just don't know how I can possibly keep it up since I'm on my feet for 8 hours. The health benefits are wonderful, but I don't want to risk my health getting worse. I want to talk to my manager about dropping to 75-80% so I can still keep my health benefits and think that one more day off a week would be good for me. How would you recommend I go about bringing this up? When I did my pre-employment physical I didn't include any of my health issues because I didn't want that to affect me getting the job... but I never realized just how difficult it would be to work 40 hours.

I hope everyone is doing well!

[Debbie C]

Hey Rebekah,wondered where u have been. Can you get benefits at 32 hrs ? I think in most places that is the lowest you can go I don't know though since things have changed so much. Now that you have the job maybe you should just be honest with the boss and tell him your situation. Even if he can't let you off an extra day maybe they can make your days shorter thru the week. Good luck and don't be a stranger !!

[MikeG-2012]

Oh my gosh, I've missed everyone so much! Sorry, I haven't been super active on here lately, but I started a full time job as a pharmacy tech at the hospital.

Can you work shorter days more days a week for a while? It might be better for you to work shorter hours each day? Just my .02 for today!

[annekat]

Hi, Rebekah, nice to hear from you! Excellent ideas above; I hope you can figure out something that will work for you and your boss. I think that even just one day off or a couple hours off each day would help. You could then work your way back up to a fuller schedule. How to go about bringing up the subject, though... I really don't know. I hope someone can help with that. Debra's idea on that is good.... honesty is the best policy.

[rebekah]

Thanks guys! Yeah I've just been working and sleeping, literally. I can still get the health benefits working 32 hours. I had to email my scheduling manager because I've been scheduled so much overtime... The new hospital just opened and it's all hands on deck, but I have no time to study for the tech exam and my health can't take it. It's physically and mentally exhausting. The 8 hour shifts are rough, but I know there's no way around that. I just don't know how to bring up my health issues. Send an email asking to meet before my shift and talk about my medical issues and adjusting my schedule? But I don't even know how to tell him without blurting out, "I have Wegener's."

[Alias]

If you work in a hospital presumably there are enough employees there that you are covered by FMLA and the ADA. It could be helpful to get something from your doc with recommendations for work restrictions and to talk with your employer's HR department about accommodating those restrictions. This can be tricky territory to navigate though. You might actually start with talking with your manager or HR rep about what kind of flexibility there is in scheduling ... before you get something in writing saying you can't do a full schedule; you don't want to set yourself up for being let go. This could be a big can of worms, but it's something you could look into.

[MikeG-2012]

I just don't know how to bring up my health issues. Send an email asking to meet before my shift and talk about my medical issues and adjusting my schedule? But I don't even know how to tell him without blurting out, "I have Wegener's."

How about, "I thought it wasn't going to be an issue, but with the auto-immune disease I have, the extended hours and overtime are starting to take a toll on my body that I did not expect. I realize that we are all hands on deck right now, and I need to be here, and I am doing everything in my power to get here and be part of the team. But when we get settled, can I reduce my hours for a while so I can study for the tech exam, and focus on my health?"

That might give you a start...

[gilders]

Hi Rebekah, I believe working is the best way forward with any health problem. Getting the right balance of how many hours/days you work, but still earn enough to pay bills and receive health benefits is the tricky part AND not pushing yourself too hard and relapsing.
Not been upfront about your health before you got the job wasn't ideal, but I can totally understand why you wouldn't bring it up and risk not getting the job.
Perhaps you could pretend you weren't as knowledgeable about Wegener's as you really are. Explain that you have been in remission for quite sometime and thought that you were back to full health. Let him/her know that you thought you could handle all the hours, but it has become a shock to you that you still suffer fatigue, etc from Wegener's.

It's going to be a hard balance between explaining how serious Wegener's is, without having your employer think "well if it's so serious, why the hell didn't you tell me about it before I employed you?" and on the other hand making it sound not too severe where your employer will think you should be able to cope with the hours.

Good luck. Let us know how any meeting you have goes.

[rebekah]

Thanks, Mike and gliders! That sounds like a great way to put it. You bring up great points. I'm off today and was drafting on paper what I want to say/how to word it. I'm going to hopefully meet with my manager before one of my shifts this week. I don't know if it's pred brain or being sleep deprived from working so much, but one of the pharmacists asked me to get nitroglycerin last night. I started typing 'ni-' and then asked how to spell it. I know how to spell it... I felt so stupid for asking. I realized then that I really need to work less.

[annekat]

True, hardly anyone knows anything about our illness; we know more than most, mainly because we read the forum, but there is still the element of unpredictability. So it wouldn't be that strange for you to say that you never realized that, even though you are in remission, it might still take a toll on your ability to work, at least for awhile. A lot of us would not know that! And how many others with an AI disease in remission, such as RA, for example, would feel obligated to tell that to a prospective employer if everything seemed fine? I've never been in this situation, so it is definitely just my 2 cents worth, and one way of looking at it.