In the last few weeks, I have found that I have reduced stamina when I'm going to work 4 days a week. Because of this, I thought I would go back to the beginning, back to where I first got a job 5 years ago.
August - September 2008
Imagine any normal 18 year old, just finishing their A Levels and going into 6th Form to get their results, so they know if they got into uni or not. This was me. The only difference being that I had other plans... and it didnt involve going to uni.
For the last few months, I had been going to my mums work voluntarily to stop me getting bored. I had applied for hundreds of jobs and had no luck, so had given up hope, and to get out the house, worked for nothing at East Durham College doing general administration work. I loved it.
The week before my results for my A levels, I had a phone call from my mothers boss, telling me that a lady at one of the other sites had gone on long term sick, and they needed quick and convenient cover to sit on the reception, and she thought I would be perfect for it. As an 18 year old, all i thought at that point was "MONEY!!!" so I applied for the job, and a week later, I was in an East Durham College uniform, sitting in the reception for the first time with a girl that had just spent the weekend i n Magaluf for a hen weekend and so was severely hung over.
As the month passed, I proved myself, and was offered another temporary job, so I withdrew my uni acceptance, and got into the world of work.
October 2008 - March 2009
In the few months of temporary work, I had to go on the sick for 2 weeks, due to having severe pain in my hip. At this point, the doctor only suspected bursitis, so it was a case of grin and bear it and get on with work.
In March 2009, my temporary contract was up for renewal, but I had an interview for another administration job, which was on a permanent contact, and so I left East Durham College on 6th March 2009 to go to Learning Curve.
March 2009 - March 2010
This first year at Learning Curve was the best and worst year of my life. Health wise, my hip was getting progressively worse, but I was establishing myself as a good worker and settling in well. In the November, between having botox on my ankle and my hip "bursitis" getting worse, I had to have 3 months off on the sick whilst on crutches and between home and doctors and on tramadol.
Whilst off on the sick, funding changed and work and there were risks of redundancies at work. Once I found out that, thankfully, I had not been made redundant, I took the decision that, due to my disability, hip, leg, hand, and stamina, I would reduce my hours to 3 days a week, giving me the chance to work less hours and rest for four days, which worked for a while.
June 2010
This month was the most memorable for me. This was when the cortizone injections and local anastetic stopped working in my hip. I was referred from my Orthopedic Specialist to a Hip Specialist, who took an x-ray, and informed me, in a way that only this man does, that I had hip dysplasia, meaning that my hip was not fully formed and the plate which protects my hip bone was in the wrong place. I would go on to have 2 major operations to fix this problem. Having these operations, which took place in May 2011 and May last year, meant that I had to have a total of a year off work, for which I wasnt discriminated against.
Now
Now, I have a different job role, and work 4 days a week. I have a specialist chair paid by work to offer me support and a desk which adjusts in height, in case I need to stand up while I work. I now use Baclofen, which means that work are constantly on stand-by for side effects. Although my normal working days are Monday-Thursday, work allow me to pick and choose, for example if I have a physio appointment, or if I am feeling too unwell.
In the up and coming months, I will be receiving botox in my hand, in attempt to reduce the spasticity. For this, work will need to allow me more time to recover.
Although my place of work is hopeful that I will eventually increase my hours, I am doubtful, as 4 days seems to be a balance between earning enough money to live a "normal" life and to minimise the effects of my hemiplegia.
So there you have it, a background into the working life of me. I think its important that although I have hemiplegia, I try and live like any "normal" person, and am employed. The difference is that I need to, and have, found a workplace who understands that I have certain needs due to my disability, and helps me to tend them. I hope that this will continue for many years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment