Going back to work

[Kathy]

I am being a big baby

You most certainly are NOT!

I have done secretarial work and long hours of typing and proofing are stressful. At least in a secretarial position, you have some variety most days. Medical transcription is particularly difficult because of the vast amount of terminology. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache!

 

[ALCapshaw2]

You've made a LOT of good progress Christina !

I've watched you go from 'freaking out' to taking it all in stride and now contributing to others with the benefit of your experience and even tossing in a little humor.

GOOD WORK !

Keep it up.

'AL'

 

[Christina L]

Thanks, Al, for the compliment. Believe me, I still have my "moments."

It has helped as I have gotten to feeling better physically and have gotten busier with my time (because of feeling better).

However, my job I do, medical transcription, as Kathy knows, can give a person a literal headache - it is very repetitive and intense and the WORST part for me, is that it is ALL about medical problems. A transcriptionist (I have been doing this now for 17 years!) can sit and transcribe and think of other things. So as neurotic as I am, I will type a note and a gal will have some symptoms, and I will think, "oh my gosh, do I have that?" OR, I will type very sad notes - it all goes into my brain and I'm sure is not helping my state of mind.

It has been a great job to have after my surgery - as I can work at home, but I am considering, once I am well enough, to look for a job outside the home that will totally take my mind off of ME. Kathy is right - secretarial work is varied and you are around other people all day - no time to sit and stew. Sometimes I get in my moods and all Wayne can say is "you need to get ouf of the house." ~

Christina L.

 

[MarciaB]

Thanks guys,

I managed to work one hour on Monday. I had to go for a protime (yes I got a Saint Jude's) It's 45 minutes away so it takes over two hours to go there. That was my first driving experience - I forgot my purse and had to turn around ten minutes out and go back - picked up some Tylenol while I was at it.

Tuesday, I drove to the surgeon's office, then came back and met with two clients by 11:00. I was exhausted then, so I ate lunch, took a nap until 2:00, rode the exercise bike a half hour and worked for another hour drawing pretty pictures for sales brochures - I'm an architect, all residential, I have a 50% partner and a part-time employee, the office is connected to my house. Then I went to the grocery store to pick up a prescription and drove 30 minute to the barn for my daughter's jumping lesson. It was freezing out there and the trainer had them do lots and lots of courses because most of the kids are showing at the Stock Show next week. We didn't get home until 9:00 - oh yea, I made a big pot of soup to take to the barn. It's not the working that's hard - it's the rest of the stuff!!

Bummer is, I didn't get to look at the boards all day! And the client are circling, starting to pile up the work. Even if you are self employed, you still have "bosses". I don't feel too bad that my partner is swamped, I've always had more work ethic than she has (actually warms my heart a little to see her taking work home to do at night), she's being very good at trying to protect me from the clients - she's a bigger wimp than I am about health stuff and she knows it.

Christina - I don't think I will be able to do anything very "mental" for a while, you're good to not let them push you around - your health is more important.

Kenny- my mom was a realtor, she loved her work also. It does peeve me a little to see the realtor sell one of our houses and make more than we did!

Marcia

 

[Christina L]

Marcia!!

You are an architect?? Designing for residential??

Wayne and I may want to use your services! We have a couple of areas of our house that we want redesigned - the outside of the house on the south and the north!! Our driveway entrance was changed because of new condos (yuk) that were built by our home so we need to revamp the north side of the house so it looks like the entrance.

How much do you charge for a consultation and to draw up plans??

We can't afford to do the construction right now, but Wayne has said he wanted to get an idea of what we would be looking at and wondering if an architect could help us get going.

P.S. Your day yesterday made me tired just reading it!!!

Christina L.

 

[MarciaB]

Christina,

Shame on you! I just had OPEN HEART SURGERY!

I will pm you on what we do/charge when I can face thinking about it.

Marcia

 

[Christina L]

Oh shoot - I figured you would be up here today - standing out in the freezing cold and drawing designs for our home!!

Truly, I don't want to give you more work right now - there is NO rush on this - I was just wondering if it would be a possibility for you to do this.

As I said, we certainly have no money to start construction, so even late spring or summer would be a GREAT time for you and your partner to come up and do some designs for us!!

Have a great day!!

Hey, I just had open heart surgery too and don't want to even begin to think of construction guys milling around this house - all the noise and dust - yikes!!

Christina L.

 

[Raverlaw]

Marcia,

Your issue is something I have been worrying about, since I am also self-employed. You are right about our clients being the bosses- all of you who say things like "you're self-employed, just quit working when you're tired" really don't understand.

In my situation, I am a solo practitioner and if I am not working, no work gets done. I have some very loyal and long-term clients, and most of them are decent, understanding humans. But they hire me to fix things that have gone wrong, or to keep things from going wrong, and when they need me, they NEED me.

I'm letting everyone know I am having surgery and don't know for sure how long I'll be out. I am going to try to work from home, but I do have a fear that I will permanently lose some business if I am unavailable for too long. Six to eight weeks seems to be what I am hearing from a lot of sources, although my surgeon's business manager said to plan on 90 days (Yikes!)

I'll just have to take it one day at a time, I know.

 

[Kenny F]

Bill,

You are absolutely right about self-employed - no work, no eat!

Just before surgery I did a letter to all current lisitings and past clients explaining what was about to happen and what they should expect as far as service. I transferred all my business to another Realtor, and included her praises (and her card) in the letter. I also called all listing clients to make sure they understood.

I was out 7 weeks. We closed 2 while I was out, and put another under contract. I have managed to come up with quite a list of fresh prospects in the last 3 days at work. But it was scary being "self-unemployed" for 7 weeks.

I think self-employed folks work very hard (at least those that succeed do!), and with good planning, some good help and the Lord's favor, I think we are in a good place to recover from this horrible event.

I would hate to be facing the pressure of a production schedule or a food chain of bosses right now!

 

[joey]

I am now 7 weeks post op . Last week I was informed by my surgeon and cardiologist that anytime after 6 weeks one can return to work as long as it's office work only , however if one's work is physical never try and go back before 5 to 6 months and only after a chest xray and a echo of the heart, one can do more damage than good. One needs to build up ones strength over that period.
Joey