Hi Chrissy, Good luck,and don't be so hard on your self.I don't think you are required to tell anyone about your illness as long as it doe's not effect your job.And Chrissy if people treat you a little different after you tell them you have CML.It's OK they will soon find out it doe's not change the person you are.Most people have a fear of the unknown,not a lot of people know any thing about CML. When my husband was DX and he told his coworkers he had CML,they had no clue what that was.You are right though,People just assume that if you have Leukemia you should look sick and act sick.But than that's the way it was years ago when there was not a good treatment for CML.Any way keep your chin up and be happy that you can work,some CML'ers are not that fortunate.Have a nice day,Sandy
Chrissy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Chrissy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello, I am a CMLer in Canada. I just started a new job, and after my
first week, decided to tell my bosses about my leukemia (I have a
specialist appt at the end of the month and I wanted to tell them about
it). Needless to say, they were surprised!
As many of you on Gleevec know, because we don't always show evidence
of our cancer treatment (ie. no hair loss), people assume we are
healthy, 'normal' (whatever normal is!) people. Thus, there is usually
a little shock and confusion when I tell people. What I find I have a
hard time explaining is that I am doing okay, and that taking Gleevec
is kind of like a diabetic taking his insulin.
Anyway, I feel that I am doing well enough that it shouldn't interfere
with my work (it's admin/reception work--no heavy lifting or
anything!), but for some WEIRD reason, I have a major guilty complex
right now. I feel like I should have told them during my initial
interview. It just didn't come up. I am thankful that I am feeling
well enough to go to work, and at first I didn't feel like I would
necessarily have to tell anyone about my medical history. Now I am
afraid they are going to think I was hiding this from them. I wasn't
intentionally hiding anything, I just don't want to be treated
differently from anyone else, so I didn't say anything, thinking I
didn't have to. However, CML is a part of my life I can't ignore, and
I realized today that it's easier for me if I need to go do bloodwork
or go to my doctors to just be able to say WHY then to skirt it...does
that make sense? I think the worst part is not knowing if they are
being honest or not...maybe they were just pretending to be supportive
when really they are thinking, 'we should never have hired this girl!'
I'm feeling bad wondering about that. This has something to do with my
'heart-on-my-sleeve' personality, I'm afraid, I feel that I was
dishonest by not telling them sooner. CAN ANYONE OUT THERE RELATE TO
THIS EXPERIENCE? If not, I apologize. I'm just feeling a little out
of sorts at the moment.
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
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