Before TM I was working as the Assistant Director of Nursing in a nursing home. I loved my job and the people I worked with. It took me years to get to the position I wanted and was only able to actually do the job for about 7 months before TM struck in June of 2003. I have not worked since that time. Although I am able to walk independently now I still have occasional falls that happen out of the blue. Between that, the extreme fatigue and the decreased abiltiy to concentrate that I have its just not safe for me to return to nursing. At first my long term disability company kept saying there was no reason I couldn't return to my job because it was an administrative job so it was sedentary. I asked them if any of them had ever worked in a nursing home and if so if they had ever seen anyone who works in ons sitting at a desk all day. I sent them a copy of my job description that included every thing from routine paper work to covering staffing shortages. After that they never questioned my ability to work again. Even after six years I continue to hope that some day things will change and I will be able to return to work. Lynne
--- On Fri, 6/5/09, Janice <[email protected]> wrote: From: Janice <[email protected]> Subject: [TMIC] Occupations To: "transverse myelitis" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, June 5, 2009, 12:22 PM Hi Guys! I have been curious about something for a while and since things have kind of slowed down, want to ask you all what you did before TM hit and if you were able to go back to it or if you are doing something new. I am including even those who just read these emails and don't usually respond. I would like to hear from everybody and would think all of us would be interested. I will start: I was a school nurse's secretary/assistant in a large high school for 19 years. I absolutely loved it - everyday was different, as you can imagine working with high schoolers! Our school nurse was gone a lot to other schools we were responsible for, so I was left alone quite a bit and handled many different situations. I was well trained for this and it was great. Janice
