Posted by Andrew Mytys (209.69.195.51) on June 09, 2000 at 23:06:30:
In Reply to: why am I not surprised? posted by thaya on June 09, 2000 at 22:44:55:
This week I had some really bad attacks. I just started working in a new department a few months ago, and it has been over 2-years since my "headaches" interfered with my work.
I didn't have a discussion with my new supervisor on the matter.
Monday morning, I woke up at around 3-am with a HEADACHE!!!. I finally collapsed back to sleep at 4:30. When the alarm went off at 8am, I knew I wasn't going to make it in on time. I called the boss, and left a message on his machine that I had a bout of the "stomach flu" - what kind of wuss stays home with a "headache". As it was, I just said I'd be in "a few hours late".
Well, the next morning, the HEADACHE was back again, so intense that I knew I'd be visiting the doctor in the AM (even though the ER is always tempting, I know it to be a waste of time).
I called the boss again, and just told him I was going to go see the doctor - I promissed myself I'd have a sitdown with the new boss as soon as I got back into the office.
My morning at the doctors ended up being an all-day affair, as he sent me in for sinus X-Rays (remember, I just found out this week what the hell is going on).
Getting back to the office the next day, the boss was out.
On Thursday, my tests results were in and I was "late" again due to a morning meeting with the Doc.
The boss finally caught up to me, and asked how I was feeling - he was still under the impression that I had a stomach flu. I told him what was really going on, but still felt that "bad headache" didn't sound too impressive. As I'm going in for an MRI (ohhhh, impressive...) I added that little snippet in and mentioned that the Doc wanted to make sure I wasn't a candidate for a brain tumor or an Aneurism (now THAT'S a reason to go on short-term disability :)
Seriously though... I've never had a problem with my management or coworkers once I told them how I really felt, even before I was seeking professional help. I just had to make sure to remind everyone in the spring, so I wouldn't be accused of taking every nice sunny day off playing sick after the loooong gray winter blah days.