Workplace Attitude
Sunday, February 23rd, 2003February 23, 2003
Awe… Wassa matter? Little boy/girl gotta headache?
If you have found this web page, I would expect there is a good chance you/ve heard this line once or twice before. Even with all the advances in head pain medicine and public education, it would appear the vast majority of the world still does not understand our dilemma. Therefore, it seems there is little tolerance and even smaller efforts made to “deal with us”. Personally, I have a tolerant employer, but I talk with many headache brothers & sisters who claim to be hassled constantly. This does not count the stories you read on the web or in newsgroups.
In trying to figure out what I have (in an employer) and what “they” don’t, I firmly believe it mostly comes down to communication. Correct, concise, straightforward communication. When I first got into the “headache game”, I kept my employer aware of exactly what I was doing to pursue a remedy. Never, ever did I use the migraine as an excuse for poor work or to get out of work (other than doctor visits and hospitalization). I treated this no differently than if I had broken my foot – which I did in 1980. Just the facts. K-I-S-S or, Keep It Simple Stupid. Never NEVER do I walk around the office trying to elicit sympathy by wearing my poor, pitiful HA Face. If I have a HA doctor’s appointment, I simply let my immediate supervisor know I have a “doctor’s appointment”, not a Headache Doctor’s appointment. I have found it interesting how others around me wear thin with the headache that is giving ME the pain. In short, I never dwell on my affliction, never bring it up, never use it as an excuse, never use it as a crutch. Every day I push through and do the best I possibly can.
It is important to point out I am no better nor worse than anyone else. In fact, I am pretty much a medical baby! The best way is to practice the Golden Rule: Do onto others…. I can’t stand others whining about their lot in life, so it stands to reason they don’t want to hear about me, either. Actually, the best thing I can hear at work – or life, for that matter – is the exclamation of someone I have known for quite some time that just found out I have chronic, intractable migraine. They invariably say they didn’t know which means I am doing my job. Make no mistake about it – my head hurts! As I write this, my pain scale is stuck at a solid #6. That’s a number six even though I take daily long-acting opiods plus the occasional breakthrough medicine. I want no praise for my efforts, just the knowledge that I am doing my life’s work as best I can.
So listen to what my grandma used to say: Buck up, hang in there and don’t let anything stop you. Do what is necessary to make the best of each and every day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear the garage door going up. That means my wife is getting home and I have to practice my HA sympathy face before she gets upstairs.
(Post carried over from previous website)
