Hi Rebecca
Your storey sounds all too familiar!! And very similar to mine! Some companies are very supportive and some go by the book (or hr policies). My background is hr consultant and currently advice on employment law! And it is very difficult for me to fight my corner…
However my advice to you would be not to
resign! Unless you have a case for constructive dismissal
You have rights under the equality act 2010. My suggestion would be to contact ACAS to find out more.
http://m.acas.org.uk/
Helpline
The Acas Helpline is the place to go for both employers and employees who are involved in an employment dispute or are seeking information on employment rights and rules. The Helpline provides clear, confidential, independent and impartial advice to assist the caller in resolving issues in the workplace.
Call the Helpline on 08457 47 47 47.
Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm and Saturday, 9am-1pm
Customers with a hearing or speech impairment may prefer to contact us using the Text Relay service. You can contact the Acas Helpline using Text Relay by dialling 18001 08457 474747. Your questions will be relayed to the helpline adviser who answers the call and a real-time conversation will take place.
Information on the Text Relay service is available at http://www.textrelay.org.
Information on how to make the best use of the Acas Helpline is available here.
Alternatively, you can use Helpline Online below.
This new automated system, which launched in June 2013, learns from your questions and, as more people use it, will get better at providing the most relevant answer to your query. We will be tracking any un-answered questions and, in each case, considering whether to add them to the system to help it fit your needs as closely as possible.
Extract from ACAS absence policy booklet
"if your employee is disabled or becomes disabled, you are legally required under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to enable the employee to continue working – for example, providing an ergonomic chair or a power-assisted piece of equipment
• make sure the individual is not disadvantaged because of their disability
• if absence is related to disability, keep record separate from other sickness absence
• for further information, contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission at http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/"
Good luck and I'd be interested to hear how you get on
Dawn x
Hi eve
Many thanks for your feedback. I do try to moderate my reading for me research / reading up on mm gives me a feeling that I have some control this gas always been the case in what ever I do career, moving hose etc its my personality trait. However, I do agree with you about getting on with the job of living. And I've certainly been doing that.
One tip I would give to other readers of this blog is sometimes I become obsessed with researching / reading which is not healthy because it will lower my mood, typically this would be when I'm feeling anxious about treatment not working.. but over the years I have learnt to recognise when this happening and back off. It seems to work. Best time to research for me is when I'm feeling upbeat.
Dawn x
Hi mandy
just read your blog and it was so good to see that you have done so well and our some of fabulous blog team helped you through your recent journey.
i too have suffered badley with anxiety although it has reduced significantly over time 🙂
i too went back to work approx 3 months post sct on a return to work pr0ramme my advice based on my experience as as a HR practctioner is to try and get your company to get you access to an ocupational health advisor to support through your return as it wont take long before your company will treat you as if you are 100%
for work and you may feel under pressure to prove that your are when realistically you may not be for many months.
on the anxiety front you may be interested in the book below it has really helped me
amongst other booksand councelling
the cancer survivors comnpanion by frances goodhart and lucy atkins[quote][/quote]it provides practical ways to cope with your feelings after cancer.
best wishes
dawn x
Hi Rebecca
This is what it's all about sharing and caring and I'm so glad some of the infraction I've provided has helped your friend
Dawn xxx
Hi Eva
That's exactly were I'm coming from.
Dawn x
Hi Tom
I agree with keeping the myeloma UK official stuff separate – where I was coming from is the stuff like you found recently articles being put into this blog section but have a separate listing for them as mentioned in Eva's blog Obviously myeloma UK would therefore not be held to account about the information were posting as is currently happening with the information were posting
Dawn
Thanks Tom
Dawn xxx
Hey andy
What a fabulous attitude so inspirational !!!! Thank you
Ps do you take gcsf?
Pps I've just Coe back from Ibiza the quit part of course and it was such a tonic. My consultant prof Gareth Morgan royal royal marsden Sutton as a very similar philosophy to you an he has helped me so much emotionally.
Dawn x
Thanks eve
Sim very good tips
Dawn xxx
I agree
Dawn
Hi Mavis
How right it is
I was diagnosed 7 years ago at 45 life expectancy 3/5 years and my friends quite logically at the time thought that I would be the first to going to the spirit in the sky!!!
since then 1 very close friend died at 44, 3 other people i know also passed away at a young age – none of which had mm
Also whilst as an inpatient in the royal marsden sutton 2 years ago I passed out broke 8 ribs had punctured lung flail chest internal bleeding etc got to rushed to st George's and was a lot closer to going to the spirit in sky than I'd ever been!!!
Anything can happen in life. They say ignorance is bliss I very often agree with this as my struggle is emotionally living with cancer and mm with no cure.
Dawn x
Hi eve
I've never really cast myself as "high risk" !
I just try to focus on seeing myself as someone whose mm is individual who continues to struggle with being told and dealing with the psychological impact of finding out that at time of diagnosis in 2006 aged of 45 with young children, that life expectancy was 3/ 5 years, no cure! and having at least 3 different treatment options before i could have a stem cell transplant that kept my mm in cr for fir 4 years!
and that a couple of years ago my husband an i was told that the immediate future was grim because I'd run out of treatment options and having to tell my kids ad family which was quite harrowing.!!!
Fortunately I went for a second opinion and met with professor Gareth Morgan at the royal marsden Sutton. He gave me dt oace and another stem cell in feb 2012.
He still keeping me going fortunately i took out private bs before being diagnosed ith mm and therefore been fortunate that the prof can access drugs not available on nhs. Which is what I am in currently because back in nov my free lite chains started rising . Touch wood no other symptom so still managing to live a fairly healthy and happy life.
I suppose maybe diet has never been mentioned as the medical teams have been focusing on the technical side and keeping my mm under control and my emotional side which was terrible in the early days!!! Hence all my self help reading.
Also I am under the royal free hospital amyloidosis research centre because I ad a plasma tumour with amyloid.
Dawn x
Thanks Tom for the blog and links
Dawn x
Oh I forgot to mention that I recently read
The Fast Diet: The Secret of Intermittent Fasting – Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, Live Longer [Paperback] dr Michael Mosley – as part. My food research and because i am overweight !! I'm not going down 5:2 but as i am a " food grazer" i was very interested in the concept of allowing my body to rest from food for a few hours to enable my cells to regenerate!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1780721676/ref=nosim?tag=wwwthefastdie-21
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549
Im not n the fortunate position to be medically trained nor did I do biology at school!!! so I''ve been trying to put some science around what I'm reading!!! Also re the recent " Francis report"
http://www.nhsemployers.org/The-Francis-Inquiry/Pages/Francis.aspx#1
i am interested in reading what myeloma UK is suggesting to our myeloma medical teams about patient care etc. to help me with this.
I did ask myeloma UK if I could have access to th HCP Resources web pages see beko to help me with this unfortunately at the moment they said that they are not in a position to do this for me yet.
http://www.myeloma-academy.org.
"The need for myeloma-related education has never been so important
The Myeloma Academy focuses on the ‘what you need to know’ information critical to the delivery of a high standard of treatment and care in a modern, challenging NHS and Primary Care environment."
Dawn x
Hi John
Re alkaline Not researched fully
You might want to take a look at the following:
http://margaret.healthblogs.org/tag/alkaline-water/
http://theconsciouslife.com/anti-inflammation-resources
http://theconsciouslife.com/anti-inflammatory-diet-how-to-balance-omega-3-omega-6-fats.htm
And the celebs seem to be raving about this nutrition and her book
Also it would appear a lot of chefs seem to go on about over cooking veg – so I've now got a steamer – in the main because my husband cooks them to the point they are practically mush!!!!
http://honestlyhealthyfood.com/book/
Dawn x
