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Back to work after SAH?


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Hi there,

It has very recently occurred to me that I have been 'off work' for 14 months now (SAH June 2015). Pre Sah, I hadnt had 14 days off work in all my working life. 

As some of you may know, I own a old fashioned sweet shop but have been unable to return to it.

 

So, my question is . . . . . . How many of us returned to our previous employment after Sah?

second question . . For those of us that havent  How do you fill your days? 

Looking forward to reading your replies

 

Jan xx

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Hi Jan, My SAH was 12 1/2 years ago and I couldn't return to work as my balance is badly affected.

I asked myself the same question, how do I fill my days?

Eventually I did volunteer work, helping in an infants school, only reading, for one afternoon a week. I went on to sit on their governors as well.

 

I also did Youth Mentoring for our County Council which took up a few hours a week, involvement with Social Services and the like. As you know I moderate on here and spend much time in front of the laptop.

I have had my garden made accessible with raised borders and tubs, the watering, planting, starting things off from seed takes me loads of time as it is not easy.

 

I am unable to do my own housework so that didn't fill any time so I used to, and still do, pop out to a local café, just for a coffee and a chat. The gym was another occupation but because of other issues I can't do that now.

 

It may be worth contacting a local Volunteer Centre and see if they have anything on offer that grabs your interest. The beauty of voluntary work is that you can do as much or as little as you are able and can work it round other commitments.

 

I also travel abroad quite a lot, a couple of weeks at a time, visiting all those places that are on my bucket list and just returning to places because I love them.

 

I now wonder how I ever found the time to go to work

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I managed to return to my previous job about 6 months after my SAH. I had 3 months off completely, then a further 3 months of phased return/holidays. I am fortunate that I have a public sector job that I have done from home for the last 10 year (offices give me too much stress..can't cope with all the office drama!).

 

I still have days where I completely crash when I've been concentrating too much but my boss is great at being flexible and I'm in more of a *as long as you get the job done* environment rather than you must be working from 9-5 every day. I'm sitting here today trying to write a strategy paper and doing my best not to get frustrated when my brain won't remember certain words....time for a little read of the thesaurus and dictionary!!

 

I have cut down travel considerably. I used to be away 3 or 4 times a month (flights to the mainland, overnight stays, early starts and late finishes) but now I've got that down to maybe once or twice a month which definitely helps!

 

Andrea

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Hi there, Thank you for your replies

 

Super Mario . . .How DID you find the time to work?! , You most certainly fill your days,  I do fill my days, but with housework and gardening so not very exciting,  I have been thinking about perhaps helping out at our local primary school It is only just down the road from us..I think it's that 'confidence' thing that stops me from enquiring and taking it further. Maybe I need a little more adjustment time? Who knows?

 

Andrea, how wonderful that you have such an understanding boss and even better, being able to work from home, a lot less stressful

 

Jan xx

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Hi Jan

 

I couldn't return to work either - wasn't happening.

 

How do I fill my days, well when I'm not too bad I do wonder where the day has gone, its just a case of finding your neich..

 

I doubt this answers your query but on the whole I'm happy with it.

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Jan, take the bull by the horns when you gain a little more confidence and enquire at that school, they can only say no. Just remember though that schools can be very noisy, especially at that age. If you find noise too  much do a bit of research and find out if lessons are noisy. The school I went to didn't keep the pupils silent but it was very muted, anything other was stamped on.

 

My offers to help at other schools were turned down flat because I use a walker, quoting H&S etc. I began to feel as if I was no use to man nor mouse until this one school welcomed me with open arms

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Hi Jan,

 

I started to return to work around 8 months post haemorrhage. I am a secondary school teacher and started off still on a sick note and going in to sit in other people's lessons and helping out where I could. I then started a phased return and reached the end of that just before the summer, which was 18months post haemorrhage. I have managed to return to work, but am now part time (4 days a week, with Wednesday off) and also have some adjustments, such as teaching no six period days.

 

I echo what Super Mario has said - if you are interested in going into a school then get in touch and see what they say. I do not find going into work as bad as what some people think it might be - mainly as my classroom is quite quiet and controlled. I believe I would find other environments, such as an open office, much harder to deal with.

 

That being said, when I did return to work people kept asking me how I had filled my time off (though to be fair the rehab took up a fair portion of my time) and I found that I was able to fill my days with various bits and pieces.

 

I hope you find something you enjoy doing.

 

Gemma

 

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Hi Louise, thank you for your reply,  It does help to answer my query know what you mean about a good day and where did it go.and its particularly good to know from you and Super Mario that I'm not the only one! Since all this happened Ive needed to know that what I do or feel is 'normal' When I was seeing my OT when I came home from hospital, I could ask him several questions every week every question ended with 'is this normal?' Every reply was 'Its not unusual' We nicknamed him Tom Jones ! !

 

Super Mario I have a couple of appointments coming up ;Neurosugeon end of August to discuss scan results re unruptured Anni and Neurologist in September to discuss EEG results re seizures, Hopefully, if all is ok, my confidence will return  with gusto !

Jan xx

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Jan, I'm 15 months out from my SAH and still working on my phased return, some good days some bad.

 

Occasional thoughts of what I would do I don't succeed in getting back to work. Favourite right now is getting involved with assistance dogs. For example Hearing Dogs require people to have dogs from the age of two months to 14 months when they go off to work, you have to take them to training session once a week at a regional centre and mainly get them used to all sorts of social situations. Admittedly this only sounds nice if you are a dog person!

 

The other thing I find is very good for filling my time without fatiguing me too much is I have an allotment. We had just started this not long before I had my SAH. It is quiet, peaceful, fresh air a plenty, and if successful provides nice healthy veggies!

 

 

 

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Hi Gemma, thank you for your reply,  I think I have sad before that I admire you just for teaching in a secondary school. You must really enjoy your work ?Your dedication is incredible. If I was wearing a hat, I would take my hat off to you !! Once I have my results, as mentioned above I will contact the school and see if I can help out in any way.

 

Hi Greg, thank you for replying I hope your return to work is sucessful.

I love the idea of the hearing dogs, I am very much a dogggy person. I used to foster puppies and dogs for a local Animal welfare society

Jan xx??

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super Mario, To be honest, at the moment, Im not sure but its certainly given me something to think about.

In fact all of the replies from you lovely lovely people  have got me pondering ? Lets face it, housework and gardening is surely not the way forward? It may have to do for now, but  I feel I have more options to explore now ?

Jan xx

 

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Like Super, Jan,

I cannot walk all that far so really I am tied to home, whereas before my Hubby had his own business and I worked with him.

I woke to find that he'd closed the firm and I never got my Golden handshake !! lol

I miss working but walking is hard and back aches plus I am an oldy now and retired.

Also I noticed every sentence I started with I,  suppose I could do an English course lol xx 

I could become your best customer at shop, do you deliver lol  xx

Good luck

Win  xx xx

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Jan said:

Hi Gemma, thank you for your reply,  I think I have sad before that I admire you just for teaching in a secondary school. You must really enjoy your work ?Your dedication is incredible. If I was wearing a hat, I would take my hat off to you !! Once I have my results, as mentioned above I will contact the school and see if I can help out in any way.

 

Thank you Jan - I remembered after I had posted on here that we had discussed work before. I blame my atrocious memory. I do really enjoy my work and it has been good to get some of it back. Although I have settled on four days for next year my school is aware that I might want to change that further. I do often wonder if three days would suit me better, but we shall see.

 

I hope you get the results you want from your consultant and are able to start looking into various things. There have been some excellent suggestions on here.

 

Take care,

Gemma x

 

 

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Hi Jan

I returned to my previous employment 3 months after my nasah. I returned on a very long phased basis and eventually cut my hours down having Wednesdays off. However at the start of this year I decided to change my job from working in community pharmacy to working in an NHS hospital pharmacy. It is a lot less stressful but the transition has not been easy. My neuro-psychologist recently told me that I certainly had not made life easy for myself!

 

I'm making good progress now and love my 4 day week, however like Gemma I wouldn't rule out reducing even more in the future. 

Being off work for 3 months last year made me appreciate being at home more and all the things I could do with my time.

Good luck with your appointments and future work ventures.

 

Clare xx

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Hey Jan,

 

I returned to my work full-time three months after my SAH, which was due to a ruptured aneurysm, and one month after the surgey to clip that aneurysm and another that was found during all the scans. That was nearly eight years ago.  It's been difficult at times, especially side I've had very long commutes. I can't accomplish nearly as much as I used to in my off time, but I'm grateful to be managing as well as I do.

 

colleen

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Hi Jan,

 

I returned to work 14 months after my SAH, it was a bit like if I didn't return soon I may not have a job to return to, so a bit pressured to return perhaps a little sooner than I thought I was ready to.

 

I returned to a job I'd done for 20 years and loved. There had been a lot off changes while I was off, so lots to get used to. Work totally floored me and I questioned many times had I done the right thing. I look a very long, slow phased return. Short term memory issues and fatigue being the main issue. Not just tiredness, fatigue that floors you.

 

Then in January 2014 I took a leap of faith and went for a complete career change, including studies. The best thing I ever did. I work with a fantastic bunch. However... I still have issues, some days I'm 'OK' others I am floored beyond words. Yes, I wanted to return to work, I needed to return to work, I love my job, but to what cost. I am currently trying a change in hours to see if that helps me cope better.

 

I have always wanted to work, to not work was not an option for me. I fought really hard to get back to work.

I'm not one to sit at home and waste my days, to have an existence where one day rolls into another. Nope, that's not me.

Great advise on doing some type of charity work, helping out somewhere. Have to say the hearing dogs is a fantastic idea, we've a friend who does that and has been doing so for many years.

 

I'm sure you will find what's right for you, but do give yourself patience and understanding while you walk this journey.

There are many options you can explore.

 

There's a tread called 'Back To Work' started a good few years ago, well worth a read, be warned though it's a long thread so get a cuppa and make yourself comfy!! It is a great read though and really helped me.

 

Take care,

 

SarahLou Xx

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Hi Jan, It was nearly six months when I went back could only do phased return for one month as that is all they allow.  I did use some holiday to reduce hours, I work 37 hours over 4 days as a Children's Service Manager for a large Children's Charity.  It was very hard in the beginning and was exhausted by a Thursday.  Still doing long shifts 9.15 a day and sometimes feel I need to reduce hours, the funding for the services that I manage has been severely cut so been expecting major reshape with redundancies so don't want to do anything about hours until I am more sure of future.  Been hanging on this year to see what happens, also I have good conditions re sick pay and holidays.  

 

My SAH has made me question my work as can be extremely stressful with a lot of responsibility and have to admit for the first time in my working life being off a doing nothing was quite nice when I did not feel ill of course.  I totally admire you for deciding to explore other things, lots of volunteering opportunities out there, my charity relies heavily on them, so I hope you find something.  

 

Regards

 

Sharon x

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