Explaining myself in work tomorrow

[heliotrope]

I haven't disclosed and can't call in sick (there's no one to replace me). My MS symptoms randomly decided to go through the roof, starting this afternoon. I have severe pain and foot drop about every second step. Unfortunately, it becomes bilateral when I get tired. So what on earth am going to say is going on?

[misslux]

I would say back pain. I can certainly hinder mobility and make legs wonky.

[heliotrope]

I should add that I sprained my ankle recently (contributing to the limp) and was open about it. The downside is that my foot drop is on the other foot!

[Portia]

Back and neck issues are a good excuse. I left work early today because the physical therapist I'm seeing for a shoulder problem messed up my neck and back on Friday. It got worse over the weekend and I could hardly walk today. No way I could handle stairs either. Everyone I came into contact with at work assumed it was MS related.

[onlyairfare]

You could go with "sprained ankle." Odds are no one will remember that it was your other ankle. And if they do, well if you sprained one ankle, you could sprain the other, right?

[Fed Up]

I don't think I'd offer up much more than, I tripped over something and may have injured my pride! So, the doc said to try this wheelchair and give my body a break.

Be as evasive as possible. No one has the right to know, if you don't want them to.

Good Luck with your job and please know, I sure hope it is very temporary.
fed

[Thinkimjob]

If you're a woman, then "women's troubles" end the conversation.

[annedocuk]

Is it impossible to be up front about it?

[Tawanda]

Is it impossible to be up front about it?

These type of posts make me so sad. It reminds me of Tom Hank's character in Philadelphia, Andrew Beckett. He was a brilliant lawyer at a prestigious law firm and he did everything under the sun to not only hide his AIDS and the resulting lesions, but was also forced to remain "in the closet" about his homosexuality. Eventually his house of cards finally fell and he got fired...not for being sick/gay but supposedly because he was a screw up at work...and we all know what happens from there.

What ticks me off is that this movie is 20 years old, and that although being openly gay has become more acceptable, revealing an illness (ANY chronic illness) in the workplace can STILL be extremely perilous! Sadly, unlike the wealthy Tom Hanks, most of us don't have the resources to sue our former employers. Even if we could, the employer could easily come up with what they perceive to be your inadequacies (in other words, making the same mistakes everyone else makes) at work being the reason you were fired. Then again, the easiest way an employer can get rid of you is to pull the 'ol "make your life so miserable that you quit" trick!

After trying to get by on SSDI for the last decade or so, I would highly encourage people with MS to try to stay in the workforce for as long as possible. Unfortunately, by the sound if your post, and similar posts on here, society is not making that easy! We need a really good "working MSer" union! Of course, showing up is 98 percent of any job, so if you find MS is making that increasingly impossible, then that would be the time to consider doing something else. But until then, i would try to stay in the fight.

Good luck in getting through this fork in your MS road.

[mjan]

First of all, I am sorry for all that you are enduring right now. Can't you say you have an injury?

Also if your company has medical/family leave, you can apply for an "intermittent" one by completing the form and having your doctor sign off. That way you are protected if you need to be off due to a confidential illness your doctor deems necessary to miss work at time. I used this, but my manager knew what my 'illness" was.

So for awhile I was indeed protected and hardly missed work. It covered me from "occurances" so I could not be fired.

Try applying for this family/medical leave for future.

If you were injured even without MS, you would be missing work right?

Let us know how you are doing and what happens if you want us to know. I'll support you through this anytime.

Warmly, Jan

[misslux]

Tawanda summed up my views on disclosure and employment quite nicely!

[JerryD]

I am with Jan, on this one. I went out on STD and it turned into LTD as soon as my manager could get me out. Not that I wanted to work, or could do the range of tasks expected, but I could have worked for some time, if given the chance. If you are sure that you can go on with your work, at full capacity, then try like heck to keep your MS quiet. Ask for any available lesser duties. Good luck

[ksrn19]

I work in ICU at a large hospital and I have told them what's going on. My manager urged me to talk to HR about "intermittent FMLA" where you can call in when you're having problems related to the diagnosis and it won't count against you for PTO or call ins. You could check and see if you have anything like that.

My job is very physically and mentally (and emotionally) demanding and stressful. My coworkers and supervisors have all been very supportive and helpful through the diagnosis. You might be surprised by the way people react about it should you decide to go ahead and disclose the information.

It's up to you. But it might be easier on yourself stress wise if you're honest with them and you can both try and come up with a solution to intermittent issues that may come up.

[heliotrope]

I'm an at-will employee, so I have no legal protection.

[misslux]

How did it go at work?