Seeing a doctor is no holiday

[Thinkimjob]

Reading meegun's post (all my best to you and your sister by the way).
Raised a very good point about working. Can anyone remember the last actual holiday they had?
All my annual leave turns into sick leave. I think I had a week off late last year where there was no doctor involved, and it was just for fun.
No use complaining. Lucky to still have a job. But I really would love a proper bit of r&r.

[woodstock]

First, I will say that I know that I am lucky so far in that I was dx last year at age 48 and don't have a ton of symptoms that cause me to lose time at work. I work 12 months for the schools and earn 26 vacation days a year in addition to 13 sick days.

Contrary to popular belief, 12 month school employees don't get summers off or even the whole week of Thanksgiving, or all of Winter/Spring break unless I take vacation time for the days the central office isn't closed.

I do take vacation time at those breaks which uses up 8 of my 26 days (yep...leaves 18 days). We are supposed to be allowed to take our vacation time in the summer. I put in for two consecutive weeks off (10 days) because I find if I just take one, I barely get relaxed and have to go back. I also put in for the week of July 4th (3.75 days because we're on 4 day work week).

Not sure exactly why, but my boss would approve every day that week (we're closed the 4th and 6th) except for the 2nd. Even if I do nothing...I need that time to relax and forget about work and MS (except for my Copaxone shots of course). He just doesn't get it how important it is for me to have that time off.

[valeriem2220]

I was off of work on medical leave for 6 months last year.
3 months one time, back to work for 5 weeks, then off again for 3 more months.
It was not a holiday, all I had to worry about was my next Drs appt and with which Dr and then trying to pay bills because disability pay really wasn't cutting it.
I am so ready for a vacation, but I am busy working on my house and wanting to get it on the market to sell. Probably won't be for a couple of years, until my daughter is old enough to drive herself to school, but I just want it done.
Little fixes and updates here and there, but it still seems like I only have the energy to do very little at a time.

Someday maybe I will get a vacation....*sigh*

[meeegun]

thanks for your support and thoughts for me and my sister. as far as a vacation goes, ironically enough i can remember my last vacation. it was definitely a highlight of my life so far. i took nearly three weeks off from work on my school break and went to australia with my girlfriend. it was amazing.

however, it used up all of my PTO. which means since then, i've had to ration my sick days. as far as my internship goes, i am given 3 days off for three months of internship. since i am visiting multiple doctors and specialties, you can guess where all of that is going. so while i have recently taken a good bit of time off and done something purely for myself with it, for me it came with a price.

there are no reserves for a family crisis. maybe that's just bad planning on my behalf, but i'm of the belief that regardless of health status, we work way to ** hard here in the U.S.