I've been debating on posting this here for a long time, but I'm curious to other's thoughts in seeing if I have handled myself correctly or not in this situation.
Let me first explain. I've been in my current job for just under 2 years. Shortly after starting my job, I was diagnosed with severe Crohn's diease. In short, I went from 197 pounds, to 130 pounds in about 2 months. I felt awful, I would have to make trips to the bathroom over and over again. The worst hit was nights. I would wake up on an average of 8-10 times throughout the night, meaning I would get no real quality sleep. After about a week, my body would just shut down and I would end up calling into work, not because I was being lazy, but because I had 0 energy. On those days, I would end up sleeping until 3p or 4p, get up, eat dinner and sleep through until the next morning.
My work was ok with this at first, they were very understanding and worked with me on my appointments of going to my doctor. I've been on various drugs and through various diets with no real avail. Last August I was hospitalized for a week and a half, and the doctor wouldn't let me return to work for another 2 weeks. Granted I used what vacation/personal time I had to compensate and the rest of the time was unpaid.
This has been an uphill battle and all throughout I have been keeping my manager and the owner of the company in the loop as much as possible. (We're a small company of about 17 employees)
About a month ago I was put in the hospital again and it was strongly suggested that I consider surgery to have my colon removed. This procedure would put me in the hospital for 7-10 days, take me out of work for about a total of 6 weeks and I would have the "blahs" for up to 6 months. However, after getting through all of this, I would start to feel 300% better than what I am feeling now.
In short, when I approached my manager, about the situation, he said he would speak with the owner and they would let me know what to expect. In short, they have told me that when I leave for my surgery I will be doing an "exit" meeting with HR, clearing out my desk, handing over all the accounts I've been working on, etc. Then when I'm ready to work again, if my position is still open, they would bring me back in, but there were no promises.
Now granted, we're too small for the FMLA, and to be honest, with that kind of attitude, I'm not sure I would want to fight for my position back, but I'm just curious to feedback as to how other people would handle the situation and their thoughts.
Let me first explain. I've been in my current job for just under 2 years. Shortly after starting my job, I was diagnosed with severe Crohn's diease. In short, I went from 197 pounds, to 130 pounds in about 2 months. I felt awful, I would have to make trips to the bathroom over and over again. The worst hit was nights. I would wake up on an average of 8-10 times throughout the night, meaning I would get no real quality sleep. After about a week, my body would just shut down and I would end up calling into work, not because I was being lazy, but because I had 0 energy. On those days, I would end up sleeping until 3p or 4p, get up, eat dinner and sleep through until the next morning.
My work was ok with this at first, they were very understanding and worked with me on my appointments of going to my doctor. I've been on various drugs and through various diets with no real avail. Last August I was hospitalized for a week and a half, and the doctor wouldn't let me return to work for another 2 weeks. Granted I used what vacation/personal time I had to compensate and the rest of the time was unpaid.
This has been an uphill battle and all throughout I have been keeping my manager and the owner of the company in the loop as much as possible. (We're a small company of about 17 employees)
About a month ago I was put in the hospital again and it was strongly suggested that I consider surgery to have my colon removed. This procedure would put me in the hospital for 7-10 days, take me out of work for about a total of 6 weeks and I would have the "blahs" for up to 6 months. However, after getting through all of this, I would start to feel 300% better than what I am feeling now.
In short, when I approached my manager, about the situation, he said he would speak with the owner and they would let me know what to expect. In short, they have told me that when I leave for my surgery I will be doing an "exit" meeting with HR, clearing out my desk, handing over all the accounts I've been working on, etc. Then when I'm ready to work again, if my position is still open, they would bring me back in, but there were no promises.
Now granted, we're too small for the FMLA, and to be honest, with that kind of attitude, I'm not sure I would want to fight for my position back, but I'm just curious to feedback as to how other people would handle the situation and their thoughts.
