Adopting a healthy work regime after illness

Managing oneself back to work

My return to work after extended sick leave, was not structured or phased, because I did not plunge straight back into the work activities before my leave. Considering I worked through my radiotherapy treatment and for a month afterwards, despite the fatigue and sometimes-overwhelming side effects, I put in the hours, the time, and the effort to meet my obligations.

However, there was a point when I needed more support beyond living alone at home, along with a proper rest period to really recover. This led me to undertake the long journey to Cape Town for the care Brian could provide that was beneficial for my recovery.

I eventually spoke with an occupational health professional, who suggested we adjust the work schedule on the parameters of volume, pace, and complexity. I was comfortable with handling complexity; I was ready for that challenge. However, managing volume and pace was something I had to learn through engagement.

Handling pressure before feeling overwhelmed

Implicit in this approach was a sense of pressure; the way urgencies, priorities, and dependencies demanded more from me to meet deadlines, often without the usual flexibility that would involve discussing the reasonableness with relevant stakeholders.

There was one occasion when an architect, discovering that a crucial piece of work—on which the entire deployment depended—had fallen through the cracks, suddenly created a lot of pressure on me, with the message that everything would pause if I didn't find a solution.

At that moment, I felt like a giant had stepped on my chest, making it hard to breathe. Recognising this reaction, I pushed back at once, saying that we would proceed methodically, and I would not shoulder the pressure caused by this oversight.

At that time, I informed my line manager, not seeking support, but making him aware that the whole issue could escalate because of my resistance to quick fixes.

This architect then committed a clear faux pas by suggesting he entertain my concerns because he didn't want me to cut corners. That was a stance I was never going to let slip. I don’t cut corners; I am a 37-year IT professional. No one at the conference dared intervene; the message was crystal clear.

Maintaining control on your own terms

With the space and time, I was able to find the right elements needed to resolve the problem, and we implemented a solution within 90 minutes. Exercising autonomy without letting pace be dictated by either my own failings or others’ is essential.

Despite modulating elements of my return to work, I find myself in the office for 9 to 12 hours, sometimes more. I tend to get absorbed in a situation, aiming to resolve, manage, or finish the task before I leave for home.

This occurs alongside lingering side effects such as urinary incontinence, bowel urgency, and nightly insomnia. The insomnia, I manage by sleeping as much as I can on weekends. Things are not perfect, but I am finding better ways to cope than before.

In terms of occupational health, I simply wanted awareness about side effects, fatigue, and hospital appointments. Beyond that, I believe I am meeting and surpassing my aims and goals, but I also need to be smart about it.

Thought Picnic: Murdering the wheel

A journey to pain

For we found a road so rough that we thought we would reinvent the wheel to make the ride smoother than it had ever been.

So is the wisdom of they with whom we have to deal and yet the pain that results from our shaken bones, neither the ride nor the journey brings any comfort than a terror for a future we must prevent at all costs.

The horse in gallop was given too great a wallop, it died in stride the rider fallen, broke his neck, but lived to tell a tale never looking like he once looked or anyone looks if they were well.

A journey to gain

A lament, a fidget, a curse, yea, bless the man who sees a rope and hangs himself instead, why bring woe to things so simple because ye knowest not what to do when a rope is given thee?

May the sun set on the day when what is easy is made difficult by the atrocious, the wise in their own ways, but hardly in the ways in the really wise – what a battle to fight, a victory to extract, may peace come to his soul, the writer of these words and his anger be quelled by reason appealing to those who can see reason and will be persuaded by the reasonable.

It hurts, it pains, it bleeds, the wheel is strong, the work must be on the road. Be gone, ye workers of iniquitous scripts, be gone. Let us rescue the wheel from vandals of true progress who complicate things to assure their indispensability and their selfish places.