Ahhhhh, where have the months gone? It seems like a long time ago, plus a short time ago I was giving my farewell speech at work before stepping out into a planned four weeks’ maternity leave which turned out to be just two.
I’d planned to return to work by June/July (this AKL mortgage ain’t gon’ pay itself unfortunately), but an opportunity came up which I couldn’t refuse, so as this post goes live I’ll be turning up for my first day back in the land of the employed. I had actually planned to return to the ad agency I was working for, but as it happened, they only had an opening for full-time work, and I didn’t want to give up all my motherhood time to the rat race, so that door closed. As they say, when one door closes, another opens, and indeed in this case that is precisely what happened. So, today I will be starting a three-day-a-weeker at a new place: well sort-of new. I will be working for my main client from the agency, in an in-house marketing role.
Now – this corporation, and the people who work there are definitely not brand new to me. In my old role, I worked with them for about a year and a half, and some weeks I was in meetings there more than I was at the agency. I know the people, and they know me. They definitely know I’m diabetic, because I was pregnant for the last seven months of my time working for them, and with the amount of blood tests I was doing at the time, my test kit was always prominently placed in front of me in every meeting. But, like Aaron when he started his new job, I can’t help but wonder how I should approach the ‘diabetes situation’. Do I send an email to my team in the first couple of weeks explaining that I’m a well-controlled T1, but if I display “these symptoms”, they should pin me down and force feed me glucose? Or do I just send a note to HR? How long do I have to wait before it’s ok for me to keep a vial of insulin in a nearby fridge? Will people look at me strangely in meetings if I start popping glucose tablets? Will people think I’m texting my mates if I whip out my insulin pump and dial up a dose in a meeting?
A few things to think about, but nothing to worry about… they’ve hired me for me, and my diabetes comes as part of the package unfortunately. Will report back soon.
Posted in Work
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Sophie wrote
Best of luck, Nic!
Jacqueline wrote
Hope your first day back is going well! I personally find that just mentioning my diabetes to the people I sit near or interact most with works well for me (so they don’t think I’m taking some kind of illicit drugs when I have my injection or that I’m addicted to jellybeans). So far I haven’t needed any help with hypos, knock on wood, so haven’t gone into any detail about looking out for symptoms etc. I guess I’d just be worried people will be walking on eggshells or watching me a bit too closely if they think I might collapse at any moment!
Amanda wrote
Well, at least your going back into the known where people know you and your “condition”.
Most people i find are interested in this diabetic thing we have and especially nowadays with all the gadgets and gizmos we haul out.
Being well controlled is of obvious importance because if the work place has to ring an ambulance to get one to hospital for hypos, hypers it’s not going to make us popular, and, dare I say, rightly so.
Most people nowadays seem to know someone or have a relative with diabetes, for us, in the work place with a problem working with one of “us” I guess they better watch it cause it might be them next.
Ruthie wrote
I wouldn’t worry making a spectacle of it by sending out an email etc Nic. Unless of course you’re comfortable with that (but I wouldn’t be!) You said most of them know already anyway. And chances are you aren’t going to need an ambulance anytime soon! Even if you did, they’d do the same for someone who has a heart attack and people will only be concerned for you! If it made you unpopular, hell, I wouldn’t work for them! haha
In the past, I’ve told the people who’ve interviewed me and my boss and that’s it. Usually in conversation with new people I worked closer with, it’s come up at some point especially if I’ve had to blood test and pump away.
You’ll find after a week or so of being there that everyone will pretty much know anyway and I can tell you right now, they aren’t going to think anything of it! In fact, I can guarantee that you’ll get alot of people checking out your pump who are completely drop-jawed at it. And hell, it always makes me feel like I’m pretty cool and somewhat bionic so be proud of it! That’s the best angle to take in our shoes!!
And good luck and have fun. You’ll enjoy it, I’m sure.
Aaron wrote
Good luck Nic! I hope it went well and that it’s not too busy on your first day
penny wrote
Excellent news. Good luck with it.
Dee wrote
With my last job I kinda dropped it on them, the whole company (all 11 people) were in the office (most of them were sales reps so not always in the office, and I was in a remote office) so I could find out who was who, and the “icebreaker” question was “what are 2 things that people won’t know about you”. My 2 were I’m learning latin and ball rooom dance, oh, and I have Type 1 diabetes. Most people knew what it was as I worked for a science and midical supply company, and my manager used to sell HbA1c tests…
It was never a problem for work, as I could often test between customer visits.
Saffy wrote
Hope your first day went fantastically!!!!
Nic wrote
Thanks everyone for your lovely comments. Day one went well – apart from an 18.3 at 9:30am (I didn’t think I was that nervous?!). I even ended up giving a packet of glucose tablets to one of my new team-mates because she’s on medication which makes her go a bit hypoglycaemic. She has a really good girlfriend in Sydney who’s on an insulin pump too. Sweet!!