It's STILL uncertain where I'm to be based.... So the first week of my phased return involves 2 full days of Strengthening supervision training ....and I was pleased to have been met with some familiar faces when I arrived all keen and raring to go on the first day!
I absolutely love training opportunities so a very good start for me, although by 2pm I was tiring and my concentration was wavering, so I was employing strategies to keep myself alert... But hey, that's to be expected and largely I seemed able to make 'intellectual' contributions to the days proceedings and belie the times that I drifted off the planet!
In fact it all just 'clicked nicely' into place and I easily slipped back into my 'professional mojo' and even though, I was not in an established place of work, it really felt as if I had never been away !! YAY!
I'm pleased to say that I didn't need the bed, located in the training room for a disco nap, although I did learn that I had not lost the art of pursuasion, when I easily convinced Amelia, that she should pose for a photo on the bed for my blog, but omitting to tell her that it was because I was too embarrassed to pose on the bed myself! Ha ha !!
My employers have been really good in the sence that they have let me 'do what I needed to do' with no undue pressure to return to work before I was well or ready. I'm not so sure they are as 'prepared' as they might have been for my return, causing me some level of anxiety, but today has allayed some of that!
As per procedure, I had to undergo a work medical assessment and recommendations identified that I needed to be in a work environment free from stress !... That simply does not exist in my social work world which seems to be the subject of deliberations about my role and where I am to be based.
I'm pleased that my employers are taking their duty of care seriously, however reading a report on ones limitations isn't comfortable. I accept that there will be some temporary ones, due to the side effects of my treatment, but I simply do not recognise the person that is described in the report, it feels as if it is about someone else that has/had cancer, and I feel a degree of frustration that my constitution and resilience seem to have been over looked.
Of course I know the report IS about me, that I have to come to terms with some limitations due to fatigue, poor concentration and memory , but it doesn't stop me feeling the way that I do, seeking to assert control over my life and getting annoyed. But yes, I know my best chance is to pause, listen to others 'in the know' (eg Mandy and Wilkie) and taking care and tempering ones self to start with.... So that is what I shall do......for now! Lol!
Today has been good one... and I'm on my merry way now, earning a living, working to live and making a difference in a career that I love. Sorted!
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