Month: February 2015

Onwards and Upwards No. 11

Hello my healing team,

I hope this update finds you well.

As I am sure you expected, my reintroduction to work has gone really well! When I arrived at work last Monday morning, I was a little concerned as my access pass no longer worked!  Were they trying to tell me something? But my concerns were quickly dismissed as I had a kind face in Jade (from HR) meet me at reception to welcome me back!!  Actually, the kind welcomes continued all the way through Monday, into Tuesday and Thursday and petered out with the last one coming at about 1:27pm yesterday (in week two).  I feel thoroughly welcomed!!

It has been a great experience returning to work.  Reconnecting with friends and colleagues, many whom I had not seen for 12 months has been a pleasure. It has also been refreshing to engage the brain in my work environment, thinking about people, projects and clients.  I am very grateful that GHD (not the hair straightener company) has afforded me the flexibility to renter the workplace and continue my rehabilitation, enabling me to take another step towards my new normal.  At home, we now have the routine established with the kids back at school and doing their after school activities, Sarah and I at work, and Ollie dog doing whatever he wants!!  A high five goes to Riley for winning his three races at the school swim sports. However, I do feel as though he has an unfair advantage with his size 200 feet being bigger than flippers.

A refreshing aspect about returning to work is the installation of a routine.  Whilst a routine can be boring, I use it to provide structure to my day so then it makes doing the hard things easier.  I use this structure to establish a plan that I can be more rigid about sticking to.  Firstly, I make sure I have included the things I need to do. I use the routine to help me exercise when I am feeling low on energy, to help me write when all I can scribe is invisible words, to help me get out of bed when I am feeling fatigued and to help me eat well (and at planned times) when I just want to eat that family size block of Cadburys Dairy Milk Chocolate ten minutes before dinner.

Secondly, but most importantly, I use the routine to make sure I am planning to doing the fun things like hanging out with friends, getting to the kids school and sports activities, like scheduling in that regular date night (I put that in for brownie points, but it could easily backfire. Watch this space). With a routine, I feel ok about resting as I know I have done a good days work. I can prioritise mediation because I know it is in the plan. I can eat a bit of chocolate because I know I have eaten well earlier in the day.  My routine helps me achieve what I need to and feel that sense of accomplishment.  It can be a little boring at times, but for me, it works.

Take care

Geoff

 

Onwards and Upwards 10

Hello my healing team,

I hope this update finds you well.

On the 18 February 2014 I rushed home from the office to play a game of basketball. Little did I know that it would be nearly 12 months before I would return to the office in a working capacity.  Today I return to work. You could say that my health holiday is over. I can honestly say that I am sick of ironing business shirts already!

In the hour after having hurt my shoulder (with me at that time thinking it was possibly just dislocated), I was annoyed as I figured I would have to miss work the following day.  I then found out my upper humerus was broken and was annoyed that I would have to now miss a week or two of work. A few weeks later I was diagnosed with cancer (and still had a broken shoulder) so I let work know that it may be a few months before I returned, not actually knowing when I would return.

In the few weeks after diagnosis, my mind was somewhat occupied with my new found predicament, and it was somewhat impaired by the morphine, OxyContin and Endone. But all the while, I was concerned that I was not at work. I would check emails a few times a day and my mind would turn to the projects I was meant to be working on! It took a few key discussions for me to refocus my mindset to wellness.  1) A chat with Nanette (my fab Kineasiologist) offered other items that I could focus on (writing my updates is one) that weren’t work related. 2) In a chat with one of my team members, she quite rightly said to me, “Geoff, your time right now should be spent healing, not thinking about work”. Of course I should have known this. But I guess I really did need to hear it from my team that I needed to stop thinking about work and start thinking about my wellness. 3) In chatting with my manager, it became clear to me that my time away from work was just my “maternity leave” equivalent.  I would and could get back. So since that time, I have focused on my wellbeing and my family.  Whilst the first nine months were extremely challenging, I have quite enjoyed the last three.  As well as health and family time, I have been able to use this time to reinforce the new habits that I have had to implement.

By returning to work, I will get back to doing some of the things I do well. I will also be sure to work to identify and improve the things I don’t do so well. I will work hard but will do so with wellness at top of mind and priority, and I will continue to pursue those challenges that Nanette and I discussed nearly 11 months ago. I am really looking forward to getting back into it and connecting with the team. I want to go in and be received as a friend, a colleague and someone that can assist.  However, I don’t want to be the guy coming back into the office who has cancer. With that, if by having cancer I can inspire a few people to be better, well I can live with that.

Thanks for welcoming me back!

Take care

Geoff