Job/Career- what do you do?

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My degree and career for years was in Pre-k.

I worked in several different types of programs over the years. One of my favorites being for the Migrant Workers Childrens Program. I didn't know I word of Spanish but it didn't seem to matter, we all figured out what the other wanted or needed. These were the most appreciative of all the parents and children I ever worked with.

I love the Head Start Program too. The way I felt about it was right up there with the MWCP.

I was the Director of a "Christian" program For a while. That was the worst program I worked for. Very structured and set as far as what you could say and do. Children were bored!

The last place I worked was for a Magor Hospital in IL. They had a program for the DR and Nurses children. Loved it and had excellent benefits. Cost nothing to have my children!!! They went to Daycare there free of charge while I taught.

As my children grew older I began a pre-k in my home and had it for several years until my illness took over and I have been disabled now for 14 years (this was before E).

I miss work. Have tried to go back but cant., my disability will not allow. I have started going to the nursing home once a week for a couple hours to visit with those who have no one. I might go more when the weather allows but I have to walk and its a way a way!:)
 
Penny, are you unable to go back because of the physical aspect or because of the effect on the children? Because I've thought about elementary education but worry that a possible seizure while in class may scare the children too much

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Sjconner I apologize just saw your post-thanks for the link!

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Hi,
cpuerini, SlimBlue, kristen

Looks like all three of you are all in love with the programing side of computers.* I on the other side of the "CPU" love the internals (hardware troubleshooting).* I tried programming years back but just go stressed out on all the debugging.

Maybe you can switch over and do the hardware maintence at a company.* I know the pay is not as high as a programmer, but you still are in the pc world.

I have since retired from my IT job due to my seizures and not being able to drive to work.* I did computer hardware repair as well as software packaging for mass distribution.

Until August if I am seizure free. I will probably just do online training.* To keep up to speed with changing technology. Then reapply at my old place of employment. If they have a spot for me still.
My coworker says my desk is still empty. :)

Also if you love sitting at the computer hammering out code. Writing a book might be your second hidden talent !!!
 
cpuerini said:
Penny, are you unable to go back because of the physical aspect or because of the effect on the children? Because I've thought about elementary education but worry that a possible seizure while in class may scare the children too much

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My disability has nothing to do with E.

I have Bipolar 1 and Complex PTSD. It never affected me for years and then due to a move my anxiety shot thru the roof. I wouldn't even go outside the house and I was a very active person in the community. I still have those days plus plenty others. Doing better though.
 
I didn't decide on what I wanted to do until 2000 when I was 22 which was administration, after I decided that was what I wanted to do I went to TAFE (bit like college) & got my certificate 2 in business administration then went on to do voluntary work in offices & other administration type courses. My seizures returned in May 2002 when I was 24 & although I mainly had simple/complex partial seizures I did have trouble getting work. I got the odd bit of part time/casual work but I would end up having complex partials while at work.
I didn't give up because when I wasn't doing paid work I did voluntary work.

I had surgery 3 years ago which did help control my seizures & I have been pretty much seizure free since surgery except for the odd funny feeling which we are not sure are seizures or not. These funny feelings mainly happen if I am stressed so I do have to watch my stress levels & that I don't get to tired (both were triggers for me)

I got my 1st full time job at the end of August working for a building company in their office as a receptionist/administration assistant. I love it as I do different aspects of the job so it doesn't get boring & it is a great work environment so minimal stress. I am very open about my epilepsy & because I got my job though a disabiltiy employment agency my employers knew about my epilepsy but it is under control & they had no issues with it. They told me to just let them know what to look out for & what to do if something happened (eg I was to have a partial seizure).
 
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Penny said:
I have Bipolar 1 and Complex PTSD. It never affected me for years and then due to a move my anxiety shot thru the roof.
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I can relate to that. I wasn't going to answer the question "what do you do?" because in all honesty, I absolutely hate that question. I've been asked that soooo many times when out with those who DO have a career and DON'T have any health problems. Before the seizures started, I was in the airline industry, working as a ticket agent. My dream was to fly around the world, see people and things everywhere. But I did meet and marry a pilot. Then, I started having my seizures, CP and TC when I was 22 years old and suffered a severe injury because of it. So I was in the hospital for several months and had to have multiple surgeries. After I recovered from that, we moved far away from family. We had two kids and my seizures got worse, so I didn't work and haven't worked because of the miserable seizures, depression, diabetes, etc. I also had a temporal lobectomy and was seizure free for 14 months. But after the seizures came back, so did MAJOR depression. The psychiatrist said I was Bipolar. And at that time my kids were in elementary school. So they went thru a lot too. They witnessed quite a few TC seizures. Thought their momma was going to die on several occasions. I wish they would never have seen some of the things they did.

Now that both of my kids are grown and on their own and folks ask what do I do, I tell them I'm still lookin' for a job. Cause this is as good as it gets for some.
 
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Don't forget there are schools that offer online classes. I am working on my master's degree in Special Education through the University of North Dakota. I will also become a board certified behavior analyst. It is all online and I don't have to go anywhere. I am in my first semester and everything is working out beautifully. As long as I can keep up - I will graduate in two years.
 
CQ:) said:
I didn't decide on what I wanted to do until 2000 when I was 22 which was administration, after I decided that was what I wanted to do I went to TAFE (bit like college) & got my certificate 2 in business administration then went on to do voluntary work in offices & other administration type courses. My seizures returned in May 2002 when I was 24 & although I mainly had simple/complex partial seizures I did have trouble getting work. I got the odd bit of part time/casual work but I would end up having complex partials while at work.
I didn't give up because when I wasn't doing paid work I did voluntary work.

I had surgery 3 years ago which did help control my seizures & I have been pretty much seizure free since surgery except for the odd funny feeling which we are not sure are seizures or not. These funny feelings mainly happen if I am stressed so I do have to watch my stress levels & that I don't get to tired (both were triggers for me)

I got my 1st full time job at the end of August working for a building company in their office as a receptionist/administration assistant. I love it as I do different aspects of the job so it doesn't get boring & it is a great work environment so minimal stress. I am very open about my epilepsy & because I got my job though a disabiltiy employment agency my employers knew about my epilepsy but it is under control & they had no issues with it. They told me to just let them know what to look out for & what to do if something happened (eg I was to have a partial seizure).
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Are you in Australia CQ? I read your post and your new job sounds like paradise =)
 
urza3277 said:
Are you in Australia CQ? I read your post and your new job sounds like paradise =)
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Yes Im an Aussie.
I never thought i would ever get a good job so when I got this job it was like a dream at 1st lol.
 
Ohh sorry penny :/ glad you're doing better

CQ glad to here you found something good, and I've never heard of disability employment so that's something really good to know about

Cint... I guess I was asking for those who are in a position to be able to do anything, because I was wondering what may be possible for people with epilepsy because I'm worried about it. Most things I've read on here say not to give up and they've never let epilepsy hold them back, so I didn't think I'd offend anyone asking. I'm sorry for everything you've gone through.

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Sjconner- I've thought about online school, looked at a few but some I wonder about because they advertise so much, and I wonder why they need to do that if they're actually a good school. I don't have any degrees right now, I'm close to an associates in general education if I want that, but that won't really get me anywhere. No idea what I really want to do, either way....

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Cint said:
I can relate to that. I wasn't going to answer the question "what do you do?" because in all honesty, I absolutely hate that question. I've been asked that soooo many times when out with those who DO have a career and DON'T have any health problems. Before the seizures started, I was in the airline industry, working as a ticket agent. My dream was to fly around the world, see people and things everywhere. But I did meet and marry a pilot. Then, I started having my seizures, CP and TC when I was 22 years old and suffered a severe injury because of it. So I was in the hospital for several months and had to have multiple surgeries. After I recovered from that, we moved far away from family. We had two kids and my seizures got worse, so I didn't work and haven't worked because of the miserable seizures, depression, diabetes, etc. I also had a temporal lobectomy and was seizure free for 14 months. But after the seizures came back, so did MAJOR depression. The psychiatrist said I was Bipolar. And at that time my kids were in elementary school. So they went thru a lot too. They witnessed quite a few TC seizures. Thought their momma was going to die on several occasions. I wish they would never have seen some of the things they did.

Now that both of my kids are grown and on their own and folks ask what do I do, I tell them I'm still lookin' for a job. Cause this is as good as it gets for some.
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I really appreciate you sharing that with me cint. I'm sure it took a lot courage. I know it is hard for me to share but as I do I keep telling myself I am becoming stronger. Not so that I can get out there and conquer the world, if you know what I mean. I just feel like what my kids and I went thru has not been in vein. That maybe someone else might gain from our experiences in life. My kids were in grade school when my illness got really bad too but mine was the psych illness first so they saw me in and out of the hospital a couple times for it. I don't know about your kids but with all mine have been thru they both have the most gentle, caring spirits. Even if they love tattoos, piercings and such. lol They are always there for their Momma.:hugs:
 
cpuerini said:
Ohh sorry penny :/ glad you're doing better

CQ glad to here you found something good, and I've never heard of disability employment so that's something really good to know about

Cint... I guess I was asking for those who are in a position to be able to do anything, because I was wondering what may be possible for people with epilepsy because I'm worried about it. Most things I've read on here say not to give up and they've never let epilepsy hold them back, so I didn't think I'd offend anyone asking. I'm sorry for everything you've gone through.

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You don't have to be sorry hon. Its just one of those things!

If I could go back to work (wasn't disabled) I don't think I would. I wouldn't be able to in my field at least. Could you imagine those 4 and 5 year olds if I had a seizure in front of them. They would not have the comprehension at that age to understand.
 
cpuerini said:
CQ glad to here you found something good, and I've never heard of disability employment so that's something really good to know about

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Click to expand...

I'm not sure what services there are for unemployed people but over here we have employment agencies that help the unemployed find work.

There are also disabilty employment agencies for people who have disabilities or medical conditions that make it harder fir them to find employment
 
Yeah I saw that you said you're actually from Australia, maybe that's why I never heard of anything like that over here

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I wanted to be an elementary school teacher from 5th grade through college sophomore. I took all of the classes I was supposed to and went through the student teaching, where I decided I would not enjoy it like I thought. So I turned journalism into my major but neurosurgery kept me from finishing college. I went through a quick round of medical coding training just for something to do. I haven't been able to hold a job like that because of my seizures though. Now I'm using my journalism education to help the Epilepsy Association of Utah and enjoying it. I wish you luck with your decision and experience getting there.
 
I looked into medical coding before-isn't that mainly a desk job? Why wasn't that doable? I'm glad you were able to find something to stick with, thanks for the well wishes

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