If you're happy and you know it ...

... then you also know ignorance is not bliss.

So many stresses have been relieved in the past few days that I feel more cheerful and optimistic this morning than I have for quite a while. Mind you going out on the town last night with a gaggle of other single women (aged 30-45) from work last night and drinking cocktails probably helped too :)

Tumor on the Pituitary Gland. In summary, the tumor is a non-cancerous fluid-filled sack that is pushing my pituitary gland all out of shape,  However my pituitary gland is still working well, so no surgery.  Every 12 months I will need an MRI and some blood tests to confirm all is OK. As soon as the pituitary gland is not working properly, they will but me into surgery.  According to the neurologist that might be in 50 years time.

Primary Chronic Daily Headaches. Innocuous sounding name for something that has been so painful for over two months continuously. I still need to do a LOT of reading up on this one, but the basics as I understand it (and please anyone with medical background please correct me if I'm wrong):

Stress causes headache causes broken sleep patterns causes stress plus headache which then causes sleeplessness which then exacerbates stress and headache and sleeplessness and the whole circle goes around and around getting more and more severe. It also brings on "medically induced emotional incontinence"; translation: I cry at the drop of a hat.

The neurologist has given me some medication from the tricyclics family to help break this vicious cycle. I also need to reduce the stresses in my life and once we get the dosage correct, this should all be over within the next six months.

As a couple of you know I am having major problems at work with my direct supervisor. She has now admitted in a meeting with our manager and HR that she considers me difficult to manage so she stopped trying and just ignored my presence.

Unfortunately for her, she also admitted that whenever I tried to talk to her about my medical condition and how its affecting my work she said "I don't want to hear about your personal life".  This means she did not follow Occupational Health and HR procedures to inform our Manager and HR that I had a serious medical condition.  Both HR and my Manager are well aware that my supervisor has left the organisation open to litigation if (as it has now been determined) the work situation exacerbated the medical condition.

HR and my manager have decided that for the organisation to redress this issue, I will be moved to a different branch, given a different supervisor and given different work for the next six months.  The details are still to be negotiated but it looks like it will include a return to my forte of cataloguing and database integrity (work I love doing and can do in my sleep - yay!) and I will provide periodic written reports from my doctor to ensure that my work is not affecting my recovery.

I was also given on the spot approval for any leave I wish to take in the next six months. So I decided to take two weeks off work from the end of next week.  I have work to do that cannot be just left, and I have a BIG week of work in early July, but I'm taking the two weeks off in between.

So definitely a win and I should be back to the bouncy Goth Tigger you all know and love within six months.


Unfortunately, as I have a predilection to headaches* and I am in a stressful situation both at work and at home** this situation is very likely to reoccur, so I need to make changes changes in my life.

This is where I still need to do a lot of research on this condition. The neurologist gave me a couple of medical papers and details of a book to read*** but basically I need to start my meditation again, institute a regular regime of exercise (when I am capable and not before) and move back to Sydney or Melbourne (a cosmopolitan city which contains many friends and is easily visitable by family).

So time to now put some quiet music on and give my house a thorough spring clean.



* I can tell the difference between a tension headache, a dehydration headache, eyestrain and migraine
** apparently living on your own with no close friends or family and where the primary culture is an anathema to you is considered a stressful situation
*** because I'm a librarian he gave me the ISBN - he looked so proud of himself :)