Comments for

Comment on You can live with chronic illness and still love those shoes by Rosalind Joffe

Rosalind Joffe — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:16:06 +0000

Kristen - what a cool site you have! I”ll be commenting. Here’s my tip for your site: BeautiFeel - they’re from Israel and they’re beautiful and they’re expensive — but so worth just one pair! Of course you can add my blog — please do!

Comment on You can live with chronic illness and still love those shoes by BarkingDogShoes.com

BarkingDogShoes.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:14:58 +0000

Oh, I’m so glad i found this site. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in my late 20s and was told by my rheumatologist to wear New Balance shoes…all the time. Well find and dandy for when I want to take a walk, but to my job…to church? Now I’m 39 and love shoes more than ever, but my feet have surely changed over the years. Hammertoes, bunions, swelling from the RA–you name it. I decided to start a blog about comfortable yet stylish shoes for women about a year ago and it’s really starting to take off! So many shoe manufacturers are getting the message that women need fashionable shoes that won’t hurt their feet.

I’ll be adding your site to my blogroll, if that’s ok!
Kirsten

Comment on You can live with chronic illness and still love those shoes by Karen

Karen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:34:22 +0000

Hello Rosoland,

I’m reading this, also loving shoes, I get to “the kind my 80 year old mom wears.” My mom is just under 80, close enough to call her 80 (we just don’t like to mention numbers) and my DAUGHTER (25) wears her shoes. She’s lucky enough to have the same size foot. My mom has totally walked around (shall we say) the 80 year lady shoe style.

But it’s really the pits when we already have to adjust your lifestyle around our medical problems and then have to adjust our fashion choices as well. How much can we take?!!!

Comment on You have to be careful about closing doors by Rosalind Joffe

Rosalind Joffe — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:03:20 +0000

I think we have to address both sides of this coin - individuals wtih CI learning more about what is the best job fit for them AND publicizing the need for more flexible work conditions. The NY Times article I cited mentioned several employers. We have to keep finding out where they are and make that more public.

Comment on You have to be careful about closing doors by Robin

Robin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:52:59 +0000

In reading about the women with FM leaving her job for not feeling well mornings, it is easy to relate given that my sister has the condition and if you have a bad night’s rest, as can occur with the condition, the mornings and getting somewhere to perform can be a challenge and unpredictable. Having MS, I find that this is often the case as well. I have found that I ask to be anywhere 9:30am or later if possible, just to prepare for anything first thing in the morning (ie sleeping more, getting the brain together). I also know that the retirement issue and the job market for anyone older gets more and more difficult and truly a frustrating challenge. It is a true benefit if any employer will give the option of a return on conditions that will make it achievable for the person with a chronic illness to continue.

Comment on Planning a summer vacation can be a lot like cleaning your kitchen floor by Rosalind

Rosalind — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:25:03 +0000

I also think there’s another elephant that often enters this room - and that is that no matter how you slice and dice it - even the most encouraging and kind co-workers can resent that a sick person needs time off or a different schedule.

Comment on Planning a summer vacation can be a lot like cleaning your kitchen floor by Sherry

Sherry — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:05:36 +0000

Rosalind this is a great topic and your answer to Jenny offered a place for her to start a dialogue with her boss and to revisit her true feeling. I am learning and the longer I live the more I find this statement to be true, ‘a conversation about an subject with another person can shine a light and bring a new perspective to the surface’. Your ideas in your book offer ways to arrange for workloads to be rearranged or shared to complete work on time. Also ways to allow for a person who needs unexpected time off work to arrange with fellow workers to easy the load and make up work when you return. My experience has shown me that the unknown and ‘no plan to deal with the unexpected’ can be the elephant in the issue. Getting the job done when needed is what I have found employers want and expect. Vacation can be handled much the same way. I agree with you that rest and refreshing our energy and views is the reason to take a vacation. Making a long difficult trip does not refresh me and I find I cannot enjoy the place I visit. No matter where we live there are places with in a short distance we can relax and enjoy and a vacation can be simple and fun with out a difficult trip to get there.

Comment on Planning a summer vacation can be a lot like cleaning your kitchen floor by Rosalind

Rosalind — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:33:17 +0000

Good question, Jenni. It’s true - that just thinking it should be so, doesn’t make it so. But as you probably no, there is no “secret” . Nor do I think there is ONE answer. This is the stuff I work on with clients when they get stuck. My first question for you is, so are you planning a vacation in spite of his attitude? My next question is: how do you know he thinks this and what have you done about it? At a certain point that only you can figure out, you have to do what you believe is right for you and act with intention - rather than feeling your making decisions are a defensive response… which only leaves you feeling more like you’re coming from behind and out of balance. Does that help?

Comment on Planning a summer vacation can be a lot like cleaning your kitchen floor by Jenny Levinson

Jenny Levinson — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:02:11 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, but how do you explain this to people at work? My boss definitely doesn’t think I should be taking vacation when I am out so much do to my health, but sick days are definitely NOT a vacation! (This is in no way performance related — it seems to be an issue of “fairness” or something like that with my boss. With my colleagues, it’s the usual resentment issues we all deal with.) Plus, I have a family (including a young child). Is it fair to deprive them of a family vacation?

So, what’s the secret to taking vacation and not generating problems at work?

Comment on Hollywood producer tells her truth by Rosalind

Rosalind — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:35:33 +0000

Thanks for this response, Maria. I don’t want anyone to think I’m advocating that everyone should disclose that they live with CI. It’s a biased and difficult world that we live in and we’ve all experienced it. You’re doing a great job of making a difference for people but as we know, not everyone can do so. I believe societal/workplace shifts will happen — over time - with boomers aging. But I understand why people are afraid. We can’t change those around us — we can only work to develop our competence in managing these issues as best as possible.