gawgagranny
Familiar Member
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 9:00:04 GMT -5
Posts: 501
Today's Mood: partly cloudy with a chance of showers
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Post by gawgagranny on Nov 14, 2013 19:49:41 GMT -5
Mich, when you get this all figured out, let us know! I understand your problem, believe me! Good luck!
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swamp
Community Leader
Don't be a fool. Call me!
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 16:03:22 GMT -5
Posts: 45,345
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Post by swamp on Nov 14, 2013 19:53:21 GMT -5
I haven't ever heard of anyone being paid to do this but are there any organizations that help people navigate their hospital bills and the associated insurance/medicare payments. You are certainly experienced with this. Could you work as a contractor proof reading the technical articles etc that your former colleagues are publishing. Our hospital has one. It's called a patient navigator. They are usually nurses or social workers.
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Deleted
Joined: May 19, 2024 1:57:55 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2013 20:01:49 GMT -5
with my physical issues it has added a complexity to the situation and I am trying to find a job where if something happens and I wind up wheelchair bound, I could still do it.
Mich, trust me, after DH's accident, I completely understand your concerns. I hesitated to post because I (rightly) figured you probably thought of those things, but I decided to suggest them anyway.
I know it's not your first choice, but you never know when a college might be hiring. All it takes is one professor to move / get a better-paying main job / get pregnant / ill and leave / go on leave. I'm just saying it's worth keeping in touch, even if it's not the ideal situation. You could always offer to sub for them.
The other thing I want to point out is that sometimes we have to "cobble together" a salary, ie do a bunch of different things. I do know that this is NOT your ideal solution. But it has advantages: things never get boring, you meet a lot of different people, after a while you can make your own schedule and do more of what you like, or what pays more, and less of what you dislike, or what pays less. It's taken me several years but I have it down to a science now lol.
Last thought: I know this would be painful for you on some level, but you have real expertise here: could you be a "ghost / technical writer" (for lack of a better word) for other people's research? I'm sure that would smart, at least initially, but it could be a real niche that only somebody like you could do, and you'd still be working in "your field", even if you were no longer in the lab FT.
Again, best of luck to you. Trust me, I know how a sudden physical ailment can turn one's life around.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 14, 2013 20:21:37 GMT -5
Thanks, Debt.....
I've not closed any options. Just about everything that has been suggested is something that I've thought about in one way or another. Right now, I'm getting more and more bored and I need something other than the computer games to distract me, so I thought that learning CAD would bring me a marketable skill in this area. And it'd be different enough that I won't get the pangs of homesickness for my old job.
Another option that I have, but I need to get my ass in gear for this is to learn SAS. It was never required for my degree, but I had access to it. Before I was booted out of the system, I was able to download a license that will be good until the end of summer. If I can become proficient in it, it is a needed enough skill that it could help me out here too. But I'm still just a little pissed as to what happened with my PhD so I've ignored anything having to do with it for the last few months, but maybe it's time to start picking up the books.
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Deleted
Joined: May 19, 2024 1:57:55 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2013 21:08:17 GMT -5
Mich maybe, maybe not. I can totally understand you ignoring anything having to do with your previous job. Only you can know whether you'd prefer to be on the outside or opt for something else entirely.
I don't know if this story will make any sense to you or not, I don't "know" you at all. I think you know that DH, an avid cyclist, was run over by a cement truck in Aug 2011. He is right-handed, and his left hand and foot were severely damaged. He lost his pinky, and his ring finger is hooked and useless, and his other fingers aren't much better.
DH is a graphic designer, so, he uses his fingers constantly when he works. His hand is very badly damaged, and he is ashamed of it, and will no longer work in front of clients. He will only wear long sleeves because he is freaked out at the idea of freaking somebody else out. His hobbies were playing piano and guitar. Bye bye piano, bye bye guitar. He was (still is) in a band, 4 guys in the neighborhood, who are close.
DH used to play keyboards, guitar, harmonica. After his accident he bought a harmonica in every key. A harmonica alone is just horrible for more than 5 minutes. His bandmates tried to get DH to play the ukelele (only four strings). One of the guys insisted on lending DH a ukelele, even though DH said no. DH never touched it. Another guy, DH's best friend, insisted on lending DH HIS ukelele, much more beautiful than the first. Ditto, DH refused to go anywhere near it.
Then suddenly, nearly a year ago, on 26 Dec (Boxing Day in the UK, DH is a Brit so it's an important day to him), DH said, I want a ukelele, I'm going to the music store to buy one, would you come with me? I did, and, he bought himself a ukelele. I wanted to buy it for him, he wouldn't let me. It was his present to himself.
You will get there Mich, I promise! You will not be TD's "kept woman" forever LOL.
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