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I've had a reeeeeeealllllly lousy week and I'm so glad it's over.

We'll start with my health. For about a year now I've had trouble seeing out of my right eye. My eye doctor said I have an usually big floater -- he even said it's the biggest one he's ever seen. I finally got sick of not seeing very well and went to a specialist. He was even bowled over by how big it is. I have to have it removed in a couple of weeks. I've had terrible eyes all of my life. I am so badly nearsighted that I wear the most powerful contact prescription that is made. If my eyes get any worse, I'll be forced to wear both glasses and contacts. Lasix isn't an option because my eyes are so bad. He also told me that people who are as nearsighted as I am often develop cataracs early -- and I have the beginning stages of it. He said that within 5 to 10 years I will have to have catarac surgery. I nearly started crying in the office. I am 45 years old! I might have full blown cataracs by the time I am 50!!! WTF?!?!?!?!?

He also said people are terribly nearsighted are at high risk for a certain type of macular degeneration that isn't age related. Meaning I might get it at any time -- and there is no cure for it. I am so depressed about that I can't even begin to describe it.

Now, onto my job. Some of you may know I work overnights. I hate it! I am a walking zombie all the time! I don't have a life! My husband and I communicate via dry erase board! I've worked hard and my show gets great ratings. We have an opening that is dayside and I talked to my boss about it today. He was complimentary of my work but I get the sense I'm headed nowhere. I told him if things move around internally I would also be interested in doing our 10pm show. That's done on our digital subchannel and gets very smally ratings, but I get paid the same no matter what. At least I'd get off of those crappy overnights! My boss said right off "I'm not putting you on the 10". I pointed out that I felt trapped on overnights and at least doing the 10 others get to see your work. I don't feel good about that. I don't want someone to sit there and blow smoke up my you-know-what. Gee, compliment my work and talk about how important mornings are but then don't reward someone with a promotion for hard work! How's that for motivation?

Sorry to go on for so long -- I should be looking forward to a long weekend which promises to be gorgeous but I'd just as soon crawl into bed, pull up the covers and stay there!

I'm sorry to hear that, can you see another doc about your eyes? I am very nearsighted but no one has ever said stuff like that to me. I don't know anyone with sight as bad as mine. I have -6.75% for my prescription. I'm sure insurance makes things difficult to be choosy.

As for overnights I understand, my DH gets stuck on them a LOT - 12 hours. He is quite grumpy and can't function, but I don't blame him. It is tough, and I've done it a little bit and you can't hardly have a life. I hope eventually you can get something better.

Horseracer, I have already had one cataract surgery, and I have a friend who had it in her 40s, and many in their 50s. It freaked me out at first, too but turns out not to be any big deal. It's painless and easy and when it's over you can see a lot better! So there's one thing you don't have to be concerned with. We pretty much all get cataracts at some point if we live long enough.

As to the MD, by spouse has early warning signs and takes certain meds to keep it at bay. So far, so good.

On the job front, are you being fucked over because you're female or a minority? Can you talk to Personnel about it?

I'm really sorry about both situations, but especially about your eyes. That's really serious.

Jen M.

Quote:I'm sorry to hear that, can you see another doc about your eyes? I am very nearsighted but no one has ever said stuff like that to me. I don't know anyone with sight as bad as mine. I have -6.75% for my prescription. I'm sure insurance makes things difficult to be choosy.

My eyes are -13.75, so my sight is much worse. Many doctors have tried to tell me how lucky I am because my eyes are corrected to nearly 20-20, which is rare for someone with eyes as bad as mine.

The specialist I went to see is with an Eye Institute that people come from all over the region to see, so I don't know what another doc could offer me.

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Quote:On the job front, are you being fucked over because you're female or a minority? Can you talk to Personnel about it?

I don't think so. I'm not an ethnic minority. If an internal candidate gets the job ahead of me they will be female, so I don't thinks it's discrimination.

If you're one of few competent people working at that particular show then he may want to keep you there because he knows that you'll do it and he doesn't want to have to replace you. How do you fix the problem? Look for other options, and show him that if you don't get moved to a better timeslot then he risks losing you completely. It's a delicate balance, but if you know of another place that is hiring then see if you can casually mention it (perhaps to someone else, when he's in earshot). You don't have to say that you're looking (would seem disloyal) but see if he looks concerned that you're thinking about it. If so then you can even tell him directly that you can't keep up these hours and you need a change, although I'd recommend having researched some options if you want to do this (which might be hard in today's economy).

My eyesight is shitty and I've been told that cataracts are a very likely problem for me. Even now I am in my early 30s and I have noticed at night that my left eye doesn't let in as much light as my right (I only notice when the light is really dim so it's not a big problem, but it's still disconcerting). I know of several coworkers who have had cataract surgery and they seem to be completely fine with it, and my grandmother had surgery and was one of the few who had complications but even then she went back a few days later and had it completely fixed up, good as new. So while it might seem a bit scary - cataracts are one of the more fixable ways that your body can break down over time. Still sucks, but deep breaths and try to keep that in mind.