My Journey In Pharma - The Final Years, Part 3

The final three years of my tenure were marred with physical problems. First a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and a year later, Degenerative Disk Disease. Together, they equal nothing but chronic pain. I kept fighting the pain with prescribed medications, cortisone shots, nerve blocks, heat, cold, bed-rest, chiropractic manipulation, decompression, physical therapy, exercise, water aerobics, a TENS unit and radio frequency lesioning...all have failed. I even began to have adverse reactions to some of the prescribed narcotics. I had never in my life experienced such pain and agony. Pain so great, my husband has had to run me to the emergency room at least 3 times.

Because of my physical instabilities, the final 3 years of my tenure, being a drone was nothing but a never ending learning curve. I felt like I had begun a pattern of being on medical leave for 2-3 months, and back to work for 3-4 months...THEN on medical leave for 3-4 months and back to work for 2-3 months. This pattern of absence, plus the major reorganizations happening within the company suddenly made me feel a bit worthless. The skill-sets I had mastered in my former division had little or no value in this new "Borg" world. I was a drone...and a novice drone at that. The work I now was required to do was boring in comparison to my former work. My life was now filled with project plans, budgets, vendors, learning systems and constantly changing processes for how to get things done. Thank God, every Borg leader I had was patient, understanding and empathetic.

Due to my leaves of absence, I can't really say I got to know my Borg drone colleagues very well, but those I experienced were very pleasant (with the exception of one) and helpful. Unfortunately (and in my opinion), my former training colleagues that were placed on the Borg ship with me, were not made of the same Borg drone "stuff" as these other drones were. Most of my former training colleagues (from the previous division), left the Borg ship for other positions within the company. Those of us that were left, felt like we were treading water until something better came along. Unfortunately, the only thing that came along was a company downsizing.

Leaving the Borg department was a major relief. I was a square peg that never would have fit in the hole. Leaving my Borg colleagues and leaders was sad. I genuinely liked them. Thankfully, Facebook will allow me to stay connected to them.

It looks like my next chapter in life will be taking care of me. Surviving these diseases and living the best quality life that I can.