Podcast: Navigating jobs and CF

Transcript

Voiceover: Welcome to the CF Strong Podcast. CF Strong covers the successes and challenges faced by those living with cystic fibrosis. You’ll hear first-person stories, conversations with health professionals, friends and partners. Just a heads up, guests may share their personal views about treatments and health management, but please remember, this is not medical advice and you should always follow the advice of your clinic team regarding your health.

Brad: G’day everyone and welcome to this incredibly exciting new season of the CF Strong Podcast. I’m your host and fellow CF patient Bradley Dryburgh. And as a 20-something-year-old living with cystic fibrosis, I know that this decade of our life is not only challenging, but rather it comes with some big questions we ask of ourselves. I’ve taken the time to sit down with six guests who like me, are all in their twenties living with cystic fibrosis as they share their honest and unique perspectives on 10 big questions across 10 separate episodes. I’ll ask one question of all six of our guests in this particular order. You can expect to hear answers from Adam, Blake, Caitlin, Ellie, Sam, and Tayla. In this episode of our series, we’ll hear from all of our six guests as they answer the question. Are you pursuing your ideal career or have you encountered any jobs that wouldn’t hire you because of your CF?

Adam: Uh, no. Um, you know, my ideal career, I, again, I’ve never really had an ideal career. I’ve always just been playing music and I’m still doing it. And, it never paid the bills in the beginning, it was just a lot of fun. It was a lot of passion, and everyone around me was freaking out being like, oh, what’s Adam gonna do? But he is not, he’s not studying, he is not getting a career. Like, you know, my family are really worried about that. And I completely get that. I completely understand why the beauty of time is that, I got somewhere with it and now I can teach drums. Now I can actually make a career out of it. I play in bands and there’s money, there’s some money there. I still have to work at a part-time job that isn’t a career, it’s just to pay the bills. But I think the passion over career has been probably the underlying theme of this whole thing. Like, oh, career. It’s like, well, for me, I, I always thought I was gonna die young. Like, what? I don’t really see a point in a career. I don’t see the point in developing a skill in accounting or being, you know, working in finance. Like, I don’t see the point in that for me, because that doesn’t give me anything, you know, it only gives me material. It’s like, it’s too materialistic. And as I said, I’m so art peeled, I’m so music peeled that I, I, I would feel so, I, just wouldn’t feel happy. I wouldn’t feel me. I feel, I would feel like I’m chasing this thing that doesn’t actually mean anything. Um, so it’s a bit of a tricky one to answer because yeah, careers, I suppose it’s not for me, but I suppose I could say that I have a career now, but, you know, who knows?

Blake: Um, well, I am, in my ideal career at the moment, I absolutely love it. But, uh, when, when I do look back to the jobs that I had, especially in high school, you know, I think in hindsight, I wish they had rejected me from those jobs, so I didn’t have to do them. Um, it was a lot of dish pig jobs. I think I did like a six-month stint at the reject shop, all of those sorts of things. Um, and, and they were all really good, but, you know, really bad jobs that were very boring. So, um, you know, I wish I hadn’t have worked them, but, uh, no, everybody’s been pretty good, um, with, with me in terms of employment. But, uh, yeah, like I’m absolutely loving standup because like, one, it’s my passion and, um, you know, it also just allows me to, you know, it’s not a very busy job day to day, like, until you have a show. So I do have a lot of time to just, you know, work on myself, you know, keep up with treatments and all that sort of stuff. Um, so yeah, it’s been like job-wise, everything’s, uh, all good.

Caitlin: high school, when all my friends were starting to get jobs, I definitely struggled to find a job because I needed a workplace to understand that I would come into hospital every two months for about two weeks. And, um, yeah, back then, that’s how often I was going into hospital. And I remember one specific encounter where, um, it was actually where my friend was working and the manager asked if I wanted a job, and I said, can you give me, you know, two weeks off every couple of months? And she just straight out said no, and just like, looked at me funny. So it’s definitely, um, there’s been times where I have encountered that, but I have also had jobs in the past where I’ve had amazing managers who have been really understanding as well. And I’m very lucky in my current, um, excuse me, in my current workplace, I have really understanding managers too. It’s not, um, my ideal job. I did study nutrition science, and I would eventually like to work in nutrition and dietetics, but that’s just a slow burn with CF and study. It’s gonna take a little bit longer than I would like, but that’s okay.

Ellie: Um, I feel very fortunate where I am currently, um, working with CF, there’s a lot of flexibility in the department that I’m in, um, especially around, you know, leave for clinic and, you know, if I’m having a rough day or I don’t wanna go into the office, that’s definitely something that they’re extremely flexible with. Um, I would probably say that I am not entirely sure what my ideal career is. I’m definitely loving the space that I’m in. I’ve also switched teams a couple times, and I feel like the team that I initially went into in the youth space was something that I thought I would never move out of. Um, you know, working with youth and kind of, you know, I guess being younger, having that shared experience and that relatability. But I am quite awkward, I guess, around new people and actually quite awkward around like younger people. So I kind of didn’t really maybe fit well there. I’m not, I’m not too sure. Um, but I’m kind of more in the, you know, strategy side of the department at the moment, and I just kind of find the work that I’m doing now really fascinating, and I’m really enjoying it. But I also am in a position where I still really wanna grow and learn. So I almost don’t wanna set myself an ideal career or an ideal end goal because I think that that would probably, maybe limit me a little bit. Like I still wanna experience like roles and jobs that I’ve probably maybe not even heard of before and, and really explore, um, careers, I guess. Um, I’ve definitely not had anywhere, not hire me because of CF. Um, I guess I always get really confused when you have to kind of tick the, do you have any, um, you know, anything that will prevent you from being able to work or something, because I’m like, well, technically no , technically I can still work just as well as everyone else, but also kind of yes, because I will have to like, have my day off to go to clinic because it, it takes so long. And, and if I do have to get admitted to hospital, like that’s either time off work or it’s gonna be very little hours while I’m kind of like in between physio and, and appointments and sitting in bed and all of those things. Um, so I’m really, I’m always like, oh, like, yes, I, no, I tend to, I tend to go with no, um, because I, I kind of don’t think like on a day-to-day basis that it, that it affects me that much. And, and, you know, once I’m in a role or in a position or move teams, like I’m, I’m pretty open with like my manager or line manager or whatnot about having it. And that means that like I’ll have to take days off. And I guess in, yeah, being in the department, that’s been something that’s been really flexible. I definitely had some like more awkward encounters, like having it, um, in previous roles. So, um, like I used to work in retail and I guess coughing and working was kind of, you know, get some funny looks and, and whatnot. And I had an incident kind of just after the second wave of COVID-19, or was it the first wave? My first or second. I’m not sure where I was like in jobs, but, um, I had, I was working in retail and I was trying to serve someone and I was kind of having like a bit of a coughing fit, like, I don’t know if it was like dusty or whatnot, but, you know, kind of, um, kind of started and I couldn’t stop and I was trying my best to like assist and help them. And they asked to speak to my manager and I was like, oh, like, okay, um, sure. So I didn’t really know what it was about and she kind of, um, came back to me and she was like, oh, they didn’t want you to help them because of how much you were coughing. And I was like, oh, okay. Like, it was hard for me because, you know, coming out of Covid I was like, I do understand slightly that that would be concerning. Um, but also, yeah, like I said, it’s a kind of, it’s invisible and you, you don’t really know. Um, and I like to think that, you know, if I was sick, I wouldn’t be at work for sure. Um, yeah, and it was so, I mean, that was kind of more of a, a minor situation. I did have a situation where I had a previous, a previous office job and, and this was again, I guess to preface during Covid as well, um, that I had been, um, like pulled into the management office and kind of said that there’d been some people, they’d said concerns, I don’t know whether or not it was concerns or complaints about how much I was coughing in the office and that if I was sick, why was I not at home or why was I not on leave or anything like that. And they’d been asked to like formally write out an email to just like assure everyone that I was fine. And I was in two minds about it ’cause I was kind of like, well, if it’s gonna make everyone like, feel better, and like, I’m at that point I was like becoming to be more open about it. I was like, I’m pretty open about it. Like I’ll just tell people, like I’ll just send it, whatever. But on the other hand, it was, I felt like there was no support there. Like when, you know, people did have concerns, it almost wasn’t shut down. It wasn’t, well, you know, we do have a policy or like if she was sick, she wouldn’t be here. Or almost like, not really any of your business to be honest. Um, but to like not have it stopped at that level is kind of like a lot of pressure put on me to like reassure like a whole office full of people that like, you know, I’m not gonna make you sick or, you know, those kinds of things. Like, yeah. So that was a bit of a bit of an awkward situation, I feel like probably wasn’t handled great.

Sam: Yeah, that’s, that’s a really good question. Um, my current career is not, I guess a typical career. I, um, I wanna work overseas, I wanna work in the field in a humanitarian sense, work on the ground in disasters, conflicts. And just by saying that out loud with someone with CF, it seems ridiculous that you wanna do that because you’re just putting yourself in harm’s way for anyone to be doing that, but even more so with a disease. Um, and yeah, I’ve actually, when I’ve talked about it with people, people who have said, um, they won’t take you overseas if you have CF. Like they, they just won’t do that. They’re not gonna do that. Um, and yeah, that hurt big time. That was a few years ago and I kind of maybe reconsider my entire career path, but, um, I guess in the end I kind of said, you know, screw that. Like, I’m, I’m healthy, I’m fit. This is what I want to do. The world needs people to go do that kind of work, and I want to do it. I have the, I have the passion and I have the education and the skills to do that. So if people don’t want me because of my disease, then they’re missing out. Um, and then now that I’m in that kinda workforce, I’ve realised that whoever said that did not know what they were talking about. You know, the, uh, the world and the people who send people overseas, they don’t care. As long as you’re fit, healthy and wanna do the work, you can go anywhere, you can do anything. So, yeah.

Tayla: Yeah, for sure. Um, I’ve been very lucky so far where my work currently I’m very supportive with CF. Um, so I’m currently chasing that career dream, uh, motorsport with them, um, which is great. Um, they’re an awesome group of people to work with. I’m the youngest on the team, but, um, every time like different events, some of the team will be like, I think you should like go home or go have a rest or something. Uh, there’s a part of the big truck where they’re like, if you’re tired, go take a nap in there or something, you’ll go take time out in the truck. Um, and just like recoup, have a snack, whatever you gotta do. Um, which is great. Like I’ve been very lucky, um, with that. But I do have the fear of when you’re progressing forward, like, you know, in like 10 years time, uh, at a different job or same job, different people, they’re gonna be a bit different. Um, and I’ve attended some girls on track with Motorsport Australia events where I’ve specifically said this to the industry professionals and I’m like, I want motorsports so bad, but I’m petrified that people are gonna hear CF and they’re gonna go, if she can’t do it, someone else without it will do a better job. Um, and that’s just, I mean, that’s an insecurity of mine that’s really, really wedged in there. Um, but yeah, I think career stuff I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do at 21, and I think not a lot of people can say that. I’m still studying at uni, um, and I’m working in the field that I wanna work in, and people are like, oh, I feel like some people are like, oh, she doesn’t do much, but other people are like, oh my God, she’s doing what she said she wanted to do. So I think that’s kind of cool.

Brad: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of our series. We thank you for taking the time to sit down and hear the value that each of our six guests provide. And we wanna thank them for taking the time to be a part of the series too. We hope that this has not only been informative, um, but refreshing to hear that there are many different perspectives to each of these questions and challenges we face as CF patients. Once again, I’m your host Bradley Dryburgh. Thank you so much for tuning into the CF Strong podcast.

Voiceover: Thanks for listening to this episode of the CF Strong Podcast. Make sure you subscribe on your favourite podcast listening platform so you don’t miss the next episode. And if you enjoyed this podcast, we’d really appreciate it if you could leave us a review. It helps other people find safe, strong, or share us with your friends. Also, a quick reminder that the views expressed in the CF Strong Podcast may not be reflective of Cystic fibrosis community care’s viewpoints. The podcasts are designed to share information and provide insight into the lives of those living with cystic fibrosis around Australia. This podcast was made possible thanks to support provided by the Australian government. Thanks for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time.