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Careers?
Mon, 10/28/2013 - 19:04Hello,
Let me start of by saying I am only a junior in high school but wanted advice from people who have been here.
Since I was nine, I have wanted to become a physical therapist. However, with my new diagnosis of seizures, I wasn't sure if that goal could be attained.
Is anyone out there a physical therapist??
I probably should add my seizures were fairly controlled but I recently had a really bad cluster. No hospital! Just no high school and extra-circulars until I got better
Thanks!
Emily
Comments
Re: Careers?
Submitted by nicki on Thu, 2013-10-31 - 10:04
Re: Careers?
Submitted by GodivaGirl on Wed, 2013-10-30 - 21:19
Hi Emily,
Gotta say it is awesome that you are only in Jr High and you already have a plan on what you wanna do. I'm lots older than you and even tho I'm seizure free now, I did grow up epileptic - had brain surgery 2 years ago. I'll tell ya what my doctors told me growing up, and what my medical team still reminds me of these day. Seizures can happen, but don't let them stand in your way of living life. As long as you do your homework on stuff and educate the people in your world on what they need to do just incase you have a seizure, then live life and enjoy. Seemed to work out okay in lots of ways for me. Grew up a sports kid (baseball, ringette, hockey, swimming, skiing, tennis), graduated university about 15 years ago, lived on my own, worked in Technology for a long time....for me my job was pretty high stress and it did trigger a lot of seizures, so I switched up to something less stressful for awhile working in customer service type stuff. Eventually I got tired of trying to manage meds & 2 years ago had my surgery. Now I have days where I'm bored at work so I'm looking at going back to school to upgrade my degree and do something different. When it comes to school and looking into jobs that match for me There are 2 things my doctors tell me that do seem to make sense. My memory isn't the best since my surgery, if I had to guess I got told this growing up, but it's what they're telling me now for sure. First one is to research whether or not the job needs me to pass a medical exam - good example of that one would be police officer (my degree is sociology/crim minor). Police officers gotta pass pretty intense medical exams. Even tho I'm seizure free, well my vision is a bit messed up, so I probably wouldn't pass the requirements. Second thing is travel time / driver's license needed or not. Its gonna take me awhile to get my driver's license so doesn't make sense to have a job that needs one.
Hope this makes sense & helps ya.
Good Luck to ya,
GodivaGirl
Hi Emily,
Gotta say it is awesome that you are only in Jr High and you already have a plan on what you wanna do. I'm lots older than you and even tho I'm seizure free now, I did grow up epileptic - had brain surgery 2 years ago. I'll tell ya what my doctors told me growing up, and what my medical team still reminds me of these day. Seizures can happen, but don't let them stand in your way of living life. As long as you do your homework on stuff and educate the people in your world on what they need to do just incase you have a seizure, then live life and enjoy. Seemed to work out okay in lots of ways for me. Grew up a sports kid (baseball, ringette, hockey, swimming, skiing, tennis), graduated university about 15 years ago, lived on my own, worked in Technology for a long time....for me my job was pretty high stress and it did trigger a lot of seizures, so I switched up to something less stressful for awhile working in customer service type stuff. Eventually I got tired of trying to manage meds & 2 years ago had my surgery. Now I have days where I'm bored at work so I'm looking at going back to school to upgrade my degree and do something different. When it comes to school and looking into jobs that match for me There are 2 things my doctors tell me that do seem to make sense. My memory isn't the best since my surgery, if I had to guess I got told this growing up, but it's what they're telling me now for sure. First one is to research whether or not the job needs me to pass a medical exam - good example of that one would be police officer (my degree is sociology/crim minor). Police officers gotta pass pretty intense medical exams. Even tho I'm seizure free, well my vision is a bit messed up, so I probably wouldn't pass the requirements. Second thing is travel time / driver's license needed or not. Its gonna take me awhile to get my driver's license so doesn't make sense to have a job that needs one.
Hope this makes sense & helps ya.
Good Luck to ya,
GodivaGirl
Re: Careers?
Submitted by just_joe on Tue, 2013-10-29 - 11:30
Morning Emily
I am pleased to say I admire your quest.
Understand that there are obsticles which everybody has in front of them, But you are at least approching yours earlier then many others.
What you want to do is also admiring. I have a cousin who had epilepsy when she was young. She is currently in the PTA so yes you can and should try to achieve your dream. She did have seizures when she was younger but then she also grew out of them. She was always active and wanted to do all kinds of things as do a lot of kids. I say that becasue I too was young. I had dreams but there were times those dreams got dashed. If you want to achieve your dream go for it. If something gets in the way of your dream take a side road an lok at your dream from another angle. My dream was to be a chef but I had to get out of the kitchen becasue getting to hot too fast can and does cause seizures in some people with epilepsy. In school I wanted to be on the teams but I had epilepsy. Parents would not let me play. I did something that had not been done in that school ever before and probably hasn't been done since then. I becasue the manager. The guy that worked with the equipment carried the tape and towels The one few people think about. In my freshment year I was on the freshment team once it was over I was walking out and the coaches asked me where I was going. It seems like they wanted me to move over to the JV team and finish with them.One more week. I got approval from Mom and went thru the same thing the next week. I was walking out and the coaches stopped me. They asked the same question. Oh and the varsity already had 2 managers but they were always on the sidelines. They wanted me on the varsity team. I told them I had to check with Mom first and would tell them the next day. Coach Tarkanenin informed me that he had already talked to Mom on the phone. My dream was to be on the football team as a freshman. I was the only freshman to recieve a varsity letter as a manager. It took hard work but I knew the plays ran routes and moves up because I was on the field and worked at getttng what was needed to the coaches and players. It would amaze the team players when they accepted me like nothing was different. Yes it can be done and has by others.
I have been dealing and living with epilepsy for 50+ years.
In other words try and become a PT if there are problems there are always ways to stay within that area of work. Hey they have to have people working in their offices and other areas.
Dream your dream but think of other direction you might have to go to achieve your dream.
I hope this helps
Joe
Morning Emily
I am pleased to say I admire your quest.
Understand that there are obsticles which everybody has in front of them, But you are at least approching yours earlier then many others.
What you want to do is also admiring. I have a cousin who had epilepsy when she was young. She is currently in the PTA so yes you can and should try to achieve your dream. She did have seizures when she was younger but then she also grew out of them. She was always active and wanted to do all kinds of things as do a lot of kids. I say that becasue I too was young. I had dreams but there were times those dreams got dashed. If you want to achieve your dream go for it. If something gets in the way of your dream take a side road an lok at your dream from another angle. My dream was to be a chef but I had to get out of the kitchen becasue getting to hot too fast can and does cause seizures in some people with epilepsy. In school I wanted to be on the teams but I had epilepsy. Parents would not let me play. I did something that had not been done in that school ever before and probably hasn't been done since then. I becasue the manager. The guy that worked with the equipment carried the tape and towels The one few people think about. In my freshment year I was on the freshment team once it was over I was walking out and the coaches asked me where I was going. It seems like they wanted me to move over to the JV team and finish with them.One more week. I got approval from Mom and went thru the same thing the next week. I was walking out and the coaches stopped me. They asked the same question. Oh and the varsity already had 2 managers but they were always on the sidelines. They wanted me on the varsity team. I told them I had to check with Mom first and would tell them the next day. Coach Tarkanenin informed me that he had already talked to Mom on the phone. My dream was to be on the football team as a freshman. I was the only freshman to recieve a varsity letter as a manager. It took hard work but I knew the plays ran routes and moves up because I was on the field and worked at getttng what was needed to the coaches and players. It would amaze the team players when they accepted me like nothing was different. Yes it can be done and has by others.
I have been dealing and living with epilepsy for 50+ years.
In other words try and become a PT if there are problems there are always ways to stay within that area of work. Hey they have to have people working in their offices and other areas.
Dream your dream but think of other direction you might have to go to achieve your dream.
I hope this helps
Joe