Join us as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) and Robin Smith (staticnrg) interview long time Cushing's patient Susan (SusanM).

Susan writes: Susan writes: As you may have read in my other post, I retired from a 28-year career at a major health insurance company (one of the big five) on March 31. 2008. I am happy with this achievement, however, much more proud of the actions I took to reach that achievement. Why so? For 27 of those 28 years, I had faced Cushings and we all know what difficulty that may bring.

In 2003, I had the pit surgery and became quite ill in 2004. It wasn't until November, of 2005 that I had the BLA which brought about some relief. During all of this, I worked full time consistently until 2004 when I had to take some time off of work. I was GH deficient and had the episode of congestive heart failure.

Once back at work, I applied for a work accommodation to work at home on Monday and Friday under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was granted and I was provided with a full computer set up at home as well as the one at work. This made a great difference in my being able to work or not. Not driving the 26 miles each way to work as well as being at home continued my work.

Another thing I did was to work with my PCP to be accepted into the Physical Rehab at the local hospital. It provided medically-monitored exercise (up to 5 days a week) and my muscles recovered well during this time. I had difficulty with shortness of breath due to the weak muscles around my lungs and this was a positive step to correct that situation.

What else did I do to keep myself working during this timeframe? I worked incredibly hard on achieving a positive mental attitude! I meditated, performed self-hypnosis, and found a support system that worked for me. This foundation made the better days better and difficult days a bit less difficult.

Can someone with Cushings continue working? In my opinion, YES.