Decisions, decisions......

[Grumbletum]

I don't know if I told you lot before, but I used to teach English abroad before coming to live here on the island and after a few years juggling various part-time jobs, I got my current position of Finance Administrator ( with training and qualification. )
Anyhoo, I've been doing good with the training, passing the exams - when I get the time to study. But the job itself is really stressing me out. It's a small charity org, so I'm the only finance person and am responsible for all aspects - payroll, purchases, invoicing, HR records etc etc. We have been so busy, I haven't had time to take any leave since January, but we are on our two week summer shutdown at the moment. It's only going to get busier when we get back as we have won quite a lot of funding which I will have to track.
One major thing keeping me here was the fact that DS was in school and college, but he is off to uni on the mainland in September. So my thoughts are turning to distant shores again. I am currently looking at a teacher training job in Myanmar ( Burma ). I have friends there and feel I would be much more in my comfort zone back in teaching again.
My head is going round and round like The Exorcist :eek2: The job in Burma is better paid than the one here, but the thought of handing in and working my notice is stressing me too. I'll have to pay them back for the training they are paying for too.
What do you think? I'm still in remission and feeling well, but worried that the stress of the current job is going to spark things off again. Is going to somewhere like Burma to risky as a Crohnie?
( Sorry for blethering on......... :ybatty: )

 

[krika]

I dont know how things are in Burma, is there a posibility to have some sort of a safety net when it comes to doctors there or in nearby countries to monitor your health? How long do you have to work in your current job to not have to pay them for training?

I found this when searching for health care in Burma, they do not talk about IBD, but looks like how the healthcare is in general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_in_Burma

"The general state of health care in Burma is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world.[1][2] Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment."

I say live your dreams as far as you can, but keep healthy while doing it

 

[Saralr]

Handing in your notice at work is always stressful. Paying back for you classes I'm sure is adding to that, but you need to put those things aside and think long term. Try to forget about the moment. If you stay where you are now, how do you see your life in 5 years? Do you think the stress would be too much? Do you have people to support you if you get a bad flare? And same for the job in Burma. Which job is better for your happiness and health in the long run.

Once you figure that out then you can figure out how to handle things now. If you think Burma is better then remember that the stress of leaving your current job is only temporary. It sucks but it'll be over in a little bit. In my opinion, a little extra stress now is worth less stress in the long run.

 

[Grumbletum]

Thank you to you both for your replies. Krika, in the job specs they say they say employees will have health insurance through Bupa. If it's a medical emergency people tend to be flown to Thailand for treatment. Don't think cost of flight is covered, but it's not that far away.
Due to a previous employee starting a course then resigning and not paying the money back, my boss asked me to sign an extension to my contract saying I'd stay 5 years after qualifying!! I didn't see myself moving from here, so I signed.
I would pay the money back - fair enough - it's the thought of letting someone down that I hate. But I just don't think I'm up to the job and the stress is just making it harder to cope with it.
I do have family and friends here, but not ones who have Crohn's. My son says the sunshine and the diet there will probably be better for me! I lived in Sri Lanka ( pre-Crohn's ) and it's the place I felt healthiest.

 

[krika]

5 years? :O
No reason to wait then and with health coverage, sounds good

As far as we know, we live once, so live your dreams

If you explain the reasons for your choise to your boss, im sure he understands. Not nice for him to constantly find someone new, but at the end, its not really your problem. I can see how you feel like dissapointing, but its better than to dissapoint yourself, keeping you away from the life you want for yourself and what you love to do.

 

[LindaS]

If you can afford to pay back for the training, and you think you'd enjoy teaching in Burma, go for it. If you think any part would be too much, then think really hard, but I agree with krika, you only live once.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I have a friend who is from the US but moved to Japan maybe 10ish years ago to teach English. He loves Japan and seems to really enjoy his work - but, he's had issues with getting proper care from his doctors. Even though Japan is a very modern country, they don't have a lot of cases of Crohn's/IBD there. My friend isn't diagnosed, but he developed IBD-like symptoms a few years ago, and all that his Japanese doctors were able to do for him was remove his appendix and tell him he should be fine now (he still has symptoms although they're slightly better since the surgery, but he's still apparently got something going on besides just the appendix). It's not a language barrier thing either because my friend speaks fluent Japanese. They just rarely see IBD there and have no idea what tests to do, how to diagnose it, how to treat it, etc. My friend has yet to find a doctor in Japan who actually knows anything at all about IBD. He's just basically stuck.

So, from my experience from talking with my friend about what he's been through, that would be my big concern for you. You said they'd fly you to Thailand for emergencies. If it were me, I'd research the heck out of IBD and Thailand before committing to moving over there. If you have an urgent issue, flare, blockage, whatever - it would be horrible if you got to Thailand and all they did was remove your appendix (if you still have one) or just scratch their heads and say we don't know what to do with you. I'm not saying don't go - I'm just saying, maybe try to find a Thai doctor beforehand who speaks some English and knows something about IBD (or learn some Thai yourself but at least find a doc who knows about IBD over there!).

 

[Grumbletum]

Thanks Cat, that is very good food for thought and something I could look into. Interesting about Japan. I wonder if their diet is one of the reasons they have so few cases of IBD?

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I think diet probably plays a role at the very least, yes. But their diets are gradually getting a bit more westernized so I wouldn't be surprised if IBD starts to become more common in Japan. I know my friend is still a big fan of American food and his favorite food is hamburgers which he eats whenever he has the chance (he's one of those people who likes to post a lot of food photos on facebook/instagram, and sometimes I see photos of hamburgers on his facebook), so I know he's not eating a purely Japanese diet. And of course he lived in the US for the first couple decades of his life so he ate a totally western diet up until he moved to Japan. So even if he had switched to only eating Japanese food after he moved there, that still may not have been enough for him to stave off developing IBD-like symptoms.