I don’t know how I got this job, sure it doesn’t pay the best in the field, and you need lots of specialized training, and with that training you can go to much more prestigious work, but it pays enough. I don’t know why the previous person to do it left (the commute was too much for her, but I would’ve moved closer if I was her). She trained me very briefly because I knew most of the ins and outs already, she told me the boss had been in and out of remission with bone cancer, but the last flair up was taken care of years ago.
It’s been 7 years since he was first diagnosed, and he’s had 2 replacements, they won’t do a third. He doesn’t want to try the experimental treatments because he’d rather enjoy the time he has.
I’ve worked for him for 3 years and I feel so greedy wanting to scream at him to try every avenue available. He has 3 amazing kids, a wife and in-laws who live him, he loves coming into work, he just finished renovating his forever home. And I don’t want a different boss. I need more time with my mentor, my friend, the best boss I’ve ever had.
I just learned this morning, and it’s really raw, I need to get it off my chest, I don’t want to steal time from his family, but I want to take from him as much as I can. He’s a genius in the field, the person he’s trying to get to replace him is remarkable younger guy, but he’s my age, he doesn’t have the life experience that I’ve found myself looking to my boss for.
Fuck cancer.
Thanks off my chest. Hug your loved ones. Tell your dog they’re good, scratch your cat. Enjoy the moments of extra nice weather.
That is rough, cancer is horrific and cruel. You should share with your boss how much of an impression/impact he has made on your life. I am sure it would mean a lot to him to know.
I’m going to let my brain fester on it for a week, and then I’ll try to put pen to paper.
I’d been making plans for when he retires, where I’ll find my next job. Now I’m thinking about if it’s my responsibility to help the new boss to develop into as good of boss as he can be, I’m not sure how long they’ll get to work side by side, or even if this guy will take the position (the company doesn’t pay the most). I’m also worried they’ll play nice while my boss is around, then transfer everything we do closer to the companies home base (4-5 states away from our location)
Thanks for taking the time to read and reply.
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My grandmother was just diagnosed with 2 seperate cancerous tumors in her abdomen, after one of them tried to kill her, and almost did. I agree, fuck cancer.
I just found out my 1-year-old dog might have cancer, so I’m totally with you. Not that it’s my first encounter with cancer, but it’s the one hurting at the moment.
But she still might not…
Anyway, I am sorry for your own anticipated loss.
Truly I sympathize with your puppy story. We picked a breed that was known for their good health, 19 months in cancer never before seen in the breed stole him from us. Now we’re responsible for the asterisk in the breeds otherwise marvelous health write-up. That was so sudden and painful, it shouldn’t happen to anyone. I hope you hear that it was a misdiagnosis, barring that I wish you the strongest of steeled heart.
The anticipation is going to not wear well with me. I can understand why he’s resigned. I can’t understand why he’s at work,(early on in my employment he told me how his wife had agreed to come second to his work, and I respected that at the time), and I know it’s not the first nor second time he’s has this sentence put in front of him, but it’s the first time he’s resigning himself to not taking the most aggressive approaches. And I know I’m not in any position to make judgements, and I know there are dozens of people who will be more affected by this than me (though I do think I spend more time with him than anyone else in his life). If he doesn’t want to pursue the most aggressive treatments I wish he would spend his days with his family, or not at work, I’ll never have the drive he has, and I think it’ll only be more aggressive as we continue, and it may be my millennial outlook but fuck there’s more important things than work.
It’s hard to give up the life that you know. I struggled with this myself when I became disabled a few years back. There’s a mourning process when something is taken from you, even if that thing is work.
So sorry to hear that. Even though you’re just some stranger on the internet, my heart aches for you, your boss, and his family.
