OMG, I have a job

Something big happened yesterday and it had nothing to do with brain cancer--I started a job!

Yes, all the hints I've dropped about a job hunt over the past few months, and a few times of using some handy resume templates - link here - have added up to me scoring a sweet gig in downtown Sacramento. I'm really excited about my new job and am very happy to be doing the kind of work I love to do (i.e., Web, communications, design, creative stuff, insert something cool here).

During the interview process I realized it would be easy for a potential employer to Google me and find out about the status of my medical condition. One person I interviewed with mentioned she read had read my blog, and so I thought, "Hmm, I wonder what they will think of all this once I start working here."

When I was offered the position I said yes before even asking how much I would be paid. (The job comes with medical benefits comparable to what I have through COBRA.)

I wasn't sure if people knew my medical status at this new job, so after work today I asked the person who had read this blog about who else may know of my cancer status. "Oh, everybody," she said. "We all know. Even HR." So much for working, and existing, in cancer anonymity.

I realize some people would feel very uncomfortable with this, as if their privacy were invaded. However, it was me who sent the text message to everyone in my address book telling people I was going to have brain surgery. I'm the one who started a blog about brain cancer and posted my latest MRIs for all to see. I made a freakin' video of my chemo treatment to share with the world. If I'm worried about privacy I have no one to blame but myself.