Went into work first time since brain surgery. Ex freaked out and had to go home

[CitizenBell]

I had brain surgery in October. I was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation in January of this year after suffering a bleed the previous November while travelling with my ex.

She accused me of harassment in July when I had a second bleed. A lot of the emotionality I had came because she broke up with me 10 days after I got the diagnosis (I hadn't told her at the time). When I did tell her that I'd had a bleed and partial seizures out there, that I'd hid it from her for her own sake because of the amount she was crying out there, that was when she accused me of harassment and said I was blaming her, lurking in stairwells, emotionally guilt-tripping her.

I have a cane and an eyepatch at the moment, and a head-covering on because I'm having issues with my hair re-growth. Everybody in the office was super-nice and supportive, got a lot of hugs. My team is next to my exes at the moment. I wasn't even talking to her or looking at her. A couple of people on her team I know saw me and came over to ask how I was. She must have seen me, and the person I was talking to said "It looks like she's getting stressed" and she ended up going home.

She didn't believe me when I told her about the AVM, I know that because the harassment claims said "alleged terminal illness" which isn't how I described it to her at all I said it can be fatal when it bleeds and it can bleed any time.

So either she felt some kind of guilt at seeing me the way I was or she was making it about her AGAIN and still making me out to be somebody that she's scared of and making me the bad guy when nobody else in the office remotely thinks I'm like that at all.

You'd think having a brain bleed while looking after someone who is crying on the trip you planned for a whole year and she ruined would give you some kind of affection but apparently not.

Good news is - I requested me and her be put on separate floors, my new senior manager said it was ridiculous that I had a plan put in place to avoid areas and that anything about the claims in July was considered closed.

[Mutt]

Hi CitizenBell,



That's good news that you're able to get back to work. I'm sorry to hear that she didn't come over and say something affectionate. That has to hurt. It must of been hard taking care of her when you're going through health issues.

[CitizenBell]

I didn't expect her to say anything to me. I just think going home was a bit over-dramatic but everything with her was over-dramatic. I didn't even look at the girl. But I also never waited in stairwells so I'm sure she'll have interpreted something I've done as offensive to her. My colleagues are all great though. Maybe she just needed the attention back on herself.