to leave.

I'm officially on medical leave.

I went to my doctor's yesterday to pick up a note documenting my history of asthma. Because, you know, Money Mailer didn't believe me and wanted more documentation than what I had already submitted in December. Well, he did the usual check up (questions, took my temp, etc) and then flipped out. My blood pressure is 190/120. He retook it 2 more times, and asked me what was going on. That's when I broke down crying - telling him about my sleepless but nightmare-filled nights, my anxiety attacks, my short-fused anger, the miscarriage, my stress... and then he recounted with, "Well, at this point, you're the perfect candidate for a heart attack, and you're only 32 with no prior history of high blood pressure until this year." He ordered me to stress leave immediately for two weeks, along with blood pressure medication for three weeks. He wants me to use this time to relax, have fun and most importantly, get another job.

He actually told me, "Christine, you need to breathe."