Career/Scope/Future after PhD on ice for 4 years - (Sep/13/2013 )

Hello folks,

Once frequenter, I am visiting this forum after a really long time. So I will give you some overview of the situation.

I started my PhD almost 11 years ago. 2002, officially became PhD student in 2003. All was well until 2005 when a collaborator scooped me out and after that my boss literally started hating me and things started going downhill pretty fast. Over the period of time, I learned that there was some politics involved in it and my boss lost the case.

Fast forward 3 years, my child was born. All was well with the child for almost a year but then we learned that he/she has a developmental disorder. I was writing my scooped out manuscript in an effort to publish but the boss was giving me hard time, claiming that my writing style was bad. (I am not a native English speaker.) He did not want to help in any way, except cursing all the time, with no help whatsoever with the manuscript. Would not even read it. My self confidence took a great beating. I could not take the crap and stress with my child was mounting very high that it became impossible for me to concentrate in any labwork and I was making too many silly mistakes. I told him, I can not continue and left.

Meanwhile, half of my work was published and now after a gap of 4 years, one first author and one second author and 3 bandwagon articles. I am out to defend my thesis. I believe, I will do it with difficulty. My child's condition has improved a bit but not yet perfect. He/She will need lifetime support. So the stress is not going to end.

I moved to the US because it is the only place that has the best treatment for my child. And I got to stick here for the sake of that, no matter I want to live in the US or not. That said, these questions apply to the folks currently in the US labs. (My PhD will be from Europe)

- What is the current scene in the US labs with regards to post-doc hire. I mean in terms of money

- If this topic came to discussion with your boss, do you guys have any idea how this is usually looked at?

- Do you have any advice overall?

Thanks in advance.

Mods - If this is not a right place to post this question, please feel free to move.

The most important thing is your child