I have a tear in my labrium. I have tendons torn everywhere, and I am in an amazing amount of pain.
Its time for me to quit hiding behind the realities and start to face these facts, as hard as it may be. I can't have my surgery until November at least, and thats the soonest possible time, however thats only considering work. Considering my personal life and hoping to have a paycheck, big or small during that time I will need to wait until June, at least.
I despise that I have to be on pain medications to ease the pain, and completely and totally fear an addiction to them, even if it is minor pain meds. It scares me to see my patients and realize that we are the same people, and that I am no longer the knight in shining armor there to save them from their impending pain and discomfort.
Since having my MRI read to me by a resident and reviewing all of this with my fiance I have filed the CD away and I have only my body to rely on when it comes to my current situation. The pain in my shoulders causes me to maunever in weird ways, which causes a strain on my other muscles; neck, back, arms and even hips. I try not to take the pain meds for the pain, but I hurt, and working the job I do makes it that much harder.
My mom put it best to me 'By the time you are 25 years old, wherever you are, whatever you do, you will be the wisest 25 year old on the planet.'
Its been incredibly hard for me to be open about this on here, since there are plenty of bloggers I do know, I have been trying to say it, but with the amount of new blogs that have found my site, I have been hesitant to say it. However, saying it on here helps me better. Thanks for listening to me.
2 comments:
I am not asking for you to answer these questions, only presenting them to you, for your consideration:
First, did your shoulder damage happen as a result of work? If it did, then here in Rhode Island, it would be an industrial accident, and fully covered by employer's insurance (not health insurance, something different) Could the damage have been caused by lifting patients? You could contact a workers compensation lawyer about that. Look in the phone book, some of them have full page ads, and only take a portion of the claim amount, if they are successful.
Second, what about Family Medical Leave Act.
If damage isn't due to work, you would qualify to leave, without losing your job, for up to 12 weeks.
You would not get paid while you were out.
I hope this is of some help in resolving your medical problems.
Hey Bill-
When I was 16 I tore out my shoulder in a BMX biking incident. I got my tire bumped mid-air and it got me 'squirrley' and I crashed with my left arm locked and my right arm bent. When I got up I shook my shoulders and knew my left one was out, but I finished the lap, slowly. I was racing a doctor who put my shoulder back in place on the track, taped it solid (about 2-3 inches, my jersey didn't fit) and gave me the name and number of an ortho surgeon. We went to see him the following week and I was given a rubber band and exercizes to do. I did those for 6 months.
I went to CNA school and got my license, it was hard on my injury and at times I wore a sling after clinicals, but I managed. I went to the same doctor who helped on the track and she instructed me to take a weight lifting corse, and then she contaced the schools teacher for that- they created a plan to help keep my shoulder in socket and to help regain muscle strength.
There is no doubt in my mind that my job has made it worse than what it is, and it is extremely difficult lately to do my job since the many doctors visits and manipulations while diagnosing the problem. The recover period for a simple shoulder stabilization procedure is 16 weeks. I can return to light duty in 8-10, lift 15 lbs in 12-14 and can be back as a CNA in the 16. However, this is when I can afford to do it.
Does FMLA apply to the 12 weeks if you're unit is closed those weeks (my unit actually shuts down most weeks between thanksgiving and new years- if I do it then will it still deduct?)
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