Well I made it through two days of work

[moeck]

Hi all.  I went back to my neurosurgeon to discuss the neuroloigists findings of CSM, my lumbar stenosis and vertrebral slippage and returning to work.  He was surprised that I wanted to return and gave me a release to work slip that said:  no lifting, carrying, twisting, bending, pulling or pushing, no standing longer than 30 minutes at a time.  I may return to work two days a week and increase as tolerated.
Then, because the pain in my lower back has prevented me from progressing with physical therapy he wanted to discuss surgery.  I have already had three nerve blocks and cannot get another for a year.  I opted instead to see a pain managment doctor first.  I think if I can get the pain under control without being zoned out on meds than I can do more in PT and try to prevent surgery.
Okay, I went back to work on Monday expecting to slowly get acclimated back to my old job, take Tuesday off then go back on Wednesday.  Didn't happen that way.  Turns out that they had to have patient chart audits done in different areas and fax the results to our corporate office by close of business yesterday.  So I spent Monday in meetings to discuss the best approach and went back in yesterday to work on audits to help meet the deadline.  The good news is that I'm now off until next Monday.  I'm not supposed to be doing two days in a row until February but I would have felt really guilty if I blew them off.  Good news is that my sister-in-law is doing dinner tomorrow.
moeck

[BondyinOz]

Hey there,

Sorry I hadn't replied yet - I've been not so great these past couple of weeks and replying after reading everything is just too much sometimes, ya know?

I'm glad that you Dr gave you that slip - it's wonderful advice and will cover you. I'm so sorry to hear that your back is so bad. I understand how you feel about work - I'm a teacher and if I have too many days off in a row I feel sooo bad that I'm depriving the students or something and that I"m creating too much pressure for those who have to organise someone to replace me. I mean, today I should not have gone to work but there were already 14 people out today (?!!!) and I just couldn't do it to the staff.

However, I hope that by doing those two days in a row you're not 100% worse off now? How are you going? How was your dinner last night? I love it when people cook for me. I used to love cooking for others but I've been living alone for a while and that coupled with being unwell has resulted in a veeeerrrrry boring menu for me I'm afraid, not to mention not particularly healthy.

Let me know how you're getting on!

Mel :-)

[mae1]

Im glad to here your working your way back into work. I hate being off work, of course because of the mony but also It helps me feel productive.
Happythanksgiving......
april.