Update - Surgery, New Job, Work Comp Injury....

Jul 26, 2010

Well, based on my last "So Angry I Could Cry" post, you guys could probably call me the world's biggest whiner.  I was bound and determined that the surgery I was being forced to have was unnecessary and extravagent, but it turns out that it wasn't.  My neurosurgeon made her incision and got into the area of my back that was giving me trouble, and found that the less invasive surgery would not have worked anyway.  Seems that I had a vertebrae that was being crushed, and causing me to tip to the right, and it had not shown up on either the x-rays or the MRI.  So, what should have been about a 4 hour surgery turned into 6 hours while they worked to "jack up" the affected vertebrae and get the proper hardware and spacers in there so that I can once again straighten up (after the physical therapy helps to loosen up the contracted muscles on that side of my spine).  And for the first time in over 7 years, I am pain-free.  I no longer suffer from disabling sciatica down my left buttock and leg, and the pain that was beginning to manifest over the top of my right hip and down into my right groin is gone as well.  I had forgotten what it is like to be able to walk without hurting.  In fact, I felt so good, that ONE WEEK after surgery, I was out interviewing for jobs....using my walker, and wearing my rigid back brace..... you should have seen some of the looks I got.  BUT, I also got some "Wow....if she'll come out for a job interview ONE WEEK POST-OP....what dedication can we expect from her if we HIRE her??"  And lo and behold....I was offered not ONE job, but two!!  I ended up taking the one that paid a little less, but was a lot closer to home, and I would be working in amongst people and doing things that would really help out, and it is a state job, and therefore fairly secure.  The other job would have paid about $3K more, and I would have had about twice the vacation time, but it sounded and looked very lonely.  I felt like I would be a "figurehead" for the department, and I couldn't imagine what there was that would keep me busy and occupied, since my potential boss did all his own PowerPoint and grant-writing.

Anyway, I started my new job 3 weeks post-op (by then no longer using the walker).....and I was feeling so good that on the 4th day there, I was bee-bopping around delivering files, and tripped over my own feet and fell, HARD.  I broke my left kneecap, and tore the ligaments and cartilage in my right wrist.  The work comp doc wouldn't let me go back to work unless I was in a wheelchair with my left leg stuck straight out in front of me, in an immobilizer brace, and my wrist in another brace.  But I desperately wanted to be at work, so I agreed.  I never missed a day except for the day that I fell.  When they did the arthrogram and MRI of my wrist and found that the ligaments and cartilage was torn, they sent me to a hand specialist, who put me in a cast.  And it was so awful that although I am out of the cast now, my right thumb is still numb and I probably won't get all the feeling back for a couple of months.  The knee doc discharged me last week, and I got a second opinion on the hand from another specialist, so I'm not quite discharged from HIM yet, but he was concerned that there was a hidden fracture near the bottom of my thumb, and he ordered a CT scan, and I got the results today, and there is definitely NO FRACTURE.  So, I'm a happy camper!!

And I see the neurosurgeon on Wednesday for my three month post-op checkup, and I expect to be told that I don't have to wear my back brace anymore and can begin physical therapy!!  That will really make me happy!  Then, I can start wearing my dresses, skirts, and suits that I haven't been able to wear because of the leg and back braces....

Finally, I have one thing left to take care of.... and that's a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder (a very OLD injury, but one that was exacerbated by the fall).  I'm waiting until I have a little more time at work under my belt, so that I have at the very least two vacation days that I can take off for the surgery.

And through it all, I have been able to maintain my weight loss of 141 pounds.  I weigh 166 pounds....and I want to be 160, maybe even 155.... but without having been able to exercise for the past 8 months, the weight loss has stalled.  I hope to kick it up when I'm out of the back brace and PT says I can begin MOVING again!! 

Still, I'm in a size 10 pants, and a large blouse, and that's GREAT!  Especially coming from a size 28 pants and a 3XL shirt!  I've had to give away my entire wardrobe 3 times now!!  But what a pleasure it is to be able to pick up a pair of slacks off the rack at Walmart or even Nordstroms, and know that they'll fit me! 

So, that's all that's new with me.....what's up with all of YOU?

Love,
Erica

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