Re: A Nightmare it is!

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Posted by Miss T on August 05, 1999 at 01:21:52:

In Reply to: A Nightmare it is! posted by M.L. on August 04, 1999 at 09:59:33:

It was a strain injury caused by a patient pulling on my right (dominant) arm. I have been to six doctors - four of them specialists - three were neurologists. The symptoms in my arm were so severe last winter that they actually had a neurologist do a work up to rule out M.S. - fortunately, it was negative. I have been diagnosed with Thorasic Outlet Syndrome. It was severe enough that it caused swelling in my hand and I ended up with Carpal Tunnel (C.T.). The C.T. went away once the swelling resolved.
I have lost all of my reflexes in my right arm too. They are not sure why but it was obvious that the tissue damage was severe enough to cause substantial nerve trauma and circulation problems into my right arm. The nerves are not "damaged" - they still work but they do not work "properly". Most recently, I have started having problems with my neck and face and jaw. They are refering to the residual problems as, "chronic myofascial pain".
I am a nurse! How in the world am I sapposed to do total care for another human being when I can not even mow my own yard or mop my own floors! The difficult part is - have minimal pain when using my shoulder and arm. I do have problems with weakness. After I have done an activity, I have problems. I get very sore and stiff and end up having to increase the therapy in order to recover from the set back.

I talked to an Ombudsman yesterday. She told me that I knew that I was taking a cut in hours when I changed jobs and that it was not WC's fault that I did this. (Hind sight! I thought I was doing the right thing by taking a job that was less physical so my shoulder could rest!) I explained to her that I was unable to work as many hours though because of the injury. She said that WC was only interested in me being able to return to work at the same rate of pay that I had before. The rate is the same. The number of hours that I can tolerate is not the same.

Any thought or ideas?


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