I don’t know what to do. Doctor cleared me medically to go back to work last week (2/17). However, the PT I’ve been seeing since then has said that my job (which involves a lot of standing and lifting/carrying heavy objects up to 50 lbs) is exacerbating my piriformis and sciatica issues which now include causing ankle pain and my foot going numb.
PT said she CANNOT write me a “Don’t go to work” note for my bosses (which they’d require for ANY sick/PTO I take) and I don’t know if the doctor would write me a note for that based on wh at the PT has said.
PT told me yesterday that basically what I need is to rest and stay off my feet as much as possible (not really allowed at my work), do my homework that she’s given me (I am) and take the meds my dr gave me (Tramadol, gabapentin for pain and something else as a muscle relaxer).
She (PT) also said it might be a good idea for me to file a workman’s comp claim, but I CANNOT be 100% sure that this issue is caused by something I did at work. More likely it was caused by me doing something at the gym since I basically am an uneducated caveman when it comes to exercising. I started using the rowing machine (which I never had used up until about January of this year) and I’m guessing I did something wrong because I started having piriformis pain after I started using it (I’ve stopped using it..haven’t been to the gym in about 6 weeks because of this issue).
When I go to work , my boss is all “Why are you limping? You need to stop limping and acting like you’re all in pain and hustle your butt.”
Yesterday, I was in so much pain by the end of my shift that I sobbed in the car on the way home. When I actually got home, I went straight to the bedroom and cried hysterically for about a half hour until I literally had NO energy left for crying.
I’m supposed to go on vacation in two weeks. We’re going to Key West on a cruise and I’m terrified at this point I won’t be able to walk about mile or so to the Hemingway home museum, which I really want to see (because literary nerd).
I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should contact HR or not. My husband says I need to just work through this until Spring Break (which is in 2 weeks) and I’m scared I’m just going to get worse and worse until I have no choice but to go back to the doctor and say “This shit ain’t working. HALP!”.
I do know that every day I have to go in (which is every day M-F) I am getting more and more angry that I even have to be there, angry at my boss because she has NO sympathy/empathy and it’s making me super cranky with all of my coworkers (who in no way deserve that) BECAUSE I’m in so much pain.
It’s also making my depression WAY worse, because I feel like I’m going to be in pain FOREVER and it’s making me feel so shitty. Like I just want to sob hysterically ALL THE TIME because I can’t do this forever. I know I cannot handle this level of pain forever and THAT thought makes me feel even shittier because I know that there are people in this world who have to handle WAY worse pain on a daily basis every damn day of their lives and who am I to be crying over a little (ok. Not so little. HYOOGE. Very big.) literal pain in my ass (which is also my leg, because of the whole calf cramping pretty much constantly thing and now my ankle is involved and my foot is numb whenever I stand up).