P
paula456
Guest
Hi there everyone. Well, I survived my first week back at work, although by Wednesday night I was wondering if I had made a major mistake going back at 12 weeks.
I had been very afraid of the morning routine - up early, out early - but that turned out to be the easiest of it. The hardest most of the week was surviving an entire day without crawling into a bed to take a nap. Then, the brace irritation. By Wednesday afternoon I wanted to cry from it. It was the last thing I expected. I walk far more at work (it's a huge building, even a trip to the bathrooms is about an 1/8 of a mile hike.) I expected more leg soreness, more back soreness from all that walking. Nope.
Instead it was where my brace hits my lower back and rubs, and it took me until Wednesday evening to realize it was from the athletic shirts I had switched to, to wear under the brace. Lighter and less noticable with work clothes, I hadn't even thought about how they're all made from a lightly ribbed knitted cotton. It was the ribbing that was pressing against my skin, rubbing it raw. Switched on Thursday to a soft cotton undershirt, and that took care of it.
We're still working on finding a chair that works well - I've tried every chair on the floor thus far. Since we're a rather large and visible corporation, they have involved the department devoted to complying with the American Disabilities Act, and they will have an ergonomics expert come in next week, evaluate my neeRAB, and the proper chair will be purchased. Out of the chairs available, I have already indicated what I want. Just need to convince the expert that lurabar support in a chair is the last thing I need - and has been my biggest issue with all the chairs I've tried sitting in. I need a shallow seat so I'm not forced to lean back, no heavy lurabar support because it pushes against the brace and tilts me forward (because my back can't round into it with a brace on) and with a high enough back that it helps support my upper back above the brace.
I'm mentioning all of this for anyone else in that situation. My coworkers have been wonderful, my managers and directors have been wonderful.
So I have survived the week, and plan to spend the weekend in the hospital bed that I still have (but am no longer using for nighttime sleeping) trying to recover.
And oh yes...as much as I was worried that they would have found they could do very nicely without me while I was out, I returned to find I have been promoted while on leave, and that they were frantic that I was using my last few weeks of medical leave looking for a different job. THAT was the best part of the week.
Yes, there IS life after a 2 level fusion.
I had been very afraid of the morning routine - up early, out early - but that turned out to be the easiest of it. The hardest most of the week was surviving an entire day without crawling into a bed to take a nap. Then, the brace irritation. By Wednesday afternoon I wanted to cry from it. It was the last thing I expected. I walk far more at work (it's a huge building, even a trip to the bathrooms is about an 1/8 of a mile hike.) I expected more leg soreness, more back soreness from all that walking. Nope.
Instead it was where my brace hits my lower back and rubs, and it took me until Wednesday evening to realize it was from the athletic shirts I had switched to, to wear under the brace. Lighter and less noticable with work clothes, I hadn't even thought about how they're all made from a lightly ribbed knitted cotton. It was the ribbing that was pressing against my skin, rubbing it raw. Switched on Thursday to a soft cotton undershirt, and that took care of it.
We're still working on finding a chair that works well - I've tried every chair on the floor thus far. Since we're a rather large and visible corporation, they have involved the department devoted to complying with the American Disabilities Act, and they will have an ergonomics expert come in next week, evaluate my neeRAB, and the proper chair will be purchased. Out of the chairs available, I have already indicated what I want. Just need to convince the expert that lurabar support in a chair is the last thing I need - and has been my biggest issue with all the chairs I've tried sitting in. I need a shallow seat so I'm not forced to lean back, no heavy lurabar support because it pushes against the brace and tilts me forward (because my back can't round into it with a brace on) and with a high enough back that it helps support my upper back above the brace.
I'm mentioning all of this for anyone else in that situation. My coworkers have been wonderful, my managers and directors have been wonderful.
So I have survived the week, and plan to spend the weekend in the hospital bed that I still have (but am no longer using for nighttime sleeping) trying to recover.
And oh yes...as much as I was worried that they would have found they could do very nicely without me while I was out, I returned to find I have been promoted while on leave, and that they were frantic that I was using my last few weeks of medical leave looking for a different job. THAT was the best part of the week.
Yes, there IS life after a 2 level fusion.
