u/frickityfrog82

So lil backstory, I had sustained a back injury about 6 months ago falling on some ice while at work. All the doctors were saying "it's a muscle strain". I've had many of muscle strains in the past, albeit, not with my back, but I felt like it wasn't a muscle strain based on how bad my back hurts, the leg weakness, the pins and needles, the shooting, sharp pain from my back to toes, and almost tripping over my own feet. Well, I just got an MRI (finally, thank you workers comp for delaying that for over 4 months!) and guess what? I got a bulged disc! What sucks even more, is that my pain constantly gets compared to others pain, and I just need to work through with it and toughen up essentially. If *blank* can do it, so can I! 😀

So now, I will see what treatments I need for now. Have I suffered permanent nerve damage? Who knows! If I have, wow. Life couldn't get anymore difficult for me!!!! Now excuse me while I go cry in my bed for a few hours as I process how right I was all along, and how messed up workers comp is! Makes me really wish I would've just gone through my own personal doctor to get this fixed sooner. Would've gotten an MRI a whole lot sooner that's for damn sure!

P.S: if anyone tells you to suck it up when you're in a lot of pain, don't! That'll just push you to the brink of mental exhaustion. Especially if you have a bulged disc!

Edit to add: Should've had this in my post, but I do have a lawyer.

Dear friend,

You were amazing, and I was an ass for taking advantage of that. I know I ranted a lot to you, and you didn't rant back to me. I should've seen this coming, but I didn't, and that's on me.

The beginning of our friendship felt real, and the reciprocity was amazing. You gave me tips on how to manage big emotions, and I gave you tips on how to set boundaries for those around you. The time we spent together was so fun, and I loved it. I wonder if you did, or if you felt uncomfortable about it.

You inspired me to reach for my dreams, and that they weren't far away. You inspired me to be my true self, and I felt that with our friendship. I wonder if I never let you feel that way, and that's why you don't want to be friends anymore.

There's a lot of what ifs now, and I wish I could have the answer to what went wrong. But silence is also an answer, and I respect it. Some are telling me it's really just a clash of personalities, but it doesn't feel that way. The day we last saw each other, I felt really excited to talk to you again face to face. You seemed excited too, but I don't know if you truly were.

I cherish our memories deeply, and I will still be driven by your spirit to do better. I hope I didn't cause any pain to you. That was never my intention. And if I did, I truly am sorry. I'm sorry if I drowned you out, if I ever made you feel excluded, or if I made you feel bad for who you are. You are amazing in my eyes, and always will be. I'm sorry if I didn't express that enough, because you deserve to hear it.

I'll celebrate you from a distance. I won't cause anymore harm. I hope you live your life to the fullest, and impact the ones you love the same way you did with me. I'll do some introspect to work on my issues more, as I don't want to push anyone else away. Thank you for being there for me when times were rough, and when times were great. Thank you for celebrating wins with me, and thank you for letting me celebrate your wins with you.

Please stay safe out there, and I hope you make it big in your life.

Sincerely,

A friend

So this sucks for me a lot, because honestly this is one of my favorite clients to work with. But recently, with a back injury, I've realized I cannot give proper therapy for this kid as much as I'd like to. I'm heavily restricted, including not being able to be on the floor, but this client loves playing on the floor. I've tried everything possible to make their reinforcers as fun as possible at the table, but they are heavily adverse to it because they associate work at the table. They're really into physical play as well, and I feel like I can't do any of that at all. I'm considering removing myself off their case because I want them to have fun while learning. This is just to rant, but any advice would be awesome too.

So I got injured due to shoveling snow and slipping on some ice. I injured my back pretty badly, and had re-injured it right after I was cleared to go back to work. I work as an RBT, and even though I'm on work restrictions that are very tight (no bending, pushing or pulling, and no lifting anything over 5 lbs) and able to follow them, I still experience really bad back pain, and it's so hard to focus on my clients. It sucks, especially when I'm in the middle of a program and have to pause because there's pain radiating down my legs.

Recently I hired an attorney because it's been getting really complicated with worker's comp with doctors not sending in order, doctors saying they sent in orders, only getting pain meds that I can only take at night, and no MRI or physical therapy to start healing my back. I'm calling out of work constantly because my back pain sucks so bad that I can't even focus on making a meal, taking a shower, play my video games, read a book, anything. And yes, I've been following the same work restrictions at home as well. It sucks because I want to show up to work, but I can't meet my program requirements with clients if I have to take a breather to push through the pain and then remember what I was even trying to do in the first place. I feel like the pain meds I take too linger into the next day, and I feel really foggy.

I'm just at a point in all this where I just wish I had a magic wand and erased any injury I had before all this. I was kicking butt as an RBT, and really loved interacting with all my clients. Now I feel like a stick in dry mud, and my performance has been lacking significantly since the injury. I was making enough to live but now, it's either I give really poor sessions to pay the bills, or I'm late on payments and not getting enough groceries for the house. This sucks, a lot.

I'm fortunate that the company I work for really care about me, and my supervisor has been really supportive of me. She even checks in every once in a while to see how I'm doing, and offers her help with anything she can do for me professionally (dual relationships are strictly forbidden in this sort of field). I really appreciate her, but I feel just terrible knowing that I'm like this now. I love my profession deeply, and would hate to lose this job at all. Hell, the clients I work with has brought me so much joy, and I'd hate to lose a job that I really love doing.

I guess I'm here just asking: what would you do in this situation? I'd really like some guidance with this, as I feel like I'm either screwing myself or the company I work for over with this injury. All of this is so new to me, as I've never injured myself like this at all in any jobs prior to this one. I'm considering seeing my doctor soon and see if there's a chance I could have temporary disability to cover the lost wages. But I don't know 😕