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Okay, I've embarked upon my quests of making phone calls. See, this is what sick days can be really useful for - obviously, I'm not going anywhere, so I can be on hand to get the phone. (It is a beautiful day outside, though. *sigh* A high haze, so great for getting burned, but it doesn't seem overly hot, from what I can tell.)
I had a form that had to be completed by my Physical Therapist and returned to my place of work. I finally did that last week, and then Monday the top screening manager informed me that I can only lift 10lbs. Which doesn't make sense because when I first got hurt my restriction was placed at 25lbs and now I'm much stronger, so... what? I phoned my PT-ist today and left a message asking about that.
She just phoned back and said that when she had filled out the form, where it asked if I could lift 40 lbs repeatedly in 30 minutes she'd put "can lift 10lbs for 20 reps sequentially." She didn't intend that as a restriction, but she hadn't given me a proper Functional Capacity Evaluation, because the office she works at is not equipped for that.
IS patient able to lift 40lbs, repeatedly? I don't think so. My weight set here at home is in kilograms, and the kilo to pound conversion tables tell me that the weight I've been using for reps at home is only 4.40924lbs. Oh. I hadn't realized. That's not so good. Must force myself to start working up. Of course every time I push I end up hurting myself again, which is why I've been referred to the plastic surgeon. :P (I just doubled my weight and did ten reps with relative ease, though it remains to be seen how I feel tomorrow.)
Also, I have more carefully perused the packet sent me by the plastic surgeons, and have phoned them and determined that:
A) they really don't yet have the information about all the PT and the sports med specialist, etc., which just confuses me. I suppose it has something to do with privacy laws and release forms, but I'd have thought that when my dr's office made the appointment for me they'd have sent that info along.
And
B) I actually don't need to have the insurance company's go ahead before the consultation; the consultation is part of the process of getting the insurance company's okay. I do need to provide a phone number they can call the insurance company at. Hm. Must think how to get that.
Then I phoned my Dr's office to try to get the info sent to the plastic surgeons.
And now I have phoned the Dr's office again to ask if I should have actually gone to the Dr. they originally recommended to fill out the evaluation form for HR to get me off limited duty. Maybe it IS too soon to be going off limited duty, but I don't want to be on ten pounds restriction, that's pretty much impossible to stick to, even only working upstairs.
Maybe I need to sublimate my overthinking with a little mindless exercise. I'll be in the other room pumping iron if anyone needs me. Next to the phone.
Hey, those of you who are reading this who are people I work with - I'm trying to not talk about this potential breast reduction at work, so help me not talk about it, okay? No particular reason, I just relish seeing people's reactions afterward if I do it. ;D I talked with La Professeur* about it, because she had this done (back in the 70's I think) and she tells me that people would talk to her chest for a few minutes and then ask her, "Did you lose a little weight?" She went from an E cup (which she says IS actually bigger than double D - I had thought they were the same) down to a small B, but they've grown since then to around C or small D, so she's really glad she did it. I just wish I'd done it when I was younger.
Got a call back from records, they will send out stuff to the Plastic Surgeon's.
Got a call back from Dr.'s office, they will set me up with a proper Functional Competency Evaluation.
In between I had to call my HR person and I screwed myself over because I mentioned working downstairs (in baggage). "You're not supposed to be doing that, you signed a limited duty restriction form." Um... "I thought that if they put me down there I was off that." Besides, I'll lose my certification downstairs if I don't work down there at all, and if I'm not certified how can I teach people? I DO NOT WANT to lose my certification, no matter how much I agonize over teaching people. Teaching gives me a reason to live. Or at least it keeps me from getting so bored that I want to kill everyone else.
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* She used to teach microbiology, before working with us.
I had a form that had to be completed by my Physical Therapist and returned to my place of work. I finally did that last week, and then Monday the top screening manager informed me that I can only lift 10lbs. Which doesn't make sense because when I first got hurt my restriction was placed at 25lbs and now I'm much stronger, so... what? I phoned my PT-ist today and left a message asking about that.
She just phoned back and said that when she had filled out the form, where it asked if I could lift 40 lbs repeatedly in 30 minutes she'd put "can lift 10lbs for 20 reps sequentially." She didn't intend that as a restriction, but she hadn't given me a proper Functional Capacity Evaluation, because the office she works at is not equipped for that.
IS patient able to lift 40lbs, repeatedly? I don't think so. My weight set here at home is in kilograms, and the kilo to pound conversion tables tell me that the weight I've been using for reps at home is only 4.40924lbs. Oh. I hadn't realized. That's not so good. Must force myself to start working up. Of course every time I push I end up hurting myself again, which is why I've been referred to the plastic surgeon. :P (I just doubled my weight and did ten reps with relative ease, though it remains to be seen how I feel tomorrow.)
Also, I have more carefully perused the packet sent me by the plastic surgeons, and have phoned them and determined that:
A) they really don't yet have the information about all the PT and the sports med specialist, etc., which just confuses me. I suppose it has something to do with privacy laws and release forms, but I'd have thought that when my dr's office made the appointment for me they'd have sent that info along.
And
B) I actually don't need to have the insurance company's go ahead before the consultation; the consultation is part of the process of getting the insurance company's okay. I do need to provide a phone number they can call the insurance company at. Hm. Must think how to get that.
Then I phoned my Dr's office to try to get the info sent to the plastic surgeons.
And now I have phoned the Dr's office again to ask if I should have actually gone to the Dr. they originally recommended to fill out the evaluation form for HR to get me off limited duty. Maybe it IS too soon to be going off limited duty, but I don't want to be on ten pounds restriction, that's pretty much impossible to stick to, even only working upstairs.
Maybe I need to sublimate my overthinking with a little mindless exercise. I'll be in the other room pumping iron if anyone needs me. Next to the phone.
Hey, those of you who are reading this who are people I work with - I'm trying to not talk about this potential breast reduction at work, so help me not talk about it, okay? No particular reason, I just relish seeing people's reactions afterward if I do it. ;D I talked with La Professeur* about it, because she had this done (back in the 70's I think) and she tells me that people would talk to her chest for a few minutes and then ask her, "Did you lose a little weight?" She went from an E cup (which she says IS actually bigger than double D - I had thought they were the same) down to a small B, but they've grown since then to around C or small D, so she's really glad she did it. I just wish I'd done it when I was younger.
Got a call back from records, they will send out stuff to the Plastic Surgeon's.
Got a call back from Dr.'s office, they will set me up with a proper Functional Competency Evaluation.
In between I had to call my HR person and I screwed myself over because I mentioned working downstairs (in baggage). "You're not supposed to be doing that, you signed a limited duty restriction form." Um... "I thought that if they put me down there I was off that." Besides, I'll lose my certification downstairs if I don't work down there at all, and if I'm not certified how can I teach people? I DO NOT WANT to lose my certification, no matter how much I agonize over teaching people. Teaching gives me a reason to live. Or at least it keeps me from getting so bored that I want to kill everyone else.
------------------------------------
* She used to teach microbiology, before working with us.
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