short term disability

Today I started short term disability. I never thought that I would be a person that needed short term disability but I'm sure glad that this a benefit that I have through my employer!

I sent an email to my bosses on Monday letting them know that I wasn't doing very well. This is the email that I sent:

Monday, November 30, 2009

Elaine and David-
I had double knee surgery a month ago today and I have since contracted adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) in both of my shoulders. I have had follow up visits with my surgeon and I’ve also been seeing another doctor for my shoulders. I have been going to physical therapy for both my knees and shoulders and I’m not making any progress. I continue to be in constant pain and I’m losing mobility, today I don’t have much use of my left arm. My physical therapist agrees with me that something is wrong and that it is abnormal that I don’t seem to be making any improvements but rather continue to get worse. Tomorrow morning I am having a MRI on my shoulder to check for tears and then I have a follow up visit with the doctor on Thursday.

I’m very frustrated that I’m not making progress in rehab and more frustrated that I’m not sleeping at night, not feeling well, not mobile and in constant pain. I need to take some time off and hopefully get better, I’m not sure what my options are in working a reduced schedule or taking time off all together. For the rest of this week I plan on working as little as possible but I will participate in Online Review Workthread call tomorrow. I’ll keep my computer on and check email a few times during the day for “must do items".

I’ll hopefully have another update after the Thursday visit to the doctor.

Krista

The responses from Elaine and David were both positive and they agreed that my focus needed to be on my getting better.

I had a follow up visit with Dr. Date on Nov 24th, the blood test showed that I had elevated inflammation in my body and also that I'm slightly anemic. Dr. Date said the process could be slow but she was now going to try to determine where the inflammation was coming from. She ordered a MRI on my left shoulder since it hurt the worst and had the least range of motion. She didn't want to have the insurance company pay for two MRI's if there wasn't anything wrong. Dr. Date also told me she wasn't ruling out sending me to a rheumatologist but would start with the MRI.

I had the MRI on left shoulder a couple of days ago, today was my follow up visit to get the results, my visiting teacher drove me to Redwood City for my appointment. I just keep feeling worse and worse as the days pass. I keep thinking that I have hit the lowest I can hit and then the next day I feel even worse. I asked Dr. Date what she thought of me going on short term disability, she thought it was a great idea and signed the necessary paper work for me to be off work for the next 30 days.

The MRI revealed I have a slight tear in my left rotator cuff, per the report Dr. Date doesn't think the tear will require surgery, just rest and heat. Dr. Date gave me a cortisone shot in my left shoulder to aid in the healing and to help with the pain. I will now go for another MRI, this time on the right shoulder. Dr. Date thinks there will be a tear in that shoulder too. Dr. Date also changed my anti-inflammatory medication, the first two that I have taken don't seem to make any difference in how I feel.

Within 5 hours of the cortisone shot I was a new person, my knees feel like knees again and I can walk up and down stairs. I'm not sure how long this will last but I sure feel a lot better right now!