Enough of the political stuff for now. We shall certainly return to that. Here's a more personal note.
On the Third of May of 2013, I was injured by a patient. I received two sharp blows to my ribs which broke two of them. I had to continue wrestling with this patient for a number of minutes to secure him. This took a toll on me. I didn't know it at the time, but my left lung was injured and part of it is scarred and the alveoli no longer inflate. In addition, the blow to the ribs injured the back of my spine, where they attach to the vertebrae. My back has been in constant spasm since this injury. All the soft tissue and ligaments were affected. It is now two and a half months since the injury and there has been very little improvement.
I've seen a chiropractor three times and I'm in physical therapy twice a week. I will be seen again by a Workman's Comp MD on August 2. I am taking medications to relax the muscle spasm (not working) and also a steady diet of opiates (they work). My physical therapist says that it will take nine months to a year to recover from this injury.
I've been a psychiatric nurse for twenty years. I've had my ribs broken three times before. However, those injuries weren't as serious; I am having a very difficult time recovering from this injury. I have started hiking hills. When I do that without opiates on board, I am in pain when I try to breathe. It is like the ribs have shortened while they healed and they push on my right lung. The back spasm is a gnawing pain that makes me have to move every 20 minutes or so. Without opiates I cannot function. I cannot sit in a chair for longer than 20 minutes. This makes it very difficult to commute the three and a half hours to work.
I am getting a little bit frightened that this might be a career ending injury.
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