Last night was on of the worst nights yet. although I had the nerve block, I still felt all of the electric shock sensations in my face. this morning it has finally worn off and I am in worse pain than before. I can barely open my mouth and when I do…ZINGERS!!! I am going to contact the neurosurgeon this morning and hopefully get an appointment soon. I continue to go to work but I don’t know how much longer I can function successfully like this. I write these words down as my testimonial to myself; a documentation , a journal of sorts not only to document how I feel physically but emotionally too. Maybe if I get it all out in written form then it will be out of me and I will have less pain…at least mentally.
In addition to what Maeve has said, if you haven’t told your work what you have yet, you do not have to. At my company, when I was a manager we were not even permitted to keep any information regarding leave of any kind in our employees’ files. My boss is not allowed to ask me any questions or comment on the information I give him. So know, it is ok to not tell them what is going on AND it is ok to take leave. I struggled with it, too knowing what a bind I was putting them in. But, it is better than making significant mistakes because I am either in too much pain or the meds do not allow me to think correctly. I would rather lose my job because I was proactice and tried to take off and get better and they were the idiots that let me go rather than getting fired for making a mess of things. . . my personal view of my job. My GP is more holistic in nature and suggested 500 of Magnesium 2X/day and homeopathic form of St. Johns Wort (very specific about it being the homeopathic form - I had to get at a holistic pharmacy). I try to get my neck adjusted every week and am trying acupuncture tomorrow. READ everything you can find about any surgery that is suggested to you. Sometimes the side effects from that can be daunting and permanant, but the pain relief may not be.
Hugs,
Debbie