Good Morning,
Well, I’m back to work at my “real job”. I had a back injury about 7 months ago herniating two discs and finding out in the process that I have a condition called Spondylolisthesis. This condition is when one of the discs in your spine is basically off-set from the rest. This condition makes you back weak and does cause quite a bit of pain.
Being that the above was a work related injury, and I happen to be a government employee, my case was handled by the Department of Labor. All I can say is what a mess!
For seven months I’ve gone through physical therapy and been injected with several different epidurals and an assortment of other useless steroids and pain killers. I’ve been informed by a couple of DOL representatives amongst others experienced with back injuries that the process can take years to get approved.
I have not been able to choose the doctor or procedure that I would like to use as they must be approved by the Department of Labor. They have their own list of approved doctors that I must choose from. So, when I choose from this list, I wind up with waiting weeks for appointments, terrible office staff that treat you like the nasty part of a dog turd, lost paper work, lack of knowledge or concern about taking care of the necessary government forms properly and a slew of other problems that are too numerous and frustrating to get into.
In the meantime, my agency has been pressuring me to return to work or face termination. I’ve been told repeatedly how my back injury is a great inconvenience for them. Well, being that absolutely no progress has been made on my back injury, I have elected to live off of pain killers and return to work.
My surgeon has ruled that I have a list of permanent restrictions preventing me from return to my full duty position. So, I’m currently reassigned to “light duty”. My fate is in the hands of my employer. That ain’t good. If you have had any experience in employment with the feds, and I’m sure anywhere else, we all know that an injured worker is not good for the numbers; neither is keeping them on “light duty”.
I don’t know what is going to happen. I have my eyes open for other opportunities. The unfortunate part is that I’ve made a life of law enforcement and military type work. Employers in my profession don’t like bad backs so they don’t hire you. So, with that in mind, I’ve got to change my profession and way of life. I’ll be blunt, I’m very nervous about it.
Enough about me.
The above is a brief experience with the Department of Labor. This is an example of socialized medicine. Imagine if the entire country had to go through this process. Imagine if every treatment you needed had to be approved by a slew of government officials who are overworked and frustrated by the fact that you are pestering them with yet another case. Imagine the government giving you a list of their physicians that you are permitted to use.
In talking with many Canadian citizens, you will here much of this although the country seems to be very proud of its health care system.
Hate to leave you with that for the morning, but that’s what’s on my mind.
Take Care,
Cole
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