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disability after spinal fusion

Name: megan franco
Email: meganfranco@yahoo.com
Date: 05 Dec 2002
Time: 19:45:15
Remote Name: ip68-7-132-111.sd.sd.cox.net

Story

I am a 45 year old female registered nurse. I injured my back lifting a patient. I had alot of back pain and nerve damage in the right foot and ankle/foot drop. Surgery was done to alleviate the nerve compression and to repair the herniated disc. It has been 7 months since then and the foot drop is still present and I frequently fall. I cannot climb stairs, lift or even sit up for more than a half hour or so. the pain is recurrent, however the mri and xray reveal no abnormalities. I will never be able to do bedside nursing again. I receive workers compensation and hoped to be able to access vocational rehab benefits to further my education so that I could teach or consult. I am unable to do that because I cant even sit up for an hour at a time. I am frustrated and depressed at my decreased quality of life and dereased level of functioning. I am often in pain and I am admittedly depressed and anxious. I have a very uncertain future and noone that is able to give me any definitive answers. If I had it to do over again I would still have done the same thing. I had a elderly vegetative patient in a nursing home, her air mattress deflated and she was falling off the top of the bed onto the floor. I caught her head before it hit the floor and tried to lift her and twisted my back. It was an emergecy and there was no time for me to alert other staff.I sometimes feel guilty because in a sense I did this to myself. I don't want to be disabled, I make a lousy patient. I want to go back to work and to be able to support myself and feel productive again. I would like to sleep all night just once. I would like to be able to pick up my grandchildren, go christmas shopping at the mall. I would settle for being able to do my own grocery shopping! I truly have a new found empathy for what patients endure.Any info on post spinal fusion nerve damage, post surgical pain relief,and any insight into how to get a neurosurgeon to listen, really listen, and answer questions honestly would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Megan Franco,RN.

Last changed: June 25, 2008

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Email: iwiazl@mknojz.com
Date: 25 Jun 2008
Time: 14:48:59
Remote Name: 89.149.244.45

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