injured at work

[Guest guest]

gee, now I remember why I want to take the full year off to recover

after surgery!

Tuesday morning, I stopped by another teacher's room to let her know

what the OB/GYN doctor had said on Monday (basically nothing yet),

and I was leaning in her doorway. As I was getting ready to head on

to my classroom and no longer leaning against the wall, one of our

autistic students ran up behind me and pushed me into the wall.

I immediately felt pain in the lower part of my right side and the

pain radiated down my right leg (and darn it, my pain management

injections were finally kicking in and it was the first day in

awhile that I had felt up to walking to the office). My normal pain

is on the left side. By lunch, my neck was stiff and sore.

At first, I thought there probably wasn't much point in filing a

report and seeing a doctor, but I did email the principal

immediately and tell her what had happened. When I got home, I took

lortab and went to bed. The next morning, my neck was still stiff

and sore, so I filled out the workman's comp papers and saw a doctor.

The doctor turned out to be a retired orthopedic doctor who was

subbing while the regular doctor was out. I had seen him once

before and he is good friends with all the orthopedic doctors in

town, including Dr Tompkins who did my original surgery. He said

that since the rest of my spine is fused, that left my cervical

spine to take the full punishment of being pushed into the wall and

it caused a whiplash type injury. He gave me some cream that is

compounded by a local pharmacy -- it is a mixture of muscle relaxer,

NSAID, and a steroid and I am to rub it on. He hesitated to give me

any oral meds.

I was definitely loopy after having taken lortab at bedtime. I put

the wrong dates on my paperwork, and then I wrote that I take

celebrex! I haven't ever taken celebrex! I guess I am going to

need to recheck all those final exams I graded Wednesday before I

submit my end of quaarter grades.

It turns out that the girl who pushed me doesn't talk at all. She

frequently runs up and down the halls making loud noises. What I

hadn't known, is that she likes to touch every door that she passes,

and if one is open, she slams it. The teacher that had to fill out

a witness report got hurt by the same girl the next day.

My neck is making noises when I move it now. I hope it doesn't have

any permanent damage since it was the only part of my spine that was

in good shape.