Returning to work was a major target for me for each of the 3 times I was off sick long term from work.
Being at home long term sick may at first feel a little bit like a holiday, except for the pain ! However after a few days I would feel like I was worthless and not contributing anything to life. I would watch people out of my windows getting on with life. It occurred to me that the world still continues, even though I am stuck inside. Unfortunately for me, I was off sick because one of my problems was lack of mobility. So I wasn't even able to go out for a walk ! I also couldn't drive because I was on extremely high doses of painkillers. So the advice I would offer to others is that returning to work is a good thing. It means you are on your way to getting better. You will be around people you know, and it will make you feel worthwhile and normal again.
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I’m writing this at 3:20 am. I was sleeping fine, then my leg started hurting. That was about an hour ago, now I need to sleep ! I’m trying to distract myself to make it stop.
To describe it …firstly imagine hiccups. Just when you think they’ve stopped, they’re back. You don’t know when the next one is coming. You’ve tried a few things, you just start to go to sleep, then they’re back. Now onto the pain itself. There’s a bit of an achy cramp, but there is also someone jabbing a pin into the centre of my leg. Not on the surface, where you could rub it, but deep down inside. When it happens I jump, or squirm in the bed. It’s pretty high on the ‘out of ten’ score. But then it goes. It’s not like a normal pain where you get a dull pain for a long time after. That’s when you think it’s gone, but then it comes back again. The medical thinking is that the pains are caused by the brain trying to communicate with the missing limb. In this case, the missing limb has been gone for 3 1/2 years, so they haven’t talked to each other for a while. I can take painkillers, but I’ll have trouble waking up in the morning. Just going to try to sleep again …. I have a pair of ‘sympathy shorts’…..
Firstly, walking in shorts is much easier for me than walking in trousers. Trousers tend to rub and pull at the knee on my legs, so I have to put a little bit of extra effort in walking. Trousers also have the additional weight of the trouser leg, so that’s a little more effort saved. Jeans are actually quite heavy to walk in. Shorts are a fraction bit cooler. Most of my legs are covered by socks and the liners. So they are normally quite warm, any extra cooling is great. The other physical difference is that shorts allow easier access to my prosthetics. I can adjust, or have a scratch, without having to pull my trousers down, which is not easy to get away with in public. Next reason for the shorts is the ‘sympathy’ aspect. I’m lucky in that I seem to be walking pretty well. A lot of people don’t notice I am missing legs. So if I’m wearing trousers I am treated like everyone else, which sometimes is a problem if I need a little help. Even with shorts on a fair amount of people don’t look down. But for those that do, they move out of my way. I also get doors opened, seats on a train etc. Inside every prosthetic is a sock waiting to get out.......
Or in my case ... lots of them for both of my legs, which you can see here drying out on the radiator. The pink ones are just for fun as I was taking this photo for another project I am working on, After an amputation the end of the residual limb (stump) is VERY swollen. Muscle is used to wrap around the remaining bone to cushion it, so post-op this is a bit angry. Over many months the swelling, then the muscle shrinks down. The end result is that the residual limb (stump) shrinks. When it comes to a rigid prosthetic fitting over the top of this, this means that it is going to get loose. Also on hot days, or with exercise, your stump will get a little bit bigger and sweatier. On cold days it will get a little smaller. So basically you are playing a juggling game between your stump getting naturally smaller, the temperature of your body, and how tight the prosthetic is. At the start of the day all can be fine, but later you are flopping around or feeling a bit too snug. If the fit is too lose you can bang your bone into the bottom of the prosthetic, which can be very painful ! The prosthetic can be recast to make it smaller or bigger, but then you are stuck with the size you have until the next cast. So what can you do ?..... The answer is socks. The socks are similar to sports socks, except they don't have a heel or an angle between the ankle and foot. So they are basically a tube with a round end. They come in "thick" or "thin". "Thick" is your sports sock / flannel thickness. "Thin" is like a day to day foot sock, I think 2 "thins" = 1 "thick". So you basically layer these all up until you feel comfy. Things can get a little complicated if your limb is thicker at one end than the other. So for this you can have "half and half" socks. Where one half is "thick" and the other half is "thin" Socks can be so much fun... ! |