Ada,
Thank you for your thoughts and support. I live in Canada and have a really great case manager with WCB. She is really supportive and tends to be more realistic about what to expect given that I have been diagnosed with CRPS. She said she didn't care that the PTs thought that whatever else is going on with me isn't related to my initial injury but that she fully believes it does. She also thinks that their 8 week RTW program is a little aggressive and not very realistic. Every CRPS case she has dealt with has taken much longer. She is working very hard to expedite doctors appointments and is trying to get me into a specialized clinic. She tells me to keep the emails coming about what is going on with me and to phone to let her know if anything is urgent or I need to talk.

I want to stay confident in the thought that this will go into remission. I need to believe that right now, however difficult it may be. I have to try with my PT program. If it over stimulates me then I will have to find a way to explain to them what is going on and if my case manager sees this happening as a regular occurance then she will step in. We are trying to help each other get this resolved as much as possible. I just need to have faith that I can get through this, even if I am deluding myself and my chances....I will tell you why. There was an older man that I worked with, a pipefitter. He lost his lower left leg to an injury and suffered from phantom pain. For the most part he managed and when he had bads it was obvious. I was very hard for me to see a man of his age and experience to cry for a limb that ached with pain but was not longer actually there. He really was a different person when the pain took over. It made me ache with pain for him when I looked into his eyes and let him tell me about his pain. I will never forget him, the look in his eyes or the story he would tell me. I never want to be the person tell another about that kind of pain. I know my pain can be bad now but I have to get past this. I have to keep the fight in me, as I am sure so many of us can understand....I told you, I am feeling weak these past couple of days. I think I am going to take a day or two away from the computer to try and pull it together. I don't mean any offense to anyone but I am spending too much time thinking about all of this right now and ignoring those things going on around me.
Talk to you soon. I hope you understand. Best of pain free days to you all. J