Hi, Johanna...I might be posting this too late, as I don't know when your FCE was scheduled, but I thought I'd share my experience. I've had two done; the second was done a few weeks after my cervical fusion, and I was not fully recovered. It was set up by my attorney, so I didn't have insurance companies pushing me. The therapists I had (different ones for each eval) were very good; they constantly asked me to rate pain levels, and I stopped when they got too bad. They also had me call in the next day to report how I was doing after the eval, and whether or not it put me in a flare (it did...for a few days, IIRC). For me, one of the worst things was the fine motor stuff...picking up slippery little metal things, and putting rings on pegs. After those tests I HAD to stop for a while; she had a table where I could go to lay down, and she even came in and massaged my arm and shoulder a bit to calm things down. A lot of the lifting tests were out of the question, so they didn't even require me to do them.

After the second one I was rated at sub-sedentary...basically full disability.

I hope things go well, Johanna...I agree with the others. DON'T push yourself at all, and let them know how you are feeling throughout the whole thing.