My job was terminated!
 

Ahh, lovely Mondays... I just got a letter from my employer (a large casino in Delaware) that I have been terminated. Something about being inactive for one year. It upsets me on many levels; loss of good Health insurance; loss of hope to return to a job I love and a sobering realization that this monster is REAL. I have been in denial about RSD since I was diagnosed in January. My brain still thinks like I don't have it; but my body quickly reminds me. I try to plan fun trips for my family (walking around the state fair, going to the aquarium, etc.) Before this disease took hold of me I was an avid runner, a track coach and a person who worked 100 hour weeks, all on my feet. Now I live on mind-altering narcotics, struggle just to get dressed each day and watching television! (Desperate Housewives is on for three hours every day!)

I saw my PM doc today. I think I will fire HIM! Has no clue what we go through each day. He says to "just work through it; it's gonna hurt anyway.) Yeah, well No S**T! I would like for him and all other heartless doctors walk a mile in our shoes. I think we should all band together and collectively kick their butts! (That would be a sight! Kinda like the "Thriller" video!) He did finally listen to me about the Percocet making me sick. Switched me to Morphine! If I'm not too wacked out, I will let you know how it works. I was wondering if it is legal to terminate someone while under worker's comp. Hope all is well with all of you. Kim:winky:

Hi Kim,

Wow, it has not been a very good week for you. I don't know the law for WC. But, I am sure that Mike will be able to help you. I would contact an attorney. If you google RSD attorneys you will more than likely find one in your area. I am so sorry. Remember, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. My love to you,
Sandy

That information should be in the papers you received. If you read your long term disability papers from your employer, I think you will find the answer. It falls under the employers HR policy.
1 yr is the normal time table I believe, if you haven't been able to work that whole time ,they do not have to keep your job open indefinitely.

Now if they fired or terminated you for filing a wc claim - that would be different. but since you mention it's been a year of no work for you, that is probably the reason.


some info-
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

I should have added that we have a wc forum also.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum30.html

someone there might have more details or info on the rules/laws, I haven't read in depth on wc for a few years now.

Hmmm. Thanks for this! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Dear Kim -

I am so sorry to hear what happened, even if it was inevitable. I hope and trust that you have a good WC attorney.

Looking at some of your earlier posts, I get the feeling that you have a pretty good grasp of the physicians in your area. Sandy suggested that I might be able to offer something, but while I have access to a remarkable little search engine, showing the names, addresses, etc. of those pain management specialists who have been board certified by the American Board of Pain Medicine (ABPM), a certification that is only given after the doctor completes a formal residency or fellowship in pain medicine and then sits for an 8 hour written exam. (This is in contrast to another "certifying" organization that requires no formal training in the field.) Here's a link that lays out who they are http://www.abpm.org/about/index.html and here's the search engine http://www.association-office.com/ab...dir/search.cfm

Checking out MapQuest I see that Galina would be a lot closer to Baltimore if you had a boat. As it is, it's over an hour and a half away. Looking instead at those neurologists and anesthesiologists in Eastern Maryland and Delaware who have been certified in pain medicine by the APBM, we have the following:

John Y. Chun, MD
1325 Mount Hermon Rd Ste 14B
Salisbury, MD 21804
Office Phone: (410)677-3125
Office Fax: (410)742-0604
Cellular Phone: (443)235-2337

Brent Fox, MD
703 Lakeside Dr
Salisbury, MD 21801
Office Phone: (443)783-3543

Thomas M. Rosenthal, MD
322 W Carroll St
Salisbury, MD 21801-5412
Office Fax: (410)548-4119
Office Phone: (410)860-8446

Emmanuel Devotta, MD
Brandywine Pain Center
7th & Clayton St
Wilmington, DE 19805
Office Phone: (302)998-2585
Office E-Mail: brandywinepm@yahoo.com

Please note that I did not include those pain docs with an initial residency in physical medicine. It may be my own personal prejudice, but I have never found them helpful in the treatment of CRPS.

That said, I have no idea what any of their bedside manners are like, or whether they accept WC patients. That said, I hope it's useful.

Finally, in an earlier post you mentioned Johns Hopkins. From what I can see in running the names of their faculty through PubMed, they are not really on the cutting edge in terms of CRPS research. And when I went out there in 2006, I had the most abysmal patient care experience in my life, where I was initially referred from a rheumatologist at the Mayo Clinic to his counterpart at Hopkins, but he couldn't see me because CRPS is "not a defined rheumatological condition," so he passed it over to the top dog in the Pain Division and it got passed downhill from there, until I wound up seeing a newly minted "Instructor in Neurology" who asked me in frustration what she was supposed to do for me. When I suggested asking the aforesaid Dr. Top Dog, she said, "What makes you think he would return my call?"

That said, the big exception to my riff on Hopkins is if anyone has issues of female pelvic pain. Check it out, Johns Hopkins Research Program for the Study of Chronic Pain Syndromes in Women, Ursula Wesselmann, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Investigator at http://www.neuro.jhmi.edu/PelvicPain/home.html (Supposed to be very good.)

Sorry you had such a rough day.

Mike

ps I always respect a doctor who is willing to give out his or her cell phone number.

Thanks, Mike! I certainly appreciate your response! I think that these doc's are crossed-trained in many "specialties"; and don't have first-hand experience in many of them. I just want to find a doctor "pain management" doc to listen to me. My concerns, my beliefs, my thoughts...As we all do. We all just want to be listened to. I think that is what is severely lacking in our treatment. Thanks for your help! I am sorry that you had such a bad experience. Why can't the bad be an exception for us? Not the norm? I will take your info to heart. Thanks, and blessings to you! Kim
(Thanks for listening!)

Hi! Thank you! I will contact most of them at 9:00 tomorrow. You seem very educated on this subject. Something of promising interest...Hmmm, what gives here? Much needed sharing on RSD? Are you a Doctor? Please share with us your information. I feel a wealth of worthiness in your wisdom...

Thanks, but I'm no doc. Just grew up in a family of them in Rochester, Minnesota, bosom of the Mayo Clinic. As it is, I'm just a broke down old "inactive member of the State Bar of California," who's had too much time on his hands since being forced into something of an involuntary retirement of my own in 2003, almost two year after finding this new frame of reference. Then too, I spent 20 years as a pretty decent legal researcher, and it turned out that translated directly into being able to navigate PubMed. Finally, among the new friends I made when a pain psychologist strongly urged me to pursue meditation, initially by way of a now 30 y.o. program called "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction" (MBSR) out of the U. Mass. Med. School http://www.umassmed.edu/Content.aspx?id=41252 with thousands of its trained teachers across the country, were graduate students who could download almost anything I wanted gratis.

The only problem is, I don't have the memory I used to, so unless I've actively thought about something within the last few months, it tends to dry out and blow away with the wind.

So it goes.

yI am so sorry
 

Kim~

Devestating.. just devestating news.. that is such soriful news and then to have your physician to be so none informed and even less compassionate (btw.. count me in for the group kick)!!! UGH... I can relate as I, too have RSD.. my place of employment is elimanting many positions, including mine, after 25 yrs. there, and recently I had to place my Mom into a skilled nursing facility due to demensha and.... I have 3 siblings and none want to know nothing about my illness. Along with RSD... (yes, my favorite term is 4-headed animal..) until one walks in our shoes.. they have no idea.. notta!!!! All I can say, is what I am feeling and that is.. our economy is forcing us to become part of the less fortuante ... time to baby ourselves and as far as others... either jump on and live with us and what we have to deal with every day .. or get the heck out of the way!! Cuz RSD is what it is.. and sadly.. it ain't going away!

You have my sympathies and know things always work out for the best... I sometimes console my self in thinking maybe this is gods way of telling us to slow down....time to take care of ourselves better...:hug:

Kim, You have my sympathy. I remeber vividly that same thing. I loved my job so much & was in total denial that this thing was some doctors srew up & would be fixed or go away & I would go on with my life. When I lost my job I even went to college online for a year because this thing was not going to beat me. I fainally had to give up when I got my SCS & this monster spread on me. There was no more denial. I am hre if you want to talk. I still miss my job so much it makes me cry. Its not an easy thing to let go of. Especially when you love it. I am so sorry this has happened to you.

I got that routine letter too informing me that I was no longer employed......I forget if it was at one year or 1.5 years after the date of my injury.

It feels like another smack in the face along the WC journey. Not to be a bigger downer, but if you are dealing with RSD the likelyhood of making it back to that job was probably a minimal chance anyway.......

Hopefully, you will be able to find some treatment that works for you and makes life a little easier once again.

Gentle hugs :hug:

Hello Kim,

I'm so sorry you have to go through all of this. It's not enough we go through the complications of living with RSD. When we deal with employers, WC and insensative doctors it only makes us more anxious and our pain is worse.

I remember when I got past denial. It scared me when I understood and accepted I have RSD. That's when I took long term disability leave from my job, it was very hard. Leaving my job was close to mourning the loss of someone I deeply cared for. It took me almost 5 years after being diagnosed before I accepted my condition.
I was miserable during that 5 years. I was determined to keep my life as normal as possible. I was going to work through the pain and keep anyone from knowing how awful I felt. Most of the time I failed at that attempt. It was very difficult to hide the awful pain that this condition brings. The harder I tried the more anxiety I put on myself thus the more I suffered from pain. My RSD started in my right shoulder and arm and is now full body with some organ involment.

I am going on 9 years with RSD the last 3 I have not worked. I miss my job and think of it often. I talk to a couple of my old co workers and good friends via e-mail.

Losing your job is another phase of this illness that we are forced to deal with. Some of us RSD'ers on here are lucky and still work. I pray they continue to have the strength to get through their days. It's a prayer I have for everyone on this forum.

Keep your head up and know that you are not alone. Don't let RSD define you as a person. This fight isn't for the weak and it brings out the fighter in us all.

Good luck in your search for a doctor that has the knowledge to help you. I pray you find the wisdom you need to deal with your employer and WC.

Take care of yourself,
Sherrie