This school year started out with a bang, quite literally. I realized that the last time I updated my
blog was two days before my injury. Since
then I have been in survival mode… Matthew did buy me a new chair so I am
looking forward to many relaxing days ahead… especially watching football. Technically, it was an early Christmas
present… but I will be enjoying it every day until Christmas..!
Loving my new chair...
Full relax mode...
Watching football while I relax...
My Christmas Gift... just a little early!!!
Most of you know what took place but for those who don’t, I
ended up with a concussion at work. I
had a student head butt me from behind. We
didn’t know that she was prone to headbutt so it was a surprise attack. I have been dealing with physical and
emotional effects since the injury.
Following the assault, I immediately went to an urgent care to
get checked out. I was diagnosed with a
concussion, abrasions, and whiplash. The
doctor released me to work but did not want me in a situation where I could have
another head injury… which was an interesting situation since that meant I
could not be in my classroom. As a teacher,
not being able to be in the classroom makes the job rather interesting. That evening I ended up with a migraine so I took
the following day off work.
The next morning I had a follow-up appointment. I wish I knew then that the doctor was an “L&I”
doctor. He was horrible… it was the worst
experience. What I remember from appointment
was being told that when I was having difficulty raising my arms above my head I
needed to quit being a baby and lift my arms up, as he physically pushed my
arms up over my head. Then as he was
filling out the paperwork to release me to work, I asked if I needed to
continue to rest my brain and his response was to laugh at me and say, “You don’t
need to rest your brain, what you need to do is use it”. I walked out of that appointment still with a
migraine, emotionally beat down, and told I had to go back to work… so I
did. It was probably my worse day of
work ever. I felt miserable. I could not concentrate on anything. The noise and lights made my headache worse. During the staff meeting they turned off the
lights so I wouldn’t have to suffer as much and someone else took notes so I
didn’t have to look at my computer. The
behavior tech spent all day in my classroom to protect me since they didn’t
want me to get injured while they tried to figure out what to do.
The next day, I didn’t go back to work, I felt miserable. Instead, I talked to my claims manager to find
out what my options were. She said I could
always get a second opinion or if things were bad enough I could go into the
ER. Since Matthew had a Dr Appointment I
went with him to the appointment and afterwards we went straight to the ER. His doctor didn’t like the fact that no scans
were done on my head after the injury especially since I had such a bad headache. The ER doctor got onto of the pain immediately. He also wrote a note saying I couldn’t go to
work for a week. My brain needed to rest
and recover. This gave me the time I needed to find a new doctor so I wouldn’t
have to go back to the quack who sent me back to work.
I ended up finding the perfect doctor. A chiropractor I used to see was willing to
take on the case. He kept me out of work
for a total of three weeks to get control of my headaches. I had a migraine the entire time until the
very end… when it finally eased up.
Since then, I have still had a headache every day and a migraine 3-4
days a week... but I couldn't stay out of work forever so I convinced my doctor to release me to work... and just work through the pain.
Returning to work was emotional… I wanted to get back into the classroom…
I felt like I was falling further and further behind with safety net season
fast approaching and one IEP already past due… but at the same time it was the
first time I was anxious in my classroom.
I wish I could say everything is perfect now… but honestly, I am taking
things one day at a time… recovering from a concussion is no joke. I cannot wait for the day that I am headache free
and I don’t jump when I hear feet running behind me.
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