Thursday, March 28, 2013
Workplace malaise
I think it's time for a fresh blog. Politically I can't latch onto anything at the moment and so I figured I'd do another work blog. The workplace, it's been said companies and corporations have become more impersonal over the years. Now I've had many jobs in my life, a quite varied resume but back in the day you were more like Family. Most recently I've been getting over a severe groin pull and told my boss about it and even called out sick one day. This is really a weird ailment because the pain is worse at night and in the morning but when you're active during the day you kinda forget it even exists. Mild activity is better than staring out your bedroom window all day but anyway I took the one day and when I got back nobody really asked me how I was. While everyone knew what the problem was because I told them and it's kind of awkward talking about your nether regions but no person in authority came up to me and said do you need some time off? not that I would've used it but it's nice to ask. You know, concern. Then there's the winter weather. You could have 1 1/2-2 feet of snow and the place is still open and if you do call in there's a kind of weird silence on the other end of the line ("you mean you're not coming?"). Minor criticisms -- now I'm of the opinion that let's say you've put in 20 years at a place, they know your work product and on balance you're damn good and so one day some boss levels a mild criticism at you for whatever. Nothing earth-shattering mind you but imo it shouldn't be brought up as the bulk of your work production over the years really outshines the minor bad and you do work through various ailments which people tend to forget so what's the purpose of the nitpicking point? Oh yeah they're cutting back the hours on alot of people because of ObamaCare which I'm sure it's not Obama's fault and I ain't understanding the problem correctly. I've got some years to go but I'm retiring the first day:)
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A new medical discussion?
ReplyDeleteYou know, in sports, a pulled groin can take up to 3 months to
get better. Chefs get one day?
How did you get that, trying out
for the Yonkers soccer team?
I believe I've had a mild groin strain for quite some time by lifting the bottom receptacle of the deep-fryer to clean it out (no I didn't lift it with the dirty oil inside but it's rather big and awkward just the same). Probably aggravated it somehow on my vacation working theory being doing triceps extendor exercises on some resistance bands which in and of itself is a great exercise but not when you have a dormant pull.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day when I had jobs more like family I was developing a severe case of Lyme Disease, my knee got swollen and I had to get around on crutches. Amoxycillin and probenecid eventually took care of it point being at the place where I worked your personal health was a valid topic of conversation and it was understood you needed some time off. The place where I'm at now? you'd probably have to chef around in a wheelchair for a time and they'd probably think you're faking it. Weird:)
ReplyDeleteYes, the workplace atmosphere has changed over the years. Lots of reasons- regulations bug mgt and
ReplyDeletecost money- the Harvard MBA degree
which taught how to squeeze every
cent out of labor-the desire for
more and more profit. Still, many
smaller places are much more family-
like than the big corps:
everyone knows everyone else. As
for sick leave, if a person needs
to be replaced, it costs more $$.
One time I had two men go out with hernias, a very high skill job,
very difficult to replace and that
surgery takes quite awhile. So it
can be a problem. I think I took
about 7 sick days over 40 years
kidney stones, pneumonia and a back strain, sort of a victim of
the 1950s school attendence gold
stars and candy bar, ya know? I also had to let an employee go after two years of 50% attendence.
Different places have different policies, even for things like
pregnancies, so it depends a lot
on which outfit you work for.
If a person is injured or hurt
on the job, there are regs that bear: both my hernia dudes claimed
that, we didn't fight it, and they
got full time pay while they recovered (and worked another 20
years, bless 'em)
Few years back my Dad had double-hernia surgery. Produce guy the other day goes to me ya sure it's not a hernia? ('cause he has one and misery loves co.) Well no I've had groin pulls before, there's no lump or protuberance, there's no pain when I lift something heavy provided I don't have to squat and as always whenever I have some sort of health ailment I heavily google the subject.
ReplyDeleteWeird thing again but I went on two good walks yesterday and today I felt better than in a long time. Few years back had a young guy as my dept. mgr. and he had some major back problems, walked around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame all day and this was a young athletic guy. So anyways one day the chef/supervisor guy comes in and just tells him what to do, this goes here and you have to do that and no how are you today like his injury didn't even exist. Being the honcho type he could've easily offered the guy time off and found a temporary replacement. It's amazing.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it is a pulled groin muscle? If there is swelling of the lymph or redness, there is a
ReplyDeleteslight possibility of manifestation
of reintroduced immune problems
from the original Lyme infection.
Basket Ball.
ReplyDeleteThat was my first thought BB and so even though I've been through Lyme I googled it once again. I haven't noticed the swelling or the redness and when I had Lyme there was pain all day long until I got treatment whereas with this the middle of the day is mostly ok. The google on groin pulls, there is pain at night (check) and pain when you're sitting or at rest (check). Part of why I find health ailments disturbing and why they cause stress is that you can come up with so many alternate theories.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we're talking Lyme because you don't hear much about the disease anymore and I think that's a mistake. I notice a guy at work constantly limping and having trouble walking and a young male customer who comes in with almost the same gait and since Lyme isn't in the public consciousness anymore they're liable to be ignorant of the symptoms and not get treatment if that's the case. Now the original doctor who treated me he was the resident House of the local hospital, so brilliant in fact doctors went to him with questions when they were stymied. You know he did mention that there was the possibility I could have weakness in the knee again sometime down the road for just the reason you mentioned. What I wanna know is how did Lyme get off the front pages?
ReplyDeleteHere's why I think it's the groin pull. Few weeks back cat sleeping on my bed and got up at 3 in the morning to go to the bathroom and didn't want to disturb or move him so kind of awkwardly twisted over him and felt the sore pulled muscle in my left upper thigh so that was a pretty good indication that at that point I had a mild pull. Not thinking much of that I did alot of walking on my vacation but also did a large number of different exercises on those resistance bands so at least I can come up with different reasons but in contrast when I had the original Lyme when my knee got swollen and I had trouble walking I had never banged it or otherwise damaged it so that was a great tipoff that something else was at play. Hey I have another thought though,
ReplyDeletemaybe it was the colonoscopy discussion:)
Sounds like a groin pull. They seem to happen to athletes a lot.
ReplyDeleteBet the exercises hurt rather than helped. Now, the jocks go the oxycontin route (heck the tendon is in shreds, but I feel great),
but I'm not recommending it. It
takes a long time to heal, though, and I think is an excellent excuse to avoid a colonoscopy. :)
Years and years ago I had some off-duty extracurricular interest in Oxycontin. I must be the one in a million but I tell you no matter what I did to it I never got anywhere but nauseated. What a letdown that was...all the hype and I end up just pukey.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why it is that you get these big media things on a given disease and then it seems like it evaporates off the page. I had Lyme too in 90 but nowhere near like yours and it was a big deal at the time. Now it's like no one cares.
Down here you have to worry more about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from ticks. We have a HORRIBLE tick problem at our house and it's just about time that it fires up. We're not supposed to have any kind of extra-domestic creatures but I am really thinking hard about getting half a dozen guinea hens to deal with the problem. It gets to where you're pulling multiple ticks off you every single day for weeks on end. Now I am not sure if the amount of time they are on you makes a difference (I guess it would) and I do know the species of tick is important but we just try to do the body check thing as often as possible. It is a bit nervewracking. I am not fond of the idea of chemicals (six acres of woods, how much good will that do anyway?) but the guineas would wipe them out. I think it would be worth the potential community problems. They're practically wild anyway, roost in the trees. Where you are I guess you just need to stock up on the Deep Woods Off.
As I recall the tick has to be on you for so many hours but I can't recall that figure right now and I'd have to google it. My doctor told me I probably got bit by a nymph probably in the month of February. BB mentioned a reemergence of symptoms from the original Lyme. During my last followup visit my doctor told me years down the road I could have a weak knee and arthritis in the same area during rainy weather even though I've been "cured" and sure enough few years back at work out of the blue I got a bad left knee for no reason and had trouble walking for a few days and then it just went away. Ya got your doom peddlers though, lady at work saw me limping and goes "well you are getting older now and it could be arthritis." Thanx, already had me with one foot in the grave and I'm trying to think positive:)
ReplyDeleteCured is a funny kind of concept... it's like the difference between acute and subacute... so you break a leg, the leg heals, you're cured, so to speak but that bone is always going to be weaker than the others. Speaking of broken bones did you see the Louisville player with the compound fracture of the leg? I didn't actually watch the up close and personal part of the video where the bone comes flying out of his leg but I am absolutely sure it was gruesome to the extreme. I heard that Joe Theismann texted him after it happened; if anyone can have some empathy for this it would be him. Patino said it'll be a year before he can play again and quite honestly I think that's optimistic. The biggest thing with a break like that to worry about is infection, all that bone hanging out of your limb. It's amazing how fragile the body really is when you get down to it.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah you're getting old and stuff, so are we all, you seem to get around pretty good though with all the walking and so on. Maybe you got a weak knee from the Lyme, maybe your joints are just reacting to climate change :P
Either way I think moderate exercise (ie, stop before it hurts) is a great way for you to go and you seem to have this already well in the bag so tell everyone at work where they can take it.
It could've been some type of combo deal, definite groin pull with some leftover Lyme and let's throw in some sciatica which I had many years ago and that's a real fun one, leg goes numb and stuff. I heard about that player and broken bones are one thing but how'd it come out of his leg?
ReplyDeleteCompound fracture: the bone breaks with so much force that it breaks through the skin. Oh it's gruesome. We were watching the game and you just knew by the other players' reactions that something HORRIBLE had happened. So many of them were crying...I'm surprised none of them were puking. I refrained from watching the endless replays of it but I did see a picture and oh yeah, gruesome is the word. The biggest problem with something like that is the risk of infection; bones aren't really supposed to be on the outside of one's body. Anyway he was up and on crutches as of this morning and he's young. The coach said he'll be back in a year, that remains to be seen in my book but damn, what an injury.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to come up with a good analogy for a compound fracture... and I can't. Just imagine that the bone is broken so hard that it actually breaks the skin and comes out. Better yet just google Kevin Ware and look at a picture. Or wiki, you can see a compound fracture there. Beware if you're the queasy type.
My Husband has had Trouble with Sciatica. Very Painful. He usually has a rather high Tolerance for Pain, yet with this, he actually Cried Out in Pain. I felt so bad for him. He had it so bad Once around Christmas time, that he couldn't leave the Couch except to go to the Bathroom and you could hear him crying in pain whenever he had to get up and Walk to the Bathroom.
ReplyDeleteI had some last Minute Christmas Shopping to do and had to put plenty of Water, Food and of course the Phone, Next to him before I left. I took the Cell Phone, didn't go far and wasn't out long. I hated to leave him like that.
My brother-in-law recently had disk
ReplyDeletesurgery for sciatica. He has to
take it easy for three months, but
is pain-free for the first time in years.
Disk Surgery is Risky, yet some such Surgeries have been quite Successful. My Husband is Actually Ok most of the time and hasn't had a really Serious Bout with it like that in a really long time.
ReplyDeletebe back in a minute:)
ReplyDeleteOh God it is gruesome. Makes the colonoscopy discussion seem quaint.
ReplyDeleteYep.
ReplyDeleteLista if you want to continue the colonoscopy discussion it's ok. I thought it better to cap the other thread simply because I got tired of scrolling down all the time.
ReplyDeleteI've come to this conclusion today. Yes there was the definite groin strain but also elements of the sciatic nerve being compressed but not resulting from the usual culprit the herniated disc. I'm going with Piriformis syndrome a kind of combo deal where you get sciatic symptoms along with a quite concentrated and at times painful literal Pain in the Butt in the gluteus. Nice to know it's not the Lyme though:)
ReplyDeleteYou should seek a second opinion;
ReplyDeletepiriformis syndrome, while possible, is quite rare. However, it is very often treatable with botox injection. A side benefit would be getting a few botoxes around the eyes and chin..when you
tried to smile you would look like
Tom Cruise. :) Dr. House would consider a semi-neuropathological
remnant of Lyme such as Ischiogluteal Bursitis, call you a wuss and chase Dr. Cuddy
That was my Internet opinion BB nothing more. They have a few stretching exercises for the outer hip abductors, even if it isn't that what harm can it do? Reasons for my conclusion about PS -- there was a tight pain in the gluteus, pain at times radiating down the back of the upper leg and then pain and muscle soreness in the calf plus tingling in the calf and sometimes foot. Either it was sciatica caused by a contracted piriformis muscle or Obama speaking, the Chris Matthews thing:)
ReplyDeleteBack up a minute though BB, nowhere in all my reading the other day about PS did it say it's rare. Now I got to thinking about all these celebs lately getting some type of hip surgery, Gaga and A-Rod for example and I got to thinking if you do really suffer from piriformis syndrome you're really gonna start thinking something's wrong with your hip and many doctors probably not being that familiar with PS might advocate the hip thing, just sayin'. Now I don't know if you've ever done the triceps extension exercise on resistance bands but that whole area of the gluteus including the piriformis muscle probably gets a bit of a workout. So is it rare because it's rare or because people are being diagnosed with other ailments when it's really PS? The Lyme thing, if it's really leftover Lyme do you see a doctor over this or does it just go away over time? My original doc just said you could have a knee issue sometime down the road but didn't say if I do come back and see him and believe me doctors love followups.
ReplyDeleteDo yoga.
ReplyDeleteI think Saty hit the nail on the head. I love BB's knowledge but diagnosing over the Web is still risky. Along the lines of Saty's advice I got some piriformis stretching exercises from various websites and have been doing them faithfully the last few days to kind of fasttrack this thing. Dunno why piriformis syndrome is such a controversial diagnosis and what makes it rare when it seems so logical but have to say the exercises seem right on track and are helping get me through the workday. Incidentally guy at work today came in and had to go home with a really bad back and another worker a woman suddenly felt faint and very sick and as I said elsewhere maybe it's the damn workplace.
ReplyDeleteBB I'm gonna go with Piriformis as I'm at least 90+% sure that's what it is. Did a simple homebound test yesterday, pushed my finger into a certain area of the butt and sure enough each time I got that sciatic sensation (e.g. tingling down the leg to the calf). Did this each time I pressed my finger in on the muscle and got the same sciatic reaction literally each time so now I now the exact muscle, the exact location to apply the heat and also learned a couple new piriformis stretches from the Net. Oh yeah you can get a form of sciatica from keeping your wallet around with you in your back pocket all day and while I don't do that I've had the bad habit of keeping a rather large rubber comb in my left rear pocket for a long time and sure enough that's where the butt/leg problems began. So BB I'm pretty confident in all of this rare or not and I've actually come across a few medical websites that hold that the piriformis muscle is the cause of most sciatica.
ReplyDelete