Just Be There Blog

Job Update

Well, I have officially finished my third week at my new, extremely physical job. In actuality, I've worked 1 week and 3 days. The fourth day of the first week (I work 4-10 hr days/week) proved a bit too much. While walking to my work station for the day, my left leg collapsed me right to the floor. Yup, I sprained it again. This time, however, it happened at work so no question about my employment status. A trip to the emergency room to confirm that I was medically unable to work out the day and advised to take a week off to recuperate. The next day a trip to an Orthopedic Clinic where the Doctor said something about damage to the patella region. He recommended I go to Physical Therapy to strengthen my thigh and knee. My first trip to PT confirmed my suspicion that my knee wasn't the major problem, I'd over stretched my 'hamstring'. The good thing about this time around compared to last year is I didn't do as much damage and I was limping around with the aid of a walker in a week. Last year I was on crutches for nearly a month. My Leave of Absence was over on Saturday, October 3rd, and I worked a full shift without physical mishap. Then the 4th, the 5th, and the 6th...I'd finished a full week and am still able to walk.

Today, I had my 2nd PT session and the therapist was surprised as to how well I've bounced back. I've been doing the exercises at home like I was instructed and he added three more to my routine for the next week. He thinks that next week may be the last weekly session if I keep improving by leaps and bounds, then we can move on to more difficult exercises and monthly evaluations. I have a follow up with the Orthopedic doctor this Friday to confirm my healing process.

I am excited that I have a good paying job and that I'm stubborn enough to push through my physical challenges to meet the athletic requirements of the work. (Walking, lifting, standing, stretching, reaching, and stair stepping for 10 hours on concrete: If that isn't athletic then I don't know what is?) What I'm confused about, is I'm three pounds heavier than I was when I started the job. Now understand, I'm around sixty pounds overweight from being mostly sedentary for nearly a year. I guess two weeks of strenuous exercise isn't enough to lose in fatty weight than I've probably gained in muscle weight. The problem with this dilemna is that my feet need overall weight loss to survive my standing on them for so many hours. My feet kill me by the end of the third day, and it takes every ounce of all the muleheadedness I can muster for me to push through the fourth day. The up coming week I will be working 11 hour days the last three days of the week (43 hours total). Now three extra hours in a week doesn't sound like that much, but that last extra hour a day could be a killer.

Overall, I'm looking forward to finishing my official fourth/technically third week of work. I'm thinking my manager is a little bit impressed as to how 'determined' I am to do the job. (And maybe, just a little bit surprised to see me come back at all. ) Of the 50 people who started the same day as I did, I think there are only 9 of us left. (I could be wrong, but a lot of people seemed to have vanished the week I was on leave.) The way I see this up coming week is the week after will be a breeze as it will be three hours shorter.