Monday, October 3, 2011

Work Hardening

Paul started work hardening 2 weeks ago. It kind of freaked both of us out. Does this mean they are preparing him to go back to work?? Of course Paul wants to return to work, but neither one of us believe he is anywhere close to being ready. After his first full week (3.5 hours a day M-F), he soon discovered what this really is. This can lead to preparing to get back to work, but for now, they are teaching him how to live life with a major back injury. He's learning how to bend, sit, stand, pick stuff up, etc. I think he's finally realizing that he's never going to be the person he was before his injury. He's been in a lot of pain since starting, which concerned us.

He started week 2 last week. Mid week he was told there was nothing more they could do for him, so they discontinued his program and set him up for a Functional Capacity Evaluation. This will measure his pain levels by his heart rate. They will have him do 4 hours of activities and determine what he can and can't do. Theoretically, this will determine if he's employable or not.

I suppose most people in this situation would not want to be employable, collect a settlement, sign up for permanent disability and live off that. Not Paul. Paul's a man's man. He loves to work. He's the kind of guy that won't reward himself until he's put in a hard days work. this has been so hard for him, not working. Being in pain and not woking for 2 years is definitley taking a toll on him. He feels almost worthless. It's sad, but there's nothing I can do for him as much as I wish I could.

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