Just returned from another over-nighter to St. Clair Shores - each night over there is proving to be better & better.
And boy, did I need "better & better" since yesterday afternoon. Worker's compensation has officially cut me off. Now I am in a quandary as to what to do next.
Enclosed with the official "notice of dispute" was the copy of the independent examination. First off, my official measurements are 5 ft. 11, 195 lbs. Do you consider this to be "slightly obese", even though normal men my height are usually about 190 lbs.? I treated this with some humor the past two days, even though it initially insulted me on a personal level. I always say I don't have the body of Atlas, but c'mon.
Later in the report, it implied that I'd make a great Academy Award winner, which is just their way of saying I've faked the whole thing. Friends and relatives close to me know this isn't the case. What the doctor cited was when I tried to do a heel-toe exercise without putting much force on my hands, gripping the examination table.
Now there's always been a problem with balance if a surface can't be used for bracing. My feet aren't the strongest. And there's still some noted weakness in the left foot. It took me awhile to set up for this exercise, granted. The last thing I wanted to do was fall on my face from losing balance, and getting ridicule from the doctor. Plus, I wanted to do this exercise to the best of my ability. A few weeks ago, the realization came that the longer I was on worker's comp., which doesn't take money out for taxes, the more taxes I will have to pay come April 15th of next year. The motivation is there to succeed.
But I can't help it if some prepratory measures are needed to do the exercise right. When you can't trust the lower half of your body to follow through with proper execution due to pain or numbness, you don't want to set yourself up for automatic failure.
I understand that the function of an independent doctor is to make observations and judgements without showing bias, and without prior judgement. But he was taking notes just like my regular clinic doctor does - this one even made some of the same comments. Now it comes out into the open that he's basing things on reports saying there was nothing blatantly abnormal. There is a grey area here. You have "abnormal" and "normal", but isn't there a medium known as a "potential trouble spot"? So much for a doctor/patient relationship! I'm not sure I would have wanted one with this doctor, since the facts are known.
So what's the likelihood of me going back to work? Pretty much better than 50-50. I'll find out the next business day, which is tomorrow, and see whether his diagnosis is seen as just an opinion, or the deciding factor.
There's something about the "deciders" in this world that's really bugging me now.
