Red tape. . . BAH!

[epstns]

Well, I'm bored and feel well enough to want to get back to work. Part-time, of course, and I work in an office where I have lots of autonomy. I could easily start at 2 or 3 hours/day and work my way back to full days in a month or so.

Where the red tape comes in is that with all the doc's I've seen, they can't seem to decide who should release me and when. I have the surgeon, two cardio's and an internist involved, and still no clear idea who should make the call. My company will not allow me back to work without a formal release, so I'm stuck.

To make matters more murky, I have no further follow-up appointments scheduled with the surgeon, so they don't see me as an urgent matter.

Ugh! All this, and now I can't get back to work. . .

 

[Lynlw]

Who is 'in charge" of your heart care right now? We never had to get back to work OKs, but had to get lots of ok to return to school, start gym, play sports after surgeries and always just asked Justin main cardiologist, even when he was being seen by numerous doctors from surgeons, to plastic surgeons and infectious disease and it never was a problem. We asked him, even when he wasn't "Justin's cardiologist" who followed him in the hospital since he was at a different hospital.

 

[Greg a]

My General Practitioner (family doctor) gets reports from all of the eight (8) specialists that I see on a regular basis and based on those reports he is in charge.....writes and renews any Rx and files any reports requested by me or by OHIP and CPP

 

[mainframe]

My regular cardiologist signed a back to work release once I got back to SEA from SFO. My boss wasn't interested in seeing it, but I had one just in case.

 

[epstns]

I met with my "regular" cardio's nurse-practitioner this afternoon while having my INR checked. She said that he will not release me to work unless he has it in writing from the surgeon. I then was able to contact the surgeon's NP, and she will send releases to my employer and to my regular cardio. Looks like I may be going back to work part-time later this week.

Drove the "big" car for the first time today. What a cream puff! No issue there, I just won't be doing any long trips for a while until I'm sure all is comfortable.

 

[Lynlw]

I'm glad to hear things worked out a little easier than you thought they would. I imagine you'll feel much better once you are able to get back to work even for a little while each day. Even tho you'll probably be surprised at how tired you get the first few days, it should feel good to be 'getting back to life"

 

[RunMartin]

I went to work unofficially after two weeks but only for a few hours a day. The company I work for insisted I got a note from my GP to say as was OK to work for a few hours a day - something to do with insurance. I was also allowed to work from home which helped with the travelling. Like you I was getting bored as I could not run and I do not like day time TV.

 

[Jason]

My company is also one that forces a note from the doc before you can even step foot in the office. In fact, the HR department told me that if I was released to work from home a few days a week or hours per day, they would have to send in an Occupational Health Nurse to assess my 'workstation'. Of course this is all due to lawsuits, I am sure, with someone saying they were hurt at home while 'working' and therefore it is now a work place injury with all the liabilities that go along with that.

Truth be told, I am going to enjoy my forced time away from work and focus on recovering as much as I can. I go back and forth between wanting to have something else to occupy my mind and enjoying my time off, but so far the latter of those two is winning!

 

[epstns]

Well, I am enjoying the relative freedom so far. These past two days, I have been "on my own." My wife went back to her job, although only part time, and I am allowed to drive and do minor errands. Sure makes one feel more like a participating member of life!

I will probably only work 2 to 3 hours a day for the first few weeks -- just enough to keep from falling too far behind on critical issues (monthly financial statements, etc.) but not so much as to become worn out. After 3 or 4 weeks, I can re-assess.

Crossing my fingers that all continues to progress as hoped.

 

[scott.eitman]

A Nurse Practitioner at the CCF gave me a realease. I looked her in the eye and said write me a release and she did. I was back after 4 weeks. I actually worked "full time", but took naps as needed.

 

[LeakyUK]

Some of us are looking forward to the longest period of NOT going to work. After several redundancy programs our team has shrunk from 60 to 3 over the last few years, and good look to them while I am off (Probably in the peak holiday so there will be
one person covering most of the time). I will only be going back part time when my GP stops signing the sick notes - I have a nice quiet office job - but in IT & things can go crazy sometimes!!

 

[catwoman]

Steve:

Do you get short-term disability while out?
I did, and in order to continue getting STD for the hours I didn't work when I went back part-time, I had to report week by week AHEAD OF TIME how many hours I would be working.
I had anticipated just working a few hours each day, lengthening the number of hours until I was built back up to 8.
But red tape got in the way.
So, I worked 4 hours per day (20 hours per week) for 4 weeks, then went back full time at 8 hours/day.

Explanation: If I didn't continue getting STD for the hours I didn't work during those four weeks and I had to go back into the hospital, I'd have to wait 5 days before being eligible for STD again. So, 12 of the 20 hours I did NOT work each week were picked up by STD, the other 8 by the bank of sick time I had built up.
Because the checks were cut ahead of time, my doctor's office had to fax a form one week ahead of time how many hours I was authorized to work the next week.

Crazy and lots of red tape, but I got it all done.

Well, I am enjoying the relative freedom so far. These past two days, I have been "on my own." My wife went back to her job, although only part time, and I am allowed to drive and do minor errands. Sure makes one feel more like a participating member of life!

I will probably only work 2 to 3 hours a day for the first few weeks -- just enough to keep from falling too far behind on critical issues (monthly financial statements, etc.) but not so much as to become worn out. After 3 or 4 weeks, I can re-assess.

Crossing my fingers that all continues to progress as hoped.

 

[epstns]

Wow, Marsha. You had more red tape than I do. I don't need any documentation for disability, but I do need a release for any (even a visit!) return to the workplace. It gets rough when you work, as I do, for a small company that has no "backup" staff to do your work when you're away from it.

 

[swim mom]

I had some problems with each of my doctors saying "not me". The problem was compounded by my primary care doctor retiring at the same time causing me to have to change that also! It is frustrating! = )