2002 Story Set
| June 19, 2002 I have waited for three months since the lay off to see how my hurt wrists were doing. I use the medication, the braces, and watch how I hold my hands. My setup for the Mac is and has always been ergo-metrically correct. The NT at Synopsys was a mess with a bouncing keyboard. When I realized I was starting to feel twinges in my wrists and was facing a high-pressure job that required long hours of typing, way back in early 2001, I requested that my office be ergometrically retrofitted. They put me off. They complained when I reacted to this. I was, understandably, upset. I knew I was being injured. And my son was just out of his second coma. They fixed my office 9 months after I had complained. They had replaced the bouncing keyboard in June-July. They had finished the setup in September. The damage had been done. If my son had not been ill, if I had not spent part of the work week working at home on the Mac, my hands would be worse off. Much worse off. Forgiveness for unnecessary injury is not in my nature. I am not typing very much on days after I type a lot, in other words, I am not typing steadily for 40 hours a week. So, since I would like to get back to work, I scheduled a specialist to test my wrists. My doctor had said, rest, medicine and braces first, if no improvement, then the specialist. That was one year back. It helped but did not completely relieve. So ---- off I go. The specialist will run an "EMG". I expected some sophisticated scan. Not so! First, they took my hand temperature and then my forearm temperature. Then, because the room was cold, they put my hands under a heat lamp. Once warmed, the doctor measured off spots on my hands, marking me with black marker dots. He fastened two wire loops over a finger of the hand being tested and then zapped me with something like a taser two-prong charge in increasing intensity, measuring the time it took to have the signal move down my finger. He repeated it with the other hand. Some zaps were at the wrist and some at the elbow. ZAPs is a good description. My hands were left tingling. The conclusion is ugly. My left hand, even rested for three months (off the NT) has mild Carpal Tunnel. My right hand has moderate Carpal Tunnel. I am to try to lose weight (it will help a little), wear braces (and sleep in them if my hands hurt), and use medication. Eventually, I will have to have surgery. The problem now is that the first doctor visit did not get a workman's comp filing. That has to be corrected. This specialist has it listed in his files. The other doctor has it listed in his files. And I have status reports that indicate that I have hurt hands. My attorney at the time of the severance said that I am not precluded from filing for workman's comp even though I was laid off and need to do so since the surgery would be covered plus any recovery time I require afterwards (usually 6 weeks minimum). I may have to find an attorney in Mountain View that specializes in these cases if I have a problem with the filing. First I will have to go find a form. I seem to recall asking for one on my last day at work. Synopsys is well aware that they had caused an injury. I was vocal. |
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