I had my visit with the witch doctor this morning. He said that while the muscles on the left side of my back were still a bit swollen (I coulda told HIM that ) I was improved enough that he was going to ease my work restrictions a bit. Up to now I haven't been allowed to lift more than 5 lbs. He upped that to 15 lbs. Still no bending or twisting which makes it nearly impossible to do the stuff I normally have to do for my job. But it's progress.
I went by the office to talk to them and let them know about the new, lessened restrictions and to see if there was anything they could have me do. Sitting around a hotel is boring as hell. The boss's sister said there wasn't anything I could do under the 15 lbs and no bending twisting stuff and to just go back to the hotel. I then spoke with "R" who had overheard the whole thing anyway as he was only 5 feet away.
"So, you can drive but pretty much can't do anything else?" he asked. "Yup, that's about the size of it." was my response and I added "Sucks, huh?"
He said he had a really easy pick up that he was in a tight spot on as he didn't have anyone available to do it. Just 5 HEMMT (military truck) cabs up in Oshkosh. He asked if I would mind running up there to pick them up if he sent his brother after me to strap the stuff down (the part that requires bending/twisting). Hmmm, go sit in the hotel or actually do something productive. Tough choice. I hooked to a trailer and headed for Oshkosh.
If felt really good to be doing something, anything, productive. I got to Oshkosh, the guy loaded the 5 crates onto my trailer. I then decided to do as much as I could without hurting myself. I got out the straps, tossed them over the crates. I then said "what the hell" and went ahead and secured everything. I actually managed to do it all without much bending over at all. Piece of cake. After all, it was a really easy load.
I called "R" and asked if his brother was on his way up. He said yeah, "T" was gonna be my bitch on this one. I told him to call him and tell him never mind, I had it strapped down and was heading back. I also reminded him that information was just between him, me, and the lamp post as I didn't want either of us in trouble with the whole Worker's Comp thing, or his sister who is in charge of all of that. (She's the one who told me to just go back to the hotel).
During the strapping I discovered that someone had raided my side box while my truck was at the yard and stolen a couple of my straps. I reported this to "R" as well and he was naturally pissed about it but told me to just see the shop and getting a couple more issued to me on his say-so and if they gave me any crap he'd kick their asses himself. "R" would make two of me easy and I'm not a little fella.
By the time I'd done all of this and made it back to the yard my back was protesting a bit. I hadn't had any pain meds all day and was feeling it. Lucky I was wearing the back brace the witch doctor had insisted I wear for a while. It really helped.
I dropped the trailer, removed my straps and put them away, and gave "R" the paperwork for the cabs. He thanked me for helping him out to which I replied that it beat the hell outta watching Opra or some shit. He told me to stay outta trouble and I told him I was gonna go pick up a 12 pack of pain killer and chill out for the evening. He said he thought that sounded like a really good idea.
While my back is a bit stiff and sore, it probably did it a lot of good to get out there and do something. I know it sure felt good to feel useful again.
Hopefully he'll have something relatively easy for me to do tomorrow. Doing a little here and there over the next few days may help me ease back into working full time again. That's the plan anyway.