MEDICAL 5-22

I've come to the end of me leave and Costco and Unum(disability co that pays me) have started to become a little bit of a pain. First Costco only approves one year leave of absences and I'm at fifteen months but I'm hoping to return in the beginning of July so I need just a small extension.

I was told that if I wrote the VP's of the company I could get an extension.

I sent out a few emails last Friday and on Tuesday a woman from human resources called me back on their behalf. She said they were happy to extend to July on one condition. I needed a letter from my Dr stating that I was on Lyrica, was having trigger point injections on 5-28, and am doing physical therapy and that he was fairly confident that after my next evaluation on July 1st, I would be released back to work.

OK, this sounds reasonable enough. I called the Dr's office and spoke to medical records and explain to the girl what I needed word for word, she put me on hold and another girl picked up and I again explained word for word what I needed. She said OK and would put the message on Dr. Cooper's desk.

I got a call yesterday saying the note was ready already. That was fast I was thinking. So I drove over(it's only 2 mins away). I got the note and before I left I opened to make sure it was what I wanted. It was a prescription sheet that had scribbled on it "Continue restrictions until next visit". That wasn't even close to what I needed, in fact I had already gotten pretty much last week to give to my work. I told the girl that it was wrong and asked for paper to write down everything I needed it to say...Was either girl listening to me yesterday or did the Dr just not care??? I resubmitted what I need so hopefully this time they'll get it right!

Today Unum called to discuss my case. Once again I was assigned a new claim adjuster (this will be my 6Th). The last lady was nice and we had already gone over everything and she said that since it seemed like I would be going back to work sometime this summer, they would continue to support me. The new lady today told me that as of June 3rd I was out of the "own position" claim period and was now in "any position" period. The adjuster has no idea why the last Lady told me they would support me since she doesn't have authorization for that. Oh well that's just great!She is sending Dr. Cooper a form to fill out and it must say that I can not work in any capacity or they won't pay me from June-July. Currently I'm at 5 lbs which means that I could technically find employment some where just not at my current employer. If I have the chance to get back into Costco I defiantly want to so it seems really unreasonable to get a job for only a month. Heck it'll probably take me that long to find a job.

So I wrote a note to the Dr explaining what I needed and if he could please help me out and write I could not work in any capacity. I'm not looking for a free ride through life but we're only talking about a month here and I obviously need the money to pay my bills. I live alone so it all falls on me and I have no back-up. I could absolutely call my parents but I don't want to have to do that! I'm dropping the note off first thing in the morning and hoping for the best.