#6

I have been away from work for almost five weeks now, last May I hurt something in my neck while driving a certain bus which was difficult to change back from 4th to 3rd gear. I went for some Bowen therapy but it still remained stiff and sore during June and in July it became worse until by August I had to resort to taking painkillers just to get through the day. Finally by the 19th August I instigated a letter saying I was not going to drive this bus ever again and giving the reasons why. Well that sparked a result with the management with the result that I attended their doctor who initially gave me two weeks off work and the name of a physiotherapist.

I don't know what exactly happened but the physio sparked off some reaction and my neck became so inflamed that she could not obtain any results. So far I have had seven visits and only now are we getting somewhere. The work doctor has given me time off work still and there is no way I could drive in any case because I can only drive one-armed due to a lot of pain in my left arm and pins and needles. Today I think we had a breakthrough and she has given me some movements to retrain my neck muscles and to recognise that when I do get the pain and pins and needles to place my posture and neck in a certain position to relieve the sensations.

I don't really wish to return to work, when I think about the horrible passengers and the deadly boring routes like Noosa and Nambour, it does not thrill me. What I would like to do is to tidy and clean up my house and put it on the market so I can move down south. What am I going to do with you, my son. One option is for you to go down to Ian's and do a course at the local tafe on cad then work on his farm, another is to come with me - of course this is the option I would prefer but everything will be so up in the air for a while until everything is organised, everything being this house/somewhere to live/our pets/something to live on .. the list goes on and on. But the most important and heart wrenching one is your friends. Hmmmm your friends .. you have some wonderful friends and it will be soooo hard to move away from them. We will have to think about this.

Later. love from mum XXXXXX