Heel Spurs and My New Job...

[westieluv]

I am an RN who recently started a new job working four ten hour night shifts a week. I am the supervisor of 3/4 of a very large assisted living and memory care facility and walk literally miles every night back and forth between the various units.

I was diagnosed with heel spurs a couple of years ago while working a different job and they were very painful but subsided when I left that job. Now the pain is back and it is excrutiating. I literally have to walk on the tips of my toes on my left foot for roughly the second half of each shift just to get through, because it is so painful to put any weight on my left heel. My ankle and knee are both starting to become painful as well because of the way that I am walking and balancing my weight on my toes.

I have an appointment with a podiatrist tomorrow morning and am scheduled to work the next three nights in a row. I think there is a definite possibility that the doctor would want me to take time off of work to rest my feet, especially since I worked the past two nights and am especially sore today. I have tonight off, thank God.

My concern is that if the doctor wants me to take time off, my employer will be quite upset with me, especially because I have only been at this job a little over a month. Common sense tells me that I need to take time off to try to heal and that if my employer is upset, too bad and maybe this job won't work out anyway, since it is causing me to be in chronic pain, but I am truly afraid of what my employer will say and feel that I should just go ahead and try to get through the next three nights at work regardless of what the doctor advises. I discussed this problem with our HR person last week and she said she would look into cutting back on my hours and get back with me last week, which she never did. We are extremely short staffed and I know that they absolutely do not want me to cut back from my four shifts a week, but I don't feel like I can physically do these hours anymore.

Sorry this was so lengthy, but essentially what I'm asking is, what would you do in my situation? Would you just take time off to heal and if they let me go then oh, well, or would you try to push on and continue to work in severe pain in order to keep the employer happy?

Thanks!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Why not see what the podiatrist says first? I have heel spurs as well, and couldn't even walk in the morning- had to wake up early to do stretches and take meds while still lying in bed. Got a steroid shot, and was fine within a minute- actually encouraged to walk around on it to get the steroids to all areas. See what your options are before getting to concerned with what may not happen. Also, go with the advice of your provider, not the anonymous advice of strangers on the internet.