for those who don't know my story, i have chronic low back pain due to three ruptured lumbar discs. i had a discogram on august 3, which showed leaking fluid that is causing pressure on the nerves and that is what causes all of my pain. my surgeon wants to delay surgery as long as possible, as he does not believe a fusion will help me pain-wise. says will be a different kind of pain, maybe worse. i just met with him on the 18th, and he is sending me to a pain management doc.
now, at work, people know i have back problems. they do not, however, know what i take for the pain. i was informed on the 17th, by a co-worker, that one of the midnight nurses is spreading rumors about me that i am acting "peculiar" and "strange" and has told people i am probably stealing narcotics. when i heard about this nurse saying that, i went right to the DON, told her my concerns and told her to investigate it. this nurse has already done her damage. this is the same nurse in trouble for "mooning" another unit. real professional behavior there.
i do have prescription narcotics, and i take them once i get home if i need them. i do not take them 8 hours prior to a shift, or during work at all. i suffer sometimes, but i can make it through my shift.
now some of my co-workers are saying i shouldn't have gone to management. that i should have kept my mouth shut. i told them why would i? i have nothing to hide. nothing. i'm not an addict. i take my meds as prescribed, and never during work. my docs all say i am fit for work. why would i want some nurse going around and spreading rumors about me? especially about such a serious allegation? ugh.
i work in a ltc setting. many times there are "borrows" of narcotics when the one nurse in the whole building who has keys to our backup narc box is gone. many nurses have borrowed, and i have proof of that. my DON has interviewed three nurses. she says she has one more to go, and her results are inconculsive at this point. she didn't take me off the schedule for the weekend, and she told me she didn't have any reason to.
