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Chronic PainArrow
Age 41-60
Interview CP10  

Interview CP10

Age at Interview: 48
Sex: Female
Background: Care home manager; single.
Brief outline:Neck, back and elbow pain gradual onset since 1981. Surgery: Elbow surgery. Treatments: corticosteroid injections in elbows. Pain management: Out patient NHS pain management programme. Current medication: co-proxamol occasional use, tramadol for flare-up.


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Says her employers and colleagues have been very supportive and she can adapt her routine to suit her.

 



How about your employers of the care home. How did they react to your problems that you've had?

Oh, they were very supportive. I am very fortunate. The organisation I work for is an extremely supportive organisation, I work shifts and obviously in the one house which I particularly like working in I couldn't so, work there anymore because physically I couldn't do nightshifts and that was required because of the high needs of the clients, so they transferred me to another house where, as I say, the clients had high needs in other areas in terms of living their everyday life but it was advice. 

I physically didn't have to do anything very much which was just as well because at that stage I couldn't. The last few years I've got a managerial post and I really, I'm not employed as a support worker anymore but there are occasions when I have to when I don't have a staff but I can sustain the odd shift on duty but I can't go back on back to it so again, I think if that was too difficult and I was actually damaging myself I mean they are careful, I have had a bit of flare up at the moment, my line manager has asked if working was making that worse and if I said “Yes”, then they would no doubt look to offer me somewhere else. So I've found them very supportive.

How about your colleagues, the other people that you work with, have you found they have reacted to your pain?

Again, very supportive but I try not to make very much of it anyway. Some people, they know I have various problems, but I try and keep them to myself. Apart from that I manage the house it's not for the workers to have to carry me so they do though on occasions. 

So I'm very fortunate again because I can order my own day providing I put in 37 hours per week, I can order that pretty much as I wish. So again that's probably an ideal world to be in and if I want to get up and move around I can. 

If I feel too bad in the morning then I just stay at home and go in the afternoon. On occasions I have to, you know if I've got meetings or so on or something urgent to do. But apart from that I'm in a very lucky position.
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