The gentleman was from Chile. Very nice looking. I couldnt understand everything he said, so i would ask him to repeat what he said several times and he became irritated at me because i didnt understand.

I asked that my husband come with me on the answer and period question, because i dont always understand a question, and then am not always able to correcctly anwswer it. They said no that he would have to wait outside, which made the husband mad, and i was so proud of him. He siad, something like, i am not worried about what you folks are going to do to her in here, i am worried about how she is going to feel afterward. First time i have herard him stick up for me on any of this.

Thats number one. Number two. He asked me what hurt, and i said various parts of my body hurt at times, and he looked at me funny.

He asked what hurts now, and i told him my biggest issue at the moment was my back and hips.

I also began to tell him my hands hurt, ankels, legs, and feet. He said okay okay. In other words he didnt want to hear any more.

My lawyer told me to go ahead and fill out my meds and symptoms list and give it to him, of which he didnt look at it. He said he had all the paperwrok he needed from my doctor. I told him no, he did not, that OWCP keeps telling me they didnt receive papers from my treating physician, but i have the proof. Then he said i meant from the doctor that is asking us to do this evaluation. That is the second opinion evaluation.

He told me why i was there and did i understand why. I told him no as i thought these test were to help owcp determine whither i did have lyme and whether they were going to deny it, after approving it.

He said no, that i was there to determine what type of job i am suited for. By this time i just wanted to strt crying and leave, but i knew if i didnt stay, i would lose benefits.

I am a wildlife biologist and felt i was doing something valuable for the american public, and it makes me sick to think I went and got my masters to this work strickly for this agency, which is a federal agency, and i worked hard, and now another federal agency is not doing their job they were intended to do as prescribed under congress, and help me get well, they just want me to go to work so they will have to stop paying me. Vent vent vent.

The gentleman didnt know how to put all the gadgets togther to test me. They lost a part to one gadget and they rigged it which wasnt safe.

They didnt have the right equipment to do all the tests so they kinda rigged them too.

He asked what i did at work, and i told him it varied, depending on whether i was working in the field or not.

He asked if i had to up stairs, i told not usually but depending on where i am in the filed i might have to cliff up or down on a cliff, or jump down on a ledge, cralw under a bush, squat and i wanted to say pee in the woods, but i didnt.

I think i am writing this just to get it out, although i think i will also write a follow evaluation for after the test and send that to the doctor.

He had me fill out a questionaire on a computer. you know, fill in the dot for the closest mathching thing to how you feel.
You had to read the directions then fill in the most likely answer. The whole thing was about my back. I questioned him on this and told him, i am not here for a back problem so how can i fill this out correctly. He said, just whatever hurts the mosts, fill in the blanks. Hmm, i wonder, do they know anything about lyme disease. What do you think?

I had to do a tactile coordination thing. You know, how many pegs can you get in the hole in one minute. Then how many sets of a combination of washers, spacers, and pegs can you get in a hole in a minute.

Well after the aerobic session of doing the other stuff, of course i started getting drunk, wobbling, and feeling goofy, you know how it gets, so i started to have fun at doing the peg, washer, spacer, washer, stick in teh hole thing. I started wondering what they looked like, Hmm, this couls really be a good system for a go-crt wheel, and it looks like dumbels, or spools of thread. This is me laughing. Do you hear me.

I told the tech that i was starting to feel electricial shocks in my brain, getting wobbley, and having just a bit of chest pain while i was doing the aerobic tests. Would you believe he said, if you start feeling really bad, we can stop.

What a joke. What a joke. What a joke.
An oh boy, i get to go to the pscydhiatic evaluation sometiems soon.

Either way, i was kinda shocked at how much strength and coordingation and tactile coordination i have lost. I just dont quite trust the system anymore, and it is too bad because i am a very trusting person. Who knows what the evaluator writes down.

(Folks, if you are a federal worker, dont get hurt on the job. I almost wished i hadnt gotten into this owcp thing, but i have mine and my husbands future to think about.)

Who knows how long it is going to take me to get back to feeling like i can once again be productive in the work force, just like many of you.

And to any workrs compensation folks who may be reading this.....
God bless you.
And to the rest of you wonderful folk out there with this disease, God bless you and feel better.

Those things are unfortunately always adversarial, if workers comp is involved. You can feel the aura.. you having to prove you're sick vs. them trying to prove there's nothing wrong with you.

Add to it an idiot doctor with no patient skills and next-to- no English skills. Oh, goody.

Demoralizing, fer sure.

I feel for ya.

Glad it's over.