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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To take sick leave with a broken arm

89 replies

Polarbearflavour · 10/12/2017 19:53

Long story but I’ve fractured a bone in my arm...cast on. I also have a sick note.

I work in an office in a non manual role but I’m in lots of pain and can’t really get dressed.

AIBU for taking sick leave? A couple of people have said I should go to work

OP posts:

TheOtherClass · 10/12/2017 22:39

SerendipityFelix. Wow, no need to be so snarky, I get not being able to put a bra on but I'd be suprised if people can't manage after a while with one working arm.

SerendipityFelix · 10/12/2017 22:45

People can be surprising!

RaindropsAndSparkles · 10/12/2017 22:48

He didn't tell me I wasn't safe to drive serendipity he told me it was illegal to do so and I could get in trouble if I was stopped. It is not illegal if the vehicle can be driven safely and providing the cast does not restrict access to brake or accelerator. It did not.

He was a nice chap even if he though he could call me raindrops whilst introducing himself as Mr Bloggs. As soon as I shook his hand and said i am very pleased to meet you Mr Bloggs, I am Mrs Sparkles he asked me to call him John.

SerendipityFelix · 10/12/2017 22:54

if your doctor says you’re unsafe to drive! Your previous post wasn’t clear on that.

RaindropsAndSparkles · 10/12/2017 22:59

Not sure what was unclear about my previous post.

Do you do a very physical job op? Or have a very difficult journey?

I only had 9 days off when I wedged fractured a vertebrae.

Topseyt · 10/12/2017 23:11

I needed a lot of help getting dressed when I broke my right arm 18 months ago. It was an open fracture which was put back together with two metal plates. It was very slow to heal and still has the occasional issue now.

At the time I just couldn't fasten or properly pull up any clothes. Over time I did invent ways to get on with some things, but it was slow and painful. Driving was out of the question as I had a cast on that went right from my wrist to well above my elbow.

The only reason I didn't need much time off work apart from my appointments at the Fracture Clinic was because I was working from home. If I had had to drive or otherwise commute to an office I would have needed more time off.

As it was I had to rise to the challenge of learning to type with just my left hand, but in the privacy of my own home I made a go of it.

Had I not had the option of working from hom though, it would have been a different story.

QuestionableMouse · 11/12/2017 00:11

My job involves hand washing at least once an hour and lots of grabbing things. I struggled when I scaled my hand... I couldn't imagine doing it in a cast.

frieda909 · 11/12/2017 13:41

In my job now I’m either typing at a computer or wearing nitrile gloves. Not sure I could manage either of those in a cast either!

Original poster

Polarbearflavour · 11/12/2017 14:40

Glad I’m off sick, barely slept and lots of pain.

Had a shower and almost passed out with the pain and effort! Then vomited.

My managers haven’t even responded to my voicemails and emails! Shows how much they care. A colleague said they definitely know I’m off sick.

OP posts:

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 11/12/2017 15:00

YANBU. If you have a sick note, you should not go into work. You're right, the company is not insured if you hurt yourself while at the workplace. It also depends what you do. If you work at a computer all day it would be tricky to still do your job effectively. If you're desperate to go back you'll have to go back to your doctor to ask them to sign you back on, but they will probably tell you not to be so daft!

HamishBamish · 11/12/2017 15:17

If you have been signed off you are not insured to work so can't go in.

FluffyWuffy100 · 11/12/2017 15:45

I hate all the "I broke my neck in 23 places and only took an hour off work" stuff - people have varying degrees of complications, pain and pain threshold. We are all different. All breaks are different.

Personally I had a very bad break when younger and several operations. Cast from finger tip to shoulder for 12 weeks. Reckon if that happened now i'd need at least 2 weeks off work as I was spaced from the pain meds, and then I'd want to work from home for a further time to avoid the tube.

Glad you are at home OP, take it easy.

drspouse · 11/12/2017 16:19

Oh yes I do remember - the break I had when I was 27 - I could work (though typing one handed) within a week or two and wasn't in much pain, but I did all my Christmas shopping from catalogues (pre-internet) because I couldn't face the crowds and being jostled.

They don't put shoulders in casts, either.

Youngmystery · 11/12/2017 16:39

Eh I have broken my wrist and my leg. Wrist hurt like hell. My leg I thought nothing had happened but I could no longer walk as it wouldn't take my weight (I think that was due to the fact that I think at the same time I broke my leg, I dislocated both knee joints so my right leg couldn't support my weight). But there was oddly no pain.

You aren't being unreasonable to not work. I still went to work with my broken leg because my manager refused to let me work from home the whole time even though I could. He wanted me in the office at least a few days a week, so my dad had to drive me there. That's being unreasonable.

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