Chronic Conditions in the Country
By Chris
Having a chronic condition in the country comes with a tidal wave of lifestyle factors. I mean after all, how many high rise buildings do you really see in a town with a population of 7000? Moving for University? No, in the country we opt for trade school after graduation as it leads to more practical employment solutions. Don’t get me wrong, the country is fantastic. My childhood is something I look back on fondly, all those back yard bonfires and finally being allowed to go to the local pub – legally. The main street was a hub of social activity where your uncle was in one store and your nana another. In the country, we understand family bond and form lifelong friendships. There is something to be said about being able to see the stars in the nighttime sky…
Teenage employment as a male however, well, this was vastly different in comparison to those in metropolitan areas. Whilst most teenagers enter the workforce within the realm of hospitality, my friends and I wound up working at the local abattoir. Once I got over the shock of watching the cattle pass (by the way, I can attest to the humane treatment of these animals) I settled into the role quite nicely - as did the damage to my wrist.
By 21 I had sustained Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI. The years I spent working in the abattoir led to the beginning of my chronic condition, which has since impacted my way of life. When I was 17 I decided to apply for the position, after all, it made sense as my father worked there at the time.
My training consisted of being handed a knife and told, “…Just do this.”
This was a high risk environment, where the opportunity to sustain a serious injury occurred on a daily basis. The company was terrible! I was a teenager working amongst men and expected to ‘hit the ground running,’ without any formal training and certainly no explanations on health and safety. I was 19 when I finally saw a training video but by then the damage had already been done.
I remember needing to go on worker’s compensation, and the reaction to that was of absolute hostility. I was 21, barely an adult and I couldn’t use my wrist. I was standing in the reception with administration staff and I looking back, I am so thankful I had my girlfriend with me at the time. The environment of an abattoir is very aggressive, and being a young male I did find myself getting caught up within that energy. My girlfriend, well she was the calming voice of reason in that situation. “Maybe you’re not cut out for this type of work,” the office manager had sneered, as if it were my fault the workplace conditions had led to injury. They treated the cattle better than they did the staff, and at that point I knew I had to leave.
I had been boxing from a young age and begun to enter into competitions. Prior to the RSI my training was paying off, I had begun competing and had dreams of pursuing this sport as a career. You can’t punch a bag with a damaged wrist, so my boxing career halted far sooner than it should have. Eight years later, I am still pretty bummed out about that though I have recently started training again.
Seeking medical treatment in the country leads to a whole range of issues.
There are fewer options, and the local GPs in my hometown rarely had expertise with pursuing ongoing treatment. So the problems with my wrist got pushed into the ‘too hard’ section of my brain alongside my HLA-B27 blood condition.
I landed a job as a welder, which was easier on my wrist but still pretty strenuous. At the abattoir if you were hurt and/or injured there was the expectation that you had to keep working, where as my new boss had more compassion. I was able to take my time when my RSI was flaring up which made my time there much easier. Although I did opt to eventually leave and pursue less physical employment the pain is something I still deal with daily. Whilst it would be nice to have relief from the pain I was never prescribed anything initially, so over the years I dabbled with self-medication options. If I could go back in time I would have advocated more for myself, and sought out a second and third opinion so that I could have put strategies into place that would have lessened the chance of this condition leading to long term, persistent pain.
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