Julles, I will determine when I'm ready to go back to work and my doctor will back me up. I get full pay for 6 months and then half pay for 6 months. He sent me to physical therapy and when I filled out my paperwork they said "That will be $30.00"
I said "Three times a week? For something that happened at work? I think not." My job is denying that the injury happened there because it was in late 08. Still, they know I was injured fighting that fire and was sent to the hospital at the time. They don't want it to show as a "lost time injury" as this affects their safety record and insurance. So, I googled "post operative knee exercise" and have been riding my bike every day for a few miles.
I'm not about to go back until the pain is completely gone because they are very shorthanded due to their cutting jobs and they will have me pounding the stairs for 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
I only have about 2 hours worth of rigging left on the "Jolly Roger", she will be finished today and the I'll start on The U.S.S. Constitution "Old Ironsides", she is a level 3, the most challenging. I learned a lot from the first two and am building the case for the first one.