Store employee tells horror story; 'Because of a careless parent, I am now disabled." UPDATED 2X

"Because of a careless parent, I am now disabled."

It's another night where the pain won't let me sleep. Might as well get this off my chest while I wait for the painkillers to kick in.

I 22f, used to work at a thrift store close to my house from December of last year until April. I used to go thrifting there with my mother, I applied out of nostalgia. The work was fast paced but I liked it, I would've liked it more if the clothes were cleaner, if the pay was minimum wage and y'know, if there were no kids that will attack you.

We had many regulars who with time I became acquainted with, mostly because I was the only Spanish speaking worker on the salesfloor.

One of them was a mother of 3, who's children always caused trouble, running around the store, breaking stuff and no matter how many times I told the mother to keep her kids in line, she'd only scold them for a second, then let them cause havoc around the store again. I never would've guessed that one of her kids would attack me.

This wasn't the first time the kid hit me, but it was the first time where it genuinely hurt. I don't know what that kid's head was made out of, but when the kid headbutted me full force on the hip while attending his mother, I curled and cried from the pain.

I had to prevent the child from hitting me again while his mother was still looking at the red dress I handed her. My only guess to why the kid attacked me was because I had the red dress in my hands, and the kid was playing pretend to be a bull (he was doing that foot thing you see bulls do in bullfighting).

My managers didn't call an ambulance for me, or referred me to a work accident doctor like they should've. I had to limp to my car and drive myself to my family doctor where I waited 2 hours to be seen. I was given an X-ray, ultrasound, MRI and painkillers.

They detected an ovarian cyst, most likely from the hit. Doctors thought that was the source of my pain, but it healed since and till this day, 6 months after the work accident, I'm still in pain and I still limp.

I'm currently in a workers comp case with the thrift store's insurance, only because the mother fled when my coworkers confronted her and never came back. My lawyer's said that when the case is over, I'm most likely going to be on some sort of disability pension, paid by the thrift store's insurance company, until (or if) I make a full recovery.

It's been 6 months with no signs of getting better. I can't walk long distances, I can't sit down for long, I can't crouch, I can't jump, I can't run and I can't lay on my left side anymore.

The pain won't let me sleep, I constantly feel something wooshing around my left hip joint and I have nightmares about that day. What I'm trying to say is, I really really miss the mobility and life I used to have. My life is just constant pain now, and it's making me depressed.

So, to all the parents who might see this, PLEASE for the love of God, keep your children under control.

Before we give you OP's updates, let's take a look at some top comments:

frankiefile: As a doctor, I can completely assure you that external trauma cannot cause an ovarian cyst. I am sorry for your injury.

Random_potato5: Not a doctor but that was my thoughts too as someone who has some personal experience of ovarian cycsts. I also had a hip socket fracture that was missed by the X Ray and just barely picked up by the MRI. Still needed pretty intense surgery. I think OP should get more scans/a second opinion.

alexxmama: So….obviously speak with your attorney and every state is different. But speaking as an attorney, it’s going to be very difficult to maintain any sort of consistent payment without a long term diagnosis. Your attorney should be encouraging you to see doctors to investigate the true source of the pain.

Otherwise your case is going to fizzle out for lack of medical evidence. I’m sorry you are in pain and I truly hope you recover quickly. Consistent pain is horrible. But hopefully further investigation also leads you one step closer to some sort of healing.

YourMosBuox:Yeah I work as a paralegal in WC. Comply with any treatment the doctor recommends. If there is a permanent injury from this (usually that’s determined one year after accident), you might be entitled to a settlement amount, but if you don’t treat, this will fizzle one for lack of medical evidence.

If you are still in pain and have a limp, they have every reason to keep trying to diagnose the issue (muscle tear? Fracture?) and most importantly: treat it.

facia6 writes:

I has the same experience. I worked with a population of special needs kids that could get violent. I got hurt when one eloped and needed surgery on my ankle and a tendon that was split down the middle. I wasn't supposed to bear weight for 6 weeks.

He had me back at work the following week because my issue was "not his problem." They couldn't put a cast on to save their life and my foot turns inward despite the 6 weeks in a cast.

He constantly refused to believe me and would leave the room to call my physical therapist to see if I was lying even though my pt backed me up every time. I wouldn't wish workman's comp on anyone.

nonbelaiev writes:

I just went though two hip scopes due to this kind of injury. I went down my a slide with my grandson and fell hard on my ass and lower back. That kicked off three years of the worst kind of pain that lead to severe back spasms.three years of misdiagnosis.

Three years of weight gain because I couldn’t walk more than 20 feet. It took moving and finding a new dr that was willing to listen and finally ordering mris. I my acetabulum in both hips were torn.

On both femoral heads I had one large bursitis and the other had a huge horn-shaped bursitis. After a long year of healing and getting stronger I can walk long distances again. I can run after my little nephews. Now any time someone tells me they have low back pain and hip pain that won’t get better and drs can’t help, I tell them to get their hips checked.

I feel so bad for this young woman. Pain from this kind of injury is excruciating. It’s so severe it completely stops your life. Hope she can get relief!

floapt writes:

When my son was 18 months old, he head-butted my shoulder. I had intense pain and limited movement for years. I did PT on two separate occasions, steroid shots. MRI scan showed nothing. He will be 20 years old in a month and while my shoulder has been ok the last couple of year, I still have occasional pain and minor issues.

UPDATE 1:

OP: Thank you everyone for your comments, support and advice. I'm really grateful to all the kind people here. I am removing the post because I started to get threats from users who are calling this all bullshit.

I know now there's no correlation with the ovarian cyst and the work accident, but my doctors had told me it was. I'm sorry for the confusion.

I know it sounds all sounds absurd, but it happened and I'm in pain everyday because of a careless mother and her wreckless kid. I simply just wanted to get this off my chest.

I'm going to keep the post up, purely because so many comments were so helpful, and I want to mention some things commented here to my lawyers.

Again thank you everyone who gave me advice. and shared similar stories. I'm feeling hopeful and will advocate more for my health :)

UPDATE 2:

It's been around 3 months since I posted here ranting about my work accident. If this is your first time seeing this: I had a work accident at my old job at a thrift store where a kid who was known to be trouble headbutted me in the hip, and the mother denied it all and fled.

Ever since I have been more persistent with the workers comp after everyone told me that I was misinformed and not represented well. I waited this long because just this month I got the news of what's really wrong with me.

At first, I was told that my ovary and the cyst around it was the cause of the pain, that the kid hit me so hard that it caused a cyst to form and pop. Just thinking that's what I believed is silly, but like I said, I was misinformed. 2 MRI's with contrast later, they figured out I had a labral tear on the left hip joint, as well as hip bursitis, a swelling of the bursae.

I haven't been able to work, or walk well since April of last year, I've been taking it as calmly as I can. But, finally, I'm going to receive treatment: 2 steroid injections to the hip. The doctor is hopeful that my labral tear will heal, but he warned me the bursitis might be permanent.

That's where I am right now, I'm just waiting for the shots to get approved. I did start receiving TTD checks, but the pain is still a 24/7 thing. At least my muscle relaxants helps me sleep through the night :).

Readers continued to weigh in:

MeltedKeylay: Contact local workers compensation lawyers and have them represent you. I am speaking from experience and telling you workers compensation insurance companies will find a way to screw you over.

Please contact legal representation. Do not think you can handle this yourself like I did. Know your strengths. Usually you have 1 year from your last treatment to contact a lawyer. Typical statute of limitations will close this case 1 year after your last treatment.