My Dilemma

Last Wednesday I received a letter from my place of employment. In this letter I was informed that they have "held" my position for nearly a year. If I do not return to work, they will consider my position abandoned and will proceed with filling it. And since the most recent Work Comp doctor has cleared me to return to work with no restrictions, I must be just fine! My intentions were to return to work tomorrow morning for round three of pain and humiliation, fully expecting that they would fire me when I could not reasonably perform any of my job tasks to a satisfactory degree. There's this one little snag. After seeing the pain management doctor on Friday, I began taking the prescription drug Lyrica. It certainly takes the edge off my pain. But it also imparts something of a balloon-head effect. I feel floaty, distracted, buzzed, and unable to drive. Around three in the afternoon, the pain returns and my head feels clear once more. When you begin taking Lyrica, the patient is cautioned to not stop taking it abruptly, that you must be weaned off of it with a gradually decreasing dose, or risk withdrawal symptoms. So this is my dilemma. Take my Lyrica tonight and render myself unable to report to work in the morning. Or not take the Lyrica, risk withdrawal symptoms, yet still be unable to perform my job once I am there. A third alternative I'm considering is to stay on my med schedule and have someone drive me to work in the morning and see what happens. I've heard it said that showing up is ninety percent of life. We'll see.