I was in a car accident that moved all my “junk” around according to my doctor. I had a guy pull out in front of me and I t-boned him going about 45 mph. It broke his car in half and my car drove over the top of his.

When I went to the ER I found out I had a broke collar bone and a separated shoulder. Many months later I am still in PAIN and a lot if it. In my wrist and elbow. Upon seeing 2 doctors locally nothing was wrong with me.

So I sought out a doctor a few hours away. Who finds out how many things were not where they were suppose to be in my wrist and elbow.

So the first round of surgery. Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex Repair (TFCC Repair) the ligament was torn,stretched, scared down over the radial head of the bone in wrist. Meaning it’s a ligament on the left side of the wrist that was looped around the right side of my wrist.

So that problem caused me to have de Quervain syndrome which was released.

The pisiform bone had been push into the end of the ulnar nerve and shredded it, and moved it to the joint space in my wrist. So that bone is no longer with me.

The elbow..I had a 3 cm neuroma another torn ligament. Partial release of the ulnar nerve.

Today I get the news that I am headed back to the OR for Cubital tunnal release, and ulnar nerve tanspositioning surgery. So surgery is scheduled for January 8, 2010.

With everything that I have done I am wondering how much pain is involved with this surgery? How was rehab? How long were you off work? Anyone have any other photos. I was so very shocked at the photos on here.

ALL AND ANY INFORMATION IS WELCOMED.

feeling returned.

This time the damage is in my foot-mva -again and it has been a year, and the pain and tingling remain. But I have faith for a supernatural healing. and a compensatory damage settlement.

A young man was sending a text message ran a red light and totalled my car.

I was not allowed by my lawyers to write about this while I was dealing with stuff related to my accident but now I can. It was also really hard to think more about this in the early days of my healing because just reading about the issue and thinking about it gave me a little nausea. Some part of my body / mind just didn't want to feel about the accident and surgeries. And, let's face it , the idea of accepting a permanent problem is not a good one.

I still hold onto hope for full healing but it has been a while since the surgery.

I am in much better shape today. I'll post a new picture soon and address everyone's points in another post. I no longer have a claw in my hand and the space between my thumb and pointer finger has filled in a good bit. Western medicine didn't exactly predict that so who knows what's possible? The EMGs after the second surgery (which transposed my ulnar nerve to the front of my arm and had a lot of scar tissue pressing on it cut away) showed more nerve activity. I did have to get a second, smaller wedding ring because my fingers shrank so much that the other one was falling off ( our rings were not expensive, just meaningful).

I have some sensation regained but it's odd. I have temperature in parts of my wrist and hand and some variances of touch but only super-light touch parts of th outside of the hand. Firm pressure only shows up in spots. The conductions slowed down too so that if a glass with a cold drink touches the inside of my wrist the temperature slowly works its way down my 4th and 5th finger.

The thing I miss the most is full grip strength. It's gone from the entire hand as it was. But I plan to keep using it and hopefully it can return.

I'm sorry to hear about everyone else troubles with this. I was told that if the nerve had been cleanly cut that re-growth would be more likely. Mine was crushed by a metal grate on a bridge that I fell on (which also cut open my arm/fractured the elbow). So if you cut yours with glass, have hope. the body is unbelievably intelligent and knows how to heal.

Keeping tightness out of the shoulder and neck area is helpful. I still need help with it at times ( my whole left side was impacted in the accident) but i think it helps the nerve.

In general I'd say talk with people who give you hope. Many doctors don't know how to do that. They're not necessarily trained in that. And even if it's not the "scientific answer" to the physical injury it has a lot to do with how you live with what you have. if nothing else this accident taught me experientially that a positive attitude is everything. It's a way of making a choice even when you feel other choices (eg to use all of your hand) may be gone.

To those who have had to put insurance deductibles and insurance concerns before your health, I am truly sorry. The priorities of the system in the US are completely screwed up.
Some public hospitals (like sfgh) have sliding scale programs. Law suits are a dumb, shitty substitute for a better system of health care coverage and payment. What's saddest is that the doctors don't seem to get paid that much in the system. The whole thing, dealing with bills and craziness (eg thousands for a mile-long ambulance ride) for a couple of years. It's a relief for it to be over.

Finally, I'd say it was the Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists who have been the most practically helpful. They understand quality of life and how the body operates in a way that it seems surgeons do not. They do different things and they have been incredibly helpful to me.

My surgeons were also excellent ( I was surprised to learn that one who assisted was aplastic surgeon. I didn't know they operated inside arms). But surgeons don't deal with daily recovery and they're sense of how things are doing is different that the OTs and PTs. Soft muscle tissue help including bodywork and some kid of PT manipulation really helped with comfort and I believe had an impact on getting some of my recovery.

I have a bunch of video from the accident. I've wanted to make a video of the experience and treatment and healing I did have. Reading your replies makes me feel it could be useful to some folks, even to just know you're not alone.

I also learned that focussing on what I can do (vs what I don't yet have back) helps me build up good feeling and the resource to stretch the abilities of my hand.

That's all the tricks and lessons I can think of for now. Many thanks to everyone who shared their experiences.