Never think you are a burden. You are so much more valuable alive in all this pain than the alternative. I had lost the use of my left arm completely and my right arm was in a cast. I had to ask my parents to help me wipe my butt. Now that was difficult for a 21 year old. I remember thinking some ho...

I am very sorry to hear about your injury. I hope and will pray that you get the use of your arm back. I know that I am a little late on replying, but I would like to say something regarding a positive attitude. The first thing I would do is sit your entire family down and talk. If I could do things...

I experienced the most intense phantom nerve pains the first six months after my nerves were avulsed. The one thing I did was tuck my chin into my chest. I advise against this. I have continually done this since February of 20004, and my posture has suffered because of this strategy. One thing I lea...

It's amazing what you can learn to do with limited use. I learned to play Xbox pretty well just using my right hand and my chin. I used to be pretty dang good at Tiger Woods golf. Are you really able to play golf with one hand? If so, I am impressed.

I am very sorry to hear about frustrating situation. I was initially hospitalized for 17 days. When I was able to go home and meet with the local specialist, he told my dad and I to come back in six months to see if the injury gets better. It did not get better. It was his last year before he retire...

Jim, I had a gracilis muscle and sural nerve transfer in January '05. I was past the point of doing the intercostal nerve intervation, but I would have done that in a heart beat if I had the opportunity to get any additional function. I would highly recommend the surgery to you. It is well worthwhil...

Out of neccessity, I have always cut my finger nails with the clippers between my legs, by my knees. I push my knees together to force the clippers to clip shut. I can clip them this way using a medium-sized clippers. I thought this was going to be posted on the first page. So if you don't get what ...

I had a successful gracilis muscle surgery 11 months after my accident. Not ideal, but I previously had no use of my left arm. Now I am able to work full-time, build things using fun power tools, and run with my puppy dog; all things that I thought I would never be able to do. The sooner you act, th...