United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello all...I was in a motorcycle accident 3 mo ago and hit a guard rail. Luckily my only injury was to my left arm...C-5,6,7, T-1 avulsed. I have an appointment at the Mayo Clinic next month and hope to have surgery. How many people here with injury similiar to mine have had surgery? how succesful was it?

Also, perhaps I'm just naive due to the newness of my injury...but I've noticed that allot of people with tbpi do not work. Is this because of the chronic pain or limitation of only having one hand?

I'm planning to go to pharmacy school. I've talked to several pharmacists and the job can be done one handed. I think I would go insane if I couldn't work. I'm currently a Criminal Investigator for the Army and although I'll most likely be medically discharged from the military, I know there are lots of jobs I can still do.

Nice to meet you all...Aaron

Aaron, welcome to the nut farm! hehe Seriously, sorry you had to join us here but feel free to make yourself at home!

I have had my bpi for almost 5 years! i Have no wrked since my accident. I was a waitress/bartender at the time of my accident! So that i Could no longer do! My auto insurance paid lost wages (85%) for threee years, why would I work!? hahaha I could sit and feel sorry for myself! Well actually I went back to college, I was 21 when I had my accident. I have since finished my associates, bachelors, and am currently working on my masters. School is very demeanding for me! I also do a lot of volunteer stuff for UBPN and am on the BOD. I am too busy to work right now!! I have also had 2 surgeries and much therapy, that in its self can be very demanding! I am looking at one more yet too! I just last May was approved for social security disability too, so I do have a TINY BIT of income! OK enough from me.....

COurt

PS.... I have a job interview next week! Keep all avaliable fingers crossed!

Welcome I wont say glad your here but glad you found us anyway. I was injured in aug99. I own a motorcycle repair shop and I work 6 days a week. I have changed my responsibilties from a wrench to more of a manager. I do a lot of internet sales and even learned to write my own website for the store. My work keeps my mind off the pain. And I would say my only limits are from the pain and the wieght of my flail arm. The one arm thing is not big deal. I still ride the custom bike I built ocassionaly. And two weeks ago I drag raced my 69 Big Block Nova with an automatic transmission that I had to shift since it was not shifting right on its own. It ran in the 11's. I had plans to run NOS too but I'll have to fix the shifting first. Never give up! As a pharmacist maybe you could research drugs that help nerve pain and be a savior to others ho suffer from bpi's.

Found this inspiring article a few days ago. Read it thru to the bottom where it talks about he woman's life after a BPI....

http://www.journalstandard.com/articles ... ures04.txt

Wow...that's pretty cool. I doubt many people survive being hit by a train. She's an inspiration to us all.

Wow...that's pretty cool. I doubt many people survive being hit by a train. she's an inspiration to us all.

Christopher that was a great article! I Just found it on google... then read the boards... Its definitly a story of hope!

COurt

Hi Aaron and welcome aboard. I
ve had rtbpi for 26 years and I worked full time in a bank for 20 of them. I do think the pain stops some people but I found that working actually helped the pain feel less.
Good luck to you :0)
Jen NZ

That article is about Suzzanne Richter, she has posted here in the past. It's great she's doing so well!

It's great to hear that so many of you are able to work. It gives me hope for a productive future. I'm going to the Mayo Clinic next month for surgery. I would be grateful just to get enough of my arm back that I don't have to wear a sling for the rest of my life. I read the article on John Floyd

(http://mayoclinic.org/patientstories/johnfloyd.html)

and that gives me hope since the exent of our injuries are similiar.