United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I was in an accident a year ago, I was driving my three younger siblings to my moms house five minutes down the road. I went around a curve and an svu was on my side of the road, I went to move over and hit black ice. My car went sideways and the svu slammed into my car. I did not wear my seatbelt and I ended up in the back seat. I got the two youngest out of the car and tried to get to my other sister. I fell three times before I couldn't get up anymore. I fell infront of the car. The engine went up in flames and I had to lay there and listen to my sister to cry. I ended up with a sachrael fracture, spinal edema, three broken ribs, a brachial plexus injury in my left arm and horners syndrome. My sister that was trapped broke her femur and nose and had a bleed in her brain. My youngest sister had some bruises, and my brother had some scratches and a concussion. The way the car looked we were lucky to be alive. I relive this moment every day, I know thats wrong, I know I shouldnt but when its quiet I hear the voices and sirens and it all comes back. I got lucky, they said I would never move my arm again. I can move my fingers and I can bend my elbow and raise my arm, I can move my wrist. Half of my wrist and half of my triceps are paralyzed. A muscle in my shoulder blade is paralyzed. I have no feeling on the left side of my arm from my elbow down to half of my middle finger. I am in severe pain constantly. I am on 2 pain killers and a nerve pill. I can't sleep from the pain. They wanted to do a surgery. They wanted to take muscle out of the half of my wrist and put it in my fingers and they told me it would give me more movement and my thumb back. But I said no, I worked hard to get movement in my wrist, I didnt want to loose it. I dont know if that was a mistake, but I will have to live with that decision.
I don't know how to fix my life. I want to go back to work, to eventually get my own place. I luckily still have my job and I have a place to stay near there. My mom keeps pushing me to get dissability but they denied me, they said I have a weakness in my left arm. I keep thinking if i get a car, I can do all these things and live my life. I am a burden on everyone and anytime I ask for anything it is a problem. I think everyone is sick of taking care of me. My medical needs can be expensive. I don't know how to fix my life.I want friends, my job, just something other than sitting around because I have nothing to do.

first : get an attorney who practices disability law. you can look in the phone book or word of mouth. if you win social security benefits the attorney's fee will be taken from your award. if you do not win there is no charge.
second: you have experienced a traumatic event; you need counseling. you can not just simply "forget about what happened". all the pain pills in the world will not erase what you have experienced.

Bill

i want to agree with what bill said. get a disability attorney. mine told me that 90% of applications are denied first off and do not get down when you get the denial just get ready to start the appeal. by law the fee is 25% of the back entitlement owed if you win the appeal. also you went through a whole bunch more than just your injuries be kind to yourself and seek out help in dealing with all the issues. good luck.

SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR SITUATION,I UNDERSTAND EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL,I HAD A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT IN SEPT.2010 AND TO SAY THE LEAST MY LIFE HAS BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN,MOST OF THE TIME I FEEL COMPLETELY LOST AND DON'T SEE A WAY OUT,THIS IS UNDOUBTELEY THE WORST THING I HAVE EXPERIENCED IN MY LIFE.ALMOST EVERY ACTIVITY I DID BEFORE MY INJURY IM UNABLE TO DO,I NEVER SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT AND ALSO AM IN CONSTANT PAIN AND DISCOMFORT.ALL I CAN SAY IS TRY TO FOCUS ON WHAT YOU DO HAVE THAT'S POSITIVE,LIKE YOUR JOB AND AT LEAST YOU CAN MOVE YOUR ARM,THATS MORE THAN ALOT OF US ON HERE CAN SAY.I HAVE A LITTLE MOVEMENT IN MY FINGERS AND WRIST BUT NO ARM MOVEMENT AT ALL AND I'M UNEMPLOYED.BEFORE THIS INURY MY LIFE WAS O.K. IT WASN'T GREAT BUT THERE WAS ALOT OF POTENTIAL,NOW I WISH I WOULD HAVE DIED IN THE ACCIDENT INSTEAD OF LIVING LIKE THIS,I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT,FOR ME THIS IS NO LIFE.WHAT I SUGGEST THOUGH IS THAT YOU LOOK AT SOME OF THE OTHER PEOPLE ON HERE WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH IT AND REBUILT THEIR LIVES AND SEEM TO BE PRETTY HAPPY WITH THE OUTCOME AND SEE THAT IT'S NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET YOUR LIFE BACK,I'LL BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT I DON'T HAVE THE BEST ATTITUDE ABOUT THIS INJURY PROBABLY BECAUSE IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE THERE IS A HIGH RATE OF RECOVERY,EVEN WITH SURGERY, BUT REGARDLESS OF MY ATTITUDE AND OPINION,I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE DEALING WITH THIS INJURY TO FIND SOMETHING,ANYTHING POSITIVE IN YOUR LIFE AND FOCUS ON THAT AND IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET SOME KIND OF MOVEMENT IN YOUR ARM,KEEP WORKING IT,IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER,I KNOW IT'S EASIER SAID THAN DONE BUT DON'T GIVE UP ON YOURSELF!

armstrong, it sounds like you have given up on yourself. my injury is also fairly new. although i do have some function, it is extremely annoying when i have to have other people to help me with basic everyday things. i am no longer working and that is the worst thing about this injury. a person has to have a positive attitude toward this or it will make it a lot worse. you CAN do things differently. you CAN live a normal life and you CAN decide what your attitude will be. so put your chin up, smile and ask for some help. smiling will help, even if you dont feel like it. people will help you if you just simply ask. i do get angry, irritable, and grouchy at times, but at the end of the day, i choose to be over those attitudes.i hope you have a very good recovery.

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 horrible thoughts as well when I was experiencing such excruciating pain. But it gets better. Have you tried Lyrica? That worked best for me. Neurontin was ok, but it only got rid of some of my nerve pain.

If you want to talk, send me a PM and I'll give you my email address.

Talk to you soon,
Jesse

I am sorry to,
But as you can tell here that reclaiming your independence is a challenge. Injuries and types are many, What you want to do is get help here and ask questions. These injuries do not come with a how to for sure, we might. What giving you problems? Maybe we can help by telling you what we did to adapt? You should see a SSA lawyer for sure, most important to have is medical record for sure for your lawyer. In getting SSA you may also get Medicare or Medicaid based on income. Please see a SSA lawyer and tell us what your having trouble with? My disclaimer is, I was born injured with erbs I can tell you what I did to overcome or adapt to it. I can try to tell you what I did, But remember it work for me , I can only hope it can help you?I have 61 years of practice

Best Try,
Tom

Get your Social Security and get a lwayer and make sure you have extensive medical records always request a copy from every Doctor you see. You must be honest and tell your Doc that you are applying for SSD. Make sure you ask him to give his opinion on the likelihood that you will recover from this injury and ask him to put that in your medical records. When I was getting mine it wasn't enough to have just an upper limb lost, but while I was waiting for a decision in my case the Brachial plexus injury was defined and accepted as a diableing injury because you have to take into account the chronic pain. It is also very important that you see a Psychcologist/psychologist and tell them about the depression you have and the difficulty you have with the anxiety caused by the pain and the uncertain future. Tell him everything, if its become difficult to shower or leave the house because of the way you look and feel than make sure you tell them that. Tell him/her everything whether you think it is relevant or not. It is also true that you will have to quit your job and the sooner you do the sooner you can get disabilty from the state, and medcaid. Which will bridge the gap between your job and recieving SSD. You want get it if you are working and use the reasons of your injury as a reason to stop working. That way you can take the time to find treatment and work on getting some sort of relief the longer you wait the less likely you are to have a chance at any recovery and the longer you try to work the worse off you will be if and I am assuming when you ecome literally unable to work. Make sure you get copies of your med records, especially the psych ones. And always keep a copy. I know that you think that you will be a burden but others won't you have one of the most insideous injuries there is. And Social Security will consider your mental state just as much as your arm and so the weight of the two will be enough to get you your disability. It will be a struggle until you get it but its worth it. And if possible try to get your COBRA insurance that coupled with medicaid will help with the process of getting your arm worked on. And it takes two years before you become eligible for medicare. It is Social Security's standard operating procedure to automattically deny your claim because they think they can wait it out before someone has to get a lawyer. Bt the really important thing is to appeal and get a lawyer and they will guide you when it comes to what your medical records need to say and they can follow up with your doctor as to what they need to say. getting a lawyer will also speed up the process because they have a relationship with the lawyers at SS. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Ciao'
Brandon_3

I would get the surgery by the way. Good luck!