I just found your site, now I don't feel so along, thank you.

I acquired my injury in a fall in Feb. 99. It had snowed during the night and
there was a light dusting on the wooden
stairs in front of our apartment. It
looked slippery so I held onto the hand
rail as I attempted to go down the stairs. I fell, but apparently continued to hang onto the rail so I swung around
and impacted my rt. shoulder into the railing. My arm then fell to my side
totally useless. It turned out that I
had broken and dislocated my shoulder, it
wasn't till 3 weeks later that I was
informed I had a BPI. I had this horrible numb feeling in my arm (besides
the pain), and the doctors kept poking my arm. I could feel them poking me but it
still felt numb too, they just didn't seem to understand that. At 1 month after my fall I was sent to physical therapy, where they used the muscle stim,
and ultrasound. I also saw a neurologist
who told me that I would probably never
be able to use my hand/arm again. At
about 2 months I finally was able to bend
my elbow, but could not use my hand. The
tips of my thumb and index finger would
move slightly. It wasn't till about 4
months that I could move my fingers somewhat. I was fitted with a brace that
had rubber bands as I could close my fingers but not open them, the rubber bands would help me extend my fingers. I also sustained a twisted bone in my wrist, apparently from my grip on the railing but that problem was kind of low
priority. Finally after 7 months I was able to return to work, the brace allowing me to use my hand somewhat. I had previously worked doing data entry (with my right hand of course), my former employer hired me back doing a different job. At 14 months after my injury I finally went back to doing full time data entry. On the psychological side of things I went into a depression after the accident, I think a lot of it was the loss of income and loss of control. I've always been very independent and had to now have help with everything. I am still in constant pain and it just doesn't feel right. There's not a minute that goes by that I'm not aware of it. I
can use my fingers for typing/data entry, but cannot open a jar, or do a lot of the things I used to do, I can't lift over 10 pounds. I am however very glad that the neurologist was wrong and that I regained what I did, I learned through my ordeal how to be patient so I did gain something from all of this. I occasionally get a very intense pain in my forearm, and at times my thumb and middle finger get a spasm I guess, they get into a position and I can't change it. Lately my index finger has started to do that. I'm wondering if I'm causing myself harm by trying to do my old job. It took a lot
of work to get to that point but I don't
want to regress. Please write me if you've had anything similar happen to you. DFDer@webtv.net

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