I slept great last night. This was a sign of things to come. When I got to the Mayo I went to the 15th floor and checked in. They give you a pager and within a few moments you are paged and a door opens and you are swept down a hall to wherever you need to be. As I rounded the corner, there they were.....The Team. They were not alone, there were others. I felt like I was in the presense of celebrities. It is hard to explain, but in the TBPI world these guys are celebs. So I entered my room and in about 1 minute Dr. Bishop was interogating me. He checked me out thoroughly. He was also proud for being in the room first as he said Dr. Spinner likes to beat everyone to the patient. Shortly after Spinner, Dr. Shin (these 3 make up the team) and a few others came in. Basically what they told me was they thought I was healing very nicely and they really saw no need for surgery at this point. YES! Dr. Spinner said there were some things they could do, but all they would be doing is taking credit for me getting any better when they feel I will achieve this on my own. These guys are so confident, so personable, and so on it, they made me feel like I was doing awesome. Spinner, backed by the others, made sure that I was aware how lucky I am. The function that has returned are what all TBPIers hope for. I agreed I do feel lucky, but I needed to hear this from the best. I just can't believe I don't need surgery.
They want to see me back in 6 months. I am still definately not out of the water, as they said I will most likely never be "normal" again, but I should achieve a "very good" status. Dr. Shin told me most of these recoveries plateau around the 2 year period, but it is not unlikely to see recovery for up to 5 years. So we'll see. Anyway, I am on my way home now and I will cotinue to post on several things pertaining to my BPI. I would also like to post the letters I wrote to my insurance to convince them to cover my trip to the Mayo. Hopefully this could be of benefit to someone going through the same issues. I'm off to try to catch my flight, thanks for reading and thanks to all who have supported me and read.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tests, Consultations and Insurance
Today I had a day of x-rays, a consultation with the hand specialist, an EMG, and a nerve conduction test (ouch!). The best part of the day came early when I finished my clavicle x-rays. I got a call from Humboldt Orthpaedics, which is where my referring doctor is from. My insurance APPROVED! my visits to the Mayo Clinic. This is huge! It was out of network, meaning my coverage was very very minimal. I would almost consider it no coverage at all. It looks like all the letters my attorney (a cyclist friend of mine who was riding with me at the time of the accident), and I wrote paid off. I also had strong backing from my orthopaedic surgeon. It looks like the squeaky wheel does get the grease sometimes. This set the tone for the day as my stress level dropped about 10 notches.
After a couple of quick x-rays I had a meeting with the hand specialist, Dr. Bengtson. It consisted of my telling them what happened during the accident followed by some strength tests. The strength tests consisted of different tools to see how well I pinched, squeezed, and gripped. They tested both hands. My left was definately stronger than my right, but overall they were very happy with how well my hand works. I agree, I am very happy with how my hand works, now if we can get the rest of my arm to follow..... Overall, he was impressed with my recovery to date. He did say my deltoid and bicep/brachioradiallis were very weak and the EMG and nerve conduction would tell a lot. He mentioned a possible surgery procedure the "Team" may bring up as an option, but we'll see about that tomorrow.
The nerve conduction test came next. This sucked. They give you a pretty good jolt, about 4 - 5 jolts per nerve that they are testing. It lasted about 1/2 hour and I was happy that was over. I was actually looking forward to the EMG after that. One weird thing about the nerve conduction test is they need you to be very warm. My hand was cold and that is where some of the electrodes go, so she had to warm me up with a little overhead heater which she can manuever similar to a dental light. On to the EMG - sticking ya with needles. This was actually not bad at all. It lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes. I basically just chatted with the tech doing the proceedure. She was interested in my injury so I just rambled on about it. I think she liked that I new all the muscles and had a good idea of what was going on. After they finished the EMG, they brought in those damn nerve conductioneers and jolted me a few more times in the bicep area. Both arms this time. This made my arm jump off the table about 12 inches. It was awesome!
So that was my day at the Mayo. Tomorrow is a HUGE day, as it will be the day of meeting with the "Team". The team is 3 doctors/surgeons who get together with several others to really study all the tests and give you their opinions and your options. I am very anxiuos to see what they have to say. I feel very confident with this clinic. This place is simply amazing and hopefully I am saying that in about 8 months or so. Thanks for reading, i'll post again tomorrow night.
After a couple of quick x-rays I had a meeting with the hand specialist, Dr. Bengtson. It consisted of my telling them what happened during the accident followed by some strength tests. The strength tests consisted of different tools to see how well I pinched, squeezed, and gripped. They tested both hands. My left was definately stronger than my right, but overall they were very happy with how well my hand works. I agree, I am very happy with how my hand works, now if we can get the rest of my arm to follow..... Overall, he was impressed with my recovery to date. He did say my deltoid and bicep/brachioradiallis were very weak and the EMG and nerve conduction would tell a lot. He mentioned a possible surgery procedure the "Team" may bring up as an option, but we'll see about that tomorrow.
The nerve conduction test came next. This sucked. They give you a pretty good jolt, about 4 - 5 jolts per nerve that they are testing. It lasted about 1/2 hour and I was happy that was over. I was actually looking forward to the EMG after that. One weird thing about the nerve conduction test is they need you to be very warm. My hand was cold and that is where some of the electrodes go, so she had to warm me up with a little overhead heater which she can manuever similar to a dental light. On to the EMG - sticking ya with needles. This was actually not bad at all. It lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes. I basically just chatted with the tech doing the proceedure. She was interested in my injury so I just rambled on about it. I think she liked that I new all the muscles and had a good idea of what was going on. After they finished the EMG, they brought in those damn nerve conductioneers and jolted me a few more times in the bicep area. Both arms this time. This made my arm jump off the table about 12 inches. It was awesome!
So that was my day at the Mayo. Tomorrow is a HUGE day, as it will be the day of meeting with the "Team". The team is 3 doctors/surgeons who get together with several others to really study all the tests and give you their opinions and your options. I am very anxiuos to see what they have to say. I feel very confident with this clinic. This place is simply amazing and hopefully I am saying that in about 8 months or so. Thanks for reading, i'll post again tomorrow night.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Made it to the Mayo
Well, I have arrived at the Mayo Clinic. I had hoped to of posted more in the previous weeks, but as you all probably are aware - life gets busy. Even when you have a BPI you must still work, take care of the kids, cook dinner, clean the house, coach girls 3/4th grade basketball (yeah, that's been a challenge. I'm not quite as good a basketball player as I once was), doing taxes, and most of all, trying to prove to my insurance I cannot get the specialization I need in network. The fact of the matter is I am where I need to be right now.
Today was an emotional day for me. The craziness of life didn't fully allow for what is happening to me in the next few days to sink in. All the time I had alone flying today really allowed for some deep thought. I have been able to deal fairly well lately. I have adapted at work, at home, and pretty much anywhere, but it's times where you are alone and fending for yourself that are tough. I couldn't drag my family here, it just wasn't possible. Luckily, I have a great friend, one of my cycling buddies who was with me during my bike crash, that is going to be here Wednesday night to see me thru surgery and then home hopefully.
I am very nervous about what my true prognosis is. I know I will deal with whatever happens, but obviously I am hoping for some real positive answers. So stay tuned, I will update daily as to what goes on at the Mayo.....
Today was an emotional day for me. The craziness of life didn't fully allow for what is happening to me in the next few days to sink in. All the time I had alone flying today really allowed for some deep thought. I have been able to deal fairly well lately. I have adapted at work, at home, and pretty much anywhere, but it's times where you are alone and fending for yourself that are tough. I couldn't drag my family here, it just wasn't possible. Luckily, I have a great friend, one of my cycling buddies who was with me during my bike crash, that is going to be here Wednesday night to see me thru surgery and then home hopefully.
I am very nervous about what my true prognosis is. I know I will deal with whatever happens, but obviously I am hoping for some real positive answers. So stay tuned, I will update daily as to what goes on at the Mayo.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
