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.