Hello.

[JerryC]

Hello, my name is Jerry, I live in AZ and I was injured in a fall from a cell tower on March 24th of this year.

What happened?

While climbing down the tower I had to climb over an obstruction. I would normally have gone down between the tower and the obstruction, but I had some equipment that I was bringing down and didn't have a rope available to lower it to the ground.

While, climbing over the obstruction the left side of my lanyard got caught on a steel cable and I couldn’t reach the tower with the right side of my lanyard because the shortened left side. I ended up pulling myself back up so that I could try and free the left side of the lanyard. I did have to unhook it from the tower to get it to come free.

About the time I managed to get it free, my right arm and hand stopped functioning. Unknown to me I had injured my right brachial plexus when I pulled myself back up. The result was that I fell from that position, about 40 feet to the top of a small enclosure, from there onto another lower enclosure and then finally to the ground.

I broke my left leg, several ribs, compression fractures to t11 and t12 and the brachial plexus injury. I was flown to the hospital where I stayed for about 6 weeks. I do not remember the first two weeks, but I know it was very hard on my family. After leaving the hospital I spent another 7 days at a rehab facility before I was able to talk them in to letting me go home.

I was in a wheel chair for a further two months before I managed to start walking without it. I spent 3 months doing PT and OT several times a week.

I was finally able to talk the doctors into letting me go back to work on September 24th and actually returned to work on the 3rd of October. I am on light duty for 6 months from one doctor and permanent light duty from my neurologist. I didn't have a choice, I had to go back to work, my family needed the money and workman’s comp pays about half of what I was normally making.

During my recovery I did get paid by workman’s comp, they didn't fight it at all and the case manager they assigned is a very nice lady that has done everything in her power to make sure I had whatever they could provide.

I still have only limited use of my right arm and hand. About 8 pounds of grip strength in the right hand compared to 175 pounds in my left hand. My back hurts like heck every morning and I still have problems bending over.

So, does anyone have a similar experience and if so, what can I expect from this point forward?

Thanks

Jerry

[chrischris]

Wow Jerry, you have quite a story, and you are definitely a fighter. Congratulations on being able to return to work, even if it is on a light duty status. It is always best to return to work if you are able.

My only advise would be to get some psychological counseling. After a traumatic injury such as you've had, and then a fairly quick return to work, it is bound to have some psychological affect on you, even if you don't think so.

I returned to work in chronic pain and believe that if I had addressed the psychological issues firsthand, I would still be working, but I worked until I had an emotional breakdown.

With counseling you may be able to accept your limitations more readily. I hope you have an employer who will work with you and not against you.

The best of luck to you and your family.

[JerryC]

Thank you

I do heal rather quickly. The doctors that did the operation to repair my leg was amazed. He even did several sets of xrays for free just to see the progress.

As far as counceling goes, well, I have been struggling with depression since right after I got to go home. I just can't seem to rid myself of it for some reason.

LOL - trust me when I say I know all about pain. My arms feels almost as bad today as it did the day I left the hospital. A constant burning that can drive you to the brink at times. The only saving grace is that I have enough strength in my right hand to click my computer mouse. If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have gone insane!!

My company sucks. They are all about money and to heck with the workers. Their idea of taking care of you is trying to hire someone to replace you.


Jerry

chrischris Wrote:Wow Jerry, you have quite a story, and you are definitely a fighter. Congratulations on being able to return to work, even if it is on a light duty status. It is always best to return to work if you are able.

My only advise would be to get some psychological counseling. After a traumatic injury such as you've had, and then a fairly quick return to work, it is bound to have some psychological affect on you, even if you don't think so.

I returned to work in chronic pain and believe that if I had addressed the psychological issues firsthand, I would still be working, but I worked until I had an emotional breakdown.

With counseling you may be able to accept your limitations more readily. I hope you have an employer who will work with you and not against you.

The best of luck to you and your family.

[1171]

you can read up on arizona benefits here:
http://www.ica.state.az.us/divisions/claims/index.html
If you are back to work at the same wages there's probably no additional disability benefits.

[Pooh]

Jerry

I agree with chris on getting the counseling and it should be covered under wc. Talk to your doctor about what you are experiencing and let them know that you would like to seek some counseling to help deal with the depression and stress of dealing with a traumatic injury and life changing one at that.

As far as the bracial plexius injury - well what can you expect. That is the question and it is different for each of us with this injury. My doctor told me the most important thing was to keep the arm moving so that the shoulder didn't freeze up on me. Which I have been able to do the past 5 yrs.

As far as the burning goes - well they say it takes a while for the nerve to regrow if it heals on it's own. I was told it can take 12-18 months. Still waiting here ...... guess I am not one of the lucky ones ....... but you could be. Until then there are medications that can help with the nerve pain that you are dealing with. Talk to your neurologist about your pain levels. The medications range from anti-depressants, anti-seizure medications, and other types of pain medications. Most will work with you to find something that will work for you. However, it may take time to find the right combination for you and your nerve pain along with the right dosage with the least amount of side effects.

As far as the back goes - since I don't know what you had done other than the 2 compression fractures - you didn't mention whether they did surgery or not - but you may have to deal with the pain in your back. Again you may want to seek pain management to get some control over that pain as well. Maybe they have some treatment options that can help you. I wish I could give you better advice on that. I just deal with the pain and when it hurts to much I just rest for a bit. But there is a big difference between bulges and compression fractures.

Maybe still will read this and give you some advice on the back.

[JerryC]

I don't see how they can just say you're good and let you live in pain for the rest of your life without some form of compensation. However thats not what I am about. I just wanted to get back to work and take care of my family. Everything else is unimportant.

Also, I came here to see if anyone else had ever experienced a similar set of injuries and to see what type of progress could be expected from this point on. Specifically I am interested in the nerve damage to my arm/hand, because if that doesnt heal then I am out of work and I doubt very much that someone is going to pay for me to go back to college and get a computer science degree or something else like it.

By the way, that site is totally useless. It doesnt tell you anything aside from how to download and fill out forms to try and get workers comp started. Since thats not an issue I don't see anything on it that might apply to me.

1171 Wrote:you can read up on arizona benefits here:
http://www.ica.state.az.us/divisions/claims/index.html
If you are back to work at the same wages there's probably no additional disability benefits.

[sparkey]

Hi Jerry. Welcome to the forum. Glad to see you made it through such a terrible accident. I agree with the depression help. I think everyone that has pain deals with depression. It is part of the medical treatment. Are you taking anything for that? If not you should be. I am on cymbalta and really do not notice i am even on it. I have the same problem as you such as arm/wrist/shoulder pain. Mine is my dominant hand. Recurring carpal tunnel/tendonitis. I too use the mouse and then after i type all this i have to have a TENS treatment to which the IC bought me to have at home.

I wish you the best, and i would check into getting some help with a therapist, and medication for depression. Also it is great to see you are back to work. Being out of work for 9 months drove me mad and made me a hermit. I am now back to work, working almost 48 hours a week now, and i absolutly love my new job.

[vickinat]

Hi Jerry
First, I would like to welcome you to the forum, and invite you to also check out the off topic area. We have games, jokes, stories and just a place to vent. With all you have gone thru, you would probably enjoy it.

Second, I would like to suggest that you go into you userCP and put your state (AZ) in your profile. The reason for this is that people use that info to be able to assist you, since each state has different laws, rules and statues. Not everyone will see your very first post where you listed it.

Third, at the top of this page is an area called "info by state", you might want to check it out, it will give you info specific to your state.

Fourth, do you have yourself a lawyer yet? If not I would highly recommend checking out several for free consults and sign with one that you are comfortable with, just don't deal with the fancy TV ad types. The reason I'm suggesting this even though to this point you have not had a problem, you may have rights that you are not aware of, you should have the advise of a professional W/C lawyer when questions or problems arise. I waited till I had problems and wish that I would of had my lawyer from the start, but I thought since all was being taken care of it would be fine. Boy was I wrong.

I hope you will get any questions answered and enjoy the forum. There are very many knowledgeable people here that will be around to respond to you. I was wondering with all of your pain and loss of use, do you take meds. to help, or a TENS unit or anything?? I also agree with you about employer's preferring to replace a person once they are injured, they'll do all they can to try and make the person quit.

Take care
vickie

[JerryC]

Pooh,

I am currently taking 1800 mg of Neurontindaily, 225 mg of Lyrica at night and something else that I dont recall the name of. In addition I have 15mg tablets of oxycontin<sp?> None of it gets rid of the pain completely, but it does help take the edge off.

The neurologist is trying to find something that works in place of the oxycontin, since we both agree that its a bad long term solution.

I have full range of motion in the arm, but its really the hand I am worried about. I can't freakin tie my own shoes and that really bugs me.

I did not have an operation for the back. I am not really sure that it would work I have heard a lot of bad things about those types of operations.

Jerry

[JerryC]

Vickinat,

Thanks for the advise about the lawyer. I can't stand them and have been trying to avoid dealing with them since I really havent had any issues.

As far as medication goes, I have an entire pharmacy that I am taking daily. 1800mg of neurontin daily, 225 mg or lyrica, something else I cant recall the name of and 15mg oxycontin for when I just can't stand the pain anymore.

I do have tens unit, but it doesnt do anything for me. I used it for 3 months without any changes so, I stopped using it. The doctors agreed with me and said if it hadn't helped in 3 months it probably wasn't going to.

Jerry

vickinat Wrote:Hi Jerry
First, I would like to welcome you to the forum, and invite you to also check out the off topic area. We have games, jokes, stories and just a place to vent. With all you have gone thru, you would probably enjoy it.

Second, I would like to suggest that you go into you userCP and put your state (AZ) in your profile. The reason for this is that people use that info to be able to assist you, since each state has different laws, rules and statues. Not everyone will see your very first post where you listed it.

Third, at the top of this page is an area called "info by state", you might want to check it out, it will give you info specific to your state.

Fourth, do you have yourself a lawyer yet? If not I would highly recommend checking out several for free consults and sign with one that you are comfortable with, just don't deal with the fancy TV ad types. The reason I'm suggesting this even though to this point you have not had a problem, you may have rights that you are not aware of, you should have the advise of a professional W/C lawyer when questions or problems arise. I waited till I had problems and wish that I would of had my lawyer from the start, but I thought since all was being taken care of it would be fine. Boy was I wrong.

I hope you will get any questions answered and enjoy the forum. There are very many knowledgeable people here that will be around to respond to you. I was wondering with all of your pain and loss of use, do you take meds. to help, or a TENS unit or anything?? I also agree with you about employer's preferring to replace a person once they are injured, they'll do all they can to try and make the person quit.

Take care
vickie