Update on my spinal injury- It officially over.

[pondfly]

This thread is in relation to the cab of a fire engine that fell on my head 4.5 years ago....


Time for a little update on my spinal injury. It's been 4 months since the second fusion and discectomy. I'm feeling better than I was before the second surgery, but I still have a lot of neck, back and arm pain.


I have a lot of muscle spasms, nerve problems and pain but I'm still a lot happier than I was before.


One more month of PT and then they evaluate me to determine my level of permanent disability and then it's to the lawyers to fight it out.


I can't begin to say how pleased I am of Midwest Orthopedics, Dr. Singh, Rush Pres Hospital (RPSLMC), ATI Elmhurst. Midwest Ortho and Dr. Singh are a fantastic group and I can't begin to say how good they are. I can't also forget to thank my family and friends for helping me through this.


I'm never going to be able to do fire work again, most likely no medical either, but please heed my advice of being careful at work. It may not be the call that gets you, but something routine at the station or work. If I was just a little larger or if it fell .5" more I would have been dead.


Update 09-30- I went to the doc for the final visit after 6 weeks of useless work conditioning which did more bad than good. I ended up with tendonitis in both elbows and I'm trying to medicate to make them better. THe knees got so bad that this coming Thursday I'm getting a bilateral knee surgery, left is Plica and Tendonitis and the right is Tendonitis with some other removals as the Plica was removed 12 years ago.


The visit with the doc went well, but I am now officially permanently partially disabled and all PSO careers are now over. It's now in the hands of the lawyers to figure what is the next move. I'm trying to get a true designation of my disability so I know what I can and can't apply for work or new career training at work comp's expense. I will have some improvements over the next couple years, but never to what I was before and possibly more fusions in 10 years or so.


So, please stay safe and come home the same way you got there. In the near future I'll be leaving this forum as I no longer serve as a person who can give assistance here, so I bid the original crew (from the initial website) and a couple of my old co-workers on here a good bye and take care of yourselves.


Trevor

 

[firemedic105]

This thread is in relation to the cab of a fire engine that fell on my head 4.5 years ago....

Time for a little update on my spinal injury. It's been 4 months since the second fusion and discectomy. I'm feeling better than I was before the second surgery, but I still have a lot of neck, back and arm pain.


I have a lot of muscle spasms, nerve problems and pain but I'm still a lot happier than I was before.


One more month of PT and then they evaluate me to determine my level of permanent disability and then it's to the lawyers to fight it out.


I can't begin to say how pleased I am of Midwest Orthopedics, Dr. Singh, Rush Pres Hospital (RPSLMC), ATI Elmhurst. Midwest Ortho and Dr. Singh are a fantastic group and I can't begin to say how good they are. I can't also forget to thank my family and friends for helping me through this.


I'm never going to be able to do fire work again, most likely no medical either, but please heed my advice of being careful at work. It may not be the call that gets you, but something routine at the station or work. If I was just a little larger or if it fell .5" more I would have been dead.

Glad to hear you are making some progress sir. One day at a time. People like you who survived are the reason we sometimes need Safety Officers like me.


Keep your chin up.


JJ

 

[FireEMSPolice]

God speed sir! Glad to see you are making progress as well!


Just curious though, what do you need the lawyers for? Are you suing and for what, why?

 

[pondfly]

I was the safety officer at the time and this was due to several issues between the vehicle and the other person lifting the cab. This was not an injury sustained during operations, but general maintenance at the station. I can't go into too much detail about how and why I got hurt, but it was an older vehicle without a lot of the safeties that are present now.


The lawyers are needed as work comp has tried everything to screw with me since the inception. Trying to settle early with no treatment, severely shorting my temporary disability payments, refusing to do the second surgery.


Like businesses they are in a job to save money, but not at the expense of legitimate injuries. The lawyers will be most certainly be needed to add the other surgery that I paid out of pocket, fight for my level of disability, pay for my reeducation to something that my restrictions can be done.


This is not your simple hurt your back lifting on a call injury, but a head, brain, neck, back injury, partial loss of sensation and use of one hand. I have a vast collection of steel and titanium in my neck, permanent loss in range of motion on my neck, permanent nerve damage and other issues that will never be able to be corrected.


Believe me I didn't want to lawyer up, but I have to protect myself and it's more than I can do on my own.

 

[Hoser]

Been there brother…got hit by a strainer on a hard suction hose falling off a ward lafrance. Went thru multiple surgeries. Hang in there it does get better. Still have some isssues from it, Been a a 16 year battle. God speed on your recovery.

 

[Respondcode3]

You still using the one I gave you the name of?

 

[pondfly]

You still using the one I gave you the name of?

The one in the Loop? Yes, I can't begin to say thank you for the recommendation, they are great.

 

[Respondcode3]

No prob..

 

[Hoser]

I can vouch for him workers comp will do anything to screw the injured worker over that they can. Yes he needs a lawyer. I didnt have one for the first 3 years after my injury. And my employer treated me great. They have stop loss agencies that fight for the companies and w/c and all they do is try and save $$ anyway they can. How many months could you survive with out a paycheck? I went 8 months one time, cause of those folks. Sure they save bucks for the system with people that are playn the system. But make it hard for the ones with a legit injury. Had broken hardware in my neck, (titanuim plate) took almost 10 months to get approval to have it removed and every Dr. stated it was a emergent to get it done. He is doing the right thing. One of the best things that happened was when they had to remove that very same hardware from my neck. He has some very tough years behind and ahead of him. One of the best things that happened to me was removal of the hardware from my neck.Best of Luck on healing Brother, If I can help in any way holler. Randy

 

[pondfly]

Bump with final outcome.

 

[Tritonhoward64]

Glad to hear your doing better now. Your welcome to stick around on the forum and still give your inputs.

 

[MEVS06]

Glad to hear your doing better now. Your welcome to stick around on the forum and still give your inputs.

+1, I dont see why you should leave the board.

 

[108FP1]

pondfly, check your PM's.

 

[TCO]

Glad to hear you are making progress. hang in there on the board,there is always someone that you may be able to guide due to past experience. good luck otherwise


Tom

 

[FreshDave04]

I definitely feel for you, man. Back when I was a firefighter/EMT-B, I permanently injured my lower back during a house fire. Long story short, I now have two fractured lower vertebrae and three bulging discs, that give me pain daily. The last time I had a surgical consultation, they offered fusion surgery that at the time had a 15% paralyzation rate. I decided to take some ibuprofen and/or hydrocodone every once and a while and call it a day. There are times where I legitimately can't get out of bed, where I feel like crying over the pain, and then there's time where I feel as if nothing had ever happened. It's a day by day struggle. So I decided to go the safer route and choose a profession in law enforcement! LOL :bonk:


Anyway, I hope you get to feeling better. I know it's a hell of a thing to go through. Thoughts and prayers are with ya!