Dear Sue,

Quote:

Quote: I have to say the fact that you are a musician, does make the situation more complex. And the interesting fact that you got your TOS from an accident / auto, instead of the more common way of repetitive hand / arm movements via your instrument or computer, this adds another unique aspect. First, I would make sure the outside of playing, that your hands / arm are protected. For computer work, or any kind of written communication, you can get Dragon Naturally Speaking and a headset and within one day it gets used to your voice and you will be surprised at how easily and fast it picks it all up. I HATE gadgets, yet I learned it and it learned my voice in one day. (After I left my law firm, 200 attorneys now HAVE to use it, that's how sure they were that I got TOS from my computer.) Next, I am having some legal questions. Are you an employee? Because if you are, this situation is now where you are self-modifying your job. That is evidence of a job injury, because although it started out as a non-job accident, (unless you were driving to / from your job itself, then it is a full job injury due to the nature of the trip), then you have a hybrid case where your employment has had some effect on your injury of making it worse. Each state and even county treats these differently, but the basic rule is some level of compensation for the loss of potential job market (PD) and present medical care, including temporary disability which cannot be apportioned. (The PD can be apportioned according to the judge's idea of how much is work caused vs. work exacerbated.) So I'm looking down the line, and need you to consider getting a FREE legal consult from an attorney of work comp, experienced fully in this area, to tell you what your rights and responsibilities are. OK, let's say you are an independent contractor. Then, there are still issues of state disability for the periods when / if you go into for surgery, or have periods where you medically can't work. So an SSDI attorney would be the one for the FREE consult there. And you didn't say if you were ALONE in that accident, at fault, etc. If you were in a collision with another car, then you need an appt. with a personal injury attorney, because if you were not at fault, (or even in you were and had your own medical coverage), then you need to discuss issues of compensation for loss of your use of your hands which are your livelihood, and an anticipated amount of money that is carefully considered to be paid for what might happen in the future with you. Did I confuse you enough? If you want to talk, PM me, and when / if I feel good enough, I can try to talk to you about it. Besides the Butler take home program, I have heard that Edgelow, in Berkeley (he's on our lists) is an EXCELLENT take home program. Just because I couldn't do any PT, I heartily push and ask everyone else to try to be as active in their PT as possible, as these are the people who seem to do better. Welcome to our little family. Everyone here truly cares. God bless you on your healing path...Tam

this thing it totally acting crazy, unless it is me, the technitian!