[JimsGirl]

Hi...this is my first post. I'm 30 now (my age feels important to me in realizing how the duration of this injury is going to affect me for sooooooooo long) and when I was 28 I was injured, well it was a few days before my 29th b-day.)

In May of 2010 I worked in a hospital. One night while a pt became enraged and started slamming me by my hand which he was crushing, on the side rail of the bed...hitting me from the wrist to the elbow, on the same right side that he had hyperextended the thumb.

Our house supervisor and charge nurse and staff all saw my arm swell immediately and we all decided I should go home, or be seen, or something. I went home and called the name on the list they gave me and went in a few hours later to be seen. Xrays were negative for a break, so began my journey with a soft tissue injury.

They said it was sprained, it would not heal. It was bruised and swollen every day, and hurt like hell! I wore a brace, I saw hand specialists, I had an MRI. They decided I needed a DeQ Release. Recently I had it done. I'd had OT before and after the surgery, probably 50+ visits in all.

By December the WC dr was demanding I go back to work but I still had NO relief....I was constantly in pain and eating Vicodin like it was candy. I hired an attorney. I began to see my lawyer's doctor and he made me temporarily totally disabled.

By March , with the very real threat of losing my health insurance for my children and myself I begged my doctor (Lawyer's dr, not on the MPN) to go ahead and let me go back to work with restrictions. I returned to work as a (ironically) claim payment administrator for a county run insurance program. I processed payments for medical expenses for the county's indigent patients of our hospital, outpatient stuff. My hand hurt like hell, and kept swelling, I did accupuncture and had a negative EMG.

In July my arm was swollen constantly, cold, sweaty, hairless, and turning purple and black on occassion. Finally I couldn't take the pain anymore and left work one day to see a dr on the MPN, I changed lawyers that day, because the lawyer I had been using and his dr were not getting me in to see specialists after 7 months of waiting for referrals. And I was tired of not having the benefits of working off the MPN. My lawyer actually liked my new doctor very much and has a good relationship with her and said they would send me to her if I weren't already seeing her.

Immediately I was into see a Neurologist, Pain Management Doc, and with a strong warning An Orthopedic Surgeon. Her warning was, "an ortho is like a hammer, everything is a nail to them." Sure enough a second negative EMG, no relief from a cortizon shot, and he still wants to believe I have carpal tunnel and he can save the world on CT Surgery at a time. No...I don't have carpal tunnel.

The Neuro and Pain docs concurred and my diagnosis became official...CRPS. Intensive occupational therapy, two nerve blocks, and a switch to a patch for pain meds (Butrans) and a trial of Lyrica and Neurontin (exhausted me) and now Cymbalta, we're working on finding the right meds for me...but Butrans has kind of changed my life. I take Roboxin for the muscle spasms in my fingers.

Now...the only area in which my doctor fails me...she makes me work. I am in SO much pain. My current work restrictions are: no use of the right hand, must work in an environment above 70 degrees, and work shift of no more than 4 hours, complete prior to 5 pm so that patient can take stronger pain medication. And yes, my employer has a job for me. I am a patient greeter, I sit in front of the lab and greet people and tell them where things are in the hospital. It's not too bad, but when I'm in such severe pain, the last thing I want to be is the happy customer service employee. I want everyone to leave me alone.

Soon is my AME. Wednesday is my first appointment with Dr. P. My weeks are a mess of appointments. I have to work 4 hours and then go to all my appointments...this week is LA (which is 2 hours from home and I have to have a driver because I cannot drive that far) for the AME. Tuesday is a follow up from my two nerve blocks and OT. Thurs I get off from all appts to fight in court with my horrible ex husband, and Friday I have OT.

The pain is insane. I just never thought I'd ever be in this much pain. I tell my new husband that it's like I'm wearing a bracelet of fire. My pinky, ring, and middle fingers feel like they are being seared by a hot wire right across the knuckles. It's incredible the amount of pain I'm in. And my arm looks TERRIBLE. I am weak, my range of motion is not within normal limits. I feel worthless to my family (I'm a HUGE burden to everyone, I need help with many many tasks) and to my employer and to everyone around me.

I just wanted to tell my story, I wanted to search around and figure out what's going to happen at my appointment tomorrow. I just wanted to be around people who know what it's like to have a bracelet of fire.