Sorry to hear that Rain........wishing you both a speedy recovery.

Hope you are both well again soon...just goes to show how suddenly things can change.

Wishing you all the best.

Thanks, guys. :)

Be careful. I once saw a patient who had been involved in an accident who went to a lawyer first and then to the lawyer's doctor. She had a soft tissue shoulder injury that should have fully resolved in a few weeks with passive to active range of motion exercises. Instead she got a series of expensive, and largely useless ultrasound treatments over months. Following the treatments the therapist strapped her arm into a limited motion sling and sent her home with instructions to take it off only to bathe. Months later, the case did not go in her favor, her lawyer stopped paying his doctor and she came to her HMO for treatment. I have never seen such a serious case of a frozen shoulder except in long neglected stroke patients. She could not abduct her shoulder more than a few degrees from her body, had severe atrophy of the whole arm and had a virtually useless, and largely irreversible condition. Not only would this condition not have developed had it been properly treated, it would not have developed if it had not been "treated" at all. On the other hand, if she had won the case her lawyer could have collected his piece of a permanently disabled dominant arm that his doctor had dutifully created for him. I am not saying this is typical, or that it is the case here, but I am saying that there is an inherent conflict for anyone trying to recover from an injury if there is a potential financial reward for not recovering.

slartabartfast
Be careful. I once saw a patient who had been involved in an accident who went to a lawyer first and then to the lawyer's doctor. She had a soft tissue shoulder injury that should have fully resolved in a few weeks with passive to active range of motion exercises. Instead she got a series of expensive, and largely useless ultrasound treatments over months. Following the treatments the therapist strapped her arm into a limited motion sling and sent her home with instructions to take it off only to bathe. Months later, the case did not go in her favor, her lawyer stopped paying his doctor and she came to her HMO for treatment. I have never seen such a serious case of a frozen shoulder except in long neglected stroke patients. She could not abduct her shoulder more than a few degrees from her body, had severe atrophy of the whole arm and had a virtually useless, and largely irreversible condition. Not only would this condition not have developed had it been properly treated, it would not have developed if it had not been "treated" at all. On the other hand, if she had won the case her lawyer could have collected his piece of a permanently disabled dominant arm that his doctor had dutifully created for him. I am not saying this is typical, or that it is the case here, but I am saying that there is an inherent conflict for anyone trying to recover from an injury if there is a potential financial reward for not recovering.

Ouch. Man, that's bad. That being said, not being one to give trust easily, that story doesn't really surprise me - I always have scenarios like that running in the back of my head.
 
Fortunately, my wife has a medical team monitoring her health for the job, and I also have a physiotherapist that I'm seeing for other issues, so I could always get a off-the-record second opinion, or at east a few advices if need be.

 I had numbness in my arm and hand about 7 years ago after I had a lymph node removed, the surgeon said that there was always the possibility that it would affect the movement of my fingers, but in the end it didn't. I really think that if guitar playing is in your blood then you'll come out OK. Look at Jerry Garcia after his coma, the guy had to basically learn how to play guitar again but he got there. And that's on the "truly serious" side of the spectrum. You'll be fine as long as you keep those fingers moving!

ampfixer
 
Beware of lawyers always, they are not your friends. They are lawyers.

Related side-note - last december we filled a claim w/ our pet insurance. After exceeding the maximum delay of 2 weeks by 2 weeks (just that) before they even looked into it and 2 more weeks to actually processed our request, they declined our claim on the basis that it was for a pre-existing condition, even if our vet provided them with all the documentation and specified that this was NOT a pre-existing condition.
 
So we had to appeal their decision and send yet more paperwork via e-mail (actually, that's the papers we were going to get when we had the accident).
 
Why am I not surprised having just spoken to them to learn that they apparently did not receive our 2 e-mails which were sent 01/30. How convenient for them! Obviously, they're stalling every step of the way in every way they can. I'm guessing that they make a lot of their money like that because people just give up...
 
That's the reason why lawyers are the lesser of two evil and a necessity.  It's one thing to deal with animal insurances, but for stuff that involves cars and health issues, you need someone to put some weight for you and keep those guys in line because unless there's a potential lawsuit, they'll just try to get away with it by wearing you out.
 

Don't sign any checks or settle anything until you absolutely have to. You may want to talk to an (attorney). I'm not suggesting in ANY way that you milk this or anything like that BUT that you be sure that in time you don't have problems from this that linger for life. I pray not but be careful about the fine print involved in cashing ANY check from the insurance. If you or your wife have been truly harmed, then you should be fully compensated. Insurance companies HATE that but it is what they are supposed to do, it's their business. They tend to smile and be your friend when you're making payments but you become some sort of shyster when you have a claim.. not always but way too often.
Best to you!
Julien