I was seeing the doctor for the pain in my wrist and my company had filed a Workers' Compensation report and claim. They accepted the diagnosis and sent me to a hand doctor who made some suggestions, one of which was that I could no longer do my job. So, I went home and waited.

Workers' Compensation never called, just mailed a check every week. I called them every week asking what they were doing and they said they were trying to find an expert in Kienbock's Disease. I kept waiting.

After a month went by, I took things into my own hands and found a doctor that had written about Kienbock's Disease who was located just twenty-five miles from my home. I called Workers' Compensation, they called him, and I got an appointment. He suggested revascularization surgery. I went home and waited; and waited. This is exactly what it is like on Workers' Compensation.

After two weeks, I called Workers' Compensation and asked what they were doing. They said they were trying to find another expert to get another opinion, and so I waited and then waited some more. Finally, after another month had passed, they called and told me they had an appointment for me to see an expert doctor two and a half hours from my home, so off I go.

He is a great old doctor and he has seen many cases in his long career. He tells me that the insurance company said they were sending me to him to find out if Kienbock's Disease is work related. Oh, that's why I had to come all this way! I ask him what he thinks, and he says, "It's absolutely work related and you cannot work until they get this fixed." I went home and waited. You know the drill by now.

Then they sent me to ten more doctors looking for the same thing. I am not exaggerating, ten more doctors! Some as far as three and a half hours from my home. All ten doctors said the same thing. They finally gave in and told me to have the surgery. Diagnosed in Jan of 1995 and surgery finally approved Feb 1996.

After surgery, I had five months of therapy. The further we went in therapy, the more pain I experienced. The doctor finally asked the insurance company for a second opinion; he wanted me to see a doctor he knew. The insurance company responded by firing him and sending me to another doctor that they wanted me to see.

Doctor number fourteen, x-rayed my wrist and said that I needed a PRC right away, the pins from the revascularization were loose and floating in my wrist. “You need to put your splint back on, go home, and not use it at all, and by the way, Kienbock's Disease is not work related!" I went home scared to death after seeing him.

Naturally, I didn't get a check the next week. I called Workers' Compensation and they told me, "Well, since the doctor said it's not work related, we've closed your case, but we won't be looking for reimbursement for all the money and doctor bills we've paid on your behalf. You'll just have to file through your private insurance company." I hung up, thought about it for about a second, and called an attorney. He informed me that they couldn't do that. They had accepted culpability from day one, and they couldn't drop me in this condition and walk away. He filed for a hearing.

By now it was, Feb 1997. I couldn't work, and I had no income. It was a tough time. The hearing was scheduled and rescheduled four times. Finally, in September of 1997, the night before the hearing, the Workers' Compensation Insurance company's attorney called my attorney and said " I was just reading over the cases for tomorrow, and [re: my case] I can't defend this. Let's agree to drop it from the docket and I'll get the insurance company to cut her a check for the back pay, start her benefits again, and get her back to a doctor."

Of course, I was happy, but at the same time, I was so angry that this attorney waited all that time to read my case and decide they couldn’t do that to me. My attorney told me it was up to me; he could drop it, or go ahead with the hearing. I told him I wanted the hearing officer to hear what they did. So, he went to the hearing and told the hearing officer the story and the hearing officer ordered the same thing the insurance company's attorney offered, but now it was part of my case file (that came in handy later!).

So, I got my check and was then sent to another doctor. As it turned out, the insurance company didn't like him, so they sent me to yet another doctor. Doctor number sixteen! This then, was the doctor who finally did the PRC in January of 1998. I was never released for the work I used to do. I was released eventually for one-handed work.

I had to go through an FCE (functional capacity evaluation). That experience is another story all in itself. I've now had three and consider myself an expert in them.

I also moved during this time to another state (husband promoted and transferred), but had to return to my home state for the battery of doctor appointments for my final evaluations. The insurance company sent me to two doctors, one ortho, and one mental (lol), and of course then my attorney sent me to two doctors as well.

These are doctors I had never seen and were only there to write reports about their opinions regarding my permanent disability for settlement purposes (these doctors are not included in my final count of seventeen doctors they have made me see over the years).

One of the funniest things was when their psychiatrist tried to stick me with a safety pin he pulled from a drawer. I pulled my hand back and asked what the hell he was doing. He said, "checking your sense of touch". I asked him what that had to do with my mental health, and did he really think that sticking me with a safety pin was a good idea? His report was nasty. He said I had an "unnatural and unsubstantiated fear of hurting my other wrist" and stated it was almost obsessive. This trip was in May of 1999.

In November of the same year, my case went to court for final settlement. I'm not going to share my settlement amount; I feel that's personal. However, I will tell everyone that I received three to four times more, than my attorney had thought I would get. I was given a significant disability overall. Not just a hand or upper extremity rating.

Additionally, as stated above regarding my persistence about going on with the first hearing, in my home state, the attorney's fees are doled out based on many factors. The client can end up paying all of them, or the hearing officer can split them up any way he/she sees fit based on the whole case. Because this insurance company pulled that little game in the middle, the hearing officer ordered them to pay 99% of my attorney fees. Vengeance was mine!

Like I've said a million times. It's not the money; the money will never be enough to pay you back for the pain, the disability, or what Workers' Compensation insurance companies put a person through. Never. A million dollars is not enough. I'd rather have my wrist back. But if your Kienbock's Disease is work related, you are entitled to receive compensation for it. I mentioned in another post that I found that most doctors, who see Workers' Compensation cases, assume you aren't interested in going back to work. It's annoying, but I suppose in their defense, they see so many who don't, they get jaded. I was told over and over again by doctors that they hadn't seen such determination in a Workers' Compensation patient in a long time. That's how I dealt with the grief; I kept asking to be fixed. I wanted to return to doing the job I loved, mostly because I wanted to be whole again.

My home state's Workers' Compensation closes your case after settlement, however if you have a worsening condition and need medical attention within two years after your last check from the insurance company, you can re-open your case. If it isn't within the two-year period, your case is closed for good. In my case, I knew I'd be asking to see a doctor before 2 years was up, because I never felt like I was finished with this wrist anyway.

In the meantime, I had gotten a great job; a company actually hired me knowing I couldn't use my left wrist. Although I didn't use it, it was still difficult to work. Sometimes the pain was unbearable, but I couldn't call in because it was pain I've had for years! On the other hand, most of the time having a job was good, because it meant that instead of sitting around the house in pain with nothing else to think about, the job did help to keep my mind off of it.

In January of 2000, after working a year, I fell at work on ice in our parking lot. Now mind you, I can't do anything halfway. I fell leaving my SUV, hit my head on the running board of my vehicle, and knocked myself out! I fell so hard that the watch on my right wrist unbuckled and flew across the parking lot. Well, can you remember the comment the psychiatrist made, that I was obsessive about hurting my 'other' wrist? Apparently, my fear was founded!

I went to the emergency room. My right wrist was swelling badly; I had a knot on my head the size of an apricot, and was bruised from my ankle to my hip on my right side. The doctor said I must have fallen so hard on that side because I didn't even attempt to stop the fall with my bad hand. I can't say I had that kind of time to make decisions like that.

Two days later I had an MRI of my right wrist. The radiologist said I had Kienbock's Disease in that wrist. I worked from my home for the next couple of weeks; I kept telling my boss that I didn't want to be on Workers' Compensation! He worked with me on that for a little while, then he told me he had to report it and had to put me on Workers' Compensation because he couldn't let me come back to work without a release.

I just cried! Comp again! The games began...different state.... different laws...different insurance company...but the same bull____!

They didn't like the diagnosis (neither did I). They sent me to another doctor, but this was after I sat around my house for five months doing nothing about the situation. They sent me to a doctor that was an hour and a half from my home. He looked at my MRI and said, "I don't see Kienbock's Disease. In fact, I don't see anything that would cause the pain you say you're in and the swelling I see". He told me he'd send his report to the insurance company. So, I go home and wait.

Workers' Compensation says, we have to send you to another doctor because one says you have Kienbock's Disease and one says you do not.

The next doctor is three and a half hours away from home, however, every one tells me that this guy knows Kienbock's Disease and is the top of the heap in the doctor world. I go up there, taking my left and right wrist x-rays with me, along with the MRI films. We get there and are quickly impressed because the building is named after him.

We waited five hours to see him. There was a Workers' Compensation case worker there waiting with us. I am finally called in, and I am seeing a doctor doing his fellowship under the big guy. He does the exam, takes down the chart notes, and then leaves telling us the doctor will be with us shortly. After another hour -it is now 4:00-- the big guy comes in along with the first doctor. Within seconds, my husband and I thought we had crossed over to the twilight zone!

This expert doctor was looking at my x-ray and saying what a nice PRC that was, when the other doctor interrupted him and said, 'Dr. you are looking at her right wrist, the PRC was done on the left wrist. She is here to find out if you think she has Kienbock's Disease in her right wrist." He pulls out another film, puts it on the light box, and proclaims, "Well, she probably did have Kienbock's Disease, but she's had a PRC so she doesn't have it anymore." Yep, you got it; he is now looking at my left wrist. The 'other' doctor wouldn't even make eye contact with me, he was so embarrassed. He proceeded to explain things to the big guy, who finally seems to have a moment of clarity and says that I don't have Kienbock's Disease. Wants me to wait another hour so he can have a radiologist look at it. I tell him that I've been there all day, and we have a 3.5 hour drive ahead of us, haven't eaten, blah, blah, blah. I just wanted to get out of there as quick as I could. He said he would keep the x-rays and send a report to the insurance company. We go home. I told my husband I wouldn't let that guy even touch my wrist much less operate! I am sure that he must have been something in his day, but his day had apparently come and gone and no one had the nerve to tell him.

Ok, more waiting. Workers' Compensation sends checks and if I call asking what's going on, they say, "Aren't you getting your check?"

In the meantime, a year has gone by. The company I worked for closed my office, so there is no job to return to. I must admit at this point I decided "to Hell with it." I got my checks, cashed them, and waited.

Finally, after three months, they call and ask if I want to go back to doctor number 2 (one and a half hours from home); they wouldn’t approve the doctor here in my hometown! I said yes.

I go back to him and now it has been decided that I do NOT have Kienbock's Disease in my right wrist. More x-rays, and another MRI, and still he doesn't know what's wrong with it. He suggests arthroscopy.

In July 2001, he goes in to take a look around. I was quite hesitant to allow any surgery, as I am effectively a one handed person already. He tells me that there will only be three little cuts for the scope and I will not be immobilized afterward (He admitted later that he didn't expect to find anything). When I woke up, my arm was in a half cast, bottom cast, top wrapped to my elbow! I was shocked!

My husband came in and explained that the doctor told him that when he got in there he was shocked to find that my lunate looked like someone had hit it with a hammer and it was fractured. He had to make an incision and do a little "house cleaning". A minute later, he came around the curtain and I looked up at him in horror. He was so apologetic, but explained he had to do something, he couldn't leave it like that.

I was scared to death, as I didn't know how I would take care of myself. My husband is the best and does everything I need help with. But he can't be home all day every day. Suffice it to say, I became very creative!

I had therapy for months and in November was released with again a significant disability rating of my upper right extremity. The doctor knows that I don't want any further surgery on the right, but I have little range of motion, and am in almost constant pain.

Although, I was released, I haven't heard from the Workers' Compensation insurance co., except once when they called and offered me a pittance to settle and close my case. I don't even have an attorney, because until they do something I don't think I need one. They just keep sending my check.

This state's laws are different. In this state, they are obligated to 'see' me back to work. They don't appear to be trying to 'send' me back to work, so I'll just wait it out. This state also has lifetime medical benefits.

I called my attorney and asked him to re-open my left hand case. He did and I was allowed to see the doctor that did the surgery on the right wrist. He tells me I have arthritis pretty bad and wanted to know what I wanted to do. I told him, "Since both wrist cause me constant pain, I need at least one of them to stop." He suggested a full fusion on the left wrist. I don't think I have much to lose. I have no range of motion in that wrist now, and if there is even a small chance it will cause the pain to go away, I'll go for it.

So, today I am waiting to see what this state will do, and I'm waiting for an approval of the fusion from my home state. A dual state, full-fledged Workers' Compensation Prisoner!