Hello, my name is Darryl 48, father of one and this is my s()% show.

02-01-2024, I felt a sharp pain followed by a strange sensation in my arm when lifting a concrete bench with a pair of coworkers. Taking the effort not to aggravate it further, I finished my shift, and went to urgent care just to be on the safe side. They deemed it a sprain and sent me home, telling me not to put any weight on it, and workman's comp papers were filed. That Saturday, I realized something was wrong - horrible bruising across my arm where the tendon is, and by Sunday evening, It became clear something was wrong with my upper arm.

Monday morning came the next Urgent care visit, and the beginning of this story.

At the visit Monday morning, they agreed something was gravely wrong and I was sent for X-Rays and a follow up MRI which confirmed it: My tendon was completely separated and required surgery to be fixed. I was given a sling and told not to use the arm. My surgery was scheduled for the 14th, and unfortunately due to some kind of oversight, was scheduled at a day surgery that was unable/refused to accept me due to my conditions (Prior Heart Attacks, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, etc.) which Workmans Comp did not find out until the last possible second. They scrambled to find an OR for me, and the surgery was not able to be done until the last possible day, February 26th, 2024.

Surgery happens, but with complications, leading to a much larger scar that previously indicated. I was told by the doctor that my tendon had not only completely separated, but was coiled up in my shoulder, making the surgery far more difficult than predicted.

Day one, post surgery, the tingling and numbness set in. Mild, light, but it was definitely there. When I saw the doctor again, I reported the symptoms and was told that they were typical and should fade as the arm healed. These symptoms not only persisted, but progressed, and continue to worsen with the passage of time, and despite the fact that at each appointment, I stressed to him that the loss of sensation was progressing, and I was beginning to develop weakness and pain throughout the arm, that carrying even a gallon from my car to my front door (Not even 50 feet) had become incredibly painful and I was becoming unable to hold anything for more than about 30 seconds at a time before dropping it, for no reason at all, I was told it would “go away.” He continued over the course of the next 11 months to gradually raise the weight limit on my arm, (5 to 10, 10 to 25, and then 25 to 50, which I was never able to accomplish)

After 4 months of pushing post surgery, physical therapy was prescribed in June of 2024, and after 5 appointments over the course of a month, It proved fruitless, doing nothing to change the ongoing issues. Following this, despite insisting over the course of the next 6 MONTHS at every single follow up/appointment I made SPECIFICALLY to address these symptoms, for more testing, my concerns were ignored. To top it all off, in November 2024, 10 months after my injury, I was terminated from my job due to what I strongly believe was managerial bias, considering that 1-3-2024 I received “Employee of the Year” for my outstanding work in the company, and now, just 10 months after starting a new position under a different manager, I was now somehow "Not in line with company standard."

In January 2025, despite everything, he released me for work, still completely ignoring my requests and the fact that I had made it extremely clear it was not possible for me to return to my field of work with the arm in the shape it was in. I continued to push, until June 2025, when the Doctor finally agreed something was wrong and decided to send me off for a nerve conduction study. The study found moderate to severe damage running from my elbow to my wrist, and when the Doctor saw it, the tone of the conversation suddenly changed and they fervently agreed I needed a second surgery, not to reverse the damage, but to stop it from spreading further. This is the first and only tangible evidence I have been able to gather to this day, due to the total medical negligence I’ve experienced.

By this time, the numbness and tingling had spread from my fingers and the top of my lower arm, down into the underside, and had begun creeping up into my upper arm. The pain was becoming unbearable, and the weakness had now made it impossible to even continue my hobbies.

I was on unemployment, until it ran out 9 months later, in August of 2025, while continuing to fight with Workmans Comp and my Doctor about the issues I was experiencing. When an 827 was filed after the nerve conduction study, I was relieved, thinking surely that the Doctor would be able to get to the bottom of what was going on and I would be able to get the second surgery to stop the damage from spreading any further.

Meanwhile, it hit me that all those months I spent fighting, my arm was decaying, and now I was informed there was no chance of reversing the damage. I will have to live like this for the rest of my life. To add insult to injury, Workmans Comp sent me for a second opinion about the numbness/tingling in the arm, which was an exam by a Doctor who touched/flexed my arm for all of 45 seconds and then determined that the symptoms (which had been present since the day after surgery) were due to diabetes. (It's worth noting that my diabetes is and has been completely under control and uncomplicated, per my current primary physician.) They then denied the 827 which added the numbness and tingling, and said that they refused to pay for the surgery on the grounds that "the numbness and tingling were not caused by/related to the initial injury." I got lawyers, determined to fight this out, unwilling to accept the fact that the gross negligence I had been subjected to had now destroyed my arm.

In the middle of all this, I was informed by my Current Doctor that I needed to transfer to another center for my continuing care, initially in March 2025. I spent almost a month fighting with my current Doctors Office and workmans comp to provide all the files and documents for the new Doctors Office to take over my care. In the end, the new Doctors Office never received it all which meant I could not be seen. I then continued to see my current Doctor until I was informed they could no longer see me or make determinations on my case (Early August 2025) and I was forced to go through the fight of getting those files sent to the new Doctor again, which took another two weeks.

When I'm finally able to see the new doctor, another two weeks later, I'm met with a cold, apathetic face. Once again, my pain, weakness, numbness and tingling were all completely dismissed. Over the course of two appointments, the first of which they did not even have all my medical records, and the second which they flatly refused to look over my records and make their own determination unless "They were forced to." (This is not verbatim, these are the EXACT words out of their mouth.) This provider then decided, without reading anything or listening to anything I had said, I was "medically stationary" meaning that my Workmans Comp was stripped away from me, and my case is to be closed. My lawyers have filed the proper appeals. This fact however, does not change that I cannot work, and now I have 0 income. I have been warned these appeals do not typically come to a timely conclusion, which means I will be homeless next month.

The medical negligence and gaslighting I have faced has brought me to tears. The fact that my arm will never function the way it was supposed to again, and the fact I live with daily, constant pain shooting through my arm, which has cost me my hobbies, my love life and soon, will cost me my apartment, eats me alive. I have done everything I can to push back against this system, and I'm going to fight the long game, but without help, I will not make it.