Dan wrote:If you are new reading this site, you might not have the background to know of Christopher's depth of knowledge on this injury and the Dr's who specialize in it. I mention this as a way to add emphasis to his recommendation to the Mayo clinic. If you were to talk to him, he could recite most of the Dr's around the world who specialize with BPI and the nuances of each ones practice.
I am sure instead of writing a huge post on the subject and listing all their contact info, he just cut to the chase and gave you a link to the one he thinks is best and can get you in based on your time frame. Which for some of the possibilities to help you, you are correct, time is quickly running out.
Keep us updated and come back to the site for some of the help that can be provided on this site about living with the injury, but first things first, get into Mayo and get the surgical help available.
Dan
Dan,
Thanks for your post.
You're right 100%!
I've written & rewritten the same stuff on this forum hundreds of times and it's all there for whom ever has the
desire or curiosity to search it.
The time is way past due for there to be a MUST READ page on this website for all newly injured. With a standard breakdown on what to expect & what is possible.
It is extremely common & costly for injured individuals & families etc to be misinformed. It happens at least 75% of the time. The medical community doesn't have a strategy to share and teach the latest research done around the world. The CRAZY thing is the most common surgical technique used by the extremely small minority of actual practicing BPI specialists was being used in the 1960's! Practical use of newly created medical surgeries travels very very slowly within the medical community. Surgeons must learn from other surgeons. Unfortunately that is slower than the Pony Express in getting practical news into the surgical theater.
It's your arm, it's your life, do with it as you choose. I interviewed as many BPI as I could afford to (financially & time wise). I researched as much as I could possibly absorb once I discovered that the best of the best in Los Angeles (USC & UCLA which were rated in the nations top 20 for neurology) and they had no
real clue what to do, and wanted me to wait.
I went to Harvard, to Yale, to Columbia, LSU (David Kline, the godfather of TBPI surgery), Stanford, USC, UCLA, Dartmouth, U of Chicago, and as far as Europe to the UK.
I ended up with to the best I could find. That was the Mayo Clinic. Other top BPI specialists recommended I go to the Mayo instead of themselves, because the Mayo Team could offer more advanced techniques and a team of 3 surgeons all operating in unison together all with different view points but able & willing to adapt that view point to the best one suggested.
Once I met a depressed 23 year old kid at the Los Angeles airport on the way to the Mayo for his first consultation, I was going for a check up. I could tell he had BPI because of his slight and atrophied shoulder hiding under his sweatshirt. He was injured 2 years previous. His
mom was a
surgeon, his father was an internal specialist. Both of his parents were MDs and practiced in good hospitals and were well educated. The kid was wrongfully advised by a "top neurosurgeon", that was a close family friend, to wait it out. That kids whole future was changed because of lazy parents in my book. It pissed me off to no end, and it still does. They should have known better, but then again so should 90% of the worlds neurosurgeons that advise people to wait or give them antiquated & outdated medical options.
Do your research. It's your life.
For me the question for a surgeon is this:
What is the BEST surgical outcome you (and/or your team) can offer?
I did this, compared notes, and ended at the Mayo. There are other very competent and caring BPI specialists I met, and that are out there that I haven't met, but in the end, they couldn't offer what the Mayo could.
It's that simple for me.
I would've given my left & right testicle
and more to save my right arm. But that's me. Your relationship to, and the importance of, your own arm is your own and only your own.
more questions:
How many times have you done this specific BPI surgery?
What is the surgical outcome success rate?
How long will the desired outcome take (months/years post surgery)?
Are there any other BPI surgeons that you are aware of that offer better outcomes?
How do you stay up to date on the latest techniques being practiced around the world (Asia, China, India, Europe, etc)?
Where were did you get your education?
Where did you complete your residency?
and there are more questions, but I
hate the inefficiency of typing with one hand and the inefficiency of typing the same stuff over and over and over....
Good luck,
Christopher
and how each doctor stated here help the person posting. What drive me crazy is Treating doctors to began with, Why a person with our injuries have to ask here at ALL 
You guys gave some AWSOME picks !!! More I read post here to me is that treating doctors dont give a person a referral to a BPI specialist in some CASES, Go back to the treating doctor and have that doctor give you a referral to a BPI SPECIALIST 
Its 
to leave a person without a direction to get help and treatment. The injuries our hard to deal with add in no direction for treatment IN TIME!!!! leave us with emotional scares. ITS on the treating doctor to give the referral!!!! OR at least ones you guys post.