Contractor and carpenter Todd Brown was working on a new apartment building the day after the 4th of July holiday in 2001 when a faulty railing gave way. "As I fell from a second-story scaffolding," says Brown, "I instinctively put my right arm out to break the fall -- and obliterated my elbow on impact. The paramedics found me with my broken arm bones protruding through my skin. There was actually another hospital nearby, but paramedics told me 'you gotta go to the General'."

At SFGH, Dr. Ted Miclau lead the surgical team that reconstructed Brown's arm. The repair required 3 plates, 36 screws and two surgeries to stabilize the broken bones and close the wound. After three nights and four days, Brown went home.

After six weeks in a brace, it was time to get the arm moving again. "Dr. Miclau warned me that my rehabilitation was going to be tougher and more painful than the break itself," says Brown. "He was right, but he was there to talk me through it." Dr. Miclau went out of his way to follow my care during rehab," adds Brown. "I can't sing his praises highly enough."

Brown returned to limited physical work in October, 2001, just three months after the accident. But it would require two more surgeries and yet more rehab to help restore a wider range of motion to the elbow. When I first started rehab," says Brown, I could move my arm three inches down and up. Little by little, with coaching, it got better."

On New Year's Day, 2003 -- 18 months after the injury -- Brown picked up a hammer at a worksite and began swinging. The range of motion in his right arm is still not as good as in his uninjured left arm, making it difficult to tie a necktie, but "functionally, very few people would notice," says Brown.

Brown knows of fellow workers who sustained arm injuries less severe than his, but who have less functionality and range of motion than he does. "I am really happy with the results," Brown adds, "I believe wholeheartedly that had I gone anywhere else but SFGH, my arm would not be as useful as it is."

Source: Michael Barnes