Ucl tear going into college senior year

If you live anywhere near a MLB or other pro sports franchise find out who their orthodontist are and what hospital they work from. My son’s surgeon was from an ortho team that supported all four franchises.

He has five years to play four seasons. If he’s on track to graduate next spring take advantage of getting a year into a grad program. How it works out scholarship wise has to be discussed with his coach.

To be honest a new coach is not great news. New coaches like their own recruits over holdovers. Your son returns as a big question mark.   Your son need to talk with the coach. 

It’s possible to transfer without sitting out after graduating to play and attend grad school elsewhere. Drawing attention would depend on his recovery. The new program only has one year to benefit. 

I am sorry to hear this. You have to see who is going to assume liability.  Call the head trainer at your sons school to discuss options if the new HC can't help you. The rehab is grueling and must be done properly, thatscwhy you need to discuss with the trainer. I have no idea what type of program your son is in. Keep in mind that the new coach may not give him that 5th year and he doesn't have to.

Let us know how things are going.  

BaseballMomx4  PM me if you like and I can share our experiences with TJ. My son had the surgery Sophomore year and will be going back for as a Red Shirt Senior attending grad school.

So sorry to hear about your son's injury. The information about surgeons in the @MLBPlayerAnalys spreadsheet may help.

https://docs.google.com/spread...FDVsCwvN-3AazykOBON0

Sorry to hear this, and I am hoping for a speedy recovery!

Thanks all. We’re in NY and we have an appt with Dr. Ahmad next week. None of these doctors seem to take our insurance. I have out of network coverage and they seemed willing to work with us. One more concern. He did reach out to new head coach and had a positive talk where he said he was looking forward to being his one this year but to just worry about working hard to get back on the mound for us even better than before.  I guess time will tell. The school compliance person called to set up an appt for him to come in to discuss the redshirt process. Things are still not great but I think we’re feeling a little better today.  Once he felt the pop and the pain, we all knew, but to officially get the diagnosis is like getting hit  with a ton of bricks. Thanks again for the support. 2014 Dad I’ll be sending you a PM.

You need to find out the schools responsibility. 

Really interested in how this turns out for you.....because unfortunately, by this time tomorrow we may in the same situation.  Son is going to see an ortho tomorrow.  Has had some ongoing elbow pain since mid-way thru his college season.  Kinda came and went.  Threw 4 innings for his college summer team a couple weeks ago.  Velo was good and no pain.  Tried to throw a bullpen 4 days later and couldn't do it.  Had a local appt set up but then found out he could get in with an  MLB guy so he's going tomorrow.  He called the school and the trainer was the guy he talked to.  School's insurance will cover some of it....depending on what has to happen.  I guess we'll know more after we find out the problem.  Same issue...heading into senior year.  Only difference is he is batting now....so if something needs done, he's not sure if he wants to do it and miss a year....or just skip it and just give up pitching to bat.  Guess we'll worry about that when decision time comes

TPM posted:

You need to find out the schools responsibility. 

This is true. You need to find out what the schools insurance will cover as the secondary insurance. They may only cover up to what you have left over if you went in network for your insurance. You would then have a big out of pocket expense for going out of network.

Good luck, its a long hard recovery. My son had TJS a couple of months ago and is just out of the brace. Things have been/are going smooth and its still a long long recovery to get to back to the point where he can even start working on getting good again.

TPM

I actually just had him put a call in to find out. Does the school usual cover some of this?

Buckeye 2015 posted:

Really interested in how this turns out for you.....because unfortunately, by this time tomorrow we may in the same situation.  Son is going to see an ortho tomorrow.  Has had some ongoing elbow pain since mid-way thru his college season.  Kinda came and went.  Threw 4 innings for his college summer team a couple weeks ago.  Velo was good and no pain.  Tried to throw a bullpen 4 days later and couldn't do it.  Had a local appt set up but then found out he could get in with an  MLB guy so he's going tomorrow.  He called the school and the trainer was the guy he talked to.  School's insurance will cover some of it....depending on what has to happen.  I guess we'll know more after we find out the problem.  Same issue...heading into senior year.  Only difference is he is batting now....so if something needs done, he's not sure if he wants to do it and miss a year....or just skip it and just give up pitching to bat.  Guess we'll worry about that when decision time comes

So sorry to hear Buckeye. I know it’s not great timing, although there is probably never a good time for this.  So tough. 

Ja'Crispy posted:

TPM posted:

You need to find out the schools responsibility. 

This is true. You need to find out what the schools insurance will cover as the secondary insurance. They may only cover up to what you have left over if you went in network for your insurance. You would then have a big out of pocket expense for going out of network.

Good luck, its a long hard recovery. My son had TJS a couple of months ago and is just out of the brace. Things have been/are going smooth and its still a long long recovery to get to back to the point where he can even start working on getting good again.

I just had him put in a call. Unfortunately none of the MLB guys takes our insurance.  We have one local guy that did but I don’t know how many he’s actually done etc. The office that I did make the appointment with said they’d work with us and not to worry that it would be worked out. The other 2 wanted payment upfront, and then  I could see if insurance would reimburse me anything. I just cannot afford to do that. 

The school should recommend someone, surprised if they don't. If you go with them the way it worked with us was that we were primary insurance and the school was secondary. We could have opted for another doctor and then it would have been all on us. Since he was in school it made more sense to do it with the school recommended doctor for follow up appointments; starting with PT etc.

Buckeye 2015 posted:

Really interested in how this turns out for you.....because unfortunately, by this time tomorrow we may in the same situation.  Son is going to see an ortho tomorrow.  Has had some ongoing elbow pain since mid-way thru his college season.  Kinda came and went.  Threw 4 innings for his college summer team a couple weeks ago.  Velo was good and no pain.  Tried to throw a bullpen 4 days later and couldn't do it.  Had a local appt set up but then found out he could get in with an  MLB guy so he's going tomorrow.  He called the school and the trainer was the guy he talked to.  School's insurance will cover some of it....depending on what has to happen.  I guess we'll know more after we find out the problem.  Same issue...heading into senior year.  Only difference is he is batting now....so if something needs done, he's not sure if he wants to do it and miss a year....or just skip it and just give up pitching to bat.  Guess we'll worry about that when decision time comes

Sorry to hear this Buckeye!  Keep us posted, and he will be in the Beard's prayers.

Anyone know as far as school insurance covering any of the costs if it matters whether it was in season or in a summer league? (The summer league was signed off on by his head coach that was fired) The school seems to have cleaned house and everyone is new in the athletic dept. not that it was any better before but nobody seems to know anything. I’m hoping for a response tomorrow. Thanks 

baseballmomx4 posted:

Anyone know as far as school insurance covering any of the costs if it matters whether it was in season or in a summer league? (The summer league was signed off on by his head coach that was fired) The school seems to have cleaned house and everyone is new in the athletic dept. not that it was any better before but nobody seems to know anything. I’m hoping for a response tomorrow. Thanks 

Don't do anything until you get answers!  

No damage    Cortizone shot, a couple more weeks off and some changes to his warmup/workout routines.  Actually said that tightness in his shoulder is probably causing the elbow pain.  Sounds like a couple tweeks should take care of it.  Glad it was nothing more.  We're kind of considering maybe just really limiting him the rest of the summer on the mound.  By the time he takes off 2 more weeks summer ball will have less than a month left.  We'll see how it feels in a couple weeks and go from there. 

Glad the news is not a tear. FWIW,  If it were my son, I'd have the college coach request he go home and ask them when he should resume throwing?  Could do his work outs and PT there. Not a heck of a lot to be gained , 2 weeks off than likely 2 weeks to build him up vs maybe a longer shut down time which will help. 

2014 Dad posted:

Glad the news is not a tear. FWIW,  If it were my son, I'd have the college coach request he go home and ask them when he should resume throwing?  Could do his work outs and PT there. Not a heck of a lot to be gained , 2 weeks off than likely 2 weeks to build him up vs maybe a longer shut down time which will help. 

He is already there    His summer team is only 25 miles from home so he just drives it each day.  He's also batting so fortunately he's going to get to keep doing that.   He's hitting .400+ with a couple doubles, a triple and a HR in his first 15 AB's.  He DH'd some in college last spring and is really hoping to see some time in the field next year, so keeping the bat going this summer is a big plus for him.  Realistically at this point, I'm thinking he'd probably be just as happy if he gets back to school and can play 2B and quit pitching...but that's just my opinion.  Team isn't very good....so being on the mound is a struggle.  He can throw great and still lose 4-1 because we have no bats and defense is shaky lol.

Good news Buckeye. Time is marching slowly. The appointment with the surgeon cannot come soon enough. I have now read more than I ever wanted to know about the UCL. 

Well we met with the surgeon today. Surgery is scheduled for 7/20 but he’s on standby in case anyone cancels and a spot opens up. The Doctor said that he tore the ucl completely from the bone and that he might be lucky and could be a candidate for ucl primary repair with internal brace. He said he wouldn’t know for sure until he got in there and actually looked at the ligament to see if it was in good shape. If it’s not he will convert to regular Tommy John. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with primary repair. I’m going to do a search of the board.  My only concern was whether the repair was just as strong as reconstruction. The doctor assured us that if the ligament was in good shape that it is and that’s why specific criteria has to be met in order to proceed with repair.  As far as school insurance, we’re on our own. Luckily I do have out of network benefits and the rest the office said they’d work it out.  Back to waiting. 

If it tore completely from bone snd can be reattached the recovery is only 6 months. One of FAUs pitcher just had that surgery and was drafted. The key to success is in the rehab if that be the case.

TPM posted:

If it tore completely from bone snd can be reattached the recovery is only 6 months. One of FAUs pitcher just had that surgery and was drafted. The key to success is in the rehab if that be the case.

That’s good to hear. I have no doubt that he will put everything he has into rehab. Doctor said between 6-8 months.  I’m just trying to understand if that was fully able to compete or able to compete but still with innings limit, some restrictions etc. I’m just watching a friend’s son come back from Tommy John and although he’s been cleared he still is on a pitch/inning limit. Could be that it’s summer ball and they don’t want to push it unnecessarily. 

I spoke to the players mom she said 6 months. But he will rehab under a ML trainer. 

Just wait to see what happens.

Thanks, that’s all I really can do. I just hope they get a cancellation. He’s getting antsy and just wants to start moving forward whichever way it goes. 

Baseballmomx4,

Have you done your homework on the doctor who will do the surgery? How many reattachments has he actually performed?  

Yes, we are using Dr. Christopher Ahmad. 

baseballmomx4 posted:

Yes, we are using Dr. Christopher Ahmad. 

He is in NY affiliated with Presbyterian? Sons ortho at the hospital for special surgery. I think Ahmad worked under him, not sure sounds familiar.

Yes NY Presbyterian. He’s the Yankees team doctor now. I really liked him. Very soft spoken and reassuring. 

Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. They called in a bunch of prescriptions for him that I just picked up. Seems like a lot. They gave him oxycodone (which makes me a little nervous) toradol which is another painkiller, neurontin which is for nerve pain ( maybe because they’re moving his ulnar nerve as well?) and then just nausea medication and Prilosec. Just seems like an awful lot of meds. If your son had this surgery, how much pain were they in and for how long? Did they need all of these things?

Good luck to your son!

Don't worry about the oxy.  I had to take it after surgery a couple years back.  For a short period it's fine.

Hi. I hope things went well for your son. Sorry to reply to an old post but my son just got similar news. UCL torn away from the bone. Recommended repair with an internal brace. Can you give me any advice? He is seeing a MLB team doctor, so I am comfortable with that. Curious about insurance as well. I would hope it would be deemed medically necessary. Thank you