Nerve transfer restores hand function, elbow extension in paralyzed patients

I definitely agree with you. Thank you for taking a look at this objectively. I really do appreciate it.

A lot of this stuff is frustrating to me. I live with 2 rare autoimmune neurological diseases, with one of them being very rare, which changes the rules of the game, almost completely. I really should not be alive and I constantly worry about making a bad move medically because my care is complex. Even turning 30 felt like a milestone for me. I almost constantly have to worry about access to care, too, which is why I became a European Union citizen, in addition to being American. But, it is not due to typical things that people worry about like having access to insurance or paying for it. It basically is for logistical reasons.

My training is in electrical engineering. From my standpoint, I can tell the difference between a gimmicky medical device and something that is promising. With surgeries, I would definitely say to a lesser degree, but I am always skeptical about the consequences. I also do not know how things typically play out long-term, especially living with rare diseases. I am always skeptical in general, and for good reasons. I have always been careful about what moves I make medically. I am also extremely stubborn, and perhaps that is why I am still alive.

Either way, medicine in the past 10 years or so has started to change profoundly. I do think promising things will occur, perhaps on a timeline even. However, access to things, such as in the US, will be of a different story. That is another reason why stories like this bother me, even though it is far from happening logistically, in this case.

This! This is so hard to explain to others who are trying to get into learning a new instrument. The most frustrating part is that rarely will I see the results of my practice on the day of practice, especially for tricky sections, which can make the sessions feel kinda useless. Then I'll come back a day or two later and suddenly my hands know what to do. "Okay let's start at marker B and... oh, okay!"

The hard part then, of course, is letting them get on with it, and only correcting actual mistakes. If I try to analyze what they're doing the whole thing kinda falls apart. That moment when I can switch from focusing on notes and rhythm to ... more like conducting from afar is the moment when a piece really starts to feel playable. But getting there is always a challenge, and pushing through that challenge is the toughest part.

It's really kinda fun to go back to a piece that I used to know really well and dust off the cobwebs. "Now how did this section go? .. I have no idea what chord that was. Hrm... maybe if I start from a phrase earlier and play into it... oh... oh that's how it went!"

>Are you a tetraplegic? Don't worry, we will just literally rewire your nervous system to give you functioning limbs again. Do you have tiny tumor in your pancreas?

I find it humorous that you use paralysis as the 'don't worry' disease -- it's (quite literally) one of the least treatable conditions we know of, while simultaneously being one of the oldest recorded.

I get the comparison that you're trying to create, but paralysis (more specifically paralysis caused by nerve damage) is by no means a closed case -- and virtually no one (compared to the suffering population) has access to treatment options that change quality of life by any significant means.

Aside from those qualms I mentioned, I think that comparing a quickly-fatal disease (pancreatic cancer) with a set of conditions that shortens lifespan and decreases quality of life (tetraplegia) , but is generally a maintainable condition if acute treatment is survived, is a comparison built upon weak premises.

disclosure : I have a spinal cord injury at my C5 vertebrae. In Europe i'm a tetraplegic, in the United States i'm a quadriplegic, but by whichever lingo you want to go by i'm effectively uncured. My condition has remained unchanged since my injury -- so I definitely have 'skin in the game' on this topic.

'Don't worry.. .. give you functioning limbs again.' would be seen by quite a few other paralyzed folks I know to be pretty offensive. I'm thick skinned, but many others aren't. The immobility granted by a nerve injury is just one of many terrible experiences a sufferer of such a condition may go through.

In other words: "Ignore the loss of bladder and bowel control, infertility and ED, the triggering of auto-immune diseases, breathing irregularity, heart arrhythmia, generally much reduced life-span, and the necessity for round-the-clock nursing care, here's an arm back!" is not an effective enough treatment for which we can say 'Don't worry' yet.

I do have hope -- but the techie in me has more faith in the pursuit of BCI/Spinal-cord-skipping rather than biological treatments.

Imagine that if the system ever goes down, it's down for good. So any kernel patches have to be made while it's live.

Thank you for covering this issue properly. I cannot thank you enough. As a disabled individual, I appreciate you telling it for what it actually is here. That can be hard to do.