Got TBPI from Football

[admin]

Hello my fellow TBPI friends. Well my story starts like this. I play semi pro football in Ontario,Canada. On June 10th , 2006 I was going in for a tackle when the running back at the last second dropped his helmet on my left side of my neck/shoulder area. This caused me to pass out on impact and to lose all feeling from the neck down. I regained my right side before going to the hospital but didn't get my left side back. The next day my left leg came back but my left arm has yet to come back. I have had CT scans, EMG and 3 MRI's to date. I have a total avulsion of my C5-C8 and T1. I am having lots of pain as it is also cooler now in Ontario. My questions are what operations might work the best? Will the nerves ever regenerate to the spine? What are the best ways of dealing with the pain? I have strong faith that things will get better for me. I have 75% of my body working so that is very good considering where I was at on June 10th.

[ptrefam]

Tyson, Sorry to hear of your accident. But, you have found the right place to get answers. My son didn't have any avulsions so I am not the best one to answer. Hopefully Ellen will respond shortly as her son seems to have had similar injuries. But, no if they are avulsed the nerves will not regenerate to the spine. There are surgeries (nerve grafts and splitting the nerves) that can help. I know Ellen's son had this done and does have some movement. Her son as well as mine was seen at Mayo in Minnesota. I think they figure that 6 months is the best time frame to do these surgeries as at that point they went in to look at Dustin's nerves to see if he needed a graft. So, you may not want to wait too much longer before seeing a BP specialist if you haven't already seen one.
Sue


Message was edited by: ptrefam

[srhykerd]

Tyson, My daughter Melanie was 20 years old when she was in a motorcycle accident. She too had avulsions of C5 through T1. On May 3 of this year (after almost 6 months after the accident) she had sural nerve transfers and a gracilis muscle transfer. She also had her spinal accessory and intercostal nerves transfered into her right arm. At this point she is just beginning to get some biceps movement, which is very exciting. Fortunately her pain hasn't been too bad. She keeps it under control by taking neurontin 300mg 3 to 4 times a day. I think the pain is very individual for everyone and seeing a pain specialist is the best bet. As far as the nerves growing back into the spine, that's impossible at this time. Hopefully with stem cell research someday we will find a way to have the nerves regenerate at the spine, but for now there is no cure. That's why they do the nerve and muscle transfers from other parts of the body. Keeping the faith and keeping your spirits up are half the battle. I wish you the best of luck. Sue

[Tyson]

Thaqnk you Sue for your help. I just came from seeing the Doctor. He is going to perform the same surgery as your daughter had. I am looking forward to the next phase in the road to recovery. I would like to know what she was told about getting hand movement back? In 4-5 weeks i will have my own surgery.

[srhykerd]

Tyson,
It's been since May 3rd when Mel had her surgery and she already has her biceps starting to move. She has follow up appts at Mayo on Dec. 6th and 7th where they are supposed to be advising her on different exercises to do. When she had her surgery the doctors told her it would be at least a year until she got any hand movement and it would be only rudimentary movements. It seems like now however when she tries to move her arm her hand slightly squeezes. We're all praying for the best. I hope surgery goes well for you!

[EllenB]

Hi Tyson, and welcome to the club nobody wants to join. (Who did I steal this quote from? I forgot.) I'm the Ellen that was mentioned on an earlier reply, and my son John had all five bpi nerves avulsed four years ago when he was 15. He was a competitive cyclist & was on a training ride when he was hit by a car (and we knew the driver, which is pretty wierd considering the size of Atlanta.)

John had two major surgeries at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and for each one the team moved a gracilis muscle/tendon/nerve from his leg into his arm. One helped strengthen his ability to bend his arm, and the other was for his hand to grip & release. Nowdays I think Mayo does both these procedures at the same time. It sounds like you're headed in a similar direction.

You've already gotten some good advice and I wanted to address just a couple things. One is re hand movement. Since John's surgery was almost four years ago, I'm sure there have been a lot of advances since then. But for John at least, he wasn't able to have individual finger movement because there simply weren't enough donor nerves for that. Instead, his fingers & thumb come together as one gripping motion. Also, again due to lack of donor nerves, John can't rotate his wrist so his hand stays at a 90 degree angle. It looks natural, but this means he can't pick up a soda (vertical) and then pick up a pencil on a table (horizontal).

I also wanted to address the pain. Some people do find it gets better over time, partly due to increased coping skills such as staying busy, keeping stress at bay, getting sufficient sleep. John had intense pain after his injury & was on large dosages of three different meds. However, with the movement he got from surgery (as well as the coping techniques), he was able to get completely off all the pain meds within a couple years. I highly recommend you seek out a pain specialist rather than expecting your regular doctor to help you with it. Neurological pain is squirrely at best, and since different people respond best to different meds & amounts, it's good to get someone with a lot of experience so there isn't too much trial & error.

Hope that all makes sense. Keep asking questions because usually somebody can help.

Take care,

Ellen

[Tyson]

Well finally it's the day before my surgery and I'm really ready to get this stared. I will be back to let everyone know how it went. I am going to post some before and after pics when i get a chance. Thanking everyone for there help.

[EllenB]

Hi Tyson, we're pulling for you & will keep you close in thoughts & prayers. Please let us know how everything went as soon as you can!

Ellen

[ptrefam]

Best of luck with the surgery!! You're in our prayers too.
Sue

[kaz]

Good luck man! hope it goes great for you!