United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Thanks for your responses. It helps to know that others had it around his age and were happy with that choice.
Dr. Nath e-mailed me a response(very nice!). He said that the earlier the modquad is done the less risk of the shoulder becoming dislocated. Not to say that it might not happen anyway (shoulder dislocation). Their preferred age for the modquad is 12-14 months.

Hannah has a LBPI. She had the primary at 6 1/2months and she just had the Mod Quad last week. She was one week shy of her first birthday. Her injury is not as severe as some other children. She couldn't touch the back of her head with her hand and that was our deciding factor. Good Luck

Lisa

It is interesting that you say your child can get to 80degrees and you are happy with that...I looked at video of Juliana recently, the one we made just before mq...she was about a year old. I thought they would NOT consider her a candidate because she was doing "so well." Well, we did mq at 14 months and it was incredible. This is a fabulous surgery. It allows some version of "normal" movement. She couldn't get her arm parallel to the floor with out using her whole body to get there. After mq, she could, without her whole body, easily get to 90 and with some compensation get to 110. It was the best thing we ever did.
hope it helps,
claudia

I was thrilled when Matthew got his arm up 20 degrees because before that there was nothing. We chose to do mod quad for arm positioning (Matthew was losing function do to internal rotation), for our family we wouldn't have chosen to do surgery for increase in degrees only.
Cindy

OOPS need to finish
we wouldn't have done mod quad at a young age just to increase degrees. Think I'm done now (LOL)
Cindy

Thomas was 15 1/2 months old when he had mod-quad Aug 13, 2002. Just 3 months ago. He had no shoulder movement. He had primary when he was 5 1/2 months nerve grafts to 5,6,7. It is amazing to see both arms come up when he reaches for me....... He is gotten so much more movement. I was not going to do it because he never had shoulder and I thought what will he gain because they could not tell me he would get movement but he did and I am so thankful I did it. He can move both arms. He still can't lift it over his head but it is to his face. And I will take that again he had nothing to begin with. Hope this helps. He did well started walking in his splint......
carron

Steph, Thank you for posting your question - I've learned a lot from the responses. We are having the same issues with Sophie - though she didn't need primary. TCH says MQ as soon as possible. Our specialists say to wait till age 2. We are trying some alternative treatments to help keep the muscles from tightening - they are really helpful, but not too much improvement in arm over head so far. She is being monitored closely by OTs for decreasing function and disclocation risk.

It is very, very difficult to agree to surgery based on a 5-minute evaluation from TCH (at a picnic) when our specialists who know her case very well say no. But then again, everyone says TCH knows the best. So, we are waiting cautiously. As long as she does not get worse, I am comfortable waiting a little bit to see - especially because it gives me time to let this sink in and get comfortable with doing surgery (it's working). We are also thinking of a third opinion from Dr. Waters. I would be interested in reading your email from Dr. Nath - could you post it?
Good luck.

Hi, my daughter had primary surgery at 6 months. TCH doctors have suggested that she have the modquad, but the original surgeon believes in recovery time and since he has done wonders on her I am going to wait and see what he decides.

My son had Mod at 14monthsm the youngest one ever that young and we are so happy with his improvement. Dr. Nath is wonderful. and I believe he wouldn't leave you astray !

My daughter just had the mod quad 1 week ago after having just turned 3.She had no primary surgery. Can you let me know what movements your son gained from the mod quad and why was it suggested that he have the cap. surgery??