PARALYZED THEN RECOVERED?

[punchy sue]

Karen That's great news. I agree with everything Suzie said. I am LTBPI and most probably have avulsed roots but I still do the type of exercises Suzie describes. Ihad been a massage therapist for four years before my accident so I have very good knowledge of where the muscles are and what motion they make. I would say that it would be in your interest to go to a college book store or maybe even one of the large super bookstores and pick up an anatomy coloring book. for the arm it's pretty easy to follow. It names the muscle. You color the name of the muscle and the muscle on the drawling (denoted by muscle a,b,c etc.). this will give you a good idea of just how the mucsles lie under the skin and also what move they do. When I exercise my arm I specifically think of what muscle I am using an just imagine the muscle actually contracting while passively moving the muscle. That is just what Suzie said but in a different way. Sometimes I am not the best a describing things. Your muscles do have memory. It was incredible, when I was massaging people and they would be in a certian position or I would work a muscle a certain way, they would remember something specific to the muscle that I was working. For example, I would have people remebering falling out of trees, or off bikes, or diving and hitting their head in a pool like 20 to 30 years ago. This would happen in the middle of a massage. My client would say, "I know why my hip hurts so bad there, when i was seven . . . "This happens alot with abuse cases too, where people remember being physically or sexually abused while being massaged because the muscles are having so sort of recall due to the clients position or massage movement. It's amazing what the body remebers. Sorry, I just went off on a tangent. I'm drinking coffee. Just do what Suzie said!
LOVE SUSAN

[KGGUNNS]

HI SUZIE & SUSAN,
THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH FOR YOUR EXPERTISE ADVISE FOR THE RECOVERY OF MY INJURY. I WILL MOST DEFINATELY FOLLOW BOTH OF YOUR ADVISE. SUZIE, I DO THAT A LOT. I TELL MY ELBOW AND WRIST TO MOVE ALL THE TIME. IT DOESN'T LISTEN TO ME, BUT I TRY. SUSAN, I WILL DO WHAT YOU SUGGESTED AS WELL. IT IS GOOD TO KNOW WHAT MUSCLES FUNCTION AND WHERE THEY ARE. I AM GOING TO MY ORTHO APPT. NOW. I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. LOVE, KAREN

[KGGUNNS]

HI SUZIE,
WELL I SAW MY ORTHO....HE'S NOT VERY FRIENDLY. HIS EXACT WORDS TO ME WERE "I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG THIS WILL TAKE FOR YOUR ARM TO COME BACK, IF IT WILL", I AM GOING TO PROVE HIM WRONG. I AM GOING TO TRY YOUR TECHNIQUE CONSTANTLY. I WANT A RECOVERY....SOON. SUZIE, WITH DAVID'S RESULTS, COULD THE DOCTORS TELL THE EXACT EXTENT OF THE STRETCH DONE TO HIS NERVES? IS HE SEEING A BP SPECIALIST? I WONDER IF I SHOULD? I AM NOT HAPPY WITH THE ORTHO'S BEDSIDE MANNER. TALK TO YOU SOON. LOVE, KAREN

[Henry]

Hi Karen,

Go past your orthro and don't look back. When I had my testing seceral years ago for the spinal leak in my neck that was making me gimpy, the ortho guy looked at me for 3 minutes, spent most of that time admiring his reflection, and then told me to wear a lift in my shoe.

My family doctor, bless him, listened to me and we continued on until the neuro surgeon found the real problem. If it had been left to the ortho guy, I'd be in chair in ten years.

Get your family doctor to put you in touch with a neuro ASAP.

Henry

[jennyb]

the problem may not be that he's an ortho-some of the worlds most prominent bpi docs are orthos, it sounds to me like the bloke is just a prat, frankly. Whatever your chosen bpi docs field (be it ortho, hand surgery, neuro, plastic surgery....) just make sure he or she sees lots and lots of adults with trauma bpi injuries, not just a few. Sometimes doctors hide their ignorance by pretending there is nothing that can be done, from what you say in other posts there is plenty of help for you so don't accept what this doctor says, get another opinion.
Good luck :0)

[Suzie]

ABSOLUTLY SEE AN BPI SPECIALIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!9(there, was that strong enough??HA!!)--David's ortho guy, a very nice man and well reespected in orthopedics in the area where we live, had a "wait and see" attitude--I wouldn't settle for that, hence the research, the finding of this WONDERFUL website, and the referral to Dr. Belzberg at Johns Hopkins-(which is where I worked when I first got out of Nursing school, and is only 35 minutes away from our home)---he is the guy who explained everything FULLY to us(frankly scared us to death), and stressed the importance of range of motion exercises, EMG studies, and fast interviention--NOT a wait and see approach!!!!! Look on this website karen, and find a specialist near you--or come see Dr. Belzberg in Maryland!!! It's a great place to visit!!
Sorry your ortho guy had the personality of a ROCK--you deserve better than that with all you are going thru--now go demand better!!!!! ~~Suzie

[KGGUNNS]

HI HENRY, JENNY & SUZIE,

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR COMMENTS ON GETTING A SECOND OPINION. MY APPT. TODAY JUST HASN'T BEEN SITTING RIGHT WITH ME SINCE I HAVE BEEN HOME. I AM GOING TO TAKE ALL YOUR ADVISE. HENRY, I AM GOING TO CONTACT DR. MIDHA'S OFFICE TOMORROW AND SEE WHAT THEY SAY. IF THAT IS A NO GO, I AM GOING TO SEARCH TILL MY HEARTS CONTENT TO FIND A BP SPECIALIST IN TORONTO. I KNOW OF ONE IN LONDON IF I DON'T HAVE ANY LUCK IN TORONTO. SUZIE I CAN'T AFFORD TO GO TO MARYLAND. IT SOUNDS LIKE DAVID REALLY LUCKED OUT WITH A GREAT DOC OUT THERE. IF I COULD, I WOULD. THANKS ANYWAYS. I WILL LET YOU KNOW MY OUTCOME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT....ALL OF YOU. IT IS SO NICE TO KNOW THE SUPPORT IS THERE AND THAT YOU ALL CARE SO MUCH. LOVE, KAREN

[KGGUNNS]

HI HENRY, JENNY AND SUZIE,

WELL I TOOK YOUR ADVISE. I PHONED DR. MIDHA'S OFFICE IN TORONTO. HE IS A BP SPECIALIST AND HIS SECRETARY SAID TO ABSOLUTELY COME IN TO SEE HIM. I GO FOR MY EMG NEXT FRIDAY AND AS SOON AS THE RESULTS COME IN I HAVE TO GET MY FAMILY DOC TO FAX THE RESULTS OF THE EMG AND MRI TO HIS OFFICE. SHE HAS ALREADY BOOKED AN APPT FOR ME FOR DEC. 16TH. SHE SAID IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO GET THIS DEALT WITH BEFORE 6 MONTHS AFTER THE INJURY. IT IS SO NICE TO TALK TO A PROFESSIONAL OFFICE WHO CARES. SO GUYS, IT IS DONE AND I AM SO GRATEFUL TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR GENEROSITY, KINDNESS AND CONCERN FOR ME. I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON ANY CHANGES OR CONCERNS. THANKS AGAIN. LOVE, KAREN
P.S. THANKS HENRY FOR THE TIP ON DR. MIDHA

[Lorrie]

I agree with Jennyb. Get to a bpi specialist. My mri didn't show a sever either but my axillary nerve was severed and there was a lot of scarring on my radial nerve. The doc removed the scar tissue and my triceps are starting to come back - wouln't have without the surgery. He did a nerve transfer for the axillary as well - won't know until Jan. earliest whether this was successful. He's going in again to look at the suprascapular nerve. Anyways long and short MRIs aren't always sensitive enuf to see all the damage. a BPI SPECIALIST WILL BE ABLE TO JUDGE MORE EFFECTIVELY WHETHER EXPLORATORY SURGERY IS RECOMMENDED. sINCE SUCCESS RATES(oops had cap locks on) are higher if surgery is done 6 mths or less post-injury I wouldn't waste time getting to one.

[Dave m]

I agree with what others have said, it is extremely important to see a BPI specialist ASAP after nerve trauma. My arm and hand was totally flail for months but i was lucky enough to get good recovery. Bicep flickered about 6 months post injury and so my BPI doc said as you are recovering naturally he didn't need to do a nerve graft. The muscles in my hand never recovered but i can bend my fingers using the muscles in my forearm. BPI doc thinks the injury was mainly stretch with probably avulsed T1. Good luck.
Dave