When should I stop hoping for recovery without surgery?

[athos]

Hey George,

great to see you back! Have u been away for a while, or just lurking? Hope everything is great for you and family. How's the arm doing, especially radial palsy? Are u gonna have that finger/wrist-extension surgery?

Yeah, I guess a time will come when I'm gonna leave the boards permanently and put BPI entirely behind me and get on with my life without thinking about it anymore. I guess for me it's possible because my injury has been mild compared to others. I now lead 99% normal life. But I'm not gonna leave yet. Of course, needless to say, the boards have been a great source of support and information, and have made the injury a lot easier to deal with. For this reason I thank the whole community in this board and the UK board. We are all in the same boat so to speak, and we are not alone as we prolly all thought when we first heard of "brachial plexus". I remember I realized in the hossie that my arm was not broken at all, at the same time I couldn't move it, I thought: a freak injury that's happened only to me, how are the doctors gonna deal with this freak injury?

Anyway, as regards recovery-time, I think it's at least 3 years long. I am now 4 years post accident and I like to think that there is still more improvement to come. There prolly is, but it's very slow and, being so slow, it's very hard to quantify. Eg. Last year wearing a certain jumper and heavy jacket I could not bring a cup of espresso to my mouth and drink it. This year I can, and reasonably easily too. Last year I was 3 years post accident. This means that I have had improvement during 4th year. The only way I can tell is because of my espresso drinking habit. About 2 yrs ago I couldn't drink a certain size glass full of water (without jumper and jacket). I could get it close to my mouth, but just couldnt drink from it. Now I can relatively easily, and so on.

So, in my case after 4 yrs there might still be recovery (I'm gonna check next year). But remember, no 2 injuries are the same. But docs generally agree that time-frame is at least 3 years long for those of us lucky enough to have any improvement.

Good to see ur post George. Ciao.

Athos

[George]

Hi Athos ! Good to hear from you again. Hows them transfers holding out?? Very good you are doing much better getting on!! I've been trying to do a little "getting on" meself ) But I don't think I'll leave these boards anytime soon. They are still a source of support that I won't find anywhere else. I've been lurking a lot lately, but assure you I read here very often. There is still a lot happening in this field, and I don't want to miss any of it.

This thread is about recovery, and just wanted all to know that I am still recovering, even after four plus years. Still no surgeries, and my thumb extension is still coming back. Docs say lets wait some more. They are amazed, and very pleased with the notion of muscle recovery after so long a period. My bicep has really toned up.......to the point of being able to curl a ten pound weight. Now...this may sound odd....but I look forward to really working that arm every chance I get. (could be the Christmas egg-nog though )

Great you are back to 99%, Athos!!!! Have thought about you guys across the pond there often. By the way....have you heard from Karl?? Would be good to get an update?? I'll e-mail you. Lots of catching up to do.......

Ciao
George

[athos]

Wow, so u can flex ur arm with bicept with a 10 pound weight!! That is impressive indeed. Presumably at this point ur wrist extends pretty well and strongly at least up to neutral, and u are looking for improvement mainly for your finger and thumb extension, right? If this were the case, it means that if u had surgery, it would only involve finger and thumb extension, not wrist extension.

I tried flexing my arm with bicept yesterday with a weight, and I could manage starting with straight arm towards the ground flex arm all the way up holding 1 litre of orange juice, ie., 1 kg, I think 2.2 pounds. Even with this relatively little strength there's so much u can do with the arm. But I have decided to buy a very light weight (1, 1.5 or 2 kg) so that I can exercize bicept, tricept and deltoid. Out of the 3 muscles the bicept is the weakest, perhaps because it's lower down.

As far as my secondary surgery is concerned, I am very pleased with the outcome, and I think my wrist extension is still gaining strength now. So, even for this surgery recovery is very lengthy. Fingers and thumb extend pretty well, to the point that I can open my hand enough to grab a standard bottle or a wide glass. So, for most purposes extension is good enough.

As regards Karl and co., I think they visit this board, but are more active in the UK board ( http://pub28.ezboard.com/fadultswithbra ... juriesfrm1 ), where u should come too.

Ciao for now, Athos

[athos]

The spelling teacher has made a spelling mistake himself. In my message above "bicept" should read "biceps". Pardon me, it's not my mother tongue.

If u speak English, avoid spelling mistakes because they make u look ignorant, particularly if u don't speak any other language. OK???

[athos]

"exercize" should be "exercise". Ouuuuuchhhh!!!!!

That should be it folks.

[ronin]

My accident was 12/12/93 and I have made NO progress. Total loss of r. arm (had in amputated in 95. I just got my 2nd set of MRI's completed yesterday and I have surgical consult tueday. All I'm looking for at this point is ANY pain relief and to finally get off methadone, morphine, oxycontin, clonazipam, temazepam ect. ect. (i don't take all these at once--i just rotate to stay sane i have some SERIOUS pain problems)
My tbpi was diagnosed as "Worse case scenario" so I guess recovery is very dependent on your case. I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat. I've been totally
disabled for 10 years--at times I've been literally bed-ridden with pain and medications are getting harder and harder to come by due to "politics". My Dr.s gave me about 2 years to get any recovery. So in my opinion-based on my personal experience-18 to 24 months. Good luck Ronin

[athos]

Yesterday I bought my 1 Kg weight (just over 2 pounds). I'm becoming a bit lazy with the swimming, especially now that the weather is chilly, so it's much easier just to stay at home and do exercises with my little weight.

Anyway, I can curl my arm (flex it using biceps) 5 times. After all the swimming I've been doing in the last few years, I thought my biceps would be a bit stronger by now. In any case, the strength I've got is good enough for most purposes. It's not much, but it's hugely appreciated. My triceps and deltoid are much stronger than biceps.

Also using this weight is very useful exercise for my wrist extension which is now due to my pronater teres muscle following tendon transfer surgery a couple of years ago.

Generally speaking I'm very satisfied with my progress after 4 years, and there might be some more to come. I certainly havent finished with my exercises/swimming.

I'm also very satisfied that, unlike so many of u, I'm in absolutely no pain at all...ok ok just some really mild occasional back and muscle pain, and nerve pain when I do ROM exercises.

Ciao for now, Athos

[charlottejenkins]

I UNDERSTAND SPELLING IS IMPORTANT.BUT.DO NOT JUDGE,
I HAVE A MEMORY LOSS ,I HAVE STARTED SCHOOL OVER FROM THE 1ST GRADE.SO I GRAUATED TWICE.
I WORK HARD AT SPELLING CORRECTLY.
I WENT TO COLLAGE I HAD A CAREER.NOW WITH TOB AND TBPI
I HAVE NOTHING,SO IGNORENCE IS TRULY FROM THOSE WHO ARE
NOTHING MORE THEN HIPOCRITS.
BEG FOR PITTY FOR YOURE INJUIRIES AND DISABILITIES.BUT TUFF ON EVERYONE ELSE.
LIFE GIVES US ALL SOMETHING GOOD.AND LIFE CAN GIVE ALOT OF US SOMETHING BAD.
SHARE THE HOPE NOT THE IGNORENCE.