Re: When should I stop hoping for recovery without surgery?
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 2:35 pm
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
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