United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi Catirina,
its good to hear from you, I hope all goes well for you on monday, we had Keelan at the central remedial clinic on wednesday and we have to wait and see for another two months, she does lift her arm slightly, and can move her fingers, we have to do lots of physio with her as she is a bit stiff, we pray that she will improve further, I will be thinking of you all and let me know how it goes , Sharon..

hi im new at this internet stuff.my son has erbs in right arm he was born 25/11/03 and also suffered a fractured humerus in left arm pretty traumatic birth.it was only thru researching erbs myself that led me to crc they are fantastic eoghan is having an mri on wed emg on friday and surgery on tuesday 8/6 it is to me a lonely disability in that you dont generally meet others i would love to get to talk to you esp as we live in same county

im not quite sure if i submitted my message properly..
my son eoghan has right erbs palsy born 25/11/03 also sustaining a fractured left humerus i find the crc staff brilliant.eoghan is having mri on wed emg on fri and surgery on tue 8/6. iwould love to get in touch with you esp as we live in same county...

Hi Sharon:

My name is Krista and my daughter Mariella has a left brachial plexus injury from birth. She is 2 1/2 now. She had her first surgery in Jan of this year. She is doing wonderful now.

At birth she had hand and finger movement. She lifted her arm up at around 2 months old and also started to resist her ROMs. At 3 months she had active bicep function. She did not need nerve surgery. As the months went by she gained so much function and improved greatly. There is hope for a wonderful recovery! Stay positive. You WILL see progress as time goes by since it is already present at this time.

If you want to hear more about our story or if you would just like to email me to talk about things please feel free.

Ldybug4134@aol.com
Email me anytime!

Hope you are doing well.

~Krista~

Hello Null
if you would like to contact some other families in ireland, you should contact the Erb's Palsy Association of Ireland - they will be delighted to help you meet up with other families and they have a range of excellent leaflets etc for parents.I hope Eoghan's surgery goes well - is Darragh Hynes performing the surgery? - I have been fortunate enough to meet him a few times and he's a wonderful man.Feel free to contact me if you wish
info@erbspalsygroup.com
Karen

You need to do range of motions everyday for every diaper change. You will see improvement little by little after 2.5 months. If not at 3 months old, surgery maybe helpful. My daughter has recovered a lot and now her supination is coming back at 1 year old.

hi karen i will contact you when my sister shows me how to email.... eoghan was operated on by daragh and kevin cronin..his c5was ruptured so was fixable with a donor nerve his c6 & c7 are both evulsed torn from spine so cant be fixed other two nerves fine..i have him home now..he wasnt casted is this usual?mr cronin favours no cast bot this goes against the info i have read..i now have to look to the future and just do my best for him so he grows up full of confidence and aware hes not alone and there are others out there.. i now feel really angry towards delivering hospital for their negligence

Debbie,

I don't think casting is standard after primary; from what I've seen most use some sort of soft immobilization. Casting is usually done after secondary surgery on the shoulder.

Kate

Hi Null
glad that Eoghan is home safe now - don't worry about the casting, my son Gavin didn't have a cast after his surgery either and he had excellent results.
If you can't get to e mail, if you post here and put your e mail address in when you register, I can e mail you if it's any help - or you can phone me if you want - I can call you straight back to save your phone bill - my number is 02476 413293 ( not sure of the code you need to dial from Eire tho!)

Kate- over here in the Uk it is standard practice with most surgeons to cast the baby to immobilize after a nerve graft surgery now.
I'm not sure if it is the same type of cast as in the Us - it's usually made from Plaster of paris and is on for between 3 and six weeks post operatively.

About soft immobilization -
I think some facilities are trying to get away from this. It is a thought that immobilizing the arm across the body is teaching the arm internal rotation habits. Just some food for thought.

Cindy