United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

That is CRAZY! I have never heard of anyone being in OR for that ,long for anyhting with this injury. I am interested in what was done..........

COurt xx

Ellen,
Hi! Yes I have got good movement back in my bicep. My accident was Aug 02 and op was Sept 02. I can bend my elbow up quite well and the bicep muscle is noticable. I also have more recently got a bit of wrist bend and can sort of pull my fingers in a little bit. It is quite incredible.
They grafted 4 across from the other side and mostly used nerves from my legs. For 1 of them they harvested my ulna nerve from my bpi arm and used it for grafting because they needed more nerve and they were convinced they would never get hand function back. The unla nerve functions you little finger and some other small movements inc some thumb movements. It is a much bigger and healthier nerve than the ones from your legs and it also had it's own blood supply when it was grafted. It is now the one giving me all my movement and the other 3 haven't done much. I don't have any straighten but gravity does that for me. I have to imagine I am moving my right arm (which is gone) to make these movements happen in the left arm. I cant use it for anything much and ever time I bend the arm (use to bicep) my hand turns plam up so I can't try and get anything in my hand. It is also quite weak, hand especially. I thing the doc are amazed, but they are trying to achieve some functional use for me which I don't have yet but the big bonus is being able to control the arm a bit instead of it flopping around totally flail. It has built up a bit of muscle around my shoulder which helps hold it in the socket better. But the weight is still a huge issue, especially as I am so light on the other side. The shoulder and everything is gone there.
Anyway thanks for asking.
Bye and Merry Christmas!!!