New member with 9 week old

[Karenw3]

Hello, I was in your same situation when my daughter was born in March of 2002. We chose to have her surgery at 5 mo. old to get the best possible outcome for her. We did not really see any movement in her arm at all until 4 mo. old and then she could only lift her arm slightly from a laying-down position and she could wiggle her fingers. She had nerve graft surgery at 5 months and then mod-quad surgery at 12 months old. To date, that is all she has needed. She is functioning quite well, with only some difficulty in elbow/ biceps function. (Her main weakness is putting her hand on her hip, touching her stomach, etc). She has pretty good shoulder function. She is now 6 years old and is involved in ballet, soccer, piano and is a great runner. Also a wonderful student and has had no problems with her arm/ hand function at school so far. We feel that her early interventions( surgery and lots of occupational therapy--including aqua therapy and NMES and E-stim) has really been the reason that she is doing so well by age 6. It sounds like you are really on the ball, and I hope all goes well for you and your baby.

[crystal]

My story of giving birth to Jade is similar. but it happened 8 years ago. We are still in the middle of the lawsuit! It is a long process. My daughter had a nerve graph at 4 months. it was the best thing i ever did for her. I would do it again in a heart beat. We lived in St Louis at the time. but chose houston for surgery. Now she goes to Shriners in PHilly.

[peggiesue]

My son had surgery at 5 months old to the day. I have been told that after 5 months the outcome may not be as good because of nerve regeneration factors. This surgery was done in 2000. Maybe things have changed since then. My son had C-7 torn (avulsed) from the spinal cord and c5 & c6 damaged. they took nerves from the back of his calves and re-inserted them in his neck. They grafted and he is doing much better. His left arm just hung at his side, no movement, nothing. When they did the surgery, they had to open him up to see just how bad it was, so we didn't even know if they could do anything, but they were able to. Glad you are so proactive in getting things done! That's probably one of the best things you can do. Hope all goes well for you.

[peggiesue]

FYI: when looking for an attorney, make sure you get references from other people and actually check them. Also, google the lawyers name. You'd be suprised what you can find out about them. Good luck!!!

[beth richter]

My daughter had the nerve reconstruction surgery when she was 4 months old, we live in Georgia and flew out to Houston Texas for the surgery as well as the 2 following surgeries (mod-quad and triangle tilt)..She has had an incredible recovery (shes 4 now)

[Cara]

My daughter is LOBPI and is now 7 she has had nerve graft surgery and ModQuad. We did not have luck pursuing legal action because the hospital covered their butts. I would suggest looking into your state's early intervention program. In Indiana it is called first steps. We were able to get PT and OT services in our home at no charge from the age of 3 mo to 3 yrs. At the age of three she was evaluated and accepted into the school special education program for PT serevices. (Don't let the special ed label freak you out, she will be in 3rd grade next year in the gifted and talented program.)