United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Gunther~
Amputation is NOT an alternative to shoulder fusion! I have elbow flextion (90 degress) and full use of my hand. Why would I cut that off? I will wait to see what my other options are. Every injury in BP is different, no two alike. I've had mine for 17 yrs now and my doctors are @ Mayo. My arm is not going to fall off one day. My doctors said it is not necessary at this point and my PT @ Northwestern, Chicago said to hold off as long as posssible. "Go for it" is not the best advice. Sorry to said it so harsh but I've done alot of research for YEARS along with seeing Doctors all over the states and I'll will continue to do my research and get other opinons before I dive into this permanent decision like shoulder fusion.
Kathleen

Kathleen- did not mean to offend! of course each injury is different. I too have total function of everything distal to my elbow. But without the fusion there was no platform for what little biceps and brachialis function i had to bend my arm. now i can. this is just my opinion as are all the comments in this forum. Mine is no better or worse than any other. To make your decision based on anything you find here without doing your own research would be foolish. I feel that a fusion is a great thing and highly recommend it. Karen

PS...I have had my fusion since 1987, so i too have been dealing with this injury for a long time (1996). Robert Leffert MD at Mass General, one of the founding fathers of shoulder fusions was my surgeon, so i am biased.

and yes, they did consider amputation back then for this type of injury.

fusion since 83

Are you saying Gunther they talked about amputating your arm even though you had a perfectly good hand, everything working below elbow and partial biceps/brachialis. Seems a bit extreme.

Aurelia- It was on the list of options but one they didn't really consider. But prior to anything else they at one time figured that a prosthesis would give a person more functionality than a flail arm. With me, at that time, a 16 year old female, we figured many of the tendon transfer options were too disfiguring. I've been extremely happy with my fusion, although i know nothing else. I am still weak in the elbow secondarily to the c5, c6 avulsion but I am able to curl 5lbs and raise my arm to 90 degrees. In fact, unless I tell someone or they see they scars no one really notices.