Chase back from primary w/Belzberg

[babyryd]

Hello all,
We're back from having primary w/Dr Belzberg and Dr Redett. Chase seems to be doing great. As it turns out, he avulsed C8-T1, C7 is questionable, and C5-C6 were trashed but they hope there's a connection (pathology on these is not good, but this is where they did all their work). They connected spinal accessory to suprascapular for shoulder stability and harvested surals from lower legs for all the grafting on C5-C6. Legs don't look so great, but they only made 3 nice incisions in shoulder/inner arm and glued all incisions. The surgery was quite long as expected - 11 hrs and the first 1 1/2 days post-op were ugly, but once he got off the IV, he turned the corner (he was too drugged up/!) Surgery was 6/23 and we flew home 6/26 am. His pain seems to be great, only taking Tylenol and his gabapentin. We are very pleased with Dr Belzberg and Dr Redett, they make an excellent team and Belzberg is an incredible person and very down to earth. He's already called us at home and would like to continue w/phone clinics as Chase recovers. He told us with every decision during surgery, he imagined Chase being his own son and that helped in determining their "next move". I will say, their scheduling process seriously lacks and he agrees, but we traveled for his expertise and we are very pleased and thankful for him. While we were waiting in pre-op, we met a wonderful man named Bob, who had surgery w/Belzberg & Redett 2 days earlier and he came down to meet Chase to encourage him before going in to surgery. He's a great person with an incredible family and we spent our recovery days "hanging out" with them. It really made it nice to have someone with the same injury to share and relate to. Unfortunately, this man has severe pain and is staying on for pain management, but we will continue to pray for him and hope to encourage him to check out UBPN for support. Thank you all for your care, support and suggestions - you've made a huge difference in our lives with this injury and we hope to be able to reach out to others as well. Take care!
Lourdes

[Kath]

Lourdes
I hope Chase can continue to make progress and his pain will soon decrease. I am glad to hear you had such a good positive experience. I have met Dr.Belzberg and he is a very nice person so I am not surprised by your comments. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this update. Please keep us posted on Chases progress
Kath

[trishcal]

Lourdes, I live in San Ramon and I think I work with a friend of yours - Kurt K.? I had a car accident a few months ago and have been suffering from a winging scapula. Kurt mentioned to me about your son's accident since I've been doing research on my own injury. Funny to see all your postings here because I have been thinking about your son since I heard of his accident. I'm so glad to hear that Chase has made progress. Best of luck to you. Trish

[babyryd]

Hi Trish, I'm probably still toast from Chase's surgery and traveling, but I can't recall Kurt K...any hints? How does he know us? Well, I saw your post on winging scapula and have a friend who also injured his long thoracic (dirtbike) although I don't believe he's really researching surgeons yet. I'm still pretty new to this as well, but I believe the brachial plexus includes C5-T1 and runs from cervical spine across the shoulder and down the arm and hand, whereas long thoracic nerve originates from C5,C6 and C7, but runs vertically along the ribs. I did find a good thread on bi/winged scapula w/last post 5/10/05 and includes 10 pages of posts - if you haven't seen it, it may be helpful. Good luck!
Lourdes

[trishcal]

Hi Lourdes, Kurt Kennedy is my co-workers name. Also live/works in Pleasanton. He has two young sons, so he probably knows you through the kids. Thanks for help with brachial plexus explanation -I get pretty confused with the terminology. Also, that link you mentioned is just what I needed. Thanks much, Trish

[babyryd]

Trish, Mystery solved. We know them from church - his wife is one of Chase's Sunday school teachers. They're a great family. I know what you mean about the terminology. Since Chase accident in March of this year, I've spent numerous hours researching this and feel like I finally have a descent understanding. This site has been invaluable. I'd love to keep in touch as you learn more about your injury and options. Take care! Lourdes

[EllenB]

Hi Lourdes,

Sounds like things have worked out well for Chase re surgery. It is so helpful that Belzburg is also a pain specialist. Please keep us posted as things progress.

John goes back to Mayo August 9th for a checkup & some tweaking surgery to adjust his hand. I'm glad he can get this out of the way before school starts back. And guess what - he leaves next week for 2 weeks in Japan! The exchange student he'll be living with has a mother who's a nurse - and they've been studying bpi since the realized John would be staying with him. Should be a great experience - we're really excited for him.

Take care,

Ellen

[babyryd]

Hi Ellen, We just got back from a long road trip...Nevada, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and back to CA! It was a lot of fun and Chase is doing great.

Very exciting news about John! I can't believe he's going to Japan - that's very exciting. I went to Japan on business about 10 years ago and loved it - he'll have a wonderful time and it's so great that he'll be with a family who's actually studying up on BPI - good for you all. Sounds like John's doing really well. I'd love to hear about his trip once he returns and do keep us posted on his "tweaking" surgery as well.

Take care,
Lourdes