United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

It's been 4 months since our son was in his accident & is having surgery for BPI on Feb.16th. His right arm does not move from the shoulder to his hand. He has feeling from his shoulder to his elbow.For the last month or so his pain level has been about a 2,with the exception of the overwhelming tingling & numbing & sometimes stabbing feelings in his hand & pointer, middle and ring fingers. Our questions are : Does the pain get worse or chronic after the surgery? I'm not asking about the first few wks. after, but in the months to come.2, What type of meds are used since with oxycotin doctors want people off of it after 2 wks.3, Does the overwheming feelings in the hand ever end? 4,Do all fingers bend or only the thumb, pointer & middle? Any answers will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks much.
Rox

Roxanne my son David had his surgery on January 3rd and he has tingling now that he never had before and as for pain he had none before the surgery and he has pain now and to me that is a blessing he gets his cast off on February 16th and we will go from there but as for the pain each and everyone with this injury it hits differently if you know what I mean not much for me to tell you and I am sorry. Judy

Hi Rox,

Depending on what's done in the surgery, your son might feel like he's been hit by a truck. For John, the surgery involved taking nerves / muscles / tendons from other parts of his body & moving them into his damaged arm... so everything was sore. But John was on his feet by the 2nd day, walking around the hospital by the 4th & released by the 5th or 6th. I don't remember how old your son is, but the younger ages tend to "bounce" pretty well.

I might have already written you about pain meds - John originally took 3600 Neurontin, 200 Topomax & 100 Amiptriptyline daily - but within two years of surgery was completely off all pain meds. That doesn't always happen - and pain can be pretty different between different people. I'd strongly suggest you find a pain specialist, since there is a lot of trial & error to figure out what works best for each person.

Take care,

Ellen

I haven't had hardly any pain from my Nov 23,2005 nerve tranfer surgery and have since returned back to
work for 2 weeks now as an auto insurance adjuster. I am still wearing an arm sling which I will start to wean off. I perform my own therapy by muscle stimulation and range of motion exercises.
The donor leg feels as if nothing ever happened.
I expected to have a hard time after the surgery but have to say it's been a breeze and wish i hadn't waited 19 years to have this done.
I hope your son has the same results. He will be in VERY capable hands.

Thank you so much for answering on the board. Yes you did tell me about Jonh,but with everything we talked about & so much on my mind I've been having more than my fair share of Senior Moments.HAHA!! We leave tomorrow & Thurs. is the big day. I'll let you know how it goes.

Take care,
Rox

Hi Judy,

I wish all the best in Davids' recovery. Thurs. is the day for our son., so I won't be loking at the board for awhile. Take care & thanks again.
Roxane

Wow, your recovery sounds amazing!!!! That is wonderful for you. Thank you for the info.It's so nice to know that we are not alone & to have people get back to each other on these topics.

Take care,
Roxane

My son had 3 nerves that were avulsed from the spinal cord - still had hand and wrist movement. He had his surgery done at the Mayo Clinic and three nerves were transferred. It has now been 4 months since his surgery and we just returned from Mayo this week. Two of the three nerves are firing again and my son can actually bend his arm using his bicep muscle now. It is extremely weak but wonderful news! My son did have pain after surgery but they put him on Neurontin and his pain now is very minimal. I wish you the best.

i had my surgery last friday.... my thumb use to have the extreme pins feling, but now my pinky over does that so much that I don't even notice mt thumb. Also if someone lightly touched the area between my neck and shoulder, it was an intense sensitivity that caused pain. I don't have that now.

They explained the pinky pain to me.... sinced the had the use some of the nerve that controls my pinky to transfer to my bicep, that causes the pain.

rocket ray - 19 years and then you had surgery?! i'm glad to hear that everything has gone well- i'm so very happy for you.

my friend is contemplating possible surgery (if any doctors are even willing to take him on - he has bilateral tpbi and has had it for 10 years). since you had surgery after 19 years, i was wondering if you could share some more info about your injury, how it happened, why you waited and how you came to the decision to go for surgery. also, where were you treated and with whom?

thanks soooo much. and congratulations on your wonderful and quick recovery.

all the best!