United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

i am a 33 yr old male, sole supporter of family with 3 children. i suffered a rtbpi of on 2/12/06 due to a snowmobile/atv accident. i just went this week to a Dr. Eric Zager at the univ of penn and have been scheduled for surgery on 5/19/06. I'm not quite too sure exactly what the surgery is for, the dr. said he wants to see how severe the injury is and possibly do some nerve grafting and/or nerve transfers. he did say that he's hoping to restore some shoulder and elbow function but the chances of restoring hand and finger functions are extremly low. I am just wondering if anyone has heard anything on this doctor and if i'm going in the right direction. i am also getting a ct myleogram on 4/24/06 and hopefully that will tell me if i have avulsions. i'm wondering if doing surgery this soon is rushing it. any advice would be greatly appreciated. my family is not giving up and feel very strongly that i will get my functions back.

My son had similar surgery in Nov. 05. Accident was on 7/10/06. We had it done in Pittsburgh. I wish we had read about the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. They are one of the best for this type of injury. I'm sure Ellen and others will reply the same. They work as a team of 3 doctors. They do this all the time and know what they are doing. It does take about a month for an appt. though. If it were me, I would go to the Mayo. But the Mayo doctors said they would have done a similar surgery on my son, only in a different way. There "way" made more sense. Now it is a waiting game to see what comes back. My son had 4 avulsions.
So sorry you had to join this club.
Frank's mom.

I was referred to Dr. Zager by Dr. Kline who is kind of like the Godfather of BPI. I went to see him and Dr Belzberg at John Hopkins. In the end I decided on Belzberg because he was closer to me and I liked Belzberg's attitude better. I think Dr. Zager is going to be one of the up and coming TBPI specialists, but is just younger then some of the people already established.

I wouldn't worry about your decision because Dr. Zager has some well respected people who will vouche for his abilities. The only thing he seems to be lacking is communication skills with his clients. Hopefully, you'll have one more meeting with him after your myleogram and make him make you understand everything he's is planning on doing. You got to put it in perspective of what if this were his child, and you are scared and you need him to hold your hand through everything. That's not too far from the truth, but let him know that.

TAKE CARE
SUSAN

Where in the Philadelphia area are you? We are in Northeast Philadelphia. My son Stephen (22 years old) had surgery with Dr. Zager on 12/20/05. He had three nerve graphs and two nerve transfers. He has hand movement which he had before surgery. He has shown slight elbow function since the surgery. We are waiting for the shoulder. This is a life changing injury for the whole family. If you would like to speak with my son, he would gladly do so. He injured himself on a motorcycle on 9/3/05. We are hoping for the best. Dr. Zager does seem to have a communication issue, however, I feel it is mostly due to his office staff. If you can afford the Mayo clinic, I would strongly reccomend a visit to them. If you would like any other information or just someone to speak with, you can e-mail us at dbate2you@yahoo.com.

Diane (Stephen's Mom)

Diane, thanks for your thoughts, as well as recommendation for Mayo (which we used for my teenage son John three years ago.) I'm curious as to why you wrote about affording the Mayo Clinic, though. They're a non-profit center, the doctors are on straight salaries, and in our experience the costs are pretty low compared to other places we've heard about (especially the for-profit clinics, of course.) Insurance companies tend to like Mayo for the same reasons.

Thanks,

Ellen

I would get a 2nd opinion from the Mayo Clinic
Sorry to read about your injury.
There are few (if any) BP doctors here in the Phila. area!
I'm 10 years into my injury and have some local Dr info if you want to talk. Bob 215-643-6481