United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Yesterday Michaela was 6 weeks post op. The therapists wasn't allowed to go to the pool with us for liability purposes, so we went to Arnold Palmer Hospital and used the whirlpool they usually use for burn victims. It wasn't as pleasant a setting and Michaela got a little upset. Anyway, we took the splint off and she kept it off till bedtime. Didn't start complaining about her arm till time to do ROMs. She got to sit in the bathtub with bubblebath for the first time in 6 weeks and then I massaged her whole body with baby lotion. I love that smell. We got the splint back on and off to bed she went.

The therapists raised her splint today another 10 degrees. It seems though that the more she raises it the more it tends to cock to one side when putting it on. Common sense tells me it's from the weight but no matter how I adjust it within a few minutes it's cocked. Anyone else have this problem? I'm wondering if when she's raising it she should be fitting the armpit to Michaela. She's just heating it and raising it and letting it cool. Just curious.

Starting the therapy rounds. 2x week PT/OT, and 2xweek Aquatherapy( about 1hour 15 min. away). We'll be having some full days around here! LeeAnne

Welcome to the world of rehab!

Grab a digital camera and take a pic of the splint with Michaela wearing it and email it to the docs... It's hard to answer your question just by you explaining it to us and none of us would really know what position it's supposed to be in.

btw - I loved your comment about my impending nervous breakdown!! LOL gave me a good chuckle!

hope things work out,
francine

ps -those first baths are amazing huh? I'll never forget Maia's smile after her first bath!!

Yeah for Michaela! Maybe you could go to the pool yourself w/o any therapists at least for the first week or so. That's what we did. For the first week out of the splint, I took Nicole to the pool myself (or w/my husband). Then, the following week we started the actual pool therapy with the therapist. They always like to do a land evaluation first anyway before writing up a pool program so it worked out well that she had her evaluation the next week rather than that first week. Maybe you could do the ROMs while she's in the pool this week. That worked well for us.

I don't know what to say about the fitting of the splint. Sounds like Francine had a good idea.

I know what you mean about full days of therapy -- 2x/wk Aqua PT, 1x/wk OT at hospital, 1x/wk OT at school, 1x/wk PT at school, plus Kindermusik. I keep telling myself that it won't be this busy forever and that someday we'll slow down. So far though it's working for us b/c Nicole continues to make gradual progress and she has a desire to help make her arm stronger. So, until that changes we'll keep going. Hang in there.

-Tina )