Surgery has any one had any success
Surgery has any one had any success
has any one had any success in geting some use of your arm back????????????????? Paul
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jennyb
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- Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2001 5:24 pm
- Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: January 1980 Yamaha RD200 vs 16 wheeler truck, result, 1 totally paralysed right arm. I was 21, now 54. I had no surgery, I don't regret this. Decided to totally ignore limitations (easily done aged 21) adapted very quickly to one handed life, got married, had 3 kids, worked- the effect of the injury on my life (once the pain stopped being constant) was minimal and now, aged 54, I very rarely even think of it, unless I bash it or it gets cold, then I wish I'd had it amputated :) Except for a steering knob on my car, I have no adaptations to help with life, mainly because I honestly don't think of myself as disabled and the only thing I can't do is peel potatoes, which is definitely a good thing.
Re: Surgery has any one had any success
i didn't have surgery....but if anyone who did answers this, could you please indicate what injury you had to what nerves, and what the surgery was? it makes it so much easier then for others to see the possibilities for their own injury, prognosis/treatment options are VERY different for different types of injury. Hope you get some replies in here Paul :0)
Re: Surgery has any one had any success
Paul,
I had an intercostal nerve graft quite soon after my injury; it's a very common operation here in the U.K. and probably the U.S. too... simply put; they re-route the nerves from in between the ribcage (intercostal) and re-attach them to the biceps to re-innervate this muscle and eventually give back some elbow flexion. In my case it worked, and from what I gather, it is a fairly successful operation.
Pleaseremember tho, that any operation, although it will work for some, may not work or be appropriate for others, and although the injuries may seem to be alike in two or more different people, in reality this is not the case. Each injury is unique, and needs to be assessed by a surgeon or physician who is experienced in diagnosing and treating this injury.
If you would like more details about my surgery,please feel free to email me...there is a lot of information out there that can give you a clearer picture of what surgical procedures are currently in use. If you click on my name, you will see my profile and email address.
Take care..
Liz B
I had an intercostal nerve graft quite soon after my injury; it's a very common operation here in the U.K. and probably the U.S. too... simply put; they re-route the nerves from in between the ribcage (intercostal) and re-attach them to the biceps to re-innervate this muscle and eventually give back some elbow flexion. In my case it worked, and from what I gather, it is a fairly successful operation.
Pleaseremember tho, that any operation, although it will work for some, may not work or be appropriate for others, and although the injuries may seem to be alike in two or more different people, in reality this is not the case. Each injury is unique, and needs to be assessed by a surgeon or physician who is experienced in diagnosing and treating this injury.
If you would like more details about my surgery,please feel free to email me...there is a lot of information out there that can give you a clearer picture of what surgical procedures are currently in use. If you click on my name, you will see my profile and email address.
Take care..
Liz B
Re: Surgery has any one had any success
I made two repleys I do't see them I guss frogot to log in. I did now thu. to see what happens testing 1 1 3 Paul
Re: Surgery has any one had any success
Liz I had a unsussfull intercostal by Dr. Terzes it 1 1/2 year post acicedent thou. I may try some more with DR. Wolf. I have been to Teaxes and Stint Louis. Paul
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admin
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Re: Surgery has any one had any success
who is Dr. Terzes and where is she. I would like to here more about everyone's oparation's and along with DR. T .Eva
Re: Surgery has any one had any success
Hello Paul,
I have had a total of three surgerys. The first was for TOS = Thorasic Outlet Syndrome. They "de-jumbled" the nerve. The doc said it looked like a ball of yarn. No wonder cats like me! LOL Then I had a left median nerve mobilization and reconstruction. My last surgery was on the radial nerve. I moved to Florida before having the ulnar nerve done. All these nerves are connected to the brachial plexus. I always looked at them as secondary nerves to the primary brachial plexus nerve. Of course I am not a doctor, it just made it easier for me to understand.
Success is a hard word. Did the surgeries allow me to return to a career or even a job? No, I am not able to work. Did I notice a difference after each surgery? Yes, some of the problems did lesson after the surgeries. They will never be completely gone. I have no regrets.
Joy
I have had a total of three surgerys. The first was for TOS = Thorasic Outlet Syndrome. They "de-jumbled" the nerve. The doc said it looked like a ball of yarn. No wonder cats like me! LOL Then I had a left median nerve mobilization and reconstruction. My last surgery was on the radial nerve. I moved to Florida before having the ulnar nerve done. All these nerves are connected to the brachial plexus. I always looked at them as secondary nerves to the primary brachial plexus nerve. Of course I am not a doctor, it just made it easier for me to understand.
Success is a hard word. Did the surgeries allow me to return to a career or even a job? No, I am not able to work. Did I notice a difference after each surgery? Yes, some of the problems did lesson after the surgeries. They will never be completely gone. I have no regrets.
Joy
Joy in FL is now living in Georgia!
Left TBI on October 31, 1991
Left TBI on October 31, 1991
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admin
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Re: Surgery has any one had any success
Hi Joy have you had any success with arm movment? And which Dr.s did you see????? Paul
Re: Surgery has any one had any success
Hi Paul. I had good success with surgery. It allowed my otherwise flail arm ( read: might as well amputate it ) to become semi-useful. My tbpi consisted of root avulsions to C8 and T1 nerve roots ( relates to hand / wrist ) and all the other nerves of the bp getting stretched and pulled.
The bright side was that they were able to regain most of my bicept, shoulder and elbow movement. I had my BP reconstructed 3 months post accident. They borrowed donor nerves ( sural ) from both legs.
We knew from the start my hand and wrist would never recover totally so the surgeons decided to " make the best of it " and restore my upper arm strength. Whatever was left to work with after that they concentrated on restoring some kind of hand/wrist movement.
It wasn't the best scenario but given the nature of my injury I was happy with the outcome. My upper arm strength is roughly 70 % what it was before the accident. 4 years later and it still seems to be getting stonger everyday.
The hardest part was learning to re-learn all of those muscle movements in a different way.
Take care, Mikey :
The bright side was that they were able to regain most of my bicept, shoulder and elbow movement. I had my BP reconstructed 3 months post accident. They borrowed donor nerves ( sural ) from both legs.
We knew from the start my hand and wrist would never recover totally so the surgeons decided to " make the best of it " and restore my upper arm strength. Whatever was left to work with after that they concentrated on restoring some kind of hand/wrist movement.
It wasn't the best scenario but given the nature of my injury I was happy with the outcome. My upper arm strength is roughly 70 % what it was before the accident. 4 years later and it still seems to be getting stonger everyday.
The hardest part was learning to re-learn all of those muscle movements in a different way.
Take care, Mikey :
Re: Surgery has any one had any success
Mikey thank you for writing. I find what you say very intresting you see I went post 1 1/2 year before my frist oparation. with no sucses. Whitch Doctor did you have. Paul