United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I had surgery this wednesday to try and fix my shouldar (permanantly dislocated from the bp injury) without fusing it together. Dr.Elhassan was really excited with the immediate post-op results. He took tendons from the tendon bank and transferred 6 muscles from my back to my shouldar. I will also have to wear this huge yet hilarious brace for about 6wks.
It's such a relief painwise to have my shouldar in the right position. The only negative so far is that the surgery took 8hrs where
I was positioned on my left side. This caused my left lower leg to go numb and weak. It's an eerie feeling to have as it feels like a temporary bp injury only it's in your leg. The Dr.said it could take up too a week to recover that feeling and so far I'm almost at day four with only a little improvement. Unfortunately this temporary condition combined with other factors make it impossible for me to walk. I'm getting impatient as as soon as I have enough feeling in my left leg to be able to walk, I'm basically cleared to go home.

Well, I'ts been almost a week since my surgery and I have been home for a few days now.
My shoulder is doing well but my foot that went numb from surgery has become extremely painful and swollen, though the weakness as gone away. I was checked for a blood clot but have none. The feeling is like my bpi injury combined with a permant charly horse in my calf and foot. Has this happened to anyone else who was in a long surgery on there side? Please respond if anyone has.

I was hoping you could provide update to your tendon/muscle transfer surgery. My husband will be facing this surgery soon and I was curious what he can expect...any thoughts you would care to share?

Well, I am currently on week 5 in the brace out of a total of 6 weeks. Yay! So far my shouldar looks beautiful, like a real shoulder again instead of hanging two inches below the socket and there is no more pain.
I would love to help you any way I can. If you had some specific questions I could help you better. Also are you seeing the same doctor as me. Each doctor is different. I had Dr.Elhasssan at Mayo.

Hi,
No we are staying with the U of M, great doctor network.
How would you describe any change in pain with the transfer surgery? Any other pointers or suggestions for us?
Thank you!

First of all since I don't know how similar our injuries are and we have different doctors I just want to warn you that we may not have similar results
Yes, I noticed an immediate relief of my physical (not nerve) pain. The moment I woke up from surgery in fact.
I think it's because my body was relieved that my shouldar was back in the right place.
The best tip I can offer is to ask your doctor how long the surgery will be and what kind of padding will they use. My surgery I was on my side for eight hours and it caused my sciatic nerve to become inflamed I've had a lot of nerve related pain that I have been dealing with for the last six weeks. I was told it's pretty rare for this to happen to this extreme but you can still wake up with parts of your leg permanatly "asleep" for a few days. Fun huh?
I guess not much else. A recliner's nice and lots of pillows.
Good luck with your surgery
and feel free to ask if you have more questions.

Im glad you think the brace is hilarious!!!! i bet you dont think that anymore!! although i heard he had found something a bit lighter than the one i had. i had my surgery in November. Dr. Elhassan is amazing! The whole team out there is the best! I had my first nerve surgery done by Dr.s Bishop, Shin and Spinner. Then I had the tendon transfer by Dr. Elhassan. He cares so much about his patients and outcomes. All the doctors and nurses I've encountered out there are top notch!

Good luck with your recovery!

Hello,

When will your husband be having his surgery? Is Dr. Yang doing the surgery? How is he doing?

Rick had his nerve graft in January. Still waiting for signs of something. Meanwhile, the pain continues to be a struggle.

Take care!
Kim

Hi Angela,

I don't post a lot and have been trying to deal with my TBPI alone with my family which hasn't been really working out. Anyway, I have some questions for you. I'm headed back to the Mayo May 4-7 for a cosultation with Dr's Bishop and Shin who did my Gracilis Muscle transfer in Sep. '08 and to meet Dr. Elhassan to discuss the same surgery you just went through. A little freaked out about getting cut up again!

How is your recovery going? I hope the feeling in your leg and foot came back. What tendon bank did they tap and what 6 muscles did they transfer? Sounds pretty major. Has the shoulder really set back into the socket?I also thought that fusion or leaving it sublexed was really all there was, until I read your posts. Curious if you have had any other surgeries on the arm to regain any function. I know this was a big surgery with the 6 week brace following but how does the arm feel now? Are you able to be more active now or still feeling the effects of the surgery? Sorry about all the questions, just interested. Nervous about going back to Gothem City and seeing all the Dr's again to talk about another surgery. Hope your doing well, thanks for you time!

Ha ha, Gotham City. I like that. If only that meant you got to use the Batmobile and lots of gadgets. It would make the trip back to the hospital much easier.
I'm recovering well, thank you. It was major surgery. The 6 muscles moved were all from my back and for the surgery I laid 8 hours on my side. This was the cause of my leg problems as laying so long on my left leg inflamed a part of my sciatic nerve and I am finally recovering.(Don't worry, that is a very rare occurrance and I'm only the 2nd person that's happened to.)
I am recovering right now from minor surgery because all though my shoulder healed well, the joint of the brace was apparently pushing on my shoulder and it healed slightly dislocated. That part of my shoulder is so numb that I couldn't feel how hard the brace was pushing and the doctor didn't realize the brace could shift that far. This shouldn't be a problem with future patients as now he will make sure they know to keep the brace centered. On the plus side, the reason he needed to operate to push my shouldar back into place was because the muscles healed so well around the joint. I also immediately have better movement and from the outside it looks dang good.
I am also tired of surgeries. I've had so many since the accident it's become a hobby. So far for my arm I've only had a nerve transfer. The focus then has been on my shouldar.
I too thought my only choices were a fusion or a severely dislocated shoulder. I was lucky that almost as a fluke I was recommended to go see Dr.Elhassan. I have found him to be one of the most caring of the doctors I've known. And so far my shoulder looks and feels great.
I am sorry you that you have had difficulty dealing. This a terrible injury and it demands a lot of sacrifice. I would be glad to help in any way I can. I will also be at Mayo this week. Maybe I'll run into you.