United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Help me! I took off Hannah's splint for the first time tonight and brought the arm down a little bit, (it has been 4 weeks) and it looks awful! Her shoulder blade is completely sticking out and it never did that before, and her arm just looks so lumpy. I know she may have lost a few movements right now and that is not my concern. I just need to know if it is normal for it to look so dislocated and not right. The Dr. said that he sewed her bone back in place because it was dislocated, but to me it still looks out of place. Is it just beacause all of the muscles are weak and everything will go back in place after she strengthens it? I just hope this surgery was not a waste. I called down to TCH but had to leave a message. We will see an OT tomorrow, but usually I end up telling her more about BPI's than she can tell me. Please someone help! Thank you !

Hi Nicole

Seems your daughter had the mod quad and the dislocated shoulder fixed too? How old is your daughter?

I'm not an specialist but I will tell you what happened to our daughter. Jocey had the surgery the last summer (five years old) and she had the cast for 6 full weeks , all the time on. When we took it off her hand was totally weak. She was all the time crying and we saw space between the arm and the shoulder too. I called to the office of Dr. Nath and he told us in our case was normal because she wears it for a long period and the muscle are not working at all. Then she wear for another six weeks for the sleep time only. I was very concern because she can't move her arm and was really painful.

She was scare each time I said is time to remove the splint and do some exercises. We started to see her improvement 3 1/2 months (14 weeks) after the surgery. I do not know about the blade Jocey always had it a little bid out. Try to call them again tomorrow. Each case is different. I hope this give you a little bit of comfort.
Ivelisse

Nicole I panicked too when I took my sons cast off @ 6 weeks. I remembering writing here and I called TCH because I was so scared. His arm was skinner and paler looking and just didn't seem right. Within a few days the arms color came back and of course after a few weeks of aqua therapy the arm got plumper. It is very scary ( I felt the same way), but I am sure soon the arm will "bounce" back. Good luck and don't feel funny about calling the drs or the nurse. I know I called them. Take care.

hey you know I havent had surgery on Max but by the grace of god/goddess we were blessed last year with a broken leg and his leg was smaller and so forth from obvious atrophy that occurred from being in the cast all that time...and it was completely temporary- I mean, I know your child's arm had some abnormal (normal for her but you know what I mean)growth already due to the erbs so perhaps the cast just accented this - I have seen posts like yours before- Im sure most of what you are seeing is only temporary...altho Im not trying to minimize it- call ofcourse and check with your surgeon-