United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi, I've written the list before about my 28 year old son who was in a motorcycle accident in July of 2001. He lost the use of deltoid and bicep. I had a computer glitch and lost all information. We live in MI and finally had an appointment with Dr. McGillicuddy in Ann Arbor and he will do exploritory surgery in Dec. and will take a nerve out of his leg if necessary. Has anyone had this surgery or contact with Dr. Mcgillicuddy?

Yes I had a referal to Dr. Mc Gillicudy in ann harbor Mi. and must say he is the biggest waist of time ever. now if this is the same Mc Gillicudy who's last foud digits of his phone # ending in 5017 then this is the one. their is no need for exploratory surgury the MRI'S, EMG'S will tell him whats wrong I also am 28 and yes I was involved in a motorcycle accident.if been waiting on Mc gillicudy for almost 4 mos., how long will your son have to wait after Mc gillicudy's exploratory surgury.(a waist of insurance $)and time not to mention the pain. their is this specialist in houston that a few people on the board has seen his name is Dr. R. Nath out of Houston children hosp. he is scheled to do my surgury this month.all that i have heard about this Dr. is good, but you have to deside your self , good luck with the surgury if you want to contact me e-mail me ill be glad to talk.

I had an injury closely resembling the one you describe from a motorcycle accident on 12/26/00 and had nerve graft surgery on 6/25/01. I haven't seen much recovery yet. The bicep has come back a little, but my deltoid and rotator cuff muscles are still useless. The surgery also caused some pain in my foot, but has slowly started to heal. Before your son goes in for surgery, make sure your doc knows what he's doing. Doctor Birchiel at Oregon Health Sciences University did my surgery.

hi there, i have not had surgery but have very thoroughly researched it. One thing i have found is that the ONLY 100% accurate way to assess the extent of nerve damage is exploratory surgery, both MRI and EMG are nowhere near 100% reliable. Your doctor is doing the right thing. take care and good luck with your sons treatment.

Hi there..

This is to bodean; I have had the surgery you are referring to, as have many other people here in the UK. The exploratory surgery is routine, and is the ONLY way that the damage to the nerves can be assessed with accuracy.

It has been stated many times, particularly here on the old boards, that EMG'S and MRI scans are not totally reliable,the results of them merely INDICATE the extent of the damage. Sometimes, these tests can indicate that surgery is needed, but that has sometimes proved not to be the case after re-assessment following the exploratory, thereby preventing unnecessary, further surgery. Believe me, the original poster is doing the right thing for her son, it's important to make that clear.

In my case, further surgery was carried out at the time of the exploratory, and I had several nerve grafts which returned movement to my elbow. It was a long interval between surgery and full extent of elbow flexion, this is due to many factors, not the least of which is the time that nerves take to grow..about 1inch (approx) a month.

This isn't an instant cure! You are looking, on average, at 9-12 months before any flicker of movement; up to 2-3 years for the full result of nerve graft surgery.

Please feel free to email me about this; I can put you in touch with others who have also had these surgeries done. Please don't worry too much.

Liz

my message was not to discourage her, it,s only stating that the MY THOUGHTS ON HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE DR. belive me im willing to almost do anything to get movement back, except seeing that Dr. he really waisted my time

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I hadn't heard of this injury before and I'm surprised at how many children are affected. I wish everyone the best.
Jan