United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My daughter Madison is having her second surgery at TCH in Houston on January 13th. She had her first one in Febuary 2002. She is 15 months old and I was just wondering what to expect from this surgery. I know she will be in the "statue of liberty" cast (as some call it) but I am not sure what to expect afterwards. Any information would be great.

Thanks

Amy,
my son Alex (3 1/2) just had surgery (Miami Children's Hospital) this past Monday (Dec 9th). He had a muscle transfer and a tendon release and is in a "Statue of Liberty" cast. His surgery lasted about 2 hours. There was additional time for the casting and for the anesthesia to wear off and in recovery. The total time from when they took him from us until we could see him was about 3 1/2 hours. The cast he has is really 2 pieces connected by a bar (fiberglass, I think). One piece goes around his torso and is a solid cast (no hinges, snaps etc). The other part covers his entire arm from his upper bicep/tricep all the way down to (and including) his hand. The upper part of his fingers and his thumb stick out.
My wife stayed the night in the hospital (only one parent was allowed to stay). I kepy our 7 year-old daughter occupied that night. Alex didn't like peeing into the make shift poddy so later that night he actually got out of bed (with my wife's assistance of course) and IV and all walked over to the bathroom to take care of business. By Tuesday, 24 hours after the surgery we were out of the hospital and in the doctor's office for a follow-up check up. They said we everthing looked good and that we should see them again in two weeks (in New York) to make sure everthing is still looking good. Two to four weeks after that the cast will come off and then we'll have a lot of therapy to do.

We had to pick up a (preventative) prescription for infection. He had to take it 2 times a day for 3 days. We gave him Children's Tylenol the first night back at the hotel, but after that he didn't complain about pain. He did keep asking to take off the cast. He started getting use to it very quickly and by Thursday (3 days after surgery) he was jumping from one hotel bed to the other (scaring the heck out of me and my wife!) On the plane ride home, he sat in a right window seat (he is left OBPI), my wife sat in the middle, our daughter in the aisle seat, and I sat in the other aisle seat. Assuming you're flying, when you book your flights make sure you plan your seating especially on the way home. Now we're on pins and needles as he is as active as ever. They did tell us in Miami that if we had any problems with the cast, we should go to out local emergency room (we're from CT.)

I'm sure you must know about the www.injurednewnorn.com site, but if not it's a GREAT site for more info!

B