United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

First of all I wanted to thank all of you for your replies. They were awesome, especially the support about having surgery that wasn't needed and just trying to do the best thing for your daughter. It was great information regarding the EMG and MRI testing for other parents to know. However, for our situation there were other contributing factors because of the length my letter was I didn't list all of them. Such as the dimpling on her elbows which are a sign of interuterine trama, her parents and sister were in an automobile accident prior to her birth. Her birth weight was 5.8 lbs. Now again please keep in mind, they don't know what causes the this disease, however, some other contributing factors could be the placenta was leaking, a fever for a length of time, rubella, etc. She is from a town about 2 hours from Moscow, Russia. There medical conditions aren't as sophisticated as ours too. Not that we don't have some "medical situations" her too. Also, her PT who had 2 other children with this and worked in a hospital for a Orthopedic Surgeon diagnosised her and printed me some material 3 weeks prior. She has already made improvement with splinting on her wrist (daily) and elbow (nightly). As far as her recovery it is up in God's hand. She has tremendous amount of determination and because of her orphange background an incredible amount of indendence. Our 4 year old son also inspires her to do more daily and she inspires him back. Our min. goal is that she will be able to
write on her own. Again, thank you and may each and everyone of you have a blessed New Year.

Best of luck to you and your family, and once again, welcome to our community.

Bridget