United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi all. I know that you those of you with the caps splint on are anxiously awaiting that nasty thing to come off soon. And Katie's comes off officially Tuesday morning.

As she goes to daycare every day and I can't imagine just sending her straight there w/o any practice (or pain relief or monitoring) and I couldn't get her into the pool until the middle of January (thanks to Birth to three for dropping her services at 19 months and I have to restart her program with the ins co) I will have to improvise here at home.

Dr. Nath told me to expect the arm to stay up and out, like it did post mod and also weakness and stiffness and that she would not use it very much at first.

In the regular tub last night (she was so excited) we ran the water as high as we could and it came up to almost her neck. Kim barely supported it less and less until Katie just took over and started it herself. At first she just lasted a minute or two and she took Kim's hand back to support it some more. Then she just started playing. Not quite like before surgery but pretty darned good. And w/o thinking she played along with "tap tap tap our head together". After a few minutes she realized that her arm was free and moving. You could see it on her face! She brought it around in front of her somewhat, tried touching the top of her head (it appears if she thinks about doing something it is harder) and her ears (which she didn't make). It was beautiful!!

The arm however brought tears to my eyes. The back got all red, purple and splotchy. I know that is from increased blood flow from the movement and that is a good thing. Viewing her from the side and seeing her lift her arm up or to the front is bad, don't look at it for awhile if you can. The scapula pops out right under the tip of the armpit (towards the back of it) and it took my breath. I had to keep reminding myself that the winging was going to be more pronounced and it meant she was in place and that the mod had moved it there for better movement. But i have to tell you guys it knocked me for a loop and alot of self doubt. From the front view--my gut was screaming no, it didn't work. I can't see much (if any) difference, it still slopes, while perhaps not as severely as before but still very bad and still much much lower than the other shoulder. And the arm is weak except the bicep appears to be a bit bigger.

She stayed in the tub until the water became cold and the last drop ran out..she wasn't about to give up that freedom. It was off about an hour, she went right back into the splint willingly and slept like a babe.

Today we will try a short time again hanging around the house and work our way up to a full day by next weekend and then I may feel it is safe for her to go to daycare w/o it. Good luck everyone...if your child has pain issues I would definitely use meds first. This was just a spur of the moment decision (well, sort of, I had toyed with it all week but had not decided)and Katie tolerates pain well in my opinion so she had not gotten her regular tylenol (tylenol w/codeine sends her up the walls)which she has been taking at night to help her get comfortable and also cut the pain from all those molars coming in at once.

I will update as we go along.

Sorry..I forgot to tell you that she let her arm come down to her side fairly well but pulled it right back up into splint position every few minutes.

Whew. By the time I reached the end of your post I found that I had been holding my breath--literally--while I read about the cast removal. God bless you and your family. Three cheers for Katie for being such a trooper!

When we took Brandon's splint off after the six weeks, He wasn't happy at all. HE wanted it back on as quickly as possible. When we got home it was unbearable. So i played a little game with him. Wew took it off for fifteen minutes an hour and played with his favorite toy. In no time at all did he want that splint off for good. I am glad to hear that someone elses child goes crazy from T3. Brandon did too. THat first night in the hospital was a bear !!

sorry the first post was so long and breath holding!

katie managed to keep the splint off for a few hours Sunday but not more than 4 and still needed tylenol (I refuse to give her t3 unless she is really making a fuss). She did get her arm straightened out most of the way and seems to be doing OK. The movement is not quite as good as before caps but that is to be expected. Her biceps are bulging however and I am anxious to get her to the therapist to see if this perhaps a contraction / spasm.

She has touched her forehead--the very first night. She has never ever touched her face in any way. It was awesome of course and every one had wet eyes.

She doesn't ask to have it off and I have to practically make her stop long enough to take it off..unlike the first five weeks and she begged for it off! But she takes off right away and plays. I think I am going to have to beat her though to stop her from using it in ways she isn't supposed to yet! The one thing that we have noticed (other than the nasty winging) is her wrist is much more weaker then before. I don't know why...but she has taken her arm straight out (airplane fashion) to about 75 degrees and she couldn't do that before either. So far we are pleased that having her in place is actually letting her move more. Dr. Nath said it would give her better range on what she did have. BUT she won't let me do PROM yet. Hot tempered little bugger!

I will keep you updated. If there are any others that went before us please post so I can tell if we are on target here or not and any ideas you may have.

thanks (Hi Karen, havne't heard from you in a while!)

christy