United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hey folks,

We now know the air dates for the surgery that was filmed on the Disc. Health Channel. again, HEALTH Channel. they are as follows:

Lifeline: Mayo Clinic, Ep. 1
Premiere Fri, Nov 14 10:00 PM
Repeat Fri, Nov 14 1:00 AM
Repeat Sun, Nov 16 12:00PM

enjoy!

john

sorry, all times are eastern.

john

A little background... my son John is a 16 yr old who had all five nerves avulsed in a cycling accident (hit by a SUV) last November in Atlanta. He had two surgeries done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and the second surgery, done in April, was filmed by Discovery Health Channel for this documentary on the Mayo Clinic.

In this surgery, John had a gricilus muscle transferred to provide finger flexion (part of a double Doi procedure). He also had four intercostal nerves moved. (In the first surgery, he'd had the other gricilus taken for elbow flexion, his phrenic nerve & the C7 from his good side moved over.)

At this point, John can move his arm & elbow very well across a table & is working hard at therapy to do this against gravity. He can also move his fingers a bit. Total extent of recovery won't be known for 3-4 years but he's highly motivated to continue with therapy to build strength.

Be forewarned... if you're squeamish, the documentary will show some footage of the actual surgery. Also, although most cable packages include Discovery Channel, not all include Discovery Health Channel so you might not be able to see it.

Ellen

John,
Did you get injured on your bicycle? If so, are you back riding? I got hit by a car riding, and I'm trying to figure out a way to get back on a bike. Hope to catch your surgery on tv. I'm still trying to get mine scheduled.

John's gone til tomorrow lending support for the 24 Hours of Adrenalin mountain bike race, so I'll answer your questions. He loves cycling & was back on the bike a month after the last surgery. One day last month, John even rode 100 miles as part of a group ride to promote driver awareness & cyclist safety in Atlanta - greatly needed.

John's bike is reconfigured with gears & brakes moved over to the right side, and John wears a sling contraption that uses velcro to keep his left arm snug against his chest. If you provide your email I'll send a picture of him on his bike that might give you some ideas. How bad is your injury, and on what side? Where are you considering surgery?

One thing that really helped improve John's one handed bike handling skills was attending a week long disabled cycling development camp last June at Colorado's Olympic Training Center. People of all ages & with different disabilities attended & it was a great experience. (As you can imagine, the OTC is truly awesome.) You might want to consider attending this next summer...

How did your accident happen? An older driver made a left hand turn into John - just never saw him.

Take care & get back on that bike!!

Ellen

hi ellen this is chris got your email on the surgery thanks how is he doing any thing change since the last time i talked with you

eleen its me again would you mind sendinig me an email of the pic with his sling if so my email is hdcrash@aol.com thanks i want to get on my mouantin bike again for the excersise

Hi Ellen, I would love to see a picture of the sling that John wears biking. My email is courtney@ubpn.org. Thanks in advance and I will be watcing the surgery on the 14th for sure. I just had a nerve transfer done for elbow function hopefully. I have use of my hand, but if this surgery doesnt get a great outcome, then I will be trying the gricilus muscle transfer too. Very interested in the outcome! Thanks in advance!
Courtney

hdcrash,

send me your email and I will give you some info for the things we used to convert my bike over to a one hand friendly bike.

or since you are using a mtn bike. you could take off the "bad-armed" brake lever, reverse it, and move it to the "good-armed" side of the handlebar, you could put it on the opposite side of the grip so that the end of each lever is pointed at the other lever. this would allow you to shift and brake both front and rear wheels independantely and your derallieurs will be just as easy as before. it would take getting used to working two levers with one hand, but I know a roadie who has his bike set up that way and I am comsidering it. if you don't know bike talk or don't want to do the work; take it to a shop, bike mechanics love these kinds of problems, they'll probably just charge you a little. every one we went to we all had fun trying to brainstorm an idea for my setup to work.

I suggest that you do everything possible (move grip inward, get a smaller[length] handelbar, move that inwards) to get your hand as close to the stem as possible. this will help to prevent you from pushing one side of the handlebar foreward really fast (you know what that causes to happen!) if you have to slam on your brakes. this is especially important if you are actually planning to ride on trails. find easy ones!! I'm sure its kind of hard to descend (much less ascend) a steep, steep, rock garden with only one hand on one side of the handelbar while also trying to work the brakes as well.

ok, for those of you that aren't interested in cycling that are still reading, sorry!

I hope this helps,
john