United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Benjamin is out of his splint today after 8 weeks and headaches with insurance for therapy!!!! I'm concerned that he is holding his arm funny. I'm also worried about whether he will have improvement. Do you see it right away or after therapy??? Anyone that can offer some thoughts or reassurance would be appreciated.

susan - it usually takes a while for the arm to stabilize after coming out of the splint - give it at least a week - warm water baths works well to help it along, too. Relaxxxxxx

Which surgery?

katie is a week out of the caps splint. She still doesn't make it all day but pretty much. She guards her arm more this time and the wrist is MUCH weaker than before. Other than that, I do have to say it came down alot quicker than mod quad. She has more pain with this but that may be her being older and able to tell us. Of course we have discovered if her shirt is wrinkled the slightest or some other little thing it "hurts" and she just doesn't know how to express the difference.

Just give it time, hang in there and know you are on the downside to being out completely

> susan - it usually takes a while for the arm to
> stabilize after coming out of the splint - give it at
> least a week - warm water baths works well to help it
> along, too. Relaxxxxxx

Thanks for the encouragement! What do you mean by stabilize? His arm is already down and he seems very eager to use it.

Thanks for the encouragement! What do you mean stablize? His arm can come down already. He is eager to use it.

Susan, what surgery did Benjamin have? We saw some improvement immediately when Nicole came out of the SOL splint (post Mod Quad). Then, we've also seen additional improvement over time and with therapy. So, I'd answer yes (right away) and yes (with therapy) in our case, but every child is different. Some children don't have immediate improvement. The improvement can continue for years so I hope that gives you some reassurance. How old is Benjamin? It's not uncommon for them to hold their arm differently just out of the splint. Did you go to a warm water pool to remove the splint? That really helped Nicole. The first week out of the SOL splint we were at the therapy pool everyday. Hope all goes well. -Tina

well what I meant by stabilize (i used the wrong word) was a week for his arm to feel comfortable being down and relaxed into being down... does that make sense? If he's actively using it - then this is GREAT!!! Is he having any pain?

Benjamin is 10 years old, which gives me the benefit of knowing he can tell me what he is feeling. He hasn't really complained of any pain, but this morning he had some discomfort taking the splint off again---nights for 8 weeks. He told me he would be throwing the splint out tonight, so I shouldn't look for it at bedtime. This is the first complaining he has done. I didn't respond to his comment. Also, the OT called me and kind of scared me that therapy would involve a commitment that she already assumed I wouldn't/couldn't make---I feel like she has set me up for failure.. What's that all about? Thanks for listening. I know there is a long road ahead.

katie started using her arm immediately as well with the caps, she just guards it. BUT she learned to crawl with the splint on and thinks she should still be able to do it without. She is doing all kinds of things that I think she is supposed to wait until the splint is off full time.

The therapy is intense but not any worse than before the surgery. Actually in our case we are cutting back some for a while. If you can't make it as much as Dr. Nath orders just make sure he spends time in a pool if possible, ignore the OT and do as much as you can at home. If one can't physically go to therapy--so what, you can do it at home as well. I think it would just be harder to "remember" and convince him (especially at his age) to keep it up.

After mod Katie was doing 2OT, 2PT 2aqua and 1 developmental per week plus therapies daily at home. Right now she is doing 3aqua and daily ROM at home. She also does super playing in the tub, getting much more out of it than fighting off her OT and PT for 45 minutes with 5 minutes of stretching.

Best of luck and keep plugging away. And maybe you should hide the splint...katie is always ready to put hers back on, even puts her arm up into position.

Hi, Susan. I'm sorry, but your post made me chuckle. Benjamin sounds like quite a character. What a cutie! It's not uncommon for there to be some discomfort when you first take it off. If it's not possible for you to go to a warm water pool in the a.m. before removing it, then maybe a warm bath would help. Remove the splint, hold his arm up in the splinted position and then gradually bring it down when his arm is in the warm water. This is all, of course, if you were able to locate the splint tonight. LOL!

About the therapy, I don't know what your schedule is like, but we did a lot of therapy post Mod Quad. Like Christy said, the pool therapy is the most important, but I believe it all plays its role. I think that the drs. should talk upfront more about the intense post-op therapy and make sure parents understand the time commitment post-op that's involved in making the surgery successful. I think it's out of line though for an OT to tell you that you wouldn't / couldn't be able to make this kind of commitment. I think we as parents learn to make lots of adjustments in our lives for our children and who is she to say that you wouldn't do that?? Oh well, I hope Benjamin does well with his recovery. Take care. -Tina