Hi Andre,
All I can tell you is that within the last few years there have been amazing breakthroughs and advances in peripheral nerve surgery, and thanks to the brave people who went thru the first of these new experimental procedures, they are now fairly commonplace. For instance, the cross neck C7 transfer is now widely used whereas a few years ago, it was practically unheard of (in the West anyway)
BPI surgeons worldwide share their knowledge at regular BPI Symposia, and the internet has made the sharing of knowledge a lot easier too. This way,they all hear about new surgical procedures and apply them to their own cases where appropriate. The more they do, the more they learn, and then other possible procedures and solutions present themselves.
Research into nerve regeneration is always ongoing and some progress has been made in this area already; the idea of re-implanting of avulsed nerve rootlets has never been abandoned, and research into this also is ongoing, and has very recently had a successful outcome in a few cases here in the UK.
Yes, things will change and continue to improve for us all, and especially for people who unfortunatley will be injured in the future.
One thing will never change tho; due to the complex nature and multiple combinations of these injuries, each individual will continue to be assessed for any procedure on an individual basis.
There is always hope for the future, always something to look forward to! You are asking the right questions ...you have a great chance to overcome this because you are so young. A few years down the line from now, you will look back, and these early days will just be a dim memory...hope this helps a bit...if there is anything I can do to help please don't hesitate to ask here or on the TBPI Group boards or email me
liz@tbpi-group.org
Take care
Lizzy B :0)