United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Does anyone know of a doctor in FL that does this surgery?
My brother's orthpaedic Dr. is talking amputation, that's so permanent, so I'm researching.
He can move his fingers and thumb and wrist some too.
He has a flail arm though, no shoulder or elbow movement. Open to suggestions. Nice website. Thank you.

Florida here too. . . The closest I found that was educated in BPI trauma injury was Drs Klien & Teil @ LSU. They are great I had surgery there but i didnt get any recovery. But I have heard some stories of success. I went to Mayo in Jax but they werent very receptive to try anything that Dr Teil hadnt already done. I would be very hesitant to amputate if I had hand function the hand is the hardest to recover but if it works you are so far ahead of the game. You have so many options for the upper arm, from nerve transfers to muscle tranfers both have a chance to recover upper arm function. You should also consider Dr. Nath I think he is more aggressive to try other things and more proactive in treatment. Im not sure if that is good or bad but if you do your homework and know all your options you can make a better decision on whats right for you.

Most Drs will look over your records before you travel to them. You should contact LSU and Dr Nath in Texas to let them look at you records. Dr Teil ordered more tests here before I traveled to LA to see him. Once there he did a never conductivty test to see where my damage was and decided surgery was the best option for me.

Where in Fl Are you? How was your brother injured? Feel free to email me if you have any other questions

John K(pushrod243)

I wanted to reiterate what John has written - with hand & finger movement, the last thing to consider should be amputation. Upper arm treatment is very "doable" with the medical progress that's been made in the last decade or so. But the key, of course, is finding an experienced & knowledgeable surgeon.

How are your brother's pain levels? Many people feel that's the worst part of all...and amputation will not help the neurological pain (although it can help secondary pain from the weight of the bpi arm). I've read accounts of people who experienced a significant reduction of pain from the nerve regrowth that resulted from surgery. My son had all five nerves avulsed (with extreme pain), extensive surgery at Mayo in Minnesota last year, and has gone from 3600 Neurontin, 200 Topomax & 100 Amitriptyline to now just 600 Neurontin daily.

What options does your insurance coverage allow?

John, I'm curious about your experience at Mayo in Jax. Minnesota has a very established bpi clinic. Does Jax have a bpi specialist?

Hang in there (smile) and keep us posted.

Ellen

Hi Debbie
I remember reading sometime, from Mid May until now a post probably either on the Adult OBPI, or the TBPI site

......A special brace that allowed a man to support his arm, and bend at the albow, to place his hand in a position, where he could use it.

The post I am thinking up even had a web address you could click on to see a picture of him wearing it. I looked back a bit, but don't have a clue, where it is. Maybe someone else will know and bring it up.

I usually post on the General Message Board. My 20 year old daughter was born with severe LOBPI. I am only on over the summer. Good luck. Angela

Hi again
I am not positive this is the one, but it is similar.
Several different sites are mentioned, with pictures.

http://ubpn.org/messageboard/thread ... msRange=15