United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

And staying quite warm. But it is nice to be home. Brittany is much more comfortable without all of the IV's and wires connected to her. And nurses won't be waking her up all night!

I did get to see the site where they transferred the muscle to this morning. The dr came in to look at it before he sent us home and to so me how to take care of it. It is so amazing what they did. The skin graft that they used on the area has holes in it for two reasons: 1 - to see the muscle. You have to make sure it stays red. That means blood is there.
2 - to allow for swelling. There was not any room for swelling since she did not have muscle mass there before the surgery. It is really cool, but a weak stomach could not handle this. And the leg is cut from the groin to the knee, and the skin graft came from the crease in the groin. She has had quite a bit of pain, too!

But, it was very cool to see the muscle and to see what they did.

If anyone has questions about the procedure, let me know.

Kimberly

Kimberly,
I am glad that you all made it home safely. Give Brittany a big hug from Rain. I hope that she recovers very soon. I know that this is a very major surgery, so when you get more time I would love to hear more details. Rain is having the Gracillas in May so I am sure that I will have lots of questions. It was so nice to see you guys again at the picnic. It had been so long. Well, I better run, but email me when you get a chance. Talk to you soon.

DeShawn

So glad Brittney is doing well. She sounds like a strong little girl. I do have a couple questions about the procedure. How old is Brittney? Was this a muscle trans to her hand? Where is the hole? Did they take the muscle from a certain leg or did it matter? Also wondering about if they did any tendon work when she was younger to help get more hand function and if so did it help? Dr. Nath has suggested that a muscle trans for my son's hand may be in his future but suggest we try tendon work for now to help get some grasp function. He has had 5 surgeries so far with Dr. Nath. My brave little guy will be five next month.

Brittany is 8, and she has not had tendon work done because it would not have helped at the time. The doctor was hoping to do some tendon transfers in the wrist during this surgery, but could not do it because it would have pulled on the muscle transfer. She will have to have that done in a few months. I think Dr. Nath will be considering the Triangle Tilt at the same time. As far as the holes, the piece of skin that is over the transfer site, there are many holes. They take the piece of skin that came from the groin area and put it through a machine that perforates it. Then they attach the skin over the muscle. It kinda of reminds me of a net. Over time, the holes will fill up as the skin grows. The doctor said it will heal very nicely.

Kimberly

And yes, this muscle transfer was to help with hand function. Brittany does not have any, except a little bity bit of finger movement. But she could not grasp anything. The doctor took the muscle from the right leg, but he said it really did not matter. He said it was just easier the way he was to be working on the right side the whole time. There was a lot of preparation for this surgery. Brittany had to have an angiogram first. This was to determine if she even had a good vein and artery to attach to the muscle. They can't do the surgery if there is not a good vein. Then they have to determine if there is a good nerve to attach to the muscle. Dr. Nath knew there was a good nerve because of the little finger movement she had. He just said because it takes so long for nerves to regenerate, by the time the nerve reached the hand, the muscles were already dead. With those two things, the doctors knew she could benefit from this procedure.

Kimberly

Thanks for the update, Kimberly. All the best for Brittany's recovery! Keep us posted.

Peggy

Thank you so much Kimberly for answering my questions. I wanted to know where on the hand is the area thay transplanted the muscle. Top of hand is my guess. What osteotomies did you daughter have? My son had a forearm one with Dr. Devino. Have you been happy with your results?

God bless you,Kimberly,Brittany and all of your family. Isn't Medicine/Surguries a grand Miracle,tho'!!
Hugs to you all & a "Good Job" to Brittany for her bravery!
Carolyn J

Brittany had the upper and lower osteotomies, both with Dr. Davino.

The muscle transfer is not on the hand. It is on the inside of the forearm. And she is cut from the wrist to the elbow. They took the muscle from the inner thigh, and she is cut from the knee to the groin. Then the piece of skin for the skin graft came from the crease at the top of the leg, the panty line. She has about a 5 or 6 inch incision there. If you take one hand and place it on your inner forearm, open and close that hand and you will feel your muscle contracting there. That is where they put the muscle.

Kimberly