United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

hey guys im going for a nerve transplant and exploration tuesday and im not sure what to expect i worry that it wont be sucessfull. my doc says that shoulder will hold itself up (think its called subflexed??) and my elbow will be able to bend but would only be strong enough to hold a bag of sugar for a min or two. Has anyone had this op? how long does it take to start feeling normal as its a long op between 5 an 7 hours. Has it worked for anybody else or does any1 have any more info about it

dalek84,
There are more than a few possible ways your doctors might be trying to attend to your injury. The general standard is using intercostal nerves off the ribs to innervate the bicep for elbow flexion. I had this done along with a number of other procedures. I didn't start experiencing any movement for over 6 months and then my bicep gradually got stronger. After about 2 years the maximum weight I could curl was 5 pounds.

To be honest, the most important thing you can do at your stage of the game is get to the best surgeons possible, as this injury has a very limited number of top doctors that actually know every surgical technique that is available and are able to perform it well.

Who is your doctor and at which hospital?

Christopher

hi myy doc is proff davis he his the best surgeon in the uk that looks after paitents with this injury all the research iv done points to this an he this the best surgeon in the uk. he says that he is goin to wire nerves that go to the lung into the arm an if he needs to he will take a nerve out ov the back ov my lower leg. from what i gather america has alot more specialist clinics for this injury, but im highly confident that i have the best available to me i attend queens medical centre in nottingham

just wanted to say i hope it all goes well.

I had 2 operations, about a month apart, a few months ago. The first was exploratory/transplant of intercostal nerves. I was really sore for several days after this one, they must have moved my ribs around while they were in there and if you've ever cracked a rib or even stretched some of the tendons inbetween them you know that rib injuries hurt for a long time. it was hard to move around, get out of bed etc. for 3-4 days. also, you end up with stitches in a couple spots from the incisions which also means more (temporary) loss of feeling, and then sensitive spots as it comes back. but that's not really that bad. i ended up with a huge mass of foam tape, bandages, and whatnot from my shoulder down most of my chest on that side which was hot (it was summer) and inconvenient for showering, wearing t-shirts, etc.

The second surgery I had was just a transplant, spinal accessory to deltoid which it sounds like your doc doesn't think will be neccessary. that one didn't hurt as much or take as long to heal.

It hasn't been long enough for me to have results yet but i wouldn't worry about the surgery not being successful, from what i know the success rate is pretty high for these procedures, as long as your criteria for 'success' are reasonable.

hope my description of the surgery i had didn't bum you out, it really wasn't that bad, i just wanted to warn you about some of the things i experienced. good luck and i wish you a speedy recovery.

-brian

Thanks djk. and thanks brian i also broke 2 ribs in the same accicent so i know only to well what sort of pain they cause will be sure to let you know how it goes thanks regards Dale

I had the nerve transfer done by Dr. Li here in North Carolina at Wake Forest University Hospital. It was successful, I have a good range of movement with my left arm now, solid hand strength and the ability to curl around 3 - 5 pounds. Not all I hoped for, but more than many people have that have the same type injury. I had the surgery in October and in July started to see signs of it moving.

Best of Luck!

Just want to say iv now had the surgery an there was 3 root evulsions from my spinal cord an there was alot of scarring but my dr is very happy that the surgery went well just got to wait and see now hoping its going to be a good end result