United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My son Logan (5 1/2) had the capsulodesis 3 weeks ago tomorrow. Prior to the surgery, as the one before, I was ever so worried about how he would handle this.

Well, once again I was pleasantly proven wrong. Even though he is in a brace that looks very awkward (straight out at a 90 degree angle to the left), it hasn't bothered him one bit since we got home. He is such a trooper. He is attending preschool classes as he did before, he tells me when it is time to take his bath. He was getting tired of the sponge baths and was very happy to finally get the steri-strips off of his incisions because that meant he could actually get in the bathtub. The incisions that were made look great. Very clean cut and as straight as can be.

He has been a bit sneaky and at night when we do his exercises he tries to let loose from my grip on him and lifts his arm up. Of course I am proud but I warn him not to do that because we don't want to work the muscles before they are ready to be worked.

There is only one downside to all of this at this point - last week had to take him to the Dr. He was diagnosed with tonsilitis. This is the 3rd time he has had it since August. He had gotten rid of it just before we headed down to Houston this last time. With this screwy weather we have been having in Ohio everyone knows someone that is sick. Anyway, the Dr put him on Zithromax and his last dose is tonight, then everynight after tonight for the next 4 months he has to take an amoxicillin tablet. The Dr wants to get rid of the tonsilitis then try to keep it at bay until the winter season is over. Then after that we will decide when the best time will be to take those suckers out. The Dr doesn't want to do it right now because he just got done with this surgery and is in his brace. Doesn't want to give him anything else to deal with right now.

With everything that Logan has been through I am very proud of how well he has handled everything. He doesn't complain one bit. His principal at school said that there was no way he could be in as good of spirits as Logan is in his situation.

Good luck to everyone at their surgeries in Houston this week. I'm thinking of you all!

Desiree
~^i^~

Dezarae, we just returned from having the Capsulodesis surgery done on our 2 1/2 y.o. daughter, Nicole, this past Monday. Dr. Nath talked to us about the post-op protocol and has made some changes. Please contact Logan's surgeon to see if any of the changes impact the rest of the post-op splint period in your case. We were told to keep the splint on 24/7 for 8 weeks and then at night only for an additional 8 weeks. Dr. Nath does not want us to do ANY ROM exercises and wants us to treat the splint as a cast and to NOT remove it at all during this time. For dressing changes, we are to keep it as is or loosen it a little if necessary, but not remove it. Just wanted to give you a heads up on the new instructions. I know that every child / injury / surgery is different, so that's why I'd say to call the dr. directly. I hope this helps. Also, glad to hear that he's such a trooper. I hope he feels better soon. Take care. -Tina

The instructions I was given were that until the steri-strips fell off he was to only have a sponge bath and we were able to take the brace off. Then after the steri-strips fell off we were instructed that he could take a bath, but we had to support the arm at all times which we are doing.

I am contacting Lisa today to make sure that the instructions we have were correct for Logan's situation.

Thank you for your input.

Dez