United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Yeah, I had an MRA with contrast done when I was at Mayo. They actually decided to do the test becuase they couldnt find my pulse on my right arm. I didn't think it was too bad except that it made me nausaus for a while. And my surgery is scheduled for September 21st. 4 days before my 18th birthday and the first day of homecoming week at college...

I spent my last birthday recovering from multiple surgeries too. Think of it as a birthday gift of a new chance at arm function. (hope that's not too sappy)
Don't worry too much about your freshman year. I hardly remember mine.

So i know this is really minor in the grand scheme of things but I am just curious how the scars are. Dr. Shin told me he would make them as minimal as possible with internal stitches but im still really curious.

I had so many scars from other surgeries I didn't even think to ask them that, ha ha. The one on my calf is thin but noticeable (but who looks at your calves?) and the area they put the nerve in I can barely tell is there. I think after a few years you'll hardly tell they're there.

I had the surgery in January of 06. My Doctor removed the nerve from my calf and graphed it into my arm through my neck. Before the surgery my arm was completely paralyzed. I had to wear a brace on my wrist because my wrist hung down , I was in a sling, my shoulder was dislocated because of the deteriorated muscles. It just hung down and I could pop it in and out but it would not stay in. Now after 3 surgeries, including nerve graphing, muscle transplants, and nerve transplants I can move my wrist up and down and hold it straight. I can sway my arm back and forth so that I appear more normal and my shoulder is a lot stronger. The only thing I would tell you is to be really careful of the doctor. A former co worker of mine has the same injury from around the same time as me. We had our surgeries the same month but he wouldn't go to my doctor. I just seen him and he has no recovery. He is in the sling still. Very few doctors can pull it off. The doctor I chose was the last one I saw and I was really glad that I didn't pick the first one who wanted to try it.

Oh yeah. My C6 nerve( main nerve for function) was severed from my spine. The surrounding nerves were streched beyond repair. My accident was in June of 05 and I did not have my first surgery until Jan 06. It is best not to wait that long but my arm was so messed up that surgeons/doctors just wanted to experiment with it. The Doctor I went with had been working with BPI for 16 years prior to my surgery and had a lot of success stories. I was 30 when I had the surgery. Since your so young you will heal so much better. I know for a fact that the recovery rate in children is way higher. A girl at my Therapy had the surgery and now she is curling and styling her hair with her injured arm. The flip side of being so young might be you can't do all the fun stuff with your friends anymore but hang in there.

Thanks for the encouragement! it means a lot to hear successful stories like that. I am getting the surgery done at the Mayo clinic in Rochester so I'm not to worried. They said they have a 75-80% recovery rate but it all varies on the extent of the injury. They also didn't want to wait any longer for me as the injury was just over 6 months ago but because it was my first time seeing them they decided to give me a few more weeks just to see if i could achieve any healing on my own. and I'm able to get along fairly well with how i am and seeing how it could have been much worse I'm very thankful. It's kind of bittersweet but I do think I'm looking forward to it in a way and all of the encouragement on this site really helps.

Hang in there Janet, and good luck with the surgery. I had mine about 6 months in too. I had no bicep or shoulder before the surgery and I've recovered maybe 75% of my bicep. Probably 10% of the shoulder if any unfortunately. I can do a lot of stuff now. Just cant lift my wack shoulder above my head.

You could have a lot better results though. The best advice is just stay positive, and keep working at it. Exercises and such are frustrating as h3ll when you dont see any results. Results never come as quickly as you'd like and its easy to give up and say screw it. Just keep plugging.

For me, that's really great to hear. Even if I don't get full return (which I'm sure I won't), I'm happy with what I can get. I'm looking forward to my tricep the most as opposed to my deltoid. I never even realized it except for the muscle deterioration behind my right shoulder. But I'm a big tennis player and can't wait to find out if I need to learn to play lefty or if I can get a little strength back. Either way, I'll be more than happy to take what I can get. And the good news is that the professors at school have been very cooperative. Especially with my classes that involve a lab. Given this situation, I couldn't ask for anything better right now. Thanks again for the support.

Well luckily for me I'm a righty and hurt my left. I havent truly tried golf or tennis again yet since I had a bunch of injuries (motorcycle accident) to my back. Basically I can only run for a minute or two without back pain. Otherwise I could play relatively easily. So I'd say tennis would be easy for you if you learn the other hand, but you still make get enough back, who knows.

The biggest problem though is if they do come back for you after surgery, you'll have usable daily use but the endurance of playing a sport with that shoulder may wear it out quickly. Like, I said I've gained 75% of my bicep use. So before say I could curl 50 lbs, now maybe 25 lbs. Well I guess thats 50%? But before I couldve curled 25 lbs 50 times easily. Now my bicep is worn out after 8 to 10. See what I mean?

Unfortunately, with no deltoid, flag football, basketball, and softball are now out for me. That sucks.