My daughter Jessica was born in 2003 at 8lbs 14 ounces, and as a result of shoulder dystocia, sustained a left obstetrical brachial plexus injury. For the first few months we were paralyzed with fear worrying about her future and whether she would need surgery or have normal use of her arm. Her neurologist did an EEG at 3 weeks old and had told us the results showed she had a "significant" injury which was quite upsetting to hear! Fortunately she was able to get hand to mouth at 3 days past that "magic" 3 month old milestone. As a baby, I know she suffered in pain and would be up many nights crying from 2 to 5am. I finally realized a warm bath would calm her and ease her pain, and she could go back to sleep. She was delayed in crawling, rolling over, and walking. She started OT at 1 week old. She was followed by her neurologist and saw 4 surgeons for consults between the ages of 3 months and 2 years old. When she was 6 months old, one surgeon told us she needed 2 surgeries and that we should schedule them immediately! I, and her therapist, both thought she was following a great pattern of natural recovery. Fortunately, the other 3 surgeons agreed (as well as 3 others I had sent videos to), and I am happy to report that today she is 11 years old and has not had any surgeries. She was released from OT and her neurologist's care at 2 years old. She does everything pretty normally, she supinates (uses a little compensation to get to full), she claps, runs and swings both arms normally, puts her hair in a ponytail, hands behind the back, etc. Although no one can tell she has an injury, she does have some residual deficits. She has limited external rotation, a winging scapula, and tends to elevate her elbow sometimes. Although her injury was a constant focus and worry for the first 2 years, it became much less of a focus from age 2 to 9. Around 9 years old, we noticed she started experiencing some pain, likely due to growing and additional lengthening of the nerve. She always has some sensitivity in the deltoid area and usually will have muscle tightness with any kind of weight bearing or activities that involve the arm, but she is back in OT now and does well as long as she remembers to stretch before and after any activities. The stretching makes all of the difference in the world! Although we are delighted beyond words with her recovery, there are unfortunate consequences of her injury. She desperately wanted to play the violin like her brother, but in therapy we quickly realized this just was not going to be possible; however, she did not let this deter her and we had a custom left-handed violin made where she holds the bridge with the right arm and bows with the left arm (reverse of normal). She desperately wanted to do gymnastics and cheer and tried both, but she was in so much pain from it and still found her left arm to be weaker when trying to bear her own weight, so she dropped these activities and instead is very passionate about dancing and takes tap and jazz. Today, she is a very beautiful, intelligent, determined Straight A 5th grader!
Let me know if you would like to share your story!
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