Veronica Vs. Surgery ---- VERONICA WINS!!!

Yesterday we made the long hot trek to the other side of Rome to see Veronica's brachial pexus (nerve) specialist. In the waiting room Veronica was such a character. She wasn't shy but waddled around the room seeing the other children and trying to play with anyone who would look at her. For me, I like looking at all the children-teenagers because they all have some form of Erb's Palsey or nerve damage that effects their arm. We saw cases ranging from what appeared to be more sever - a baby with a brace and poor growth to the arm, children who had movement but not total to a teenager who's arms were the same length but one was significantly slimmer than the other. Seeing all the people made me wonder what Veronica's arm would look like BUT it didn't scare me the way it used to. I think she has made so much progress that even if her arm is a little different than the other it won't really matter.

We got in to see Dr.Raimondi and right away he asked how things were going and to remind him which arm was affected... He couldn't tell!! YAY! We said she had been doing well and we thought her arm was developing well. He asked to see her lift her arm to see how high it went and of course because he wanted her to do something she wouldn't. I had brought one of her headbands for just this reason and put it on her head. We held her good hand and she lifted her weaker one up and tried to pull it off. YAY! The doctor was very happy with how high she lifted her arm and how she could turn it towards her face. He said suppination was definitely starting and would get better. Then we got to my questions...

1 - So... because of her continued development we can say non of the nerves were severed??? If they weren't severed would her arm gain all its function back?   He explained, and drew a picture to help explain, that the nerve sheath was intact but the fibres inside were damaged. When the fibres are regrowing they could possibly get mixed up and thus arm development doesn't always happen at the same time... for example the shoulder might regain its function but not the elbow. Veronica's arm has been developing at the same time which is ideal. He is very confident that she will regain most or all arm function - of course he can't guarantee total because he doesn't know but he did say he wished all his patients were like Veronica. He wouldn't have a job but it would be ideal for the children. He also said that people would never be able to tell she has an OBPI (Obstetrical Brachial Plexus Injury).

2 - Winged scapula???? He said not to worry about it. A winged scapula right now is a good thing because it is helping to control and move her arm. It is balancing out-helping to compensate for the weaker muscles. As she gets older it will probably go down. All she has to do is exercise... pushing with her arm (the physio has her push alot) and he encouraged swimming. He said it was the best exercise for this type of injury. For now all she can do is splash around but he said when she is 2.. 2.5 she can start to really learn how to swim.

3 - Can we accidentally hurt her nerves if I pull on her arm the wrong way or too hard? NO!! We cannot hurt or damage or re-damage the nerves in her arm. They are as strong as her other ones or anyone's. It is the fibres in the nerves that are regrowing or getting stronger and they are protected by the sheath which we cannot damage by moving her arm or pulling her up.

He also stressed the importance of continual usage and physio. Apparently when children get to school or school age they can have a decrease in function because they get distracted or pre-occupied with things.

The excellent news was that she is no longer a candidate for any secondary surgeries. We could not be happier that our little girl doesn't have to go through this!!! If we are still here in one year we will go back to see him so he can continue to follow her progress. If we are in Canada he suggested the clinic at Sick Kids.

And so ends this chapter of Veronica Vs. Surgery. He said that if we took a picture of her arm now and another in one year we would continue to see a big difference and improvement. While she still has alot of work and physio ahead of her we could not be happier to put the surgery option behind us.

In Milan, after seeing Dr.Raimondi for the first time.
This time, he said he remembered the first time he saw us and he wasn't sure  how well she would recover.
He really is happy with all her progress!!!

- Our electricity went out at the beginning of this post... it is still out so will upload and put pictures later :) after 15 hours, 1 very hot and dark night we have electricity again!!