--- In Erbs_Palsy_Support@yahoogroups.com, "robert_diorio_esq"
<robert_diorio_esq@...> wrote:
>Im glad shes doing so much better it really helps once they get
there movement back. Thank god for his miracles and I hope all
continues to go well. Sincerely, Toysha
> She's doing better
> Surgery helps toddler, 1,
> regain movement in arm
>
>
> A mother knows.
>
> Kristina Blackburn of Decatur knew when her daughter, Kayla, was
born
> that something was wrong.
>
> "Her right arm flopped completely behind her and was still. Her
other
> arm and legs were moving," she said.
>
> Another surprise Blackburn got that day, Dec. 30, 2005, was Kayla's
> size.
>
> "She weighed 10 pounds, 9 ounces," Blackburn said. "We were
> anticipating a smaller baby."
>
> The size is probably what caused Kayla's problem, which Blackburn
> would later know as shoulder dystocia, or stuck shoulder. This means
> that one shoulder and, less frequently, both shoulders of the baby
> are not entering the pelvis during the birth as they should.
>
> According to some studies, shoulder dystocia occurs in less than 1
> percent of all births and can lead to increased complications for
the
> baby and the mother. For Kayla, it meant that in her short life she
> would travel a long road for a cure.
>
> "The next day, her pediatrician said Kayla had a birth injury,"
> Blackburn said. "A week later, a specialist said it was a brachial
> plexus injury and that her condition is known as Erb's palsy. It
> could lead to paralysis. My husband, Jesse, and I started searching
> for help."
>
> A specialist at Children's Hospital in Birmingham suggested a nerve
> transfer. The couple had previously contacted Dr. Rahul Nath,
> director of the Texas Nerve & Paralysis Institute and Nath Brachial
> Plexus Institute at Texas Medical Center in Houston. He has treated
> two other Decatur children. But the Blackburns hoped to stay closer
> to home.
>
> "Dr. Nath asked for video of her. He wanted to see what she could
and
> couldn't do," Blackburn said, "and the position of her arm. She was
3
> months old, and she was just lying there."
>
> Nath called to say he didn't feel Kayla needed a nerve transfer, but
> a mod quad, or a muscle surgery.
>
> "The doctor goes in and reattaches the muscle to another place for
> better movement," Blackburn said.
>
> Southwest Airlines donated the family a roundtrip flight to Houston
> and Nath did the surgery June 22, when Kayla was almost 6 months
old.
>
> "We waited that long to give the nerve a chance to heal on its own,"
> Blackburn said. "If a child doesn't have back almost full arm
> movement by 3 months, you're not going to get by without surgery."
>
> Blackburn said her daughter is one of the youngest children that
Nath
> has operated on and "I think she was lucky because she was so
young."
>
> Blackburn said that the day after surgery, he removed Kayla's splint
> and "she actually lifted her arm completely up. She had never lifted
> it before. We call Dr. Nath our miracle worker. Kayla's injury was
> not life threatening, but she is our baby. We wanted to give her the
> best outlook on life that we could and if this injury had not been
> treated, it would have slowed her down drastically."
>
> Kayla was in the hospital for three days and she had to wear a
Statue
> of Liberty splint to bed every night for six weeks.
>
> "It covers from the belly button to the top of the chest, and it
> holds her arm up like the Statue of Liberty," Blackburn said.
>
> Technically, according to her mother, Kayla has been in therapy
since
> she was 2 weeks old.
>
> "As a baby, she never could crawl because of her lack of arm
> strength. She started walking on Halloween, the day after she turned
> 10 months old, and never looked back," Blackburn said.
>
> Physical therapy
>
> Before Kayla was 3 months old, Tami Tubell, a physical therapist,
> began working with her in a program called Early Intervention
through
> the state Department of Rehabilitation Services. Tubell comes to the
> home weekly for up to an hour, putting Kayla through a series of
> exercises to increase her arm strength, such as having her crawl
into
> a plastic tunnel and retrieve toys, to bear weight on her arm.
>
> "She's attentive and isn't afraid to use her arm," Tubell
> said. "She'll come off my services soon."
>
> Re-evaluation
>
> Thursday, Tubell will video Kayla and send the tape to Nath for a
re-
> evaluation. Picking up where Tubell leaves off will be Sandy Groger,
> an occupational therapist who'll sharpen Kayla's fine motor skills.
> Groger will come twice monthly and could work with the child until
> Kayla is 3 years old or older, according to her progress.
>
> "I do feel Kayla will need a second procedure, a bone surgery called
> triangle tilt," Blackburn said. "It will correct deformities caused
> by lack of movement of the arm."
>
> She said at Christmas, her daughter put her right hand to her mouth
> but that she still can't supinate or rotate the hand so that the
palm
> faces upward or forward.
>
> "She went from basically having a paralyzed arm 6 months ago to
using
> it," Blackburn said. "Most people wouldn't know she had a problem,
> but she still can't open up her right hand."
>
> Blackburn said surgery costs totaled about $107,000, including a
> $5,000 upfront payment.
>
> "Our insurance paid less than $15,000. We have in an appeal to get
> more of it covered," she said.
>
> "We have had at least five benefit yard sales and raised about
> $1,200. That includes people who would come up and make a donation.
> She was important to them, too, although they didn't know Kayla. We
> will never forget their kindness."
>
> Ronnie Thomas
> THE DECATUR DAILY
> 201 First Ave. S.E.
> P.O. Box 2213
> Decatur, AL 35609
>