Story submitted by Arumugam Thamizhavel on September 06, 1999 at 22:55:24:
Arumugam Thamizhavel is 29, from Salem/TamilNadu/India.
Family:Wife Akhila and daughter Prathiba 4 months old
My wife Akhila gave birth to a female Baby on 5th May this year. Since my baby was weighing 4.4Kg at the time of birth, the doctor used forceps. B'coz of this my daughter is suffering from Erbs Brachial Palsy. Her right arm doesn't function properly immediately after birth and her wrist was twisted to the right. The doctors in India advised to do regular physiotherapy for her by bendig the elbow and moving up / down her hand. The also advised to use a special kind of bed in which the right hand is bent and brought parallel to her face and tied just above her head. We also tried with electric stimulation.
when she was 2 months old, we moved to Japan. Here the doctor advised not to continue with any excercises / physiotherapy and added that it will recover on its own. Now that she is 4 months old and when we took her this time to the doctor, the doctor asked to start physiotherapy from now-on-wards. Also he informed us that the surgery under microscope has to be done during novermber or december. I understand from this website that the surgery has to be done before 1 year to be effective. She now brings her hand
to her mouth and back down again. She has a strong grip and moves her wrist but she has not yet bent her elbow. Now that my worry is that whether she can be cured 100% after the surgery? Or whether the physiotherapy alone can cure this?
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