Thread: C5 Palsy
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Old 05-11-2019, 12:52 AM
Patricia Cox Patricia Cox is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 5
3 yr Member
Patricia Cox Patricia Cox is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 5
3 yr Member
Default wife of c5 palsy patient

My husband is only 4 weeks out with bilateral. He is already frustrated. Right arm has little function. Left is more useful except that he had some numbness in his fingers before surgery and it is worse now but of course he is right handed. Neither can go to the top of his head or get behind him. He doesn't have any one arm that is close to normal. He can't dress independently or get out of bed. His scores ranged from 0 to three.
Waiting around is going to be hard.
His surgeon did talk about nerve transfers. There was no timeline yet.

We are getting a little home health care, but mostly they have not given us much we can do to make things easier. The exercises will be helpful eventually. I have to help him even lift his arms for some of them.

I have read a little about the stimulator. Reading about putting in the effort has halped as well.

I think you should recover faster. Shoulders should be soon.
My husband can do nothing with biceps. Lost all strength. That seems to come later.



Quote:
Originally Posted by maribren View Post
I am 13 weeks out from 3-level ACDF (3/15/17) with bilateral c-5 palsy. Prior to surgery I was experiencing loss of function in my left arm due to the collapse of my cervical disc but my right arm was mostly functional. After surgery my right arm was also completely dysfunctional and the left arm remained the same. The surgeon said that monitoring during surgery suggested I would get full function back but so far things aren't improving significantly. I can use my hands and arms below the elbows but can't raise either arm more than 20%--so I can't really drive or even wash my own hair! I am so grateful for the information on this thread. I will post my progress.
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