Decision??????

[luv2ride94]

I went back to the doctor for my elbow and he said the only thing left that he can do is surgery or rebreak through hopefully just the scar tissue. Or i can learn to live with it the way that it is... I don't know what to do really. My parents and family want me to decide mostly b/c i'm the one that has to live with it I agree but big decision since im only 12.... Have any of you had surgery of this type or elbow surgery?? I can use it the way that it is but it makes things hard and I don't think i will ever be able to swim the way that i did before and swimming is everything to me and im still not even allowed to ride with it the way that it is. Anyways if anyone has any thoughts or ideas send them this way PLEASE!!

[silver]

Awww.....I'm so sorry to hear that. this is something that only you can decide. We can listen as you "talk" through the options, but we can't tell you the right decision to make. What do you feel in your heart?

[twin]

If I understand what you are asking about scar tissue here is my situation. Because I had a bicycle accident I injured my shoulder and many months later I was told that if I had the type of surgery you are reffering to where they put you to sleep at the hospital and the orthapedic surgeon breaks up the scar tissue then PT? Mine might have been more successful if my doctor had not gone on vacation right after my surgery because that delayed PT. I did have the chair you sit in and move your shoulder for a week at hours at a time. I eventually went to another well known PT and she said she gets her patients in the day of surgery or otherwise the scar tissue sticks again. I think from what I understand if I had have had PT from the 1st day forward my results would have been very different. I think you should consider it because it will bother you from this day forward if you do not. You need PT the day of surgery until you have the use of your elbow like it used to be. How did you injure it?

[light_sabe_r]

luv2ride this is a BIG decision. And a scary one too. Amazing that you've been given this choice and you're 12. ^_^

the BEST thing you can do right now is GET EDUCATED. Find out EVERYTHING about the surgery and it's outcomes. GOOGLE is a great place to start or a university Anatomy text book.

If you don't know enough or don't understand, then book another appointment with your surgeon or your GP and get him to explain everything to you. (not to your parents) If your parents say you're making this decision then you HAVE to be well informed. More so than they are.

What exactly is wrong with your elbow right now? does it bend funny or hurt when you bend it? Can you live with that if you don't go through the surgery?

Yeah. You have to way all that up. Welcome to adulthood. ^_^

[margo49]

After my Near-death-by-squashing- experience with a tractor and a concrete wall ended in a totally mangled right arm here is my $0.02:

Since I was (then) 48 and had a family I just decided to get on with everything as fast as possible and the phuck the pain and to h#ll with the cosmetics and limitations. So I have a real mess there inside (metallica and scar-gunk) and outside (scars looking like a shark bit me) plus mental traumas still. I just put the bars on the bike a little bit off centre crooked to accomodate the unstraightenable arm and it is all mostly ok. Gave up swimming at all.
But if I had not had dependent kids I reckon I would have been more thorough and put more effort into getting it really sharp. Maybe not 100% but pretty close. I mean all those top sports-people have serious surgeries all the time and come back to world-class form.

[mimitabby]

my son has some scarring on his hand and "couldn't decide" whether to fix it or not. After almost 10 years (he's an adult) he's finally gotten to the point where the scars are more flexible now. The cosmetic aspect (how good it looks) doesn't matter to him.
But if i had been in control of the situation, i would have pushed him to get the surgery. Life's tough enough without stupid scars making you stiffer.
good luck.

[Tuckervill]

You're very young now, and you will heal much easier than you would if you waited until you were an adult. You'll have a job when you're older and you will have to pay for it all yourself, too.

My husband broke out his front tooth when he was 9, and so he had a fake one, which ended up being smaller than his real adult tooth on the other side. He had the fake one until he was 38! It looked funny. His parents should have spent the money when he was a teenager to make it right. By the time we married, it became an issue of affording to fix it. He made do until it broke permanently, and then I insisted he have it fixed. He's glad he did. But all those years he had funny looking teeth, and it would have been so much easier and cheaper to have it fixed in the 70s rather than the 90s!

If you were my child, and the surgery could make it near 100%, and with a passion like that (swimming), I'd try to make it happen sooner rather than later. It's not just the money. It's your quality of life that is at stake, and feeling better about yourself, and getting to do the things you love sooner.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Karen

[Pedal Wench]

I really think your parents should be helping in this decision, but I'll add my opinion.

At this point in your life, you really can't know for sure where life will take you, and what you'll want to do. You might decide on a job that requires full use of your arm. It would be a shame to be limited later because of something you could have done earlier. I would try to make it as close to 100% as possible, now, while you have the opportunity to heal quickly.

[luv2ride94]

Thanks everone! Alot.

First I think I worded it wrong the first time, when I said I was making this decision on my own. My parents are helping me, they just want it to be something that I am Ok with. Usually I have alot of my own different opinions and don't want any help with decisions even when its offered... But I am getting better at listening to other peoples opinions!


I spent the weekend at a swimmeet and talked to my mom alot and my coaches and got some great advice (THANKS wahine) and i think this is what I want and hopefully its right.. We are going to go back to my doctor and talk to him about it too and see what he thinks.

Try a different physical therapist or maybe even a different type of therapy before going the surgery way.. Make it a last resort, we thought this was all but have been looking and there are alot of different kinds of therapy I guess.

If it needs surgery I'd rather wait till after march 12 which is the last day of our 3-state championship meet. Hopefully I can pull of some decent swims even without a completely functioning arm and win a few. AND MAYBE the therapy will work and I will have full range of motion or atleast closer :)

Anyways I hope this doesn't mess anything up but I really dont want to lose this whole season and I want to try everything before something huge like surgery cause those recoverys are LONG too. Anyways THANKS again! KT

[chickwhorips]

good luck with everything.

keep us updated on how your doing. hopefully everything goes well.

good luck this season!

[Brandi]

I definatly think trying everything you can to help it before deciding on sugary is very wise. I have the same thing with a foot problem. I am doing a therapy right now and doing everything i can to make sure if I do sugary it is because I exhausted all other options. But like some of the above opinions you are young and will heal better then some of us older mature ladies here myself included! Good luck and keep us posted.
By the way the thought about :you never know what the future might have in store for you, you might have a job the requires full arm motion" I have to agree with that one. I am a sand sculptor and use every part of my arms for my work. I can't imagine not being able to do what I do for a living. www.sandscapes.com check out what we do!

[bacarver]

Hi Katie -

Take time to really ponder your decision here regarding surgery. Educate yourself, ask questions, be your own advocate, think of your future, get the second opinions, don't just let the doctors and therapists sell you on the ideas they think are best for you, and be brave.

Once you make your decisions, believe in yourself and the choices you make because we do the best we can at the time. Don't look back and blame yourself.

What a life lesson you are learning. You are such a neat kid.

Barb

[Duck on Wheels]

I was awake through the surgery on my broken elbow. At one point the surgeon told me that things had fit together really well. Sort of kidding, I said, "So I'll play the violing again?" I did play violin in my teens, but hadn't played much for years prior to the broken elbow. Still, the surgeon couldn't know how much I played. He didn't answer the question. In fact, the whole team went silent. As it turned out, I can play but the twist on the left arm is a bit harder to get right and my left arm doesn't stretch out quite straigt. I gather from conversations with surgeons, both about the arm and a later broken ankle, that some scarring is inevitable when a broken bone heals. After all, the regrowth that heals the bone is ... scar tissue. So I gather what they're telling you is that they can limit, or reduce, the distortion caused by scarring.

Some good questions then are: How precise can they get this? What are the chances of infection etc. from the surgery (there is always some chance of surgery going wrong, even though that chance is nowadays quite small in most surgeries)? Can you talk to someone who's had similar surgery by the same surgeon? What would the post-surgery PT process be, and why would that work better than what you had after the first round? Judging by your posts on this, you're very intelligent and have a good sound dose of skepticism. Given that, I think the way to a decision is to ask the hard questions and see if the surgeon can convince you. I also think your strategy of trying some further PT first is a good one. See what you can achieve with the healed bone as it is, and if that's causing you pain, physically or emotionally such as through loss of activities, then go back and ask how far further surgery could help and at what risks. Medicine these days can perform minor miracles, but it's not perfect. There are always risks and the miracle results can be successfull and yet fall short of our greatest hopes.

[Wahine]

Thanks everone! Alot.

First I think I worded it wrong the first time, when I said I was making this decision on my own. My parents are helping me, they just want it to be something that I am Ok with. Usually I have alot of my own different opinions and don't want any help with decisions even when its offered... But I am getting better at listening to other peoples opinions!


I spent the weekend at a swimmeet and talked to my mom alot and my coaches and got some great advice (THANKS wahine) and i think this is what I want and hopefully its right.. We are going to go back to my doctor and talk to him about it too and see what he thinks.

Try a different physical therapist or maybe even a different type of therapy before going the surgery way.. Make it a last resort, we thought this was all but have been looking and there are alot of different kinds of therapy I guess.

If it needs surgery I'd rather wait till after march 12 which is the last day of our 3-state championship meet. Hopefully I can pull of some decent swims even without a completely functioning arm and win a few. AND MAYBE the therapy will work and I will have full range of motion or atleast closer :)

Anyways I hope this doesn't mess anything up but I really dont want to lose this whole season and I want to try everything before something huge like surgery cause those recoverys are LONG too. Anyways THANKS again! KT

Hey KT,

I just saw this today. You're welcome and I'm glad I could help. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[luv2ride94]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and encouregement!!

Everytime I wonder if I am going to be ok and ever get back to where I was I read these and feel all sorts better!

I guess it is a good life lesson but its one I really didn't want to learn!!

KT

[margo49]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and encouregement!!

Everytime I wonder if I am going to be ok and ever get back to where I was I read these and feel all sorts better!

I guess it is a good life lesson but its one I really didn't want to learn!!

KT

We *love* to give advice!!!

Re: life lesson
We all feel like that but I have come to the conclusion that I would rather have learned "x" lesson without the "x-perience". Which is of course impossible. It will get some historical persoective in the future, believe me, I know these things (like a lot of us here at TE)

[CyclChyk]

My brother had an accident at work where he slipped on oil and landed on cement on his knee. Shattered his knee cap. After surgery and reattaching tendons etc, physical therapy, etc, the mobility of his knee was drastically limited due to the scar tissue.

The doctor basically decided for my brother that they were going to FORCE his knee to bend as close to 180degree angle as possible, thereby "breaking" the scar tissue which ultimately would help him have more use of his knee.

He said the pain was worse than the actual breakage of his knee HOWEVER it is greatly improved and he is bending it now at a 90degree angle, plus some, whereas before it was about 40-45degrees bendable.

I am not telling you this to scare you. I am telling you this so you can decide if the pain is worth the benefits the "operation" could offer you.

You are only 12. I would hate for you not to have full use of your arm the rest of your life if the only thing preventing that is some pain.

My prayers are with you.

[silver]

KT, It looks like you've gotten some really good replies. I was hesitant to say anything before, but it sounds like you've developed a wonderful strategy.

I did want to tell you a little about some of my experiences hoping that you might get a little insight from them. But I certainly don't want to influence you in one way or the other. Again I think it's such a personal decision. Just maybe my experience might help you think of more questions to ask....I don't know.

These are the injuries I've had:

1. Broken left heel bone (from running marathons)
2. Avulsion (small chip of bone pulled away from the bone and held off by a ligament) Fracture of the right second metatarsal (second toe) (again from running)
3. Bike wreck - 5 broken ribs, deflated lung, broken right arm

I've also had 2 cosmetic surgeries

The first broken foot didn't require anything but immobilization and crutches and it healed fine

The second broken foot was more difficult. First I had trouble with the doctor. He said it was a stress fracture and put me on crutches and in a boot for a couple of months and then said it should be fine then. It was not better than before. That doctor only looked at the x-rays which never actually showed a fracture he just assumed from my symptoms AND he never actually TOUCHED my foot. I went to another orthopaedic doctor (doctor number 2) who concurred with the first. Then I went to a 3rd doctor who worked with my foot for 45 minutes and who actually took the x-ray himself and found the chip (x-ray had to be taken from the precise angle to see the chip) I then traveled to Indy to see a 4th doctor (biggy specialist) who concurred with the 3rd doctor. The only solution was surgery to remove the chip.

Now the interesting thing here is that the only thing that I couldn't do because of the chip was to run. I could pretty much do everything else but run. So I had to make a decision was this surgery worth it to me. I was a marathon runner prior to the injury. During the time of diagnosing the injury I got my bike. I wore a boot around but would take it off and ride my bike for miles and miles. It gave me freedom. I'm thankful that I found the bike during the injury. I had to think about even though the only thing that was a problem at the time was running, would there be bigger problems down the line.

I decided to have the surgery. It was successful and I recovered well. I've not tried to run a marathon since then and don't know if I will, but I can run. I never have any problems with that foot. I don't regret my decision.

I did a lot of research about surgery in general before I had my cosmetic surgery (which was before my foot surgery) One of the things that I found is something to ask about is how they put you under. They can use general anesthesia, they can use nerve blocks and they can use something called twilight anesthesia (I think there are different names for this - it's when they administer a sedative through your IV to just put out under)

I chose twilight because I didn't like the fact that they have to intubate you to use general anesthesia (I'm not a doctor and I'm probably mangling the facts so research and verify anything that I say please). It works well for me and doesn't make me sick. I always remeind the anesthesiologist that I'm tiny and probably don't need much. They probably know this but I'm really tiny for as tall as I am.

During my foot surgery they let me wake up and the doctor showed me my bone chip but he wouldn't let me keep it :mad:

I also used twilight for my chest tube placement after my bike wreck.

I hope that I've given you a little insight for your research. It's hard to make these decisions, I know.

You're brave and smart and I hope the best for you!!!

Please keep us updated!!!

[luv2ride94]

Thanks Everyone, everthing you all say makes sense and gives me more knowledge. My dads favorite saying is "knowledge is a key that fits every lock" I understand it now. Your all great!

Silver, what you said was kinda what we were talking about over the weekend. I don't ever want to NOT be able to do something even if I never do it. I think that kinda made sense? Mom asked me to rate from 1 - 10 what the importance to ME right now and looking in the future a little bit it was to regain full or the closest thing possible to full range of motion and that is with wieghing in all the different things that could happen. I said 10 and she said then we need to do whatever it takes. So thats the plan, narrow down my options till something works or if not then we'll go with surgery. Thanks ALOT!!

Tomorrow I am going for a new kind of manual therapy I think it is and we'll see what they say. I'm a little nervous but kinda excited too.. Say a prayer for me :)

I'll tell you how it goes after I get back home!

[chickwhorips]

good luck! let us know how it goes.

[silver]

Hope it goes well today! let us know!

[mary9761]

Good luck I hope all goes well for you.

[luv2ride94]

Hey everone!

Went to the manual therapy place today for my first app. It was WEIRD...
They did a whole body evaluation and then some work. First the videotaped me walking, then walking fast, and then took a whole lot of pictures of different things I think it was flexibility and range of motion stuff.. arms, legs, standing, laying, neck, posture, bending, straight.. Then they did what they called Mapping and my whole body was a still spot? Not good, did something to get the tissue moving and mapped again and my whole left side showed it had issues, from my neck down to my hip, shoulder to fingertip. And the spot on my head right under where my helmet was dented. And They said I have a desended sacrum? Anyways, they put their hand on different places of I think they said release and my whole body was shaking like I couldn't stop shivering but I wasn't cold.. REALLY odd... BUT heres the great part, when I got there i was 7 degrees from straight, and when I left I was 1!!! And it feels less tight.. I don't know how it works, but I'll take it!! I go back for a 2 hour session next thursday again. :D

[Wahine]

Hey KT. Good news!! What they did with you is called myofascial release and they may have done some cranioosacral work as well. It's based on the principle that our body parts are directly connected, from head to toe, by connective tissue under the skin, through the muscles and around the bones. Sometimes this connective tissue does not move quite right it can cause all sorts of restrictions.

This type of treatment can work very well for some people. I read an article once about a competitive diver that had to stop diving due to dizziness. She had a similar assessment to yours and they told her that the problem was related to changes in the connective tissue related to an old knee injury!! She had the same types of treatments and her dizziness went away and she returned to diving. I'm glad it's helping you.:)

I'll be really interested to hear how it goes after the next session.

[silver]

Wow! That's interesting! I sure hope that it helps you!

Now that my bones have healed from my bike wreck I've found a couple weird little things myself and am working with a chiropractor. I didn't think of it in your case since we were talking about your arm, but now I see how it's related.

My weird little things: My right groin and left shoulder have hurt since the accident. Seems the right groin was the opposite injury from the right hip impact in the wreck. And the left shoulder seems to be slight tear from the wreck. But with all the other things going on, you don't really seem to notice these things. x-rays can find broken bones, but they don't reveal these small soft tissue issues.

Keep us up to date!