My Brachial Plexus Injury Story

I've past the 4 years milestone. This is a significant time because it is supposed to be reaching the apex of the recovery. For a normal day to day, you usually don't need to raise your arm more than 90 degrees. All my needs are pretty much covered at that angle. Higher than that, you need occasional motion that tends to be important at the moment. For example, getting something heavy off a shelf. I can manage most of the times I run into the scenario. What I noticed a few months ago is that I wasn't able to throw a basketball. A random ball made its way to me on the street, I grabbed it and when I threw it back, both my face and the owner's looked hilariously disappointed. Ever since I started practicing the motion, with a smaller rubber wall, against an imaginary ring on my room's wall. I thought it would be hard to see any improvement since the 4th anniversary mark. Surprisingly, after a month of a few minutes of practice per day, my throw is getting better. And

These past few months life have been really busy, barely managed to stick to my recovery exercises. Still, recovery goes on, and I can see some improvements on stability and strength \o/ Sensation on the thumb seems to be slightly improving too. Other sensory areas are more or less the same I think. This month makes 4 years since the accident. Always an emotional month !

I'm changing a bit the exercises. I usually work the lateral or front raise, now I'm trying to engage more the rear deltoid, supra and infra. The doctor recommended me to try badminton to improve arm stability, I think I would be really bad at it at this moment so I'm trying some exercises with a soft ball against the wall. I've quickly noticed an improvement. I think I'll try badminton or some racket game soon. As for now, I managed to do my first real push-up \o/ it was only one, but that's a start :) I'm actually OK doing planks, I guess I have not been exercising the triceps as I should, so I still have some pending work there.

  It has been 3 years after the surgery. I remember vividly the sensation on the way to the surgery room. The frustration of giving up hope for a full natural healing, and giving in to a calculated risk with estimated recovery level rates. My brachioradialis is still reminding me it was the right call. It is getting a bit stronger tho 💪. Everything related to the arm healing feels normal by now, and used to it by a long shot. Very grateful to Dr. Somsak and Dr. Kanchai for the fantastic work done on me. I continue my exercises as much as I can, and hopefully my self-discipline will help me to continue for at least a few more years.

A few days ago it was the 3 years mark since the accident. Always a scary anniversary. Things seem to keep improving, started doing easy push-ups, more weight exercises and anything I can think of to push the arm. These past two months have been quite stormy in Singapore, and the hyper sensitive areas were definitely reacting. I wonder how is it going to be during the upcoming Christmas in cold Europe. My back issue is getting better, and the core becoming more equally balanced. I've adjusted the bicycle's seat a bit lower, more than I should by my height, but seems to help me keep a better balance on the handlebar so the back stays firmer. My running seems to be getting better too. I'm less scared of hitting my arm against upcoming pedestrians, doors etc. Slowly regaining confidence on my right side :) 

So it has been 2 years and a half after the surgery. I continue to see significant improvements, traveling for the past few weeks I made good use of the arm pulling luggage, carrying stuff and of course, lots of eat and drink. It was cold in Scotland, but the hypersensitivity didn't bother too much. I see slight improvements on that side as well. In the place I stayed there was a lot of fire doors, kind of heavy. Most of the time I could use the arm to open them without much difficulty. As always, very happy with the result and continuing my daily arm exercise routines o/

Passed the 2 years mark, and very happy to see improvements. Strength is increasing, muscle mass too. From an outside viewer it appears my BPI arm is a healthy strong arm. Hypersensitivity still there. I recently spoke to an old friend whose partner got into a motorcycle accident and had a nerve injury in the leg. Several years later the hypersensitivity still there for that person, I guess this part takes a bit longer to heal. Life goes on as usual. I'm moving apartment next week and had to do a lot of physical movement, including a very tiring round of washing curtains. I was surprise to have muscle soreness on the BPI arm the day after, I guess that's a very good sign. I continue with my exercise routine, and I noticed I developed a bit of bad posture when raising the arm. I suspect this caused me to have a mild pull on the sciatica nerve last December, from what I'm still recovering too. I expect this will improve as it gets easier to raise the arm. The feeling I have w