For those who read my posts - Cerebral Palsy Message Board

write · 05-20-2005, 11:41 AM

I finally saw a specialist regarding my muscle tightness. I told him my current baclofen dosage wasn't working so he prescribe a higher dosage. He told me that I needed surgery after carefully examining me. He did certain tests to see if my brain was affected by my having CP, which it is not. It kind of made me feel a little uncomfortable by it. He asked me things like what was today's date, who was the president and before him and before him. He also told me to subtract 7 from a hundred all the way until he told me to stop. I kind of felt stupid for a minute.
Anyway, after the evaluation he told me that I need to go see an orthopedic surgeon. I have it scheduled to see him on June 23. If I'm really going to have this surgery I need to have it now because I need to be a 100% by the end of August to return to school.
I having tendon release surgery and my question is how long does it take to heal and will I walk better? Once walking better, after a couple of years will I go back to walking the way I walk now or worse? The reason why I ask these questions is because I had this type of surgery when I was 5. I was supposed to have more but doctors kept trying to do other things with me. Now that they are finally giving me the surgery I don't what to expect and I really don't want to get my hopes up and be let down.

JellyRJFan · 05-20-2005, 12:46 PM

Releases don't take as long to heal from as other surgeries (from my own experience). But if you need to be 100% by the end of August I would do it sooner than the end of July. I'm in the same boat, and I'm trying to get in to see a new ortho surgeon next week.

I wouldn't think you would go back to walking the way you did before the surgery, or worse, but things do start to decline after a while. But I guess that just comes with the territory of getting older and dealing with spasticity. good luck!

jlbalcer · 05-23-2005, 04:02 PM

My son had his first releases (bilateral hamstrings, heel cords, and gastrocs) when he was 5 years old. In his case, the surgery allowed him to walk...literally.Three years later, he is very tight again, and developing contractures in his right knee, ankle and hip. His recovery was rough (being a 5 year old in bilateral casts hip to toes isn't the most fun either) with severe muscle spasms. He was in casts for 6 weeks, then went to braces for 6 weeks. It took him about 6 months to recover completely. At 7 he had an elbow release, thumb reconstruction, and muscle repostioning. He was casted for 5 weeks, braced for 11 weeks, and he was completely recovered within 10 months.

write · 05-27-2005, 01:15 PM

Thanks for the responses JellyRJFan and jlbalcer