Andrew's recovery Pt 11

I am not sure had mentioned the damage Andrew had to his hand.  While recovering we learned that Andrew had nerve damage to both of his arms.  Either the damage was from the accident, the fact that his arms were not use for a while, the excess muscle tone caused by the stroke, or all of the above.

Andrew's left hand could not close or make a fist.  On Andrew's right hand he could not extend his ring or pinky finger and his right hand also had a lot of muscle atrophy. While in the hospital his occupational therapists would try to stretch them out and push them in and not much seemed to be helping.  The thought was possible nerve damage causing the hand problems.

In March 2011, I drove Andrew to Denver for a nerve test.  Things did not look good at the point.  There was severe nerve damage in his right arm.  It was recommended that Andrew get an appointment for a clinic that specialized in diagnosing and getting people in for nerve surgery.  It was complicated to get Andrew in.  In fact he could not get an appointment or into the clinic until September 2011.  

It turns out it was more than fine that he did not get into the clinic until then.  The doctors looked at him and said "you don't seem to have a problem, come back in for another test."  So he did and there was a 45% improvement in the nerves in his arms.  We were so relieved that he did not need surgery.  Since he had improved 45% in 6 months the predicted he would improve even more and unless his arms start giving him problems they did not need to see him.  

Now Andrew's hand look more like they used to.  The muscle is not as atrophied in the right hand and both hands can function normally. Andrew worked really hard stretching and 'smashing' his hands to get them that way. 

I also thought I had pictures to go along with my description of Andrew's hands.  I took them for our lawyers and I probably deleted the pictures after I sent them out.  Since he was living it I probably did not want to have pictures of it too.  I may still have them somewhere... but maybe not.