Post Op Princess Report

Some of my AMC friends who are contemplating Ruthie's most recent procedure have been asking me to post on her progress since surgery and I feel bad that I am just now getting around to it.  So here is The Good, The Bad, and The Hopeful for the Disney princess who refused to pose pretty in her costume this week and so we had to go for the action shots.

In late December Ruthie had an elbow triceps tendon transfer to make a bicep in her right arm.  She spent 5 weeks in a cast and 5 weeks in a splint.

The Good- She has beautiful active anti-gravity elbow flexion in her right arm.  She no longer has to use her other arm to assist her with bringing things to her mouth and she no longer has to bend back to use gravity to assist her.

The Bad- It appears either the surgery or the splint impaired her ulnar nerve and she is now having some difficulty with her right grip strength.  She also has some pretty big scars from the procedure. She also cannot yet full straighten her elbow.  Her surgeon does not see this as a big deal but I am a little more concerned about it.

The Hopeful- Her grip strength is improving and she is slowly gaining the range of motion in her hand back.  As she grows her scars will appear smaller and I haven't given up on her elbow range.  I will keep you posted.

My Disney Princess.