Just wondering what everyone would choose if they could regain something after SCIand what it would be????

I would wanna regain my bowel and my bladder back

Actually, I'd rather like to regain more hand and finger movement, grip. I would be able to work on the rest. I'd love to propel myself, change my own ostomy and urological supplies. Just to remove the burden off my family and carer, would give me a great great sense of independence. Mark

I agree. Being able to achieve sole independant care and living would be HUGE & AMAZING!!

Come on you lot who think bowel & bladder issues rule your lives, as its been said before here, they are mere flesh wounds.

We all have different perspectives on SCI.

I xx

I'd like to regain the ability to walk!

I voted sexual function. I can live with the artificial urinary sphincter, and I'm likely soon to have the ACE surgery for the bowels, so those two are pretty well taken care of. However, the complete lack of sexual function (and feeling in that area) is not that easily fixed. (At least not here in the states, but that's being discussed elsewhere on the forum.)

I agree that we all do have different perspectives on this due in large part to the differences in the individual injuries and the individual functional loss each one of us experiences.

This is a very interesting topic. Thanks Bevan.

i voted, my $75k a year income

I'd like to regain my sanity..............OOPS!! Might not have ever had that to begin with.

Seriously, I'd love .....LOVE to have control over my own bowel & bladder function. Anyone got that magic wand? Wave it my way, please.
~Stella

I am back walking and tossed up (pardon the pun) between bladder function and sexual function. If I choose sexual function probably only one (perhaps two if I get really lucky) women will ever really know at one time and anyway, I have developed other methods of dealing with that.

If I pee myself at a concert and it gets up on that big screen - everybody in the stadium will know. Then it will be on Youtube or Live Leak (unfortunate name I know) and the whole world will know. Just my "2p" worth.

What I would like to gain other than full function would be a winning Lottery ticket.

Great topic by the way.

Appologies to everyone, when i put this up last night, i should have been thinking a lot more than I was. I had no itention of offending anyone by not including hand/arm movment etc etc. My appologies for this... I will see if I can change the poll otherwise Simon might have to...
I should have been thinking the of the bigger picture rather than just my situation. Like ya said SCI has a different meaning for all of us.

Sorry again bout that..
B

I take your point Izziwhizzi.

Yes, we do all have different perspectives which is why to some of us, bowel and bladder issues "rule our lives" as you put it. They are hardly "mere flesh wounds" to those who suffer them as a primary condition or concern. Is paraplegia perhaps "just a flesh wound" because others are permanently vented quads? Everything is relevant to the sufferer and perhaps those who don't have them as a primary concern because of a more severe condition shouldn't comment on or belittle the sufferings of others for having such concerns.

Heck, should women remain silent during childbirth or should children not complain of a broken arm because others have had two broken arms or had twins? I think not.

Obviously being a para or quad permanently is a major change, physically, mentally and medically and on so many other planes. There is no doubt they are both serious conditions and obviously differ in their severity and the side effects and complications. I am not in any way saying they are not. I just think that each have their own struggles and issues to go through and we shouldn't dismiss the issues of others because we view ours as worse.

GIMMIE BACK MY BULLETS!

B & B fer sure.
Walkin's over rated big-time and I've always been the sensitive type so that's not a problem.
As far as the totally incredible sex ALL THE TIME goes.....Shit, been there done that. Pretty much wore ol' Stanley out I did. Just ask any of the Victoria's Secret models. They'll tell ya.
OOPS! No they won't. Almost forgot, I made 'em all sign non-disclosure contracts cause I was getting tired of all the calls from porn producers.
At least now I can finally get some rest.

E

I agree with you about not dismissing another's issues/struggles slowlegs.

Becoming a para or quad is a big change. For those who were born with a condition that caused paralysis at birth (or became paralyzed early enough for them not to remember), it might just be how things are. Maybe I'm wrong. I would like to know more though. I'm not saying that it's any less of a struggle for those people though. I know better than that. We do all have our struggles, and all struggles should be taken seriously.

I consider myself to be in pretty good shape compared to what could have happened to me.

I know I'm the weird one here, but to me, my injury (total loss of bowel/bladder/sexual function included) does seem like a mere flesh wound, especially when I hear some of the things many others have been through. I'm not saying that having an SCI doesn't suck for me on some levels. What I'm saying is that I always try to keep in mind how much worse my condition could be. I'm pretty fortunate to even be alive considering how my accident happened and the severity of it.

To have survived with no injuries other than a broken spine (not even a scratch on the outside of my body, no internal organ injuries, no head injury) is really against the odds. I didn't think my wreck was all that severe, but several rescue workers, a state trooper, and 3 ortho spinal surgeons told me otherwise. When I found out now many other injuries others with that severe of a spinal injury due to MVA usually had, I freaked out. When I found out how badly my truck's cab was crushed down, I freaked out too. I have no idea how I survived at all, much less without any other injuries.

I try to focus on what I have, and how fortunate I am (aside from the SCI) as much as possible. I have a great wife, a good life, a nice place to live, and so many more great things that far outweigh the SCI and it's associated problems. One nasty injury amongst the pretty good rest of my life isn't too bad. Hell, the SCI is helping me to prepare to help others. One nasty injury that has helped me to help some others and will help me to help even more. Personally, that's a price I can live with.

Hi Jax,
I don't think that is weird. I used to get transported to rehab every day once I was discharged from hospital. We'd be out in the ambulance just after 8AM and home by 5PM so I spent a fair while with others with different abilities/disabilities in the "special bus" over that 14 months.

I used to find that hard too for some reason, here was me with all these visible scars and internal injuries which took many operations and years to heal but I was up walking when some of my friends with head injuries or SCI's looked so perfect and physically unhurt yet seemed to be locked in a body that just wouldn't respond. I don't know why but that used to really disturb and even upset me why such a small break with sometimes no outside change in body image could change a life so drastically.

Obviously I had seen people in wheelchairs while I was AB but it never really occurred to me that SCI was anything other than "not being able to use their legs". Perhaps some or most others on here also went through similar realisations when they encountered SCI. Just an observation and sorry to get off topic.

walk, run, skip, jump, dance...in stilettos!

Even though I'd love to play my guitars again and feel a good head job.........

I wanna walk and kick some ASS, Damit..............

Jim

I hope I'm not pissing any para's off, but if I had use of my hands and upper body, I'd be on cloud nine. Perhaps all SCI's should start out with no movement or sensation for a couple of months and then be extremely grateful for everything they gain back. I'm very lucky never to have needed a vent and that I got partial use of my right arm but if I had been injured a few inches lower I'd be taking care of myself. True, had I been injured lower, I might still yearn for greener grasses, and I know higher quad's would be wanting off the vent and use of an arm, even limited use, but there is a big difference between bending an elbow and being able to use your hands and getting yourself dressed and in and out of bed.

So to answer the original question of this post, I'd be happy with regaining use of my hands and fingers.

Damnit i chose walk then i scrolled down. I wanna take back my answer now i changed my mind

Well I am a quad so full use of my hands and triceps is number 1 and would have me in tears. I can do a lot as I am now, but that would grant me 100% independence and that is my dream. For now I do what I can with what I have and try to help others in my situation the best I can.

Andrew says he already got that wish when they wheeled the ventilator out of his hospital room. Took him 3.5 months of hard weaning to get off, but he did. He says he feels greedy saying it . . . but, if he could get just another thing back . . . it would be arms. He says he can't imagine the day we have a grand-baby and he can't hold him/her in his arms. He says he's not so hung up on the walking the daughters down the aisle thing . . . says he will get the girls down the aisle . . . got wheels for that.

Joye (for Andrew)

WAlk and dance with my husband. After almost 46 years married I still want to dance with him.

That's Cool..........
Jim

Working my legs out in the gym,and feel my todger.God,I wish it just didn't feel like a pice of dead rubber!

was exactly the same.... i took everything for granted.... i guess its human nature to do so...

I saw someone in a wheelchair a short time b4 my accident an i remember thinking why dont they just move there legs its not that hard. i also remember thinking if that was me i'd just think it hard enough an move them. Im now a T-5 complet an have not moved my legs since my accident...... so much for that idea

If quads can participate? Hands.

Good question. E-dog makes a good point; walking's over-rated and it would feel good to hang my crank over the bowl and drain the tank. Same with sitting there and laying some cable like the good old days. It would also feel really good to get busy with the Missus and when we're all sweaty and weak, blow a huge load.
But what I would absolutely love would be to have my hands back. I'd grab my beautiful Stratocaster, hit the reverb, dime the Blues Junior, and play until my fingers bled and my ears rang.

Quads can participate. But they must sit in the back of the bus and drink water from "quad only" drinking fountains.
E

Yes, we'd gathered that from the responses available in the poll.

A bit like George Orwell and Animal Farm, where the pigs take control shouting "4 legs good, 2 legs better"

Izzi, I'm going to assume you are right, which is bad enough. I'm not going to reread this entire thread and KNOW you are right, because it will depress me to no end. What's left of my sanity teeters upon the brink of an abyss far too deep to ponder the lack of consideration some of us para's have for those less fortunate than us.

I refuse to believe it's done on purpose. Simply a boorish lack of thought before placing finger to keyboard. If I am in fact one of the perpetrators of such behavior I apologize profusely. Sad to say, it's easier NOT to think than it is TO think. And I am one lazy son of a bitch.

And now to unjack this thread, we have.............

spose you could me shallow
and prob just being a man

but has to be sexual function

I've never known what its like to walk seen as my injury happened at birth. As I've got older I've gradually lost the abiility to use my right arm as my spasms have increased. Would love to be able to get the use of it back again some day. All I can do is drive my wheelchair. The rest of the time I use a mouth stick for typing or send sms.