For me, Arms & Hands.

What a delightfully perverse question. I'd take legs because legs would let me go anywhere. I'm C-6, -7, so have kind of if not fully adequate arms already. Hands with opposable thumbs and full sensation would be great, but aren't a trade I'd make for legs; too, with working toes some handy things can be done. Bowel and bladder control, and of course there's sensation, too, don't come near having legs, and I'd probably take fully functioning arms and hands over them, since with fully-usable arms and hands I'd be able to take care of bowels and bladder by myself.

Hmmm, sensation, nice one, I'll add that to the poll.

Simon

I’m right there with ya Coach, C-5 -7,
Good hand and arm function, but I sure could use some legs. But I definitely understand the manual dexterity issues.

I read somewhere than most would want their hands back, I’ve even said that myself.
But at this point, legs, even skinny ones……..

Has to be hands and arms! OH and a good set of strong teeth

No contest. Legs are good but I've managed without them nearly 25yrs.

Hands and arms = Independance


No pain would be nice. All today my whole legs have felt like they had a flame thrower burning them. The pins and needles are excruciating

arms & hands!

Oops! I didn't read the title of this poll well enough, and I've answered out of turn, being a para. Sorry for skewing the results. Simon, take me outta here if you wish.

Sorry about that. So much for my speed-reading skills!

Admin Note: Don't wory, I've removed you from the Poll.

Went for legs, thought that they would give me independance! Just hope you'd be chucking in truck control so I wouldn't fall over with crap balance. Independance being a number 1 goal - can manage with anything else life throws at me, but crave to be able to do things for myself, get up in the mornings, get dressed and not rely on someone. I find the old phrase always applies - tetras want to be paras, paras want to be walkies, and able bods always want to be a mega fit superman/super model.

i chose arms and hands.

looking into it more i'm getting swayed in ways i didn't think i would!

Hi Simon,

How come pain wasn't in that list?

John's an incomplete C5/6 and his biggest problem is chronic pain.

So he would want to be rid of the chronic pain he suffers, plus spasms.

Maria

I'm getting to be the Maria fan club always agreeing but I couldn't agree more. I've often said to my wife that I've got used to being disabled & all that goes with it but get really fed up with the chronic pain in my shoulders/arms & the chronic/burning pins n needles below my waist.

Apart from the above I've always said I'd swap my slow walking for full use of hands and arms as I'd be fully independent etc plus in the house you could have one of them jazzy standing chairs for when you wanted to reach/stand etc so yeah definitely hands n arms though mine aren't that bad (at least my left isn't)

Ok, pain has been added!

If you want your vote changing, tell me what you want removing, and what your new vote is.

Simon

Would have to be arms and hands, followed by full body sensation.

Remember about sensation: You would feel the pain of sitting on creases in your chair, if you had a pressure sore it would be very painfull as well.

There are downsides to sensation, I know as I'm sensory incomplete C5/6.

But, I'd still rather be incomplete than not, as I can feel when I need turning, thus reducing the risk of pressure sores, but it can get very uncomfortable at times, especially as I can't do much to releive the situation.

Just something to think about.

Simon.

I choose breathing

C1, C2 ?

C3 vent dependant

Ok, I'll add non vent breathing to the poll

Simon

Arms and hands

Hi Gaz,

Most people sing how'd you solve a problem like Maria when they know me,

You can join my fan club and I always like people to agree with me, as you've probably noticed if you've read my posts.

Chronic pain really is a problem, which there doesn't seem to be a solution to. The worst is to try and explain it to someone, even doctors don't really seem to understand the full effects on life.

Maria

This has gotten a little complicated. I don't have bowel or bladder control, don't have use of my legs, don't have sensation from my nipples down, and my hands are paralyzed, but I wouldn't trade unassisted breathing or being relatively pain free for any of them, nor would I give up my arm movement in exchange for bowel and bladder control. Face it, except for pain, the higher the cord damage, the worse. Pain, though, must be complicated. Does anyone know anyone who has opted to have the cord severed in an effort to lessen pain? Did it work? I know a man whose lower-body spasticity became so bad he chose to have his legs amputated above his knees and was indeed pleased with the result! Wow.

Hi,

John's always asking me to cut his legs off when the pain gets really unbearable, but I'm not sure he actually means it!

Other days he asks me to cut his arms off, or cut his body off from the neck, don't think he could manage without a body, whether it works or not, unless he is like the head in Simon's joke.

Pain really is a problem, doctors look at you stupid when you try to tell them that his tendons in elbows and knees are so tight that it hurts like excrutiating toothache.

One GP wrote on his file, "tells a weird story about pain in elbows and knees". When we read what some GP's write it drives us mad.

It really is about time doctors paid more attention to pain, and the impact on life.

Maria

Remarkable, this little poll. There’s very good stuff here, things that all of us can take away and learn from.

Remarkable, this little poll…..

This is my first post on this forum, so .... Hi Everyone!

The lack of function that annoys me most, and causes me the most discomfort, is the inability to control body temp. Damn, I hate being cold

[quote name='Joed' date='Jun 20 2006, 10:45 AM' post='11189']
Oops! I didn't read the title of this poll well enough, and I've answered out of turn, being a para. Sorry for skewing the results. Simon, take me outta here if you wish.

Sorry about that. So much for my speed-reading skills!

Admin Note: Don't wory, I've removed you from the Poll.


Ooops.....me tooo

all of them! But I chose sensation. I really would like to feel normally. But it's hard to choose between that and using my legs. I did not choose bowel and bladder because if I had sensation and/or movement it would make my current bladder and bowel management easier - if I knew when I had to go, and could walk to the bathroom to do it...

mttb--

I know a quad who actually did decide to have his legs amputated, and found a compliant surgeon who did the operation. His problem I was told was spasticity, but there may have been pain too. I've also been told he has been pleased with the result. The solution seemed drastic to me, but some of us--shucks, arguably all of us--have drastic problems. Which is why I wondered if any of us has chosen to sever his or her cord in an effort to reduce or eliminate pain.

Hhhmmmmm..., I'm kind of on the fence with this thing.

I might choose #3, arms & hands, but does #4 (body sensation/sexual function) assume that I could select any partner for sex, and expect complete compliance?

If so, I'ld have really think about that one.

hands down winner..hands, can live w/o everything else..coach, got that dr's name/# ?...really

hands means independance for a complete quad

i chose full body sensation for two reasons: the idea of something being wrong with me and not feeling it scares me a bit. and the other is because full body sensation is really the one thing that nobody can do for you. every quad can have a normal life because almost every sci problem has a solution. being dependent is a pain in the ass but i can live with it, specially if the caregivers are people i like. and i also blame the lack of sensation for ending the relationship i had pre sci.. me not feeling during sex was the only thing that really broke her heart..

Has to be lack of pain (Incomplete C3-7). There is no relief from the pain and it never stops. I know people who would trade me to have the pain but I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on anyone.

Hi InTheWind, I'm Arkansas also!

Carolyn

Arms and Hands

I also chose arms and hands, that's always been my wish when I think of such things. Triceps and fingers and I would be okay.

Greg