Accident back in February, ejected out of car
SCI on t12 / l1;
could feel legs and move legs around for acouple of days after the MVA.
then, burning pain in legs until they just couldnt move anymore
So was diagnosed as an incomplete then. Now, a complete.
Ideas, links, research, advice, anything would be appreciated much.

Thanks.

Well, I'm not that experienced or educated on this, but my first thought is to just wait it out. It may just be caused by the swelling of the spinal cord. With me, they were checking motor/sensory function all the time. In fact, they still do.

One thing that I did lose was being able to void on my own. After about two months, I lost that and still haven't been able to. When I asked the doctor about my ASIA rating, he told me I had cauda equina syndrome (CES) and it was really hard to give a rating. CES is very common at T12 and lower.

Anyway, I'd give it some time. Not much else you can do, is there?

Sorry to hear about you going from incomplete to complete freedomdan. Take the following with a grain of salt as I am not an expert.

Several things can happen to cause you to lose more function after the initial injury. First there is a series of events within the spinal cord following a trauma. While the initial injury damages the spinal cord the damage itself sets off a chain reaction which causes more neural cells within the spinal cord to die. This will take place within the first few days. Second, continued pressure on the spinal cord will cause more damage. Pressure can come from bone fragments, tissue swelling, or misalignment of the spinal column. Third, pressure on the spinal cord from tissue swelling can cause temporary loss of function. When the swelling goes down, function can return. Fourth, lack of blood flow or bleeding into the spinal cord could add to the damage. Fifth, procedures done to stabilize the spine can sometimes cause more damage. Surgical implants and surgery itself may not have been done perfectly. Sixth, complications can arise years later that cause more damage to the spinal cord.

It probably sounds like I'm spreading doom and gloom here. Sorry about that, I'm really just trying to give some possible reasons for experiencing further loss of function.

You are early on in the recovery process. Knowing what state your injury is currently in can help you decide a course of action. Do you know whether there are bone fragments present or the spinal cord is compressed in some way? If all looks good from x-rays, CT scans, or MRI's you may be best off taking care of yourself the best you can, eating right, sleeping right, and doing a good amount of rehab. On the other hand, if you aren't sure what the testing has shown or that enough testing has been done, it may be best to figure that out now. Go back and talk to your doctors, view the x-rays and other tests with them, and be prepared with some questions. It's most likely nobody is going to be more interested in your situation than you are.

Read up on others experience on this site and other sites. There are a lot of stories with many good lessons to be learned. As you learn more you will be able to ask more specific questions and there are a lot of people here with personal experience they are willing to share.

Good luck in your recovery!

Thank you to you both. Much appreciated.
Anyone else care to contribute some thoughts?

Very much appreciated.

Hi,

I'm sorry I can't be of much help but I also had this happen to me due to a reduction in blood flow to my spinal cord when I was about 13.

spinal cord was decompressed in one surgery,
titanium fusion of t11 - l2 in another surgery
back brace in the begining, now an abdominal binder