[alabamaheather]

One week ago today my cousin was in a severe car accident. She had to be recussitated at the scene and her pupils were not dilating at the hospital. She was not expected to live through the night. But she did. She has broken in half the c1 vertabrae and has a hairline fracture in the c2. The doctor says the vertebrae down to the c7 were streched and she has a cord injury. I don't know how severe the cord injury is. He says that is worse than Christopher Reeve and she will be a quadriplegic. The thing that confuses me is that if she is that bad how can she be breathing 60/40 over the ventilator and today got a treach, she is alert and can answer questions by blinking her eyes. When she had the ventilator she could mouth answers to questions. Since the begining she has been able to feel the doctors pinching her arms and legs. Today the nurse would touch an area of her body and she could mouth the exact location. She would mouth "right big toe" and "left pinky" for example.

This is so new for us and so tramatic. I am just trying to wrap my head around the situation.


Can quadriplegic and paraplegics feel touch but not be able to move their limbs. At this time she cannot move any limbs. Hours after the accident the nurse was trying to get her wedding ring off with soap and my cousin was "fighting" her. She just wouldn't let go and the nurse had to struggle to get the ring off. She has had no other movement since then.

Can anyone answer these questions? I really appreciate it. Thank you.

[trina]

alabamaheather, on Dec 10 2009, 10:02 PM, said:

One week ago today my cousin was in a severe car accident. She had to be recussitated at the scene and her pupils were not dilating at the hospital. She was not expected to live through the night. But she did. She has broken in half the c1 vertabrae and has a hairline fracture in the c2. The doctor says the vertebrae down to the c7 were streched and she has a cord injury. I don't know how severe the cord injury is. He says that is worse than Christopher Reeve and she will be a quadriplegic. The thing that confuses me is that if she is that bad how can she be breathing 60/40 over the ventilator and today got a treach, she is alert and can answer questions by blinking her eyes. When she had the ventilator she could mouth answers to questions. Since the begining she has been able to feel the doctors pinching her arms and legs. Today the nurse would touch an area of her body and she could mouth the exact location. She would mouth "right big toe" and "left pinky" for example.

This is so new for us and so tramatic. I am just trying to wrap my head around the situation.


Can quadriplegic and paraplegics feel touch but not be able to move their limbs. At this time she cannot move any limbs. Hours after the accident the nurse was trying to get her wedding ring off with soap and my cousin was "fighting" her. She just wouldn't let go and the nurse had to struggle to get the ring off. She has had no other movement since then.

Can anyone answer these questions? I really appreciate it. Thank you.

My husband is a c-4 quad. It happened in may. They had told me that he would never breath on his own but less then two weeks after the accident he was. Also he has movement in his left and right arm. also he feels all kinds of stuff on his legs but can't move them. there are two parts of the spin. You have like sensation sensors and motor. you can have feelings and no movement. which frustrates him alot. All I can say it takes alot of prayers, patients and it is a long road. now they don't tell us what to expect. say we wont know completey for a year to two years. cause each day it seems like something new shows up.

[Ratticis]

Two things to remember, no 2 injuries are identical, and it's still very early. I have limited sensation but not full and no movement or spasms, other people have spasms all the time. For the first month or so of my newfound gimpdom I would almost reflexivlly (I made a new word! I'm like Shakespeare, only without the evil) move my foot if someone touched the bottom of it in the right spot. Just remember, don't listen to that oh so vial word "can't" I know that doesn't really make it any easier for you or her. And no lie, the next few months can and most likely be hell on everyone involved, but contained in that oh so frail body is the same person that was always there. Never forget that and NEVER openly pity her. She is alive and that in itself is a miracle. Whenever I get down I look back at how far I've come so far. When I first started physio I couldn't even sit up by myself. Now nothing stops me but myself saying "can't" I truly hate that word. Best of luck and I wish you all the best.

[allis53ca]

sounds like her doc is a f*@king idiot, especially if his injury scale is a comparison to chris reeve....what a tool.....get her a new doc with a brain and sci knowledge....and yes, you can fire her doc and get a diff one..docs work for us, your'e paying for their services..if the landscaper is mowing the lawn lopsided and kiling your flokwerbeds, you fire them...this idiot is going to kill the flowers

[The Black Sheep]

A spinal cord injury is not always immediate. If she was fighting the nurse after the accident, and now she has no movement, it may be that the injury itself hasn't damaged her nerves, but the swelling afterwards might. I fell off a trampoline and it took 5 whole days before I couldn't move my legs. It took another day for my breathing to become difficult.

If she has sensation, but no movement, then she probably has what is considered an incomplete injury. This means the cord isn't completely severed, but the nerves are still damaged to some degree. It's quite common. I can only speak from experience about swelling. I'm not a doctor, and I don't know that many other people with incomplete injuries, but if it is the swelling that's paralyzing her, there still might be a good possibility for recovery. From experience, when I was first admitted into the hospital, I had slight swelling that you could see on an MRI. It took over 2 weeks to get a diagnosis (doctor's thought I was just crazy), so maybe proper treatment would have changed the outcome. Anyway, once they determined it was a spinal cord injury, I was put on anti-inflammatory drugs for about 3 months. During that time I got a LOT of sensation back and my left toes could wiggle. Once swelling started going down, things started improving for me. I don't know if this was at all because of the drugs, physical therapy or time, but the swelling is what actually damaged my nerves, and when it went down, things got better. The fact that your cousin has sensation is a good thing, and I wish the best, hoping she recovers from this. All spinal cord injuries are different, and no matter what a doctor says, they're not always right.

[alabamaheather]

We are hopeful. Every day we get better news. Today her breathing is 70/30. She asked for water and she remembers previous conversations with her mother.

All we can do is hope.