16 replies to this topic

[jscott92064]

I worry about my husband getting a flu bug or something say that I or our daughter would bring home and it affecting him more.

Does anyone worry about things like this? Do I have to be concerned? Can I handle it the standard way --i.e. chicken soup, etc.?

With SCI, are you more vulnerable to things like this --i.e. a simple bug can turn into pneumonia?

Besides the skin, bladder, and bowel potential issues, this is what I wonder about.

(And no, I'm not talking about us never leaving the house --that's no way to live --I'm just trying to educate myself so I can be the best support I can be for my husband. There's the obvious--good nutrition, exercise, etc. We've already experienced autonomic dysreflexia so I'm familiar with that.)

Thanks.

[Snakeye]

Wash your hands alot, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, get your and *his flu shots and carry on with your life...Like death and taxes, flu and colds are just part of the deal....i used to throw a cold off in a week, now it takes a month...bummer..*check with doctor if he should take the flu shot tho..

[mellowgator]

funny, i was in the sick child waiting room with my daughter at the pediatricain yesterday. i asked the nurse for a mask which of course mortified my 14 year old daughter. i then used the santi wash and didn't touch the door on the way out. with the breathing problems quads have a cold or viral infection of the chest is worth avoiding. i also get the flu shot and make the kids do lots of handwashing and i am mindful to wash and try to avoid being sneezed on in the car. this is working for me. so far i haven't had pnemonia or anything serious.

mellowgator

[jscott92064]

Thanks. That's really good info. Will speak to the doctor about flu shots.

I'm imaging those unfortunate time when it's a stomach bug. That must suck when stuff is coming from "both ends" so to speak. I've only had to deal with the one "end" so to speak as we were trying to get his bowel program on track. He comes home from the hospital next week (bad UTI) and hopefully the s--t will flow well for him.

[jffsgrl]

Can someone explain AD to me? How common is it? I've tried to educate myself on it, but the more I read about it the more I start worrying about it happening to him. I am more concerned about this then him coming into contact with the common cold or flu, he has had his share of those and recovers fine. I guess what scares me the most about AD is when it says that it could be life threatening.

[PA01]

jffsgrl, on Apr 14 2010, 03:04 PM, said:

Can someone explain AD to me? How common is it? I've tried to educate myself on it, but the more I read about it the more I start worrying about it happening to him. I am more concerned about this then him coming into contact with the common cold or flu, he has had his share of those and recovers fine. I guess what scares me the most about AD is when it says that it could be life threatening.

Hey jffsgrl

I messaged to your inbox :-) There's also a few threads floating about on AD, which you can access through the search tool.

[jscott92064]

jffsgrl, on Apr 14 2010, 03:04 PM, said:

Can someone explain AD to me? How common is it? I've tried to educate myself on it, but the more I read about it the more I start worrying about it happening to him. I am more concerned about this then him coming into contact with the common cold or flu, he has had his share of those and recovers fine. I guess what scares me the most about AD is when it says that it could be life threatening.

It's good you are educating yourself about it. I've had some bouts with it for my husband.

There's a good side to it --it's his body trying to let him know something is wrong.

The bad side, of course, it means something is wrong.

So what you have to do is the "magical mystery tour" (I call it) of his body. Has he cathed? Is he constipated? Is anything tight on him? Is he positioned badly? Does he have a rock in his shoe (so think about where you've been).

He's had it mildly --so where he was not positioned well (he's recovering from surgery) and we needed to reposition him. How I could tell it was AD was his pulse was higher than normal and so was his blood pressure. Once we checked all the above, we repositioned him. (Had him sitting up first --that helps.) Everything went back to normal within 15 minutes.

Then there was this recent issue with a nasty UTI. The lab test said his urine was fine. But he kept getting worse and his pulse and BP went too high. Turns out he had a bad UTI (they think) and needed to be hospitalized. He had several days of antibiotics and is fine now. But that case could have been life-threatening if I hadn't gotten him to a hospital. (There was time, though, I called an ambulance and once they got an IV into him to stabilize him (he was dehydrated),then there was no need for sirens on the way down. I would have driven him myself, but he's got a nasty pressure sore on his cocyx and he needs to stay off it.)

We now have a better situation at home --i.e. a roll-in shower so hopefully we can avoid future UTIs as much as possible. (Long story, but we had sponge bathing for awhile and bowel issues --all is good now.)

I think working with AD is part education and part instinct. You both have to learn his body and that will take time.

[Bob C]

jffsgrl, on Apr 14 2010, 10:04 AM, said:

Can someone explain AD to me? How common is it? I've tried to educate myself on it, but the more I read about it the more I start worrying about it happening to him. I am more concerned about this then him coming into contact with the common cold or flu, he has had his share of those and recovers fine. I guess what scares me the most about AD is when it says that it could be life threatening.

AD is a problem of T-6 and higher injuries, mostly cervical. Given that your husband has a lower injury, you have no need to be concerned.

Edited by Bob C, 14 April 2010 - 10:08 PM.

[jscott92064]

That's a good point.

Even though I put t7-8, there was some damage at T6 so we have to deal with AD.

On the plus side, we always wanted airconditioning and workers comp is putting that in for us on their nickel.

[nickandnora]

"Nick" has been dealing with AD since his 2nd week of PT. They sent us his w/a script for nitro-paste, which he fortunately hasn't had to use in almost a month. And I had mono before his accident in Dec. and have been fighting pneumonia for almost 3 months. I had a flu shot (haha). He was able to get N1H1, regular flu, and pneumonia vaccines. He hasn't gotten sick from me; I teach children, so that's pretty amazing if you ask me. I change my clothes as soon as I get home, wash often, and take my own meds every day. I don't know if any of that helps him at all, but it makes me feel good to know I do what I can. I worry about the day he has AD and nothing we do can stop it.

[hooplady]

Nora, what does the nitro-paste do? I didn't know there was anything that would stop/prevent AD. In rehab they told us to do the "magical mystery tour" (jscott, that's the perfect description!).

Edited by hooplady, 15 April 2010 - 05:56 PM.

[jffsgrl]

Thank you for all of the advice that you have given concerning AD. My BF and I talked about it some yesterday and he assured me that with his level of injury, it is not as common, although he did experience a slight form of it from laying on a rock that was on the couch cushion. Don't ask...lol...not sure why there was a rock on the couch. I really need to just relax and not worry so much, but that's hard to do when you fear losing the love of your life.

[jscott92064]

jffsgrl, on Apr 15 2010, 07:09 PM, said:

Thank you for all of the advice that you have given concerning AD. My BF and I talked about it some yesterday and he assured me that with his level of injury, it is not as common, although he did experience a slight form of it from laying on a rock that was on the couch cushion. Don't ask...lol...not sure why there was a rock on the couch. I really need to just relax and not worry so much, but that's hard to do when you fear losing the love of your life.

I hear you loud and clear about possibly losing the love of your life.

Learn everything you can. That's what I'm doing.

For an example, in an emergency situation, I can do his cathing, I'm going to learn and understand the basics of the wound vac he has right now, I'm checking his skin--found a weird spot today that the nurse said --yeah, we need to have the dr. look at that, I can do his range of motion exercises, his bowel program, etc.

I'm learning so that I can be a good advocate for those times he can't be an advocate for himself. I'm also making sure that I take help where I can get it so that I keep that line maintained--ya know the one between wife and caregiver.

All this said, yeah, I still worry --it's only been a few months and boy, do I feel like my profile here --total "newbie". In every sense of the word!!!!

[Spinner]

I feel very fortunate because my man has been living with SCI for nearly 20 years. That means that he is very in tune with his body and aware of any changes that might mean a problem is on the horizon. One of the greatest gifts he has given to himself - and by extension to me - is to take care of himself. He is his own best advocate. He checks his skin daily, stretches for at least a half hour every morning, drinks lots of water, eats healthy, etc., etc. The list goes on and on. That does not mean that I don't worry about him. I do. I ask lots of questions and have learned to do almost all of his care. I do not worry about him catching a cold or the flu, mostly because I know he has an incredibly strong immune system and have watched him fight of some pretty tough bugs very quickly! He knows the symptoms of AD and at the first sign stops whatever it is he is doing that might be causing it.

[nickandnora]

hooplady, on Apr 15 2010, 12:55 PM, said:

Nora, what does the nitro-paste do? I didn't know there was anything that would stop/prevent AD. In rehab they told us to do the "magical mystery tour" (jscott, that's the perfect description!).

The nitro-paste doesn't prevent his AD from happening. It just lowers his blood pressure in the event that nothing we do relieves it naturally. When he was at rehab we discovered he had a herniated disk lower than his original injury and it would cause his blood pressure to spike. We'd have to leave the paste on for up to 6 hours at a time. It's a super-expensive script, but for me it was well worth it just for the peace of mind. I mean, who knows how long the ambulance could take, or how long of a wait we'd have at the ER? This is our way of keeping him alive until we can figure out what's going on, when all other options have failed.

[hooplady]

Thanks for your responses about nitro-paste. I'm just surprised nobody ever mentioned it to us - I knew high BP could lead to a stroke but no one never indicated there was any remedy except to find the root cause. Maybe it's because when he was in rehab his most common problem was LOW BP, not high, but since then he's had a couple of scary numbers (about 200, I think).

[Edited: I just caught Nora's comment that it's super-expensive. That explains it - they never bothered to mention it because Medicaid won't cover it!]

Edited by hooplady, 16 April 2010 - 01:01 AM.