21 replies to this topic

[manbeast]

does any one know the statistics of someone with a complete injury that turned into an incomplete injury?

[Lou05]

i was under the impression that a complete injury meant that the spinal cord was completely severed, which would make that impossible.

[wheeliebear75]

I don't know the statistics on it....although I do know quite a few people that were originally diagnosed as complete & then re-diagnosed as incomplete....but I don't know just how many have.

[richo]

Lou05, on 16 January 2012 - 11:47 PM, said:

i was under the impression that a complete injury meant that the spinal cord was completely severed, which would make that impossible.

complete injury means cannot feel any thing/the spinal cord dosent have tobe severed,

[MrBump]

Feeling or movement below level is determined as complete.
Cord doesn't need to be severed, but it's usually pretty f'd up.

[Lou05]

thanks for the clarification guys.

[greybeard]

MrBump, on 17 January 2012 - 02:48 AM, said:

Feeling or movement below level is determined as complete.

?????? Incomplete, surely.

[D. Smith]

I think he meant no feeling or movement below the level... surely.

Edited by D. Smith, 17 January 2012 - 02:10 PM.

[edlee]

In addition,,, one has to remember that doctors quite often give prognoses that are worst case senarios. They would rather you be happy when they were proven wrong,, than the other way round.
ed

[Tetracyclone]

The term "severed cord" is used often. It is impossible to be sure of unless you are a surgeon looking at the cord.

[Darko Bejo]

Hi Ya'll.


This is my story


My name is Darko Bejo…I am 25 years old and instead of walking in police officer’s uniform, I am sitting in a wheelchair…All my dreams and hopes disappeared literally in one rainy night at the end of September 2009, when I had a major traffic accident near my hometown Split…My spine was heavily injured, and I have not been walking for almost two and half years…

I will never forget the day when we were sent home from the Police Training Center in Zagreb because of the actual swine flu epidemic at the time. I took my car and went home with four of friends and colleagues…I had driven three of them to their homes already and wanted to take the forth friend to his home as well…When almost on his doorstep, just a few blocks from his home I had the life-changing accident because of heavy rain and bad road conditions. In one moment the car just slipped of the road and I rolled over with the car and that was the moment when I suffered major spine injury…

After such a big tragedy and injury, I experienced few more insults, especially with the treatment of my employer, which was Croatian Police…I invested a lot of time in Police Training and sacrificed a lot. I had my accident while I was sent to go home from schooling, and all I get from them are a few lawsuits and total ignorance for my condition…I was also extremely disappointed in my doctors in Rehabilitation Center Varazdin where I was declared a lost cause and my walking days are finished…But I didn’t surrender to the injury, I will show to them all that I will walk one day again and my progress is showing that it will happen. However, money started to be a bigger barrier on my way to full recovery than I expected…

My family, close friends and a few good hearted people are the ones that help me and are the ones who give me mighty strength to get through this…

MY LEGS ARE MY LIFE AND I WANT THEM BACK

I have been through an adult stem cell therapy 7months ago, and the doctor Dr.Sass has helped me regain my sensory evoked potential, and reduced my spasms and I have regained partially the control of my bladder with only a single use of a catheter.

I have been more than overwhelmed, and I am looking forward to sharing my story with all of you.

I turned from being an ASIA A to ASIA C!!

Complete Paraplegia to Incomplete Paraplegia!!!!

Lou05, on 16 January 2012 - 11:47 PM, said:

i was under the impression that a complete injury meant that the spinal cord was completely severed, which would make that impossible.

It is not impossible, in my case the doctor was able to change my complete paraplegia to an incomplete paraplegia. Going from ASIA A to ASIA C!!

[Tetracyclone]

Without the intervention of unusual treatment like stem cells it may be an error to say the injury changed from complete to incomplete. The diagnosis changes, but under most circumstances that would be because the first diagnosis was wrong.

[Darko Bejo]

Tetracyclone, on 15 February 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

Without the intervention of unusual treatment like stem cells it may be an error to say the injury changed from complete to incomplete. The diagnosis changes, but under most circumstances that would be because the first diagnosis was wrong.

If I may say. I didnt walk for two years. the prognosis was not wrong whatsoever. Doctors in Croatia have declared me a hopeless case and I would never walk again. Because of Dr.Sass I am currently doing assisted walking, I can feel my legs again, and my spasms have been reduced!

So to say it again my complete paraplegia has changed from ASIA A to ASIA C. My doctors down here have declared me a miracle case because it happened to me, and I want it to happen to other people too.

[greybeard]

That cannot be so, but carry on believing it if you must. Just don't try to convince everyone else that you are a walking miracle. Quite clearly the prognosis must have been wrong because you now have some recovery of movement and sensation.

Be thankful that your original doctors under-estimated your body's ability to heal itself. You are very lucky, but your recovery is definitely not because of a miracle.

[N Chapman]

When, I was diagnosed at first after my injury. I was c1 complete, but when I got transfered to STOKE MANDEVILLE they told me I was c4 not sure if I was complete or inc, my consultant DR JAMOUS said to me BE PATIENT if I want to walk again. Two other doctors said I was WHEEL CHAIR BOUND. From, being unable to do anything i.e moving a finger to what I can do now I JUST LEFT MY LIFE IN THE HANDS OF MY GODS! Great news, you are incomplete so now remain focus.........NATH

[LeviM]

I was initially diagnosed as complete and had no use or sensation in my arms or hands up to my shoulders. After some time that changed and I regained full sensation and use of my arms but odd sensation in parts of my hands and some use. I do have some sensation in areas of my chest and back that I should not have..It is spotty but it is feeling none the less. My diagnosis was changed from complete to incomplete because of all this.

I think people tend to get diagnosed very early after their injury based a lot on lack of movement and sensation and it turns out that spinal shock was the condition that masked the real level of injury and function.

[dom]

Yes i feel these doctors diagnoses were inaccurate at the begininning as in other threads -if an arm is chopped off it won't regrow ever. but if it still has it's ligaments,tendons and whatnot intact it may be able to be saved and reusable that is my analogy with sci cords etc

[Tetracyclone]

LeviM, on 17 February 2012 - 12:35 AM, said:

I think people tend to get diagnosed very early after their injury based a lot on lack of movement and sensation and it turns out that spinal shock was the condition that masked the real level of injury and function.

I think you nailed it!

[Niceparalegs]

I am comp "turned" incomp its just a misdiag by the original dr. I'm gaining sensory below my inj.

[Niceparalegs]

Dom I agree

[tsh3406]

By definition, if it changed, then it wasn't complete, was it. By the way, prognosis and diagnosis are two entirely different terms. Additionally, the ASIA Impairment Scale is relatively new, and NOT the same as a traditional complete/incomplete diagnosis.

I had always been old, as Lou05 had, that "complete" meant the cord was competely severed. In which case, going from compete to incomplete would be impossible. That is incorrect though, and going by information from the ASIA, a true complete injury would be extremely difficult to accurately diagnose at the time of injury due to the fact that functional levels of SCI's can change several years later. There are lots of us on here, myself included, that based on the standardized definition would have been diagnosed as complete injuries. However, that diagnosis would have been incorrect because we gained sensory or motor function months and even years after our injury. It's not very uncommon at all.

Darko Bejo, on 16 February 2012 - 06:52 PM, said:

Tetracyclone, on 15 February 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

Without the intervention of unusual treatment like stem cells it may be an error to say the injury changed from complete to incomplete. The diagnosis changes, but under most circumstances that would be because the first diagnosis was wrong.

If I may say. I didnt walk for two years. the prognosis was not wrong whatsoever. Doctors in Croatia have declared me a hopeless case and I would never walk again. Because of Dr.Sass I am currently doing assisted walking, I can feel my legs again, and my spasms have been reduced!

So to say it again my complete paraplegia has changed from ASIA A to ASIA C. My doctors down here have declared me a miracle case because it happened to me, and I want it to happen to other people too.

Edited by tsh3406, 27 February 2012 - 06:44 PM.

[greybeard]

Wonderful things - miracles.