[kmom]

My step daughter broke her back in 2 places in a car accident. Someone told me her life expectancy is shorter. Is that true?

[mrsE]

kmom, on Aug 12 2006, 04:44 PM, said:

My step daughter broke her back in 2 places in a car accident. Someone told me her life expectancy is shorter. Is that true?

I would imagine that it all depends on how she looks after herself. None of us know how long we are going to live anyway so as long as people drink plenty water, eat a well balanced diet and do lots of visual examination of their skin they should be ok. Joints like the shoulders may take a battering so looking after the shoulders would be a good idea. After 20 years using a wheelchair my shoulders get quite painful ( supraspinatus calcification) so I now avoid doing certain transfers. There may be a few more health issues like constipation, pressure sores, kidney stones, urinary tract infection and others to deal with but non-wheelchair persons get these complaints too. I think that nowadays life expectancy is not shorter.

[kmom]

mrsE, on Aug 12 2006, 06:14 PM, said:

kmom, on Aug 12 2006, 04:44 PM, said:

My step daughter broke her back in 2 places in a car accident. Someone told me her life expectancy is shorter. Is that true?

I would imagine that it all depends on how she looks after herself. None of us know how long we are going to live anyway so as long as people drink plenty water, eat a well balanced diet and do lots of visual examination of their skin they should be ok. Joints like the shoulders may take a battering so looking after the shoulders would be a good idea. After 20 years using a wheelchair my shoulders get quite painful ( supraspinatus calcification) so I now avoid doing certain transfers. There may be a few more health issues like constipation, pressure sores, kidney stones, urinary tract infection and others to deal with but non-wheelchair persons get these complaints too. I think that nowadays life expectancy is not shorter.

She does have many problems with pressure sores and UTI. Right now she's in the hospital for infected pressure sores.

[Philip]

This is a hard subject to address because we are lumped all together as one group. Plus the reality can be depressing and most of use don't want to think about it. About 20 years ago Insurance had us living on average to 50. If you eliminate a few subgroup that have a very short lifespan post injury our life span is a little shorter then average, if you take care of yourself. You don't have to fear life but you have to respect your limits.

[Apparelyzed]

Here's some information on Life Expectancy for those with spinal cord injuries.

Life expectancy

is the average remaining years of life for an individual. Life expectancies for persons with SCI continue to increase, but are still somewhat below life expectancies for those with no spinal cord injury. Mortality rates are significantly higher during the first year after injury than during subsequent years, particularly for severely injured persons.




Cause of death:

In years past, the leading cause of death among persons with SCI was renal failure. Today, however, significant advances in urologic management have resulted in dramatic shifts in the leading causes of death. Persons enrolled in the National SCI Database since its inception in 1973 have now been followed for 33 years after injury. During that time, the causes of death that appear to have the greatest impact on reduced life expectancy for this population are pneumonia, pulmonary emboli and septicemia (usually associated with decubitus ulcers, urinary tract or respiratory infections).

More details can be found in the report in the attachment below

Source: National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC)

Attached File(s)

•  facts05.pdf (1.24MB)
  Number of downloads: 624

[DaveP]

Hi Simon

Interesting table of figures but it's not clear what each column means... can you clarify or am I just being thick?

[bubbleandsqueak]

I believe each column tells you how many years the person is expected to live. So if you where 20 years old and had no SCI there saying the expected life is 78 years old. I hope I helped and didn't confuse you even more.

[ruth]

Dont forget that the longer you live, the longer you are expected to live.

Example - life expectancy for a 1 year old child might be to live until 78 years old
life expectancy of a 76 year old might be more like 86 years old.

Just by not dying do you increase your life expectancy (so if you are a para, had your accident aged 20 and are now 65, dont worry, you're probably not going to die next year!!!!!

Out of interest, my insurance company assumed I had similar mortailty rates to an a/b 4 years older than me - thats how they weighted my premiums.

[LadyPilot]

In the medical report for my compensation claim, I was given 20-30 years to live. I was only 21.

I'm in year 25 now and in very good health....but I could get hit by lightening tomorrow then I wouldn't have to worry about pressure sores, UTIs, etc and how long I'd got left.

[benok]

Unless there will be any complications or organ failure, I think even sci's will live each to his own time just like able bodied people. my two cents

[dave1965]

I was 14 when i broke my back at T12/L1. Doc said I would have about 30 years of useful life. Well im 42, i am married with a beautiful 7yo boy who we had naturally and i am feeling great. I smoked until i was 40, i own my own business. So i guess i am doing ok after 28 years in a chair.

[wheels5894]

Well, I suspect the figures in the tables further up are showing a lower expected lifespan are based on data which is a bit old when we were not so good with the urinary problems and people were dying this way. Advances in practice mean that most of us will manage to avoid those problems.

One significant way we might be managing less well is that we still need the exercise that ABs need yet it is hard for us to do enough exercise, Even as a para I find it quite hard to get out of breath and of course, tetras have even more difficulty. I think this problem with exercise is one that needs to be taken more seriously. I have had the habit of wheeling into town on several days a week [it's about a 3 mile round trip] but the weather this year has even made that hard to do.

Finally, I should hope we don't have too many smokers in our ranks these days, but if there are they are at risk of an earlier departure as are the people who drink too much. Oh well, peoples' pleasures come at high price though the odd glass of wine or beer might even bee good for us.

[wheeliebear75]

We can live to be ripe old prunes. We just have to be careful and vigilant against those UTI's and skin breakdown. Your daughter I'm sure will be able to be an old woman.

[SpeedyBK]

hi good topic, but the answer is yet to be determined. According to my "doctors" i should have died three times already i was one of the youngest at(25 months)of age with the highest SCI, complete c1 and c2. I'm now 26 and other than quad belly I'm very healthy and haven't been in a hospital for over 10 years.


SpeedyBK

[edlee]

It's all about the averages. None of it means much to an individual.

If there are enough of us, one or two will make it to 100.

I'll settle for one day at a time.
ed

[smarks]

Greetings forum -

I'm with Ed and the rest, we can only live each day to the fullest. None of us a have promise of another day. I have been sitting for near twenty-years. Other than being abused at an adult assisted living center, having pneumonia once or twice, urinary tract infections, too many to count and just in the past few years, I have been plagued with several breakdowns.

Around 2005, I was admitted to the hospital for i.v. therapy. After being in the hospital for a few days, my demeanor changed from my normal, jolly self into a person who could not sleep for three days and nights. During my first and hopefully last episode, of having poison in my blood (septicemia), I talked to everyone that I'd gone to school with, although, nobody was there. I smoked several packs of cigarettes, having my wife put out several butts, all the while I had about 3 liters of oxygen running. I hope, that no one on this list, will ever have to deal with becoming septic. My doctor of over ten years, was able to bump heads with an infectious disease doc. Together, the docs found the right bug juice, to rid my blood of this poison. Thank God for miracles.

I apologize for the novel as well as the runaway paragraph; heh. I love this site. Haven't had the opportunity to log on and post. I'll introduce myself at a later date.

Sincerely,

Steve Marks

It's all about the averages. None of it means much to an individual.

If there are enough of us, one or two will make it to 100.

I'll settle for one day at a time.
ed