[outkastsl]

Izziwhizzi, on Mar 9 2007, 08:56 AM, said:

Thats the way to do it!! well done & welcome to the site

L xx

thanks!

[DarkAgdistis]

Well ...

20 years ago doctors ( I was 15 ) discovered a scoliosis and thought it might be wise to do something before it starts hurting or before it gets worse ...

So I walked to hospital thinking that I would be out 1 month after with just a small scar in my back ... I stayed much much longer, went through coma and got a paraplegy as a bonus.

Ah yeah ... back then in Belgium, doctors were quite "untouchable" if you were suing them ( and I did went to court ). I've been told to be a proud member of the statistics !!

DA

[glamisgirl]

We went on our last summer vacation to Pismo Beach, the weekend before my daughter started kindergarten, while unloading our trailer setting up camp I had a couple screwdrivers and a couple of beer bongs, some friends of ours were stuck in the sand a little ways from camp so I jump on my quad to go help dig them out, hit a kid track, flew over the handle bars, landed square on my head then my quad slammed into me. Broke my back, my arm and had bulging disc in my neck. Missed my daughters 1st day of school, spent the next 3 months in the hospital. Had to move out of my house because it's 2 story, we've been living with my parents for the last year and a half trying to pay off medical bills. Was a self employed hairdresser since I was 18, I'm 36 now. So I don't get disability, just social security and thats not much. Don't have a clue what I'm going to for work. Just started driving a couple of months ago. FREEDOM. My husband went on his last ride before he sold his dirtbike and got t-boned by a kid on a bike that was way too big for him, shattered his arm and broke his femur, that was 5 months ago, 5 surgerys later and a whole new mess of hospital bills. I'm hoping my familys bad luck is over, Thank god my husband will eventually heal, and what happened to me wasn't my daughter, it could always be worse.

[The D]

Christmas 2002,motorbike,corner,dog,swerve,came off,T10,11,12 busted & broken collar bone,complete para, 2mths in hospital, was a pilot at the time so went back to aviation office job straight out of hospital, did that for next 3 yrs, left that job to design a crisis support website and get into stand up comedy (well....sit down comedy) Been married for 10 yrs to awesome wife. Like the rest of you I have many barriers in my life too,I was lucky to not have suffered from depression after my accident and charged ahead with my mag wheels smokin ! I dont have time to sit around crying, people need me to make them laugh, I have a different role to play in life now that im in a chair, and I actually wouldnt want to miss out on all the fantastic experiences Ive has since my accident, it has made me see life in a much better way, and those around me have too.

GET DOWN !

The D.

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This post has been edited by The D: 12 April 2007 - 01:26 AM

[ryan Kruse]

When I was 18 I was working for a local Street Department for the summer. One of my responsibilities was to drive a Street Sweeper. While driving the Sweeper I had to cross a set of railroad tracks that had not been used for some time to dump the contents. When I went to leave
the area I had to cross back over these tracks. I could not see clearly to my left because the trees had grown over the rails blocking my view.

So while I was moving forward to see, little did I know a train engine was backing down the tracks. I remember it bursting out of the trees and violently hitting the vehicle. I was ejected from the cab and landed on the corner of an old railroad tie lying in the ditch. The impact destroyed most of my C-5 vertebra.

The paramedics knowing the obvious serious injury injected me with a steroid that helped contain the swelling in the spine. I was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana and was operated on by Neurosurgeon, Dr. Julius Goodman. The only injury I received was the broken C-5 vertebra. Dr. Goodman had to remove most of the bone and piece together the remaining by fusing bone from my hip along with securing it with a plate that attachés to my C-4 to C-6. He explained to us that my spine was “bruised” and that none of the nerves were cut.

I went to the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana in Indianapolis a few weeks later to begin my new life. While there I started to regain control of both my arms and wrist along with feeling. Over time I have developed even more.

I am now classified as a C-5/C-6 quad. I have the ability to raise both my wrist strongly with my palms down but cannot raise them palms up. I also regained a tinny amount of my triceps and can flex the muscle slightly but to weak to be beneficial in my daily needs.

My sensation is even better. Besides being able to feel above the nipple area I feel pressure of sorts throughout my body. I feel discomfort in my back, buttocks and feet. It’s hard to explain but I
can tell when I am touched, not in the “normal” way. My feet especially are sensitive to touch with a “pins and needle” type sensation. I can feel when my buttocks is getting sore from sitting in one position to long which helps with keeping me from getting pressure sores.

My hands are interesting too. I can feel normal touch in my thumbs and index fingers but just pressure in the rest. No pain or the feeling of cold of hot anywhere besides my upper arms, shoulders, upper chest and head.

I do have some spasms in the muscles that are paralyzed but it is managed with 50mg of Baclofen a day. I still have good range of motion in my legs. I am healthy, besides the UTI’s but other then that I do not have any of the problems like most people in my situation has. My doctor tells me I am a poster child of what life as a Quad could be thanks to the excellent care I recieve.

Truthfully, I am not looking to walk again but wouldn’t mind doing so. What I would like is to be able to have is the full use of my arms and hands. This would give me the ability to care for myself without the need of others as much as I do today. Just to be able to transfer myself to and from bed from my wheelchair, dress, cook real meals, bathe and to be able to throw a baseball again would be wonderful!

[justin]

On sept 24,2006 it was sprinkling and i was on my motorcycle with a friend on the back. It was around 5:00 and i just picked my friend up from his dad who lives on a curvy road that get very slippery when wet. Well i was going around 20-30 mph going down a hill and my bike started to hydro-plane and threw my friend off of it down a hill[his name was adam hes alright just tore some legiments in his knee] well i stuck on and i flew off later on but when i flew off i went head first into a tree. i broke my neck,back,shattered my pelvis, and more. Well we luckly got found by a lady who was passing by. if she hadnt of past by and seen me [witch she didnt till she was 30 or 40ft past me] i would not of been here cause the road i was on nobody past by and well i couldnt breath. When they put me on the lifesaver i wasnt responsive at all so they turned it off and thought i was died. Luckly i wasnt. well i got to the hospital and stayed in a coma for 5 day. When i woke up they relized i could move my right leg, but the bad part was i was internally bleeding and everything droped to 0 and i died and totally lost movement in my leg. I was 15 in the wreck now 16 and preety soon it going to be the 7 month since my wreck

[Captain Pike]

[Okay folks, this is pretty weird. This is how it seemed. This is my story. It's long, get a coffee.]

Last year I survived a fatal car crash. What I mean by that is that by the time they broke out the back window and got me out I had no pulse and no respiration. I remember the violent tumbling around in the car finally coming to rest. I couldn't breathe. That's not completely true -- actually, I could breathe out -- I was able to speak a little. I just couldn't breathe in, couldn't draw breath. First thing I said was "I can't breathe!". I had a strange resolve: I knew my life was over. Oddly, it wasn't frightening or even sad really, just very final. I think I said "I'm all done", and then "I love you". My girlfriend was driving the car, she was obviously alive -- I must've looked bad because she was screaming and crying. Everything went black.

I came to -- lying on a dirty floor underneath a rickety table. People were sitting and talking loudly, I couldn't understand the language being spoken, there was a strange smell of smoking or cooking I couldn't identify, although it seemed vaguely familiar. I couldn't seem to move, my head was foggy, where could I be? A Lebanese hash bar maybe, what would I be doing here? What have I gotten myself into this time? I felt like I must be wedged in between the wall and a chair or something. My vision narrowed, I felt faint again, and a little sick, something tasted bitter. There was something in front of my face -- something in my mouth. I began to hear again -- I hadn't been cognizant of being deaf, but all at once, I could hear several things: a faint electronic beeping sound, a sort of rhythmic pumping and a man's voice speaking softly. Other people were speaking English. A nice, American looking man leaned into view. He smiled, raised his eyebrows and said "hello there".

I had the sensation of wet pistol grips slipping from my hands. This seemed strange, and there was no sound of anything dropping. It didn't make sense. I was really thirsty. At Johnson's store, I remembered they had a red metal galvanized cooler that held soft drinks. You could open one of the doors on the top, reach down in to the water that kept the soda bottles cold. The big, wet, green bottles of Fresca had knurling in the glass to provide a better grip on the bottle. Shring, pull out a cool, wet bottle and pry off the top using the opener built into the side of the cooler.

"Don't try to speak, you have a tube down your throat", he said it clear enough, but it didn't seem to make any sense. He was still smiling, "can you blink your eyes?", this made sense though, and I blinked my eyes. He smiled again, nodding, "great!" I was in the hospital. A million questions came to mind. Where am I? What happened? Am I OK? Where is Nikki? My head began to race. The accident. Obviously, I was alive. I tried to sit up. Something hurt in my throat, and in my right shoulder. There was a loud beeping sound. "It's okay, it's just the vent, try to relax", said the nice smiling man in a calm, measured voice. I was in big trouble. The pain was spasming in my shoulder like electric springs uncoiling. If only I could drink something with lemons. Lemons and ice chips. I felt very sleepy.

I seemed to be lying on my side, curled in a loosely fetal position. I think I had a helmet on that had a small pulley on the top. Through this pulley was a tightly strung guy wire. The sound of tugboats powering up their strong engines could be heard in the distance. Short bursts of throttle -- maneuvering bursts. I remember once falling asleep in the grass, on the hill by the fort in Sausalito, waking and hearing the same sound. The only thing was, there was an absence of the classic, deep braying sound of the bells or buoys or whatever they are that you always hear in movies that take place around San Francisco Bay. It was fairly dark, but there were a few colored lights visible to me. If I tried to move, the wire seemed to increase its tension, holding me in place. I had been in the hospital, but this seemed more like punishment. Just then a strange kind of pain rose in me. It was kind of a ripping and burning pain, but the funny thing was it seemed to hit my arm, my groin and the bottom of my foot all at once. It seemed almost as if a length of tiny barbed wire, somehow healed into my skin were being pulled slowly out. I remember once walking through the woods, and finding the remnants of an ancient fence. A rusty old piece of barbed wire had become a part of a big spruce tree -- disappearing into it's trunk and emerging on the other side. Sap could be seen, having oozed like blood from the smiling wound.

One of the problems of being on a ventilator is that you can't yawn. You can't just have a nice deep yawn, or sigh or even just hold your breath for a moment. Otherwise, the machine will begin squawking, sounding its alarm, I suppose, to alert the nurse or somebody that something's not just right with your breathing. It's funny though, how easily the staff gets desensitized to these kinds of alarm sounds. I remember coming back on the ICU in my wheelchair after I had gotten quite a bit better. I had come back on the ward just to visit. Hearing the more or less ignored bleats from the many ventilators reminded me of the individual worlds of trauma into which newly conscious patients have found themselves. It's the new deal: so you're not dead but breathing has become your number one priority. I can remember, again and again almost dropping off to sleep only to be rudely awakened again by the relentless retort of the ventilator. When you're in the world of the squawking ventilator, it's hard to imagine wheeling around in a comfortable new wheelchair, wearing ordinary clothes, visiting nurses in the ICU.

One of the good things about the ventilator is, however, that not only is it keeping you alive -- keeping the air going in and out of you, but it does stuff like measure the CO2 coming out, so that it knows that your body is doing the right thing with the air that it's supplying. There was definitely a time when I could really rest, assured that going to sleep would be okay -- that I'd live through it, that the ventilator would keep the air flowing in and out of me properly. I don't know how long it was that I remained connected to the ventilator. I know the next thing they began to talk about was using this thing called the heated trach collar. It's basically just a little mask that is loosely fitted around your neck which brings oxygen to the vicinity of your trach fitting. This trach fitting I'm talking about is a hole in your throat just like those guys have who have throat cancer. If they place this weird buzzer thing there, they can talk, but it sounds real funny. So the tube brings oxygen there, but you have to do the breathing -- in and out on your own. You still can't really talk, but your mouth is freed up to be able to mime things at least, or even to taste something wonderful like a popsicle. Now, you're able to yawn or sigh as you wish. It's funny the things that seem a big deal when you've stopped being able to do them.

Another funny thing about having a tracheostomy is that, in order to speak, you have to cover the little hole, so that air can be forced past your larynx up into your mouth. If the air flowing to and from your lungs is passing out through a temporary hole in your trachea (a tracheostomy) then no air is passing over your voice box so you can't talk. With me, they began with quite a large "trach". When you have breathing difficulties, having access to your lungs through this type of opening is a great advantage when you need to be suctioned. Having your lungs suctioned is a terrible thing when you're conscious. If you aren't able to cough up your own phlegm, it can become a big problem. Typically, a respiratory therapist must insert a catheter through your trach hole, down into your lungs and suction out the crap in there. As you recover, they replace the trach tube with successively smaller ones. One of the intermediate sized trach pipes I had, had this little plug that went in the hole. This stopper was tethered by a little cord so that you wouldn't lose it while it was out. With the plug in, air passes by your larynx, you can talk; with the plug out, hanging, most of the air passes out through the trach pipe so that you can't speak. After the danger was over, and it seemed as though I would live for a while, my girlfriend would do a funny thing when people were visiting. I'd be talking on and on, as I usually do if I can get an audience. She would wait until an opportune moment arose during my discourse and simply pluck the stopper out, effectively silencing me in mid sentence. My mute button! It always got quite a laugh. She could now "get a word in", for the first time in years.

It had been a busy day. I had just finished the taxes and we had left town to meet a fellow in Waterville. Somehow or other, I had gotten myself an interview, or maybe audition is the right word, to read a book for an audiotape. This would mean that if I got the job, then it would be my voice that would be talking on a book on tape. We had met a friend for dinner further south and then gone to a Jungian seminar at Bowdoin College. I didn't want to spend the money to stay in a hotel even though it was getting late -- we didn't get onto I-95 until almost midnight. It was a good thing that someone had been following us when my girlfriend tried to avoid hitting a huge skunk that had waddled out in front of us. We were both sober, weren't speeding nor searching for something on the floor of the car, we simply lost control and got into the soft shoulder, slid for a while and then tumbled, diagonally, end over end. I don't remember the skunk or the accident really, except for the very end, as the violent tumbling finally came to an end. The person that had been following us must have called 911 and I think they stopped to help. Imagine what would be like to be trapped inside a car beside your crushed, dead boyfriend. It was the first time that I can remember that it seemed like I did the right thing at the right time. "I can't breathe. I'm all done. I love you.", I was like John Wayne. It was more of a surprise than anything else. I don't remember being scared, it was startling really to realize "oh, this is how I'm going to die". There was no negotiating it. Then everything just went black. Imagine what she must've gone through.

They got my heart going again with those paddle things. They wouldn't let her near me -- that's what the EMTs do -- they separate you. She didn't know if I was alive, or dead or what. I guess when the life flight helicopter came, she must've thought at least there must be some chance. It took her almost an hour in a conventional ambulance to reach the hospital that they brought me to in 17 minutes. She was released from the emergency room after a short triage of her hand. She had gotten glass embedded in her knuckles. I can't imagine what she must have been going through. I mean, she was driving the car and, even though it wasn't her fault, there she was, wandering around the hospital emergency area, wondering just how cracked up I really was.

They let the anisthesia wear off enough so that I began to come to, at about 10 o'clock the next morning. I know this must sound crazy, but I can't really remember they're telling me that I would be paralyzed, probably for life. I guess one of the first things I asked Nikki was "when can we get out of here?" Clearly, I hadn't yet fully grasped the gravity of the situation. For one thing, I had nowhere to go -- I would no longer fit into the quaint, 150 year old house of many steps, tight corners and narrow hallways that we had lived in. Rough estimates of the minimal upgrades necessary to make our house accessible were around $50,000. The next question is: how and who would be willing to take care of me? We were at a crossroads. Had we had enough preparation in life to surmount this kind of a challenge together?

During the next few weeks, I was learning things like how to cough, how to use the weight of my head to attempt to balance while sitting up and to use the almost arthritic curled up tone of my hand to grasp an item such as a bottle of water. Nikki, during that same few weeks began the arduous task of learning what it takes to care for a C-5 quadriplegic, scouting around our town for a suitable house to buy and finding someone capable of building a ramp on moments notice should we find the funds to buy such a house, researching and selecting the right vendor to build us a vehicle I could ride in -- a way I could leave the hospital. Somehow, I imagined that this was what everybody did in our situation. As it turns out, 95% of the folks I've met with spinal cord injuries never find a home; they wear out their welcome at the hospital and then find themselves in a nursing home taking lots of depression medication.

In the last few months before we had the accident, I had been looking seriously for a cruising sailboat. This is a boat you can live on that can handle the high seas. I was reading all I could about sailing, celestial navigation, living at sea for weeks at a time and adapting to a life on the ocean. I had put a little money away and had a small source of independent income. I hadn't really told Nikki or my son of my plan, just made casual references to it while imagining how easy it would be to sell the idea of a life long vacation and a classroom as big as the world itself to the most important people in my life. Someone recently told me that on any particular day a person has roughly 30,000 things he can do. When you break your neck, then maybe you only have 20,000. The question I have to ask myself is do I want to enter the dark world of gloomy rumination over the 10,000 things I can't do, or get busy living the 20,000 things I can do which I'll never find time for! I choose life.

[Juggalette720]

Hi all,

Well as you can see this story is not about me it is about my brother.
Well one night my brother went out with some friends, you know nothing new about that.
But it turns out, thats not all they were doing.
It turn's out they were all drinking down at his friends.
And around I don't know around I'd say 11 pm. We see the po po's at the door. Well when you see them at the door and no kevin at the house i mean what comes to your mind? And then they tell you im sorry to tell you but your son has got in a car accident and is in the hospital.
I over heard them and i just stood there at the stairs not looking at anything but the po po's.

But at the same time i saw nothing. everthing was so blank. But in my mind i was like. what the hell is happening? Is my brother going to die? Will he remember any of us? Will he wake up? But i never even thought what if he never walks again. That didn't even go through my head.

But i remember my mom telling me we have to go to the hospital. Kevin is in there hes hurt.
She was treating me like i was a little kid. (At that point of time i was 14) I just never answered her. We went to the hospital and i just saw him in there with all these cords and monitors hooked up to him. But the thing is everyone else in the car walked away without a skratch. I just sat in there with him..........Never moving away. Only to go to the bathroom. I didnt eat for 2 days? i think. But i thought i was going to S*** my pants. I was so happy. I mean by that time the doctor had already told us that he was paralyzed. But i broke the news to him.

But we have mostly got used to this whole thing. And my brother is doing awsome hes fine. But gets frustrated sometimes. But over all where doing great.

[bigwheelzrme]

here is the story I wrote about my injury

Mick's Big Adventure
by Mickey Whiddon



Friday June 4,1982. It was the last day of my sophomore year at Chattahoochee High. Like everyone I was happy summer was finally here and looking forward to it, I Thought!

Saturday June 5,1982. My family, Mom, Dad, Sister, Niece and I went to Panama City Beach. We swam in the Gulf of Mexico, picnicked and had a great time. After returning home my dad and myself unpacked the car while my sister and niece went next door to go swimming in the neighbor's pool. When I finished helping I started next door also, As I walked across the front yard where Mr. Glass was mowing. I gestured hello as I passed when I noticed my niece had her back to me, so I thought I'd scare her by jumping beside her intending to dive and glide down the slope from the shallow toward the deep end. I began to run toward the pool as I reached the edge I pushed off with my left foot. That would be the last step I would ever take. As I entered the water my chin hit the bottom hyper-extending my neck fracturing and compressing the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae. I should have taken one more step. From where I left off to where the slope started was 11 ft. 11in. and where I impacted the bottom was 11ft. 9in. I guess that 2 inches is as good as a mile.

I immediately knew something was wrong, the air was knocked out of me, I remember trying to inhale but couldn't. My thoughts then turned to reaching the surface before I drown, not being able to move or feel anything, floating halfway between the bottom and the surface like a dead man wondering why I couldn't swim did I realize that wasn't going to happen. Somehow my sister reached me and pulled me to the surface and turned me face up asking if I was alright? "No" I responded. Gently easing me to the steps explaining what she was about to do, resting my head on the top step which was just slightly below the water level she was going to go get help and if I started moving to yell out. After that the details aren't clear but I do remember telling my mom that " I'm Hurt Bad".

That was how it happened and my introduction to {SCI} Spinal Cord Injuries an the beginning of "Mick's Big Adventure"

damn reading that brings back memories!

[Tim13]

Was riding my brand new snowmobile near my hometown of Kenai, Alaska in the early 90's, long story short, hit a snow covered hole at 100 mph, totalled the sled and fractured my T-12 vertebrae, bruising my spinal cord in the process. Have recently moved to warm, sunny, accessable Florida.

[ihaveaheartofgold67]

hello im diane and this is what happen to me...
i was 38/2006 and finally gone to college after raising 5 kids.i was 3 weeks away from graduation college when i went and had a complete histectomy that was planned for march 10,2006. they gave me an epideral and when the surgery was finished it uasally takes 4-8 hours for the feeling to come back from ur epideral ,,,, 1 year and 5 months later nothing has come back,the doctors that did my surgery totally messed me up now i am a paraplegic.i have no feeling from t-9. i went to spinal cord rehab for 6 months to try to get something to come back and nothing.they told me if something came back for them to start to work with ,they would glad to have me back.this throws a sure damper into life let me tell ya.i was so close to finishing college,only 3 weeks away,now i have to repeat the whole thing because i was away in the hospital and absent for my exams.i will eventually go back and finish,i was taking business management there,and then after that i was gonna take culinary art of pastry, then go and open up a diabetic bakery. i am not giving up ,just on temp hold. since then i got a blood clot in my leg that because i cant feel broke thru and went to my lungs causeing me to have a massive bi lateral pulmonary embolism..(massive blood clot in both arteries to the lungs) making me die twice on the table.now i am on blood thinners indefinitely.well i can go on and on but i will stop here.so in short i had a hysterectomy that led to being a paraplegic.take care all and god bless

[ihaveaheartofgold67]

Chilepepper, on Nov 15 2005, 06:45 PM, said:

In 1978 I was in a MVA that was caused by me. I rolled my truck into a pole going about 100 miles an hour. I did my rehab at Shadoke in Hamilton for about 6 months. My brake level is T9 incomplete. Then about two years after that I was in the back of a pickup with some friends going to anther New Years Eve party when the driver passed out and slammed into the back of a park car. I was thrown and hit back of the cab and broke the rods that were supporting my spine. So back under the knife I went to remove the rods. My therapy this time was done at Lynhurst.

i did my 6 months of therapy at lyndhurst also.that is such a remarkable rehab hospital.contact me and we can chat about the hosp and other who worked there...ihaveaheartofgold67@hotmail.com or msn messenger,same name.

[ihaveaheartofgold67]

Captain Pike, on Apr 9 2007, 04:57 PM, said:

[Okay folks, this is pretty weird. This is how it seemed. This is my story. It's long, get a coffee.]

Last year I survived a fatal car crash. What I mean by that is that by the time they broke out the back window and got me out I had no pulse and no respiration. I remember the violent tumbling around in the car finally coming to rest. I couldn't breathe. That's not completely true -- actually, I could breathe out -- I was able to speak a little. I just couldn't breathe in, couldn't draw breath. First thing I said was "I can't breathe!". I had a strange resolve: I knew my life was over. Oddly, it wasn't frightening or even sad really, just very final. I think I said "I'm all done", and then "I love you". My girlfriend was driving the car, she was obviously alive -- I must've looked bad because she was screaming and crying. Everything went black.

I came to -- lying on a dirty floor underneath a rickety table. .............................

wow,ur amazing to have that kind of attitude and go thru what u did.i died twice on the table after having a bi-lateral pulmonary embolism last oct ,let me tell you when when ur talking to someone and all of a sudden everything goes black, ur only one sec thought is "this is it" then lights out .the most confusing and scaryest feeling in the world,then they brought me back ,and with in a few min apart i died the second time and again everything was black.i enjoy every waking day i wake up now i even get up early and go to bed late just so i can enjoy every min of the day.and yes housing is a problem,for i spent 6 months in rehab ,and because there was no accessable housing available when i got out they sent me to a womens shelter for another 5 months,it wasnt til march this year they were able to get me into a wheelchair accessable apt.goverment needs to make more accessable housing units.all they have to do is look at the stats for sci and it tells u that it well in need of housing.
but anyhow congrats for take the time to smell the wonderful roses and enjoy life ,i wish i could get on a sail boat and sail away to whereever.good luck and god bless

[Stargirl1987]

Pretty much a classic case of stupid teenagers doing stupid things. A couple of friends and I decided to celebrate the end of finals freshman year of college by getting drunk and stumbling around the boardwalk. It was really hot, so I decided to dive off the nearest pier. Bad move on my part, as the water was only a little more than five feet deep. Instant broken neck, C3/4 complete. I'm paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on my own, although I'm hoping to strike that last part soon. I hope to be able to move again one day, but until then, I'm just happy to be living.

Cheers,

Stacy

[Doug]

Hello to all
Im new to this site so here is my story.
I was riding my dirt bike with some friends. When I fliped the bike backwards riding a wheelie.
I landed on my head shattering my c5. Now im a c5 incomplete with no pecks but good shoulders and biceps I can barely push my chair on tile and the smallest incline is not possible and I cant weight shift or transfer on my own.

[miss piggy]

Hi Doug
welcome aboard

[ihaveaheartofgold67]

Doug, on Jun 3 2007, 06:42 PM, said:

Hello to all
Im new to this site so here is my story.
I was riding my dirt bike with some friends. When I fliped the bike backwards riding a wheelie.
I landed on my head shattering my c5. Now im a c5 incomplete with no pecks but good shoulders and biceps I can barely push my chair on tile and the smallest incline is not possible and I cant weight shift or transfer on my own.

hi doug, great to have you on here. come and share any topic ,none to big , none too small , glad to have u onboard

[nomis]

I’m moved reading your stories here. Most humbling.

My tale begins nearly four decades ago when I was 21. I was on holiday, touring on a motorbike. After a long day travelling unsealed roads I wound up tired and hungry in a pub doing what one does in a pub, down enough drinks to get up the courage to talk to girls.

This attractive girl was cheeking me about my “ricey” motorbike. I convinced her to join me for a ride to prove Japanese bikes were as quick and fun as British thumpers. Really, I had just one thing on my mind but was too shy and stupid to speak out honestly.

So, tanked up, exhausted from riding all day and out to impress, I took her on the ride of her life and to the edge of mine. Inevitably, we crashed, spinning off in gravel on a tight corner. She broke a leg and, apparently, I disappeared. They found me some distance up the road on a river bank.

The result was T4-5 complete. On reflection, that’s probably a reasonable outcome since I had no one else to blame and it could have been worse. I hate learning lessons that way, the hard way.

This post has been edited by nomis: 06 June 2007 - 11:52 AM

[Kandice]

This is about my Mother.

On March 26th 2007, her, my father, my friend and his wife were all on their way home from a NASCAR race in Bristol, Tennessee and they'd made it about 10 hours, and once they got two hours away from home, my friend the driver fell asleep, and went across the highway a couple times, hitting embankments, and eventually rolling over. None of them were wearing their seatbelts, but my mother was the only one injured [besides my dad who had a dislocated shoulder and bruised tailbone].

They said my mom has arthritis really badly in her neck, which caused the injuries to be so critical. It broke her neck, and compressed her spinal column and her damage to her spinal cord is at c4/c5, they are saying she is complete, which confuses me, but i wont go into that story right now.

she was in neuro-trauma icu for over a month, and then a stepdown icu for a couple weeks, before going to Craig Hospital, in Denver, Colorado - which is an amazing rehab. We've been here since May 7th, and expect to be here until around October or so.

My mother is doing great though, she's finally off her vent, her trach is at a 4 right now, and being removed as soon as she can get into her wheelchair. She is on bedrest because of a bad skin-tear, but hopefully that will heal up soon. Her diabetes is pretty bad, so her recovery is pretty slow. But we're patient!

At first she couldn't feel or move anything, but slowly parts started coming back. She now has strong c5's and weak c6's!!!!!

[sfultong]

Well, I'm going to try and write my story here before I get too tired. This is my first post here.

I was partying with my friends at my place, and some pot brownies had been cooked. Initially I had thought that I would consume some, but when they were served up, I was hesitant. I had certainly had pot before; I had smoked it, eaten pot brownies once, and tried a tincture of pot. I had had some amazingly great times with it, but most of the time I actually didn't enjoy it.

Well, I decided to have a pot brownie that evening, since in my previous experience ingestion led to very mild experiences. It was not mild, and I watched my friends become very detached from their environments until I started to become so detached myself that I couldn't really process what was going on around me.

Discomfort eventually led to paranoia, and I announced I was going to bed because I thought I was acting strangely and that I was embarrassing myself terribly around my friends.

After laying in my bed for perhaps 10 minutes, my thoughts racing, something happened. I think I vaguely remember jumping up and running to open my door to my 3rd floor balcony, although this may be a imaginative recreation of what I thought happened.

I dunno if I intended to jump off my third floor balcony, or upon reaching the cold of the outside I just decided to sit on the edge of the balcony and hope that the cool air sobered me up. I do vaguely remember telling some of my friends "I'm so glad you found me," when they had left the party sometime later to discover me lying on the pavement outside. I have no idea how long I was laying there, but I was hypothermic, since it was a cold night.

My hospital time was an interesting experience and probably could be its own story. I had vivid and intense sedation-induced dreams. When I finally came off the sedation, I spent most of my time meditating. I didn't watch TV, or try to seek any recreation or distractions from my state. I was just happy to be alive, and had very little negativity or discouragement.

I don't feel like I've been through a traumatic injury. It seems like my injury has little significance to my life now, other than the immediate challenges presented by not being able to move my legs (much?).

My injury was January 17th of '06. I am home now, after spending about five months in the hospital and then a rehab hospital, drifting through life aimlessly again as I was before my injury.

[ihaveaheartofgold67]

sfultong, on Jun 13 2007, 10:07 PM, said:

Well, I'm going to try and write my story here before I get too tired. This is my first post here.

I was partying with my friends at my place, and some pot brownies had been cooked. Initially I had thought that I would consume some, but when they were served up, I was hesitant. I had certainly had pot before; I had smoked it, eaten pot brownies once, and tried a tincture of pot. I had had some amazingly great times with it, but most of the time I actually didn't enjoy it.

Well, I decided to have a pot brownie that evening, since in my previous experience ingestion led to very mild experiences. It was not mild, and I watched my friends become very detached from their environments until I started to become so detached myself that I couldn't really process what was going on around me.

Discomfort eventually led to paranoia, and I announced I was going to bed because I thought I was acting strangely and that I was embarrassing myself terribly around my friends.

After laying in my bed for perhaps 10 minutes, my thoughts racing, something happened. I think I vaguely remember jumping up and running to open my door to my 3rd floor balcony, although this may be a imaginative recreation of what I thought happened.

I dunno if I intended to jump off my third floor balcony, or upon reaching the cold of the outside I just decided to sit on the edge of the balcony and hope that the cool air sobered me up. I do vaguely remember telling some of my friends "I'm so glad you found me," when they had left the party sometime later to discover me lying on the pavement outside. I have no idea how long I was laying there, but I was hypothermic, since it was a cold night.

My hospital time was an interesting experience and probably could be its own story. I had vivid and intense sedation-induced dreams. When I finally came off the sedation, I spent most of my time meditating. I didn't watch TV, or try to seek any recreation or distractions from my state. I was just happy to be alive, and had very little negativity or discouragement.

I don't feel like I've been through a traumatic injury. It seems like my injury has little significance to my life now, other than the immediate challenges presented by not being able to move my legs (much?).

My injury was January 17th of '06. I am home now, after spending about five months in the hospital and then a rehab hospital, drifting through life aimlessly again as I was before my injury.

hello, im glad you made it out of the hospital after a great fall like that. u are handling it ery well considering what u went thru. myself, i had a hysterectomy last march, and was given a epideral instead of putting me to sleep.ur suppose to get ur feeling back from it within 8 hours post epideral, mine never came back. so im a t-9 paraplegic. but i still get up every day and enjoy each hour of the day , and thank god im still alive. good luck and keep writing in the other threads .

[sarah : )]

-A little about my story-

My injury happened back in October '05... Very late and I was coming home from hanging out with friends... and the last thing I remember seeing was the city limit sign.... then I woke up in an ambulance (well, woke up puking on the ambulance guy )

Luckily a cop had seen the whole thing (seeing how I was on a road that no one is ever on at night)... he said it looked like I had fallen asleep b/c I swerved a little before I ran off the road and overcorrected my car.... I landed about 80 feet or so away from the car on my butt... which I am guessing crushed the vertebre T11-L2... I wasn't breathing so he assumed I was dead until I sat up screaming... Yeah, I probably screwed him up for the rest of his life!

I am sssooo glad that I don't remember all that!

I still claim I didn't fall asleep... but who knows? : )

[Georgina]

Hey there,

I am kind of new to all this, I fractured L3 about 6 weeks ago but am up and about with some areas of numbness and bladder control issues. Something was definately looking after me that night though!

I was driving home from dinner about 11 at night when the steering failed on my car, I crossed 4 lanes of traffic (luckily no cars were coming), passed between two concrete pylons missing each by about 15cm and dropped 15 feet into a ditch. Not only that, but if the car had fallen 10feet to either side I would have drowned in ponds. A paramedic parked on the other side of the road happened to see the car go off the side of the road and immediatly called for help. He sat with me and made sure no-one moved me until the ambulance came.

Hows that for a set of miraculous circumstances?

[Alin Steglinski]

do you accept brain injury stories? meh not waiting for an answer im goin to go ahead anyways.

when i was 3 and i was in a romanian orphanage one of the caretakers there threw me down the stairs. woke up in the hospital days later, and thats how i now have autistic quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy.

[nomis]

Wow Alin, that's a hard start to life. So, what's your situation now? Where are you and what do you like doing?

[Alin Steglinski]

nomis, on Jun 26 2007, 08:14 PM, said:

Wow Alin, that's a hard start to life. So, what's your situation now? Where are you and what do you like doing?

not doing much right now... look at my siggy lol i want a TDX5 contour U seating with tarsys 2G-TR system. that would bring me a hell of a lot better mobility... my girlfriend has one, and when shes not in it guess who is... ME!!! lol so damn comfortable not to mention FAST, tarsys 2G-TR system she has lol i can fall asleep in minutes in a TDX5 with TR and good seating, especially the contour U, takes me HOURS to fall asleep in a bed, so when i get my powerchair out with the bed and ill just park in the middle of my room kick it into tilt/recline and zzzzzzzzzz. i walk... somewhat... i walk very slow and fall very easy, cant walk more than 10 feet unassisted, up to 30 feet with direct assistance (i grab onto moms arm to use it like a crutch, and for anything longer mom pushes me in el-cheap-o wheelchair, not the good manuals like the good pediatric tilt in space ones, cheap-o sling seating ones, and i had CP since 3 years, didnt walk very good since then. but now things have worsened, i told my doctor they say "no u dont need a wheelchair" i told them shove it im getting one myself so... i am officially saving up my cash to go to the DME and get me a TDX5 with contour U seating, preferrably tarsys 2G-TR system... and if they dont order it for me well then they can take their powerchair and shove it up their butt, cuz im studying to become a wheeled mobility/seating specialist (pretty much a powerchair dealer/practitioner) and also AAC specialist. so ill order my OWN dam powerchair then... but i really need it NOW because im stuck at home so much, i cant physically go to school since my CP has morphed, so im on homebound and well thats no fun, GIVE ME MY POWERCHAIR!!!

alin walks into the DME's office hi i need a powerchair
DME:no you dont
alin:wheres your back room
DME:cant tell you
alin goes and breaks into the powerchair storage room and steals the rolls royce (TDX5 contour U tarsys 2G-TR
alin runs DME over and says "SEE YA!!!"

lol i could do that too!

[JulesUK]

My son is four and was born spinabifida and hydrocephalus (controlled by a shunt). His lesion on his spine was at L5/S1 level so pretty low down compared to most of the people on here who have had an SCI from an accident of some kind.

He's in a wheelchair. He has some feeling and movement below his waist (more movement than feeling to be honest) but frustratingly not quite enough strength to walk. He can have a go at walking with a rolator but he finds that very difficult and gets about much more easily in his wheelchair. At the moment he's quite happy to crawl around at home (and sometimes in public too), maybe that will change as he gets older.

He's starting full-time school in September so we (my wife really) are having fun at the moment making sure he has all the support he needs etc.

[WheelzNRollBaby]

I was just walking home from the bus to my house round the corner, after a shift at work in a bar. A car took the corner too fast and wiped me out from behind. I was 'lucky' to have only broken my spine, complete T10/11. A few knocks and bruises, but no head injury to speak of, they couldn't even find a bump on my head. That was March 06, fun times since then.

[infinity]

my parents & brother were away for the weekend down the jersey shore (only about an hr & a half from where i live in nj). it was sat. night before father's day and i was 19. my mom had called in the morning and told me they were having such a nice time i should drive down and spend the day. i declined the offer and instead decided to have some friends over from high school that i hadn't seen over my freshman year of college. we were hanging out; me and a friend decided it would be a great idea to jump in my pool with our clothes on. she jumped in first. i hate when you "ease" yourself into a pool cause it makes it feel so much colder, so i decided to dive. i've done this a MILLION times, but i guess that night i was being goofy and not paying attention or something because i broke my neck.

i dont ever remember hitting the bottom, just floating. as i floated, unable to move, oddly i was never afraid. even as i held my breath, i had no fears. i just remember wondering what the heck was going on. my friend, thinking i was joking, picked me up and i told her i couldnt move. Her and my other friend helped pull me from the pool. at first i told them to give me a minute. i thought it might be like hitting your funny bone - that i'd be numb for a moment, then slowly get feeling back. not a minute later i realized something was really wrong. i told them i thought they should call 911. again, i cant believe how calm i was. it was like i called 911 all the time and it was no big deal.

my dad is a police officer in my town, so the dispatcher immediately knew my address and called for 3 seperate town's ambulances and said the first one that could get to me would get to take me. i remember laying on the deck, flopping one arm around. one of my family's really good friends - the officer on duty that night went in my garage and got my dad's halogen lights. i remember it being really bright and the emts talking to me when they arrived. dont remember getting into the ambulance at all. apparently broke/fractured C4-6. had fusion surgery. not sure when i actually started "remembering" but the ambulance ride (saturday) through about tuesday night are completely blank to me.

even after coming to i never really freaked out, or even cried (till i got to rehab at least). we were supposed to be going on a cruise in 3 weeks. i remember wondering if i'd be ok by then or if i'd have to go in a wheelchair. silly me. i also remember my first question, whispered a little embarrasedly to my mom - "what if i need to go to the bathroom?"

now considered c6 incomplete / asia c

hah. that was 1 year ago. im sure we ALL have our "what ifs"

This post has been edited by infinity: 01 July 2007 - 07:21 PM

[wildandcrazy]

Hello JulesUK,
I was sorry to hear about your precious 4 year old boy being born with spinabifida and hydrocephalus and being in a W/C.
He is very lucky to have great parents.I give you and your wife my highest regards and prayers.
All the best to your Son as he starts School.
Philip