Walking With Reduced Muscle Power (as an Incomplete)

2 days after my accident, I was standing up with a walker and marching in place. I had pretty good function still. My function declined rapidly after the third day. I couldn't feel or move anything from my belly button down. I was told there was only a slim chance (about a 7% chance) that I would ever walk again. I was devastated. My health got worse slowly, and soon I was puking once or twice every day. I assumed my puking was caused by the nausea the morphine and Oxycodone were causing. I was constantly asking for Zofran (Odansteron) or Promethazine (anti-nausea medications). They were giving it to me as an injection into my butt mostly and occasionally in gel form rubbed on my wrists because I couldn't keep the tablets down once I became nauseous. I wasn't nauseous all the time, mostly just around noon, after my therapy sessions. We thought between all the pain meds and the activity that put me in pain were causing my nausea and vomiting. Valid assumptions in all ways. Sadly, we were wrong.

The first spine surgery was to put hardware in; simple enough. Here's what the problem was: the surgeon only used staples to close a foot-long incision. I am allergic to metal in fresh wounds. My body rejected all the staples within a week. I was given steri-strips and covered with gauze to try and keep the wound shut so it could heal. The nurses regularly cleaned and re-bandaged the incision and told me it looked fine. The doctors told me the same thing. I had repeatedly told the nurses something was wrong. My incision had opened almost completely and was filled with pus.

Two weeks after my admittance to the hospital, I spiked a 105°F (40.5°C) fever, which, if not lowered, can cause brain damage. They ran blood test after blood test, which means they poked me 8 times in 5 hours just for blood. They sent the pus to the lab and it came back with staph and strep bacteria. This meant another surgery to clean it out. By the time I woke up from this surgery, I had no leg function, hardly any trunk control from about 2 inches above my belly button down. I couldn't roll over by myself or sit up without back support. No leg feeling or movement whatsoever. This trashed me. I lost it. I also lost over 12 pounds in those two weeks, and after losing function, lost 6 more pounds. I was a measly 94 pounds. My legs looked like they belonged to a 2-year para since I couldn't eat.

From there on out, physical therapy included my legs strapped into the NuStep (bike type thing- Google it), the standing frame, and a butt load of trunk balance exercises. I was told I would never walk again. I had the function of a complete.

I started to regain function a week later after the swelling in my spinal cord went down and did not have spinal shock anymore. An old-school standing frame was brought to my room daily. My physical therapist continued with balance exercises and began leg ones.

A week after that, I was sent to the nursing home. My PT there, Sasha, was amazing. She pushed me, and showed me pressure points in my shoulders and neck. She gave more care to my shoulders and neck than anyone ever has! And she MADE me stand. By the time I was discharged a month later, she had me walking with a walker for 40 feet at a time.

I have maintained the ability to walk that distance, and am able to walk further, as long as I take breaks. After my third surgery to remove my hardware, I walked 250 feet with a walker with only one break. I can still do that.

I proved the first doctors wrong. They told me that the progress I made in the first year was all I would get back. After the 7 month mark, I started to give up, accepting that I would only walk 40 feet and be done. Little did I know the reason I wasn't getting better was because I was slowly getting worse-- my hardware was dislodged, putting pressure on my spinal cord at T12 and on my Cauda Equina. I was originally only an L1 injury, meaning no spasms, and technically, only a Cauda Equina injury. Ah, the damage idiots can do...

I was lucky enough to "sleep" through the first few weeks post injury

Very disorientating - when they finally woke me, it seemed that I'd only been riding my bike a couple of minutes ago, didn't know what the hell was going on, so immediately tried to get up & go home . . . getting out of bed, paralysed below the waist, not the brightest thing I've ever done . . .

I walked with a walker soon after my operation. I went home early from the hospital and was pretty uncomfortable. We had this big pole barn
across from the house we lived in called the carpenter shop. This is where everyone one met before work and at break times. It was big and had lots of woodworking equipment in it, but had a concrete floor. So my first week home I did little. The following Mon. all my work buddies were sitting on a picnic table out front of the carp. shop. I walked out of the house with my walker grinding it in the gravel on my way over to visit. About halfway there I picked up and raised my walker off the ground for a couple steps, I could see a smile on my bosses face. From there I spent at first an half hour walking in a circle on the floor of the carp. shop. Then an hour, then an hour three times a day. We had a small step towards at the rear entry to the house and after being in the shop I'd spend time about 15 min.there doing climbers.

They made me wait 2 month's before they started me on P.T. The first thing I was told was to stop all the exercise on my own, I was doing it wrong.

I'm going to end here for now. I wonder at times if I sound full of myself. I don't want to give people false hope, but I've been really lucky with my recovery and sometimes that makes me feel guilty.