My Story

Sorry in advance this may be a long one...i havent before shared my story but i feel this is quite my home  and i would like to share the beginnings of my CES journey. I will be open so be warned lol

Ok it started two and half years ago..i was experiencing sciatic pain for some few months which seemed to start after a fall on my back on my horsebox metal steps..ouch!!

I wasnt really on strong painkillers intially but as time progressed the pain increased...so did the painkillers. It was March time now and i went to the docs with the pain and she made a referral for me to go to Physio and put me on tramodol.

A week later then the pain altered and spread into both legs with undescribable pain in my lower back. I remember my legs started to feel week and at this point i was holding onto the walls at my home to get about..my walking was painfully slow.

Within that week i developed a patch of numbness under my right butt cheek...and i felt something wasnt right so i called my doctor who advised me to go see her.

She carried out my first rectal examination..told me all was ok and gave me advise to look out for any numbness inbetween my legs as if i experienced this i would need an emergency MRI scan. I told her the pain was unbearable so she put me on morphine in additional to the tramodol.
I was now on medication that they treated terminal cancer patients with to help their pain..and it wasnt touching it...I could no longer sleep because i couldnt lie flat even remotely as the pain was like a knife cutting into my spine..along with the now permanent pain in my lower back which was hell and the pain in both legs...it was just too much.

I will add that im not a soft person...i never took pain meds or any meds and didnt go the docs really, i just got on with it..

I stopped even caring to go to bed, there was no point..i remember one night sitting in my lounge with the tv on and my dog for company, i was in a fuzzy mental state and sleep deprivation was getting too much for me.I looked at the floor and crawled down of the chair and led down..id needed to sleep, desperately.
As soon as i led down i felt like someone kicked me in my lower back that jolted me..the pain was out of the roof and i just cried and called for help..i couldnt move..every slight movement just drove the pain deeper....
I had a family member staying overnight who came to me quickly and tried to get me up..it took 30 mis..i was crying and sweating and thought this was too much...surely im dying...so why does it not happen quick...
I truly thought i had quite probably cancer in my spine and the doc just wasnt taking me seriously.

The next day i called my docs for advice on the pain..the doc just told me to carry on the same....so another two days later passed...i couldnt walk at this point at all...so was now using a wheelchair...numbness spread to my bottom area so i went to the doctors again only to be sent home with more pain management advise

At this time i was presenting with enough red flag signals to warrant an emergency scan.....

So i carried on..in agony and no sleep...i spent my time closing  my eyes, desperate to sleep..sleeping for a few mins only to be woken by the pain.
Another 3 days passed..i remember waking one morning to pee and wiped myself clean only to realise that i could not feel anything..i remember my stomach sinking because i knew it was serious.

I called my docs to tell them what happened as now i had the symptom that i was first warned about...i asked for the MRI scan..only to be told later that day that they were not going to send me for one and to stay at home and wait for my physio appointment in 3 weeks.

I was horrified and felt let down, badly..i though to myself that i may as well give in..3 weeks of the hell would surely be the end of me..whatever i have will surely kill me by then.

The next 3 weeks can only be described as hell...my bladder and bowel function went..numbness had spread down my legs and to my feet..i couldnt stand or walk and i lost weight.
My family tell me now that i looked so much older and weak and seriously ill.
I lived in my lounge with an adult nappy on and a comode next to me....and pain meds...heat pads etc

By the day of my phsyio appointment i was in a drugged sleep deprived state..i didnt care anymore what day it was or what was happening but i felt the appointment was a waste of time.
But the physio i met that day was to become my life saver..after just a few questions he brought two specialists who had clinics at the hospital to come and see me.

One of them said he needed to examin me...one rectal examination later he told me that i would be having an emergency op that day and that he had called for an emergency ambulance to come for me to take me to the nearest main hospital for an MRI scan...
I recall just feeling numb inside but slightly relieved that something was being done..finally

So off i went for my scan..blue lighted and then rushed to the neuro hospital that night where i then had an emergency 5 hour operation to clean up the cracked disc L4/5 that had burst and decompress the nerves.
The surgeon later said it was very messy....i suffered a tear during the surgery and spinal fluid leak which i am told is a rare complication of decompression surgery which caused me to recover slowly and then three deep vein thrombosis.

So this is what happened..by surgery was on april fools day..which was quite fitting for me as i found the humour in everything...well kinda..in this situation lol
What happened next is another story lol

I would love for other people to share their stories...of their Spinal Cord Injuries so i hope this encourages others to start their own threads and talk about theirs...