Injury Clarification

Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd write a clarification blog. Its 7 and a half months since my accident now and many don't know much about my condition. At first I didn't know what all the fuss was about. All I knew was that I had a broken bone and I couldn't move. I was then told I was a C5 C6 Complete Tetraplegic. 84% of my body is paralysed including my hands and triceps. Turns out you need your hands for quite a lot.

The hardest things I've had to deal with (aside from the obvious) is that I couldn't eat, or drink while dealing with constant profuse sweating as well as not being able to swallow my own spit. For the first five months every day I had trouble breathing and where I longed for a day where life would become easier. Every time I was told a had a serious infection I felt like I was dealing with a minor cold.

We have recently talked about how on a few occasions I was in danger of dying. The first was my original accident falling 20 feet onto my neck. The second was having my heart kick started after a week of trying to breath and cough with a hole on my neck (after my trachy tube was first taken out). The third main time was when I had five bronchoscopys in four days. It was so severe I was placed on the critical list. When I woke after being on proprofol for five days, the only things I remember were very vivid disturbing hallucinations. I also felt as though I was going crazy with constant deja vu and paranoia episodes. At this point the Middlemore ICU doctors decided it was necessary for me to be weaned off the ventilator at Burwood. The whole time until then I had extreme anxiety problems with being crowded, or having anything touching me as I felt restricted and immobile. As a result I was on lorazepam, a concerning sedative used as antianxiety.

I'm now dealing with severe spasms requiring twelve pills a day which still don't dampen the problem. I'm also having minimal sleep as I'm trying to wean off a sleeping pill I've had every day for 33 weeks. Due to huge muscle loss, everyday I battle fatigue. Another daily issue Ive had to learn about is impairment of bowels, bladder and sexual function. As a result I have a catheter going directly into my bladder (SPC - supra pubic catheter). I have my bowels done every second day. If you want to know more google - tetraplegic sexual function. Also because of paralysis I have poor circulation. This means I am at risk of pressure sores, and dizziness when I am transferred into my chair. To combat this I wear tight pressure stockings and an abdominal binder to compensate for abdominal muscles and to increase blood pressure.

Autonomic dysreflexia is a condition that I have to be aware of. If anywhere I cannot feel is injured, or if my bowels or bladder are full, a signal will alert my brain and my body will react. I will go bright red in the parts I can feel and I will get a pounding headache as my blood pressure rises. If it goes untreated I am at risk of having a stroke and then possibly dying. This is a medical emergency. I carry the medicine wherever I go to lower my blood pressure.

This is now my new life, so I have embraced it. I dont think it is necessarily worse, but very different. Many opportunities have and will come from this. I didnt know know what I was going to do, so now I have some time to think. Plus I had a really bad itch before, and this was the only way of getting rid of it. It worked. And now I get to bludge off the government, and collect the money you pay for tax. Cheers.

Luckily I've been blessed with a positive attitude and very supportive friends and family, especially with Mum being with me since day two, to be exact.

Feel free to ask any questions. timothy.young.is@gmail.com
Tim