My spinal injury
The Injury
I dislocated and broke vertebrae c5-c6. C7 is the one that usually pokes out the most, so it’s the two above that. My spinal cord was squashed and emergency surgery was performed to release the pressure. 4 screws and a plate were inserted as well as bone from my hip to fuse that part of my neck.
Movement
The further up the neck you hurt the less movement you have.
With my level of injury I have movement in my neck, shoulders, upper back muscles, biceps. I have half my wrist that work, and pec minor works but pec major doesn’t. Despite having movement in my arms I am still a quadriplegic (There are different levels).
My fingers don’t move at all (not one little bit), as well as my stomach, lower back muscles, and of course my legs. I also have no control over my bladder and bowels.
I have flickers in my triceps and even though I hope for these to keep improving, flickers don’t necessarily mean the muscle will regain full function.
Sensation
I have normal feeling to just above my nipple line. One side of each arm feels normal with the elbow side feeling numb, I can hit my elbow and not even know. If I hold my hands out away from my body with thumbs up, and you ran a string from index finger to index finger, everything above this I can feel normally and everything below this is numb sensation. So My thumbs have normal sensation, my index finger is 50-50 but after this I can’t feel.
There are some other places down the rest of my body where, when touched, there is a pins and needles sensation. One of these places is my feet. But I can’t feel my skin, I can’t feel hot or cold, and I can’t feel pain (which isn’t a bad thing sometimes haha).
Other Perks of a Spinal Cord Injury
Other than the obvious limitations in movement, there are a lot of other inconveniences with spinal cord injuries that before my accident I wouldn’t have known.
Temperature – My body can’t regulate its own temperature. Meaning when I go outside and its cold/hot my body can’t heat/cool itself back to normal temperature. I learnt this the hard way when I went outside on a reasonably cool day with just a t-shirt on, my temperature dropped to hypothermic levels and I had to be wrapped in a space blanket for a couple of hours.
Spasm – Messages sent to my brain below the area of injury are blocked by scar tissue and nerve damage, so when my body is stimulated below the level of injury it causes my body to spasm. This is very noticeable when a muscle is stretched, when my legs are moved, and when some sort of pain occurs below the level of injury. This makes sleeping difficult when my legs are stretched out, doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in my chair knowing a spasm can happen at anytime, and makes transferring hard. But most of all it is annoying and uncomfortable.
Pressure sores – Are caused by lack of movement, or pressure on an area for an extended period of time. As I’m sitting on my arse for most of the day if I don’t pressure release every 2 hours or so I will get a pressure sore. I pressure release by either putting my head between my knees for a minute or by going side to side taking weight off each butt cheek for a while. Pressure sores can leave people in bed for months going from one side of their body to the other, unable to get up in there chair. I had to do this for a week when I had a minor pressure sore caused by a seam in my pants.
Catheter – I have no control over my bladder and have to use a catheter every time I go to the toilet. Catheter with an extension tubing into the toilet. Because I’m putting a catheter down my penis all the time I am very susceptible to urinary infections.
Bowels – I can’t just jump onto a toilet when I want to. It is a very regimented process, certain medication is taken at different times to ensure I can go at a certain time of the day. It takes me at least an hour to go to the toilet and to have a shower.
Dysreflexia – Is a medical emergency that causes head aches, profuse sweating, flushing of the skin above the level of injury, anxiety, and high blood pressure which can lead to a stroke. The causes of dysreflexia can be a blocked catheter, constipation, urinary infection, injury below the area of injury and reaction to medication, an ingrown toe nail can even cause dysreflexia.
Fat gut – Always was fit and kept myself in good shape now I have a fat gut as I have no muscles in my stomach to keep my insides in there.
Such an eye opener of what you have been through and what you are going through. Good to hear from you and everyone is backing you through your journey 🙂
Jennifer has told me a lot about Spinal Cord Injury and thank you for letting us know your about personal injury, as many friends care and are keen to know how you are progressing x
You are a strong and inspirational young man. Stay strong and be good to yourself…
thanks so much for sharing this bo bo! You’re an absolute champ, and lucy is such an incredible chick. Will see ya soon pal!
Beau your honesty in telling us about the very personal obstacles you face on a day to day basis is both gut wrenching and inspirational at the same time…..xo
Hey pal,fantastic to see you progressing so well…Your strength of character and will to win is with you all the way…Thank you for your honesty and insight into your injury,Inspiring to all..Love to you ,Lucy and Family….. Adrian Campbell (Phez) and Family…
Hello Beau, I am a work colleague of Andrea Phillips and my son is a T12 paraplegic. He fell off a roof 4 years ago – the rest is history. I am firmly of the belief that stem cell research or some other avenue of science will be able to assist you in the future. My son has completely severed his spine so I don’t think he will be in a position to be cured but you – with the extent of your injury – I am sure will be one of the many who will be in a position to be helped. Don’t give up on all your exercising – try to keep your muscles as toned as you can. Keep pushing for funding for research into a cure for spinal cord injury to be a top priority. You have come a long way on your a journey and I wish you courage and strength of purpose for the future. As Winston Churchill said: “Never give in, never give in, never give in.” Cheers Cheryl Morris.
you seem like a strong person. you are truly an inspiration.
You truly are an inspiration to everyone. There is a quote:
‘Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all!’
Never give up, you truly are an amazing person beau.
You truly are an inspiration to everyone. There is a quote:
‘Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all!’ You are the
definition of this quote, with everything that you have done to raise awareness. I think that its amazing how you persevere through life and strive to reach your goals.
Never give up, you truly are an amazing person beau.
Your an inspiration Beau. Sharing your story, I look forward to the ride. Stay strong.
Hi Beau
You are doing a great job of raising awareness of spinal cord injuries. Keep up the good work!!
Hi Beau, Great to see you on Sunday in the golf cart with Cogs. I am not into facebook etc but managed to find your “blog” with Dads help. What an amazing read mate, well done, truely enlightning and inspirational….hell if i had known, on Sunday, how far you have progressed i would have slipped you in our team to putt for Dylan, you would have done a much better job!!
🙂 You always showed tremendous “G & D” on the field and now you are showing even more offf. Good luck with the road ahead mate, you are certainly due for some, and if i can be of any assistence, professionally or personally, please call.
Cheers Roo
I think you are a real inspiration. Reading through the details of what you have been through puts a lot of things into perspective. We have nothing to complain about in comparison to what you have been through. The way you have dealt with his is amazing – such a positive attitude and outlook and you really are making the best of a terrible inspiration. I look forward to reading more about your journey and seeing how far you can go. You are proof that there is really no limit on what you can achieve!
Hi Beau. Just checking up on you. What a fantastic job you are doing with the web site and with all your rehab. Looking forward to seeing what you are able to achieve in the future. We are always here for you and Lucy. Carron and Mary
Thank you Beau, I am also a quadriplegic with the same level of injury as yourself. I have a partial SCI which allows me much the same range of movement as yourself. Although quite a bit older than yourself, I am 72 and my injury was a cycling accident in September 2015, so I am a relative new boy to the disability game. I keep discovering new ways of doing things and adapting every day items in the home to allow me more independence. Good luck with all your activity and thank you for sharing your story. Gerry.
Hey Gerry,
Thanks for the message and letting me know a bit about yourself. I hope you are coping ok with your injury, and have lomesupport around you. Don’t ever hesitate to reach out to myself if you ever needed to chat to someone that has been through a similar injury/experience. Cheers and all the best 🙂
I HAVE EPILEPSY- LEFT TEMPORAL LOBE, CAUSES SEIZURES THAT CAUSE DISORIENTATION, WORD SEARCH FRAME OF MIND, EXTREME ANXIETY DURING AND FOLLOWING A SEIZURE AND I SOMETIMES WANDER AFTERWARDS TO GET AWAY FROM SOMEWHERE OR SOMETHING OR SOMEONE UNTIL I GAIN MY CONSIOUS/BEARINGS OF WHERE I AM! OFTEN CAUSES MEMORY LAPSES, LIKE PAGES MISSING FROM A BOOK, WHERE YOU JUST HAVE TO GUESS WHAT WAS WRITTEN. I HAD SURGERY ALSO. 10 YEARS AGO, THEY REMOVED A SMALL CHUNK OF MY BRAIN, GONE DISCARDED! I HAD A FEAR OF ENDING UP CONFINED TO A WHEELCHAIR LIKE YOU BEFORE THE SURGERY OR WAKING AFTER THE OPERATION AND NOT KNOWING WHOM I WAS OR REMEMBERING MY FAMILY. THE SURGERY HELPED A BIT, BUT I STILL HAVE THE SEIZURES AND STILL TAKE A CONCOTION OF MEDICATIONS WITH THEIR LOVELY SIDE EFFECTS AS YOUR MOST PROB AWARE OF. SOME DAYS I REGRET IT SOME DAYS I DON’T. I STRONGLY ADMIRE YOU, ALL THE BEST. WILL WATCH YOUR TALK AS IM DOING A MENTAL HEALTH COURSE THROUGH GEELONG, VICTORIA, CHEERS.
Thanks very much for the message Joanne. I can’t begin to imagine how scary it must have been to have that operation. I hope that has lessoned the seizures and that you have good coping mechanisms in place. You will go really well with the mental health course with everything you have been through, take care and all the best with everything.