Welcome back Tod! By living in the same city we still have not met each other!
I am still around and have been around the bend with life's turmoils myself. The hyperbaric chambers are still pretty new and fortunately I have not had a reason to use one. The newest thing I have had to try was the wound vac in 2004 whereby I was in bed six months. Wow... long time in Bed Mr Santee! Are you back to teaching? Lori Michaelson Age - 43 C4/5 complete quad, 28 years post Tucson, AZ On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 11:42 AM, Tod E. Santee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi There Fellow Q's > > (Ok... It's a Star Trek reference for any non-Trekkies here.) > > But don't worry, I'm not here for Star Trek related talk (though I > wouldn't ignore nor dismiss any should it occur *<grin>*). I suppose I can > consider myself a former old timer on this list from several years ago. > Haven't been on the List in maybe 5 years or so. Primarily because I've > been busy with work and work-related, disability legal crap (on the down > side) and participating in some of my favorite volunteer works (on the > upside). > > However, though I haven't been here a long time, in looking at the > archives, I do recognize quite a few old-timers from my past... wheelchair, > DAANOO, Lori M., GHenry1, Eric Rudd, Bobbie among several others. > > For those who don't know me, I'm a 41-year-old, C5/6 since 1983. I fell > from a tree after doing a teenaged "high wire" act for a $10 bet. I won the > bet because I walked across a 30-ft wire... it's just that the that didn't > include successfully making it out of the tree at the other end! Yes, life > can sure sometimes be an irony. > > I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania just an hour or two north of > Philadelphia (between Houston and Allentown for those who know PA) in what > was a pretty small town, Nazareth. Accessibility was pretty much > nonexistent... plus it was before the ADA (not that the the ADA has made a > huge difference in ALL places! [Especially small towns]). I always have a > good time in college bars when people asked where I'm from... "Nazareth," > ... "Where's that?" ... "Near Bethlehem." ... "Where's Bethlehem?" ... Me, > "You're kidding, haven't you ever read a Bible? It's near Egypt." (All > true! At least as far as PA geography goes. But it sure does trip out > half-drunk bar hoppers!) > > So, that gives you some idea of my sense of humor. Beyond that, I'm also > a huge advocate for the disabled when it comes to employers and businesses > that don't follow the ADA even after 18 years of being law. (Including my > own employer... not necessarily a good thing for making friends when asking > nicely has no results.) > > Once upon a time I found this list to be extremely informative. It's why > I began calling the group here "fellow Q's." I imagine there is been many > changes on the list but I'm also willing to bet the aspect of being a list > full of knowledgeable people eager to give advice as well as being open to > receive it qualifies this "collective" as being knowledgeable enough to be > nearly "Q-like". > > I'm very happy to see some of my old friends are still here (BTW: any > old-timers seen or heard from "breezy" lately?). I'm equally happy to see > there appears to be many new people here that I might be able to call my NEW > friends, as well. > > Being a quad for 25 years has provided me plenty of knowledge on several > topics and up happy to share whatever I can to help any new quads... or old > quads with new questions. > > Currently I've got plenty of problems I'm dealing with myself. I had a > flap surgery in 2006 for a sore that was open 4.5 months. During the > surgery he was found a small amount of osteomyelitis from MRSA had formed in > my ishium. Within a year the surgical site RE-opened, I showed outward > signs of some kind of infection, and it was found the osteo "might" not have > been eliminated. > > I had to have another surgery to explore an unusual area seen in a CAT > scan. The surgery's result was somewhere between negative and inconclusive > for MRSA. Two months later, major disturbing signs of infection returned > (swelling, fever, and pain indicated by dysreflexia). > > If I didn't have MRSA then, the surgery to find it and the open surgical > site provided a perfect pathway for the staph to really hit me. A MRSA > infection in the exposed tissue with directly to my hip bone and begin > disintegrating the hip and femur so much that I ended up with a dislocated > hip (causing the pain) because it wasn't enough stable bone to hold my femur > properly in the hip socket. All this while I was in bed recovering from > surgery. > > Since then I began hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOT). For anyone > unfamiliar, HBOT entails being placed in a "tube" that is sealed and pumped > full of 100% oxygen at 2X normal atmospheric pressure for 2 hours every > day... usually for a minimum of 60 days. HBOT activates certain bone cells > that eliminate dead bone and activates other cells that rebuild new bone in > its place because the hyper-oxygenated atmosphere makes the body produce > more blood vessels into "dead" areas. > > So far, I can report, so good. I'm finally beginning to sit again in my > WC for the first time since the end of August, '07! I consider that > successful. So far it's still a somewhat "new" type of therapy but most > insurance, including Medicare, will cover it under certain circumstances. > The success rate is at least 85%! I'm hopeful I'm not the other 15% given > my results so far... and I'm only half way through treatments. (X-rays show > no further damage since November.) > > I'd be interested in hearing if anybody else on the list has ever used > HBOT and how well it worked for you. If nobody on the list has used HBOT > and has questions about it, I'd be happy to answer whatever I can. I > researched it pretty extensively before and since beginning treatments. > It's a pretty fascinating topic. > > Okay, I suppose that's enough about me for now. Besides, I have to get > going more on my taxes. I just started Friday! (Too busy with some legal > papers... I'll probably write about that later, too.) > > So anyway, I'm happy to meet you ALL and glad to see many of my old > friends are still around. > > > Best regards to ALL! > --Tod Santee > Biology Teacher > C5/6 since 1983 > and run-of-the-mill Nutcase! > > -- Lori C4/5 complete quad, 27 years post Tucson, AZ
