Guys,
I started reading your posts and decided I needed to add my $0.02. I got hurt
in 1989. Funny how you mark time referencing the date and year of your injury.
My life made a left turn (just like everyone on this list) but it did not end.
I had 4 hungry mouth’s to feed and I was blessed. Prior to my injury I managed
IT professionals. My group was tasked with the responsibility of merging data
centers and networks from very large banks. I was back to work within a year.
With the help of my coworkers and of course my family, I was able to work and
succeed up until 2000, when I began to take pain medication. I stopped driving,
not wanting to risk hurting someone.
In 2001 I lost my son, Brendan and my sister Rosanne in the World Trade Center
murders. We are not the kind of people who let terrorism defeat us. We had
other things to worry about. I developed a syrinx and needed surgery to remove
it. So, back to Craig Institute and Dr. Scott Falci we went.
Like Meredith I found I also have HO. We were baffled as to why we were getting
sores in areas that did not have pressure on them. The worst part of HO is that
the skin never really grows back to its full potential and I’m wearing Restore
bandages for the rest of my life. Speaking of life, and I’m sure you can relate
to this: the best estimate of our lifespans is 15 years. That was 13 years ago.
Flocking actuaries can’t get anything right.
So you see guys, we are not alone. I have been on Jim Lubin's list for as long
as I have been injured. God bless Jim. He who had the knowledge and put it to
use for the betterment of everyone who suffers from SCI, whether it was from
trauma or biologic reasons.
Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do! -John Wooden
Billy Lang
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
>
> Greg, I was diagnosed with HO when I was first injured 36 yrs ago. It caused
> me to be lopsided and over the yrs made my other hip and leg to become jacked
> up causing me major pain in the last few years. Didn't know back then that
> it could be helped with radiation.
> Meredith
>
> Sent from my LG Mobile
>
> ------ Original message------
> From: greg
> Date: Thu, Apr 6, 2017 2:09 PM
> To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>;
> Subject:RE: Fwd: [QUAD-L] Getting Old
>
> I was fine for 20+ years after my injury, no meds, pain was not great, but
> could deal with it. But after a hip injury, I developed Heterotopic
> Ossification(HO). When your bones try and heal they start growing calcium,
> but when you have HO, the calcium does not stop growing. It grows like tree
> branches into your muscles. Have to take meds and use radiation to stop the
> growing. They will only cut it out if it grows so much you loose range of
> motion. Because it grows into the muscle, it's a very bloody surgery, and
> that is a main cause to restart the growing.
>
> Without pain meds, my leg will not go straight. Spasms are so bad, I grunt,
> almost pull myself out of my chair, and the worst thing is my chest gets so
> heavy it's hard to breath. Like someone is sitting on my chest. If I miss my
> meds, within hours my body is like 1 solid muscle clinch.
>
> They almost OD me trying to raise Baclofen high enough to ease my spasms.
> Many tests to find the cause. Finely took pain meds for my shoulder and it
> was like life changing difference. Docs said no way would pain meds stop
> spasms, I need more Baclofen. I went in and showed them, I'm not spasming.
> Then finely they agreed it was pain causing the spasms. And they found the
> cause.
>
> Everyone feels pain differently, has different causes. Both can have pain for
> same issue, but one be in more pain. Not just let it get to them more. Just
> can't quantify pain in different people. 5 quads can each have shoulder pain,
> different causes, different location, different nerves. I would be hard
> pressed to call a pain a 9 out of 10, because I can always think of something
> that could hurt more. My shoulder makes me want to rock, but a hot needle in
> my eye would be worse.
>
> Greg
