C2 Injury

[Matoskah]

Dear Leslie

My friend has undergone another operation wherein the doctors have removed the pipe from his nose and placed it in his stomach and food has been going through a pipe in his throat.Is this a good sign or is his condition getting bad.Please advise as to why this has been done and what should be the next course of action?

Thank you

Kashmira -------------------------------------------

The text above is a follow-up to ...

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Dear Leslie

Thank you very much for your prompt reply.

Kashmira

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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My friend has had a bike accident 6 weeks ago and has spinal cord injury C2 in Houston.He is paralysed and on a ventilator and pacemaker.What are his chances of recovery?

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[Eardley]

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Hi Kashmira-

I'm very sorry to say that your friend's injury is an extremely bad one.  As for his chances of recovery: if you mean will he return back to a normal, walking around life, then no.  He won't ever recover.  People always say Never Say Never, and I would love to be hopeful, but if he's been given an MRI and diagnosed c2 sci-- i have never heard of anyone recovering from this.

Even worse is the level of injury- at c2 he is almost to the brain stem.  Almost always this means he would have to have a ventilator permanently in order to breathe, and this is a constant source for infections and other problems that make life even more challenging.  Aside from that is the fact that he will have almost no use of his arms and none of his legs.  He will need help doing many things, will most likely never be "independent" again.

You mention the pacemaker- if he conscious?  If not, there may be brain injury issues too.  

But if he IS conscious, this is the hopeful part.  He is going to have to re-learn everything and it's a hard, scary, frustrating thing to do.  But it's still your friend in there, same things you liked about him will still be inside his mind even if his body is different than before.  If you were close before this, and if you can, go visit him.  It's easy to go crazy in hospitals and having friends helps.  Another thing that saved some of my sanity was music- a guy who was just leaving rehab when I went in brought down a portable stereo. I'd been in intensive care for 2 months then and all I'd heard were beeps and machinery and nurses being called-music sounded so nice.  Maybe this would be something that would help him- at least help how he is feeling- too?

I'm sorry I don't have better news for you.  It always makes me  sad to hear about someone just starting out with such an injury, I guess because I remember how hard it was.  I sure hope he gets better, but it's most likely that he will have to learn to live in a very different way than he used to.  I wish both of you the best luck- I'll have my fingers crossed for you.  Please feel free to ask a follow-up if you have more questions now or anytime in the future.

Good Luck

Leslie

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[Halil]

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Of course- I wish you and your friend the best luck.

Leslie