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From: Orville.Bullitt@f36.n135.z1.fidonet.org (Orville Bullitt)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Numbness
Message-ID: <17308@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 31 Jan 91 20:55:43 GMT
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Index Number: 13294

[This is from the Spinal Injury Conference]

 JP>       To all of those of you who have cervical/spinal injuries
 JP>       and are still ambulatory (sort of):

 JP>       Question:  Do you feel times of numbness (greater than
 JP>  other times) ??  Buddy is expierencing numbness (especially in
 JP>  the right side) that will completely keep him from walking at
 JP>  all - in fact, he fell the other night because his right leg
 JP>  simply would not hold him up.

 Jean,
 Friday afternoon/evening we went to see the movie "Aawakenings." It is just 
over 2 hours long. About one-and-a-half hours through the movie, my left leg felt like it was experiencing "Icy-Hot" - for lack of a better term.

 JP>       He had been sitting at the computer playing a card game -
 JP>  he'd not sat there very long really (maybe 1/2 hour).  When we
 JP>  attempted to get up from the chair, his right leg went out
 JP>  from under him and he fell to the floor - he said his leg was
 JP>  numb.

 What I sis was to make sure I was flexing the muscles in my leg to get teh 
circulation and feeling back to normal.

 JP>       The other morning (after a nights sleep) he attempted to
 JP>  get out of bed - he told me his entire body was numb.  He
 JP>  TRIED to get up and get dressed but could not raise his legs
 JP>  to put his pants on.  I ended up lifting his legs and putting
 JP>  his pants and socks on him.  He layed there for a while, then
 JP>  rolled over so he could sit up - after sitting for a time, he
 JP>  was finally able to motivate by himself (sort of - shaky, but
 JP>  he did do it by himself).

 JP>       Question:  Do you all have problems (on and off) with
 JP>  your bowl movements ???  Loss of feelings so bad that
 JP>  'problems' occur once in a while (I don't know how else to put
 JP>  this delicately).

 JP>       Twice this month, Buddy had an 'accident' ... he never
 JP>  felt it happening - he feels the 'gas' but that's all - when
 JP>  the 'accident' happens he knows it --- this sounds strange to
 JP>  me but I know he's telling the truth -he doesn't understand it
 JP>  either.

 JP>       The doctors told us his condition would get worse as he
 JP>  got older ..... I know it's very frustrating to him.

 JP>       I'm sorry this got so long and drawn out but we would
 JP>  appreciate knowing how others felt about these 'happenings'.

 It isn't long at all. Sorry that I have no comment on this problem.

 JP>  Yes, we've made another appointment to the doctors - we
 JP> just went back in November so we aren't ignoring his problems,
 JP> but Buddy is becoming very 'disalousened' (sp) with doctors as
 JP> they don't ever seem to help much.

 I know his feeling! My NeuroSurgeon said that there is abesolutely NOTHING he 
can do about my L5-S1 pinched nerve until I experience loss of motor control!
 As soon as the '91 insurance cards arrive, I'm going to see my GP and ask for 
help dealing with the pain. If I don't get it from him, I'm going to be changing doctors FER SURE!
 Keepin' The Faith,
 Orville

... Praying for Peace in the Gulf..............

--
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