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severe multi level cervical issues and severe S1 changes
Spine Health | Last Active: May 24 1:26pm | Replies (20)Comment receiving replies
Thank you orloffjr, I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. I sure hope that I get the use of my arm back because it's very weak. I feel like I couldn't carry a feather. The harder you try to force them to work , it ends up being exhausting. It's something I've never experienced before and I'm feeling anxious and scared. I hope it comes back again like yours. 90% paralyzed and you were able to function again, how incredibly wonderful. My arm has atrophied also but only I can really see that at this point. I'm getting a second opinion in a week and I've got to get copies of the MRI/Catscan CD's. This particular Neurosurgeon is not a part of the group of doctors that can view my images at random. My Neurosurgeon told me to go to the ER if needed but that they would assign me a Neurosurgeon. You don't know who is avaiable and how is that going to work out?
My thoughts and prayers are with you for your shoulder surgery Monday.
-Jan
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@janagain Jan, I remember that feeling of exhaustion in my arms and I also had muscles atrophy on the back of my shoulder. I had trouble doing anything if I had to hold my arms up. One day when grocery shopping after pushing a full cart around the store, then loading groceries in the car, I curled up and slept in the front seat for an hour before I could get the energy to be able to drive myself home. It was that exhausting, and sleeping only helps until you try to do something else. It is shocking when you want your arms to work and they just can’t.
The surgeon I saw at that time thought my arms looked normal, but I knew how it used to look and judging shapes and mass is something I’m trained to do as an artist.
I did have surgery with another surgeon at Mayo to decompress the spinal cord and that brought some life back into my arms. I did get some muscle back through rehab, but not all. My strength is pretty good and I can pick up 40 pound bags, but a 50 pound bag is a bit much and I used to be able to pick that up. If I pick up that much, I can’t raise it past where I got both arms around it.
I can brush and saddle my horse and raise a 30 lb saddle up to my shoulder height to set it on his back. I wouldn’t be able to do this continuously, but I have enough strength to take care of one horse and the grooming required.
It took awhile to get the endurance back for painting, and I was 11 months post op when I did the painting for my surgeon. There were days I could only paint for 2 or 3 hours, then I would lay down on the floor to rest and I would fall asleep. It took a month to finish the painting that now I can do in about 2 weeks because I needed to rest. Painting became my physical and emotional recovery after spine surgery. Toward the end of that month, I was able to paint 6 hours a day if I had the break and a nap to rest. It was also fine tuning the coordination in my arms. I was trained to move my arm from the shoulder for artwork instead of resting my hand on the surface. I can do that again.
Jennifer