Back At The Adkins/Puppy Compound!

Just a quick update to all of my fans (supporters)... I'm at home once again!

This is the first actual update on the blog that I have typed and updated myself.. so please be forgiving!  lol

So after a week of MRI's, CT Scans, WPC, radio-active blood infusions... anti-biotics and steriods... NOTHING!  5 doctors (very good doctors) standing around scratching their heads.  Now, they did identify an area of my spinal cord above the injury that is swollen.  It does have the potential to effect my arm and hand movement... BUT IT WOULD TEMPORARY!  Once the swelling went down, I would get anything I've lost back.  So kinda good news. 

The Doctor that did the initial surgery on my back and added the hardware believes this swelling has probably been there since the time of the accident or not long after.  He also believes that another MRI will not show any reduction in swelling anytime soon.  These spinal cord things take a long time to heal!

So I had been there from Monday night until Saturday morning and had not been in my wheelchair.  I had been on other chairs.. commode chairs, shower chairs, etc.. without any pain.  So we decide to try the wheelchair.  With doctors, nurses, Physical Therapists and family witnessing, I get out of bed and in the wheelchair.  In less than 10 seconds I'm back in unbelievable pain... in less than a minute the pain was so bad I started shaking.  They had me do some neck mobility to see range of motion.  I could barely turn my head to the left and right, and I couldn't look up at all.

BREAKTHROUGH STORY!

Again, everyone kind of scratches their head and the group breaks up... EXCEPT PHYSICAL THERAPY!  My PT guy Ed (great great great guy that I had worked with during my first stay) says lets try a few things.  So he starts working on my neck with some stretching and massage with his thumbs.  Not deep hard pressing or anything that is creating any pain.. he called it "blocking".  He worked each vertebrae moving up one at a time.  During the process he has my try more neck movement.  Within about 10 minutes I was able to look straight over each shoulder and look up!  There was still a limited range but this was a major improvement.  I started feeling a lot better... there was still some pain, but nothing like I had been experiencing 20 minutes before this.

So we decide to roll around the hospital in the wheelchair and see how I felt.  During the trip we ran across one of the doctors that was in my room to witness the pain.  So I show her the range of motion in the neck and I explained to her what Ed (PT) had done to make this happen.  She was pretty amazed at the difference and the improvement, but still skeptical.

We get back to the room and my momma points out that all of this pain started happening a few days after I got home and progressively got worse... which is also when they gave me this "loaner" wheelchair and seat cushion.  So then we all think... could this really all from a new wheelchair and seat cushion?  BOTTOM LINE:  Momma knows!

The seat cushion that I used for the six weeks that I was in the Rehab facility was EXTREMELY different than the loaner cushion.  In Rehab we had tried several different types of seat cushions to see what would work best... keep in mind there are at least 400 - 500 different types available.  The one that seemed to work best and the one I sat on everyday for six weeks was very dense, firm, contoured, molded... almost orthopedic.  The loaner cushion was a very soft, off the shelf, square pad that all of you would think was very comfortable.

Sunday morning I call the Rehab facility to see if we can borrow the cushion that I used while I was and they were more than accommodating.  Amanda picked it up and brought it back to the hospital and we gave it a shot.  It was an immediate difference.  I still had some pain, it was hard to get situated a little... but nothing like how I had felt the day before.  I knew this wouldn't be immediate, your body and spine take time to get used to different things... but using it for the past few days has made a major improvement! 

I'm sitting in my living room typing this blog, surrounded by my puppies, and I'm virtually pain free! 

The team of doctors have decided there is nothing left to do except send me home to see how this goes.  I'm still on a steroid, but it's just because they have to slowly taper it down NO ROID RAGE!  They want to do a follow up MRI in a month or so to keep an eye on the swelling, but again they're not convinced it will be an issue.

We have already set up some physical therapy here at home starting tomorrow and the PT at the hospital showed Amanda a few things that she can do to help out so that the neck and back don't get stiff.. and if everything progresses I should be back on track.

I'm hoping this was just a minor set-back and I can get back to healing and getting stronger.  Amanda and I have a lot of future plans and I'm not going to let something silly like this slow us down!

Thank you all once again for all of the support, prayers and love!  You will never truly know how much I appreciate it... I'm not even sure I have the capacity to show you!  The only thing I know I can do is work as hard as I can to get as better as I can and be the best person, friend, drinkin' buddy, pain in the butt, cousin, uncle, brother, son... and the best husband in the world to the greatest wife you could ever ask for! 

I love you Amanda!