For the past few months, my man has been struggling with a myriad of issues surrounding his spinal cord injury. With two years having passed, we had expected his recovery to be much farther along than it was. More than that, he was deteriorating at a level that was both frightening, and just so stinking odd.
Last summer, he was rockin' and rollin'. His gait was barely altered, and our biggest concerns were about his hand strength and wrist flexion. He had moved over to a new medication to prevent blood clots. They took him off Coumadin, and moved him over to Xarelto. The plan was that we wouldn't have to have blood checks every week, and still rest easy that there weren't any new DVTs.
A few months later, he started to rapidly lose weight. His walking worsened, his knees began to bow inward, and he had difficulty lifting his feet. His balance, which was already awkward, became more difficult. He began to have quite a few falls. I would be in one section of the house, and suddenly hear an earth-quaking thud. Due to his initial injury, he was never able to get his hands up to help break his fall, so it was literally like a tree going down in the woods.
He lost all his muscle mass, along with a fair amount of body fat (which by the way, I found and promptly reallocated to my back-side) and this increased his pain level. Now bones were protruding. This made sitting or lying down for any duration excruciating for him, as it instigated nerve pain. His bowels and bladder regressed. His joints locked up, and his energy levels waned. It was scary, and it was suddenly visible to others outside of our immediate household.
We eventually agreed that the risk of potential blood clots was much less than the risk of a brain bleed after a simple fall. We took him off Xarelto. He had some instant improvements with how he felt overall, but no strong improvements in the walking or pain levels.
Last month, he had a fall that pretty shocking. He broke his nose, and had a slight non-displacing fracture of the C7 vertebrae. We finally found a physiatrist that didn't shrug his shoulders and say "I dunno why that is happening." Our family doctor (who is AMAZING) diligently went to work on pain management, actually found the new physiatrist, and coordinated care with him to determine our next steps.
The physiatrist mentioned that there was a slight possibility that he may have a syrinx, which is basically a cyst, or bubble in the spinal fluid. He wasn't presenting with typical symptoms, so we were unsure.
A week ago Saturday, he had an MRI to see if that was present. We have been not-so-patiently waiting for those results. His doctor got in touch with him late last night, and we scheduled an appointment to discuss the results.
Today, we learned that he does indeed have a syrinx, 6 mm, in the C3-C4 area. He also has a very large bone spur in the C7 area, that is impinging on the spinal cord. According to the results, it is contributing to "severe right neural foraminal stenosis and moderate right paracentral canal stenosis." Easy peasy, lemon squeezey, right?
Our family doctor (did I mention she is amazing?) is coordinating with the neurosurgeon, and the physiatrist, so that we can get in quickly for a consult and then schedule surgery. While it is nerve-wracking to have him go in for another spinal surgery, it is also SO AWESOME that for the first time in I can't remember how long, we have answers.
Here's the cool part... we have had many people specifically praying that this MRI would give us answers, and that the results would require a surgery or a treatment that would fix what he has been experiencing. Last night, the two of us prayed together, and our specific prayer was that there would be answers. I can't tell you how often there IS NO ANSWER where the spinal cord is concerned. Answered prayer. I love to reflect on specific answered prayers.
Now, of course, I'm giddy like a school girl, because I feel like there's a solution around the corner, and my man is one step closer to full recovery. Then again, I'm not the one getting ready to once again go under the knife. AND there's some documentation to suggest that the removal of the syrinx can stop the progression of the deterioration, but not reverse it. Let me be clear. Our God is bigger than that. Bob wasn't supposed to be able to walk again at all. There was a chance he would always rely on bowel care and catheters, and medicines that I can't even count. He's walking. He's managing (although right now with a high degree of difficulty) his own care, and driving, and a ton of other stuff. If our God wants him to be fully recovered, if it brings Him glory, then he will be fully recovered. I have prayed since February 2, 2013 that he would be 100% restored. Doctors have said that's impossible. They also said that he wouldn't walk. They also said that he would always have to do this or that.... that he would NEVER do some things that he is clearly doing, even in a weakened state. While I will trust our doctors, and follow advice, I will RELY on the only One who has all the answers.
Specifically pray for strength and peace for my man. He is the one that has to endure the surgery, and go through all the aftermath of healing up... I just have to watch. I believe that this is going to be amazing. I believe that he's going to come out with crazy miraculous results, just like his original accident. I believe it with every fiber of my being, but I am also going to say that even if he doesn't, our God is bigger than this whole mess, and we will stand firm.
So there you have it. Prayers are always appreciated. I will update as we have new info. Love you all.
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