I tried to remain calm, after losing the feeling in my body, as it could have been spinal shock, which has similar symptoms to what I had just experienced, so I thought. I would later find out that I broke my C-4 vertebrae.
A friend’s dad had rushed over to see if I was o.k. And after I told him I couldn’t feel my body it was decided to leave me on my side and just wait for the paramedics to arrive before doing anything else.
The ambulance arrived in about 10 minutes, I was loaded up in just a few minutes and we were on our way to the hospital. After a comical and interesting conversation in the ambulance (thanks guys for keeping it real) we arrived at the ER of Poudre Hospital in Fort Collins Colorado. Once inside the ER there was so much going on all I wanted them to do was to tell me what was happening and not to cut my boots off! I understand they were trying to save my life, just don't cut the boots, please!
After a highly entertaining (at least from my perspective) and painful ER experience I finally woke up on a bed that moves you from side to side to help circulate my blood. A temporary wishbone had been screwed into the sides of my head to straighten my spine. (Oh yes it hurt and bad! I was awake for that.) From here on out this is where things get foggy and where life starts to flash between reality and a dreamlike state from all the medications. To this day is still do not know what happened during that period. Maybe it’s best that way.
However I do remember talking with my neurosurgeon about my spinal cord injury. I could tell he wanted to say something but didn’t really know how I would take it. So I told him to just tell me as your not going to hurt my feelings, I want the truth, straight and to the point. He delivered the news, I would be a quadriplegic for the rest of my life and that I would have a 3% chance of walking again let alone gaining any function below my neck. I sarcastically remarked to my neurosurgeon I was going to kick his ass when I did walk again! He just laughed and walked out of the room. We had an understanding, if he did his job right, I would do mine.
Surgery was set after my surgeons golf game that morning. Just before I went under he explained what he was going to do, I thanked him for that and asked how the game went. He mentioned the game went great so just relax and everything will go fine. You could sense that he was relaxed and the focus in his eyes was reassuring as well. Thanks Dr. W!
Not sure how long surgery was, but there are now 4 screws and a bone graph from my hip in my neck to stabilize and heal the fractured vertebrae.
After waking up from surgery there isn’t much recollection of what happened or throughout the next two weeks. I do remember going through various levels of ICU before finally being stable enough to be transferred to Craig Hospital in Denver Colorado, where I would be introduced to my new life.
Everyone at Craig Hospital is awesome! So many wonderful people work there that inspire you to achieve your goals and provide a crash course in wheelchair 101 and many other life changing events and strategies. There were so many good times that happened at Craig Hospital that are just too great to list here. Something for later on, eh?
After spending 3 1/2 months at Craig Hospital I was finally able to go home. I have to admit it was really weird seeing all of my belongings in boxes in my parent's garage, and a long metal ramp to the front door for me to use. I have to admit I did a serious amount of crying when I got home, because the reality of my injury didn’t really hit me until that moment.
