Paralysis

ProKawi24 wrote:

Hey guys I'm still around.  My wife and I were living in a condo in Folsom, CA. for 5 years but an opportunity came up to...

Hey guys I'm still around. 

My wife and I were living in a condo in Folsom, CA. for 5 years but an opportunity came up to buy 5 acres of undeveloped land way out in the middle of nowhere away from it all next to where my sister and her husband & young kids live. We along with my parents bought the 5 acres (soon to expand to 7) to build a house for them and for us on so the whole family can all be nearby. My parents just finished their house while we sold our condo and lived in a hotel for nearly a year. Bad weather and covid delayed supplies so now we're just starting on my house while we live with them during the build. 

Unfortunately I also had some major medical issues come up recently. In September I suddenly felt very sick and ended up being diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which apparently runs in the family on my mom's side. My diet has always been very healthy, I'm very physically active, 6'1 tall and about 185 lbs and I hardly drink so it came as a surprise. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital for that back in September. During my stay there I developed a damn sore on my ass that was being managed but the first week of January it suddenly got real bad. 23 years as a paraplegic I never had any issues with sores until this. I spent another week in the hospital dealing with that. Things were going well until last week it got infected so I just spent another week in the hospital. I literally just got home today from that. 

As far as my original injury, back in 2001 I was 12 years old and had a factory support ride with Kawi/PC. I raced the 85 A class and Supermini. During an arenacross race I made a mistake on the catapult finish double and overjumped the landing once and it was such a hard landing it busted my throttle body and jammed it wide open. I didn't realize it until I got to the turn and went to shut it off but couldn't. Before I could even think to grab the clutch and brakes weren't enough I went flying over the turn and was ejected from my bike out into the concrete wall that was covered with only a black tarp, no padding. The vinyl net on the top of the turn caught my bike and slingshot me into the air out into the wall. I broke my back, vertebra T4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9. I had a burst fracture of 7,8,9.  I hit the wall kinda on my right side rolling to my back so I also broke my right arm, shoulder, sternum bone, and some ribs. I had a top of the line Shoei helmet, a neckbrace, and Thor chest protector. Had it not been for the neck brace the Dr said I would have broken my neck and been a quad but instead I was a "incomplete paraplegic". Technically I'm paralyzed from the chest down. I have full use of my upper body but very limited core muscles. 

I wasn't actually paralyzed until halfway to the hospital. I'll never forget being in the back of the ambulance they kept checking my legs and toes and I could feel everything and move everything still. Suddenly everything just went numb and I couldn't feel or move my legs/toes anymore. The swelling caused fragments of bone to tear the outside of my spinal cord causing the paralysis. I had a fusion surgery where they put in rods and hardware from T3 - T10.  I was still growing so much that I had to have it all removed about 1-2 years later because it was so painful. I then had a 3rd back surgery a couple years later to remove scar tissue from my spinal cord and they injected Blue Shark stem cells (all experimental treatments) and kept receiving injections for the next 6 months until my body started rejecting them. It made a huge difference though because my legs used to be flaccid where now they would spasm a lot and although I was still unable to urinate or shit like normal I could at least now feel when I needed to go. I don't have a super-pubic thing or a colostomy bag, I never ever wanted nor do I want to have that stuff so to urinate I use a cathetar every time and to shit I get on the toilet every 3 days and stick a suppository up there. It takes a couple hours to complete my bowel but it beats having any bags attached to me. Plus the treatments gave me the use of my dick back so I could get normal erections and ejaculate so I can have normal sex which for a man is a huge deal, at least for me. I don't take any medication for leg spasms because they help keep my legs strong and looking normal and not like little twigs you usually see on guys in chairs. 

I work a normal job as a real estate underwriter for mortgage loans, drive a Ram 1500 pickup truck with hand controls, use a lightweight manual wheelchair. No major medical issues until last September with the liver issue and the sore that developed from the terrible bed they had me on. At home I sleep on a special memory foam bed and my chair has a jelly cushion to prevent sores. It's just in such a bad spot since I'm rolling around in my chair all day sitting on it so it's taking long to heal.  

One last word to the dirtyhead guy...I'm not really sure what your angle here is. You're a new member so not sure if you're just trolling or don't understand how guys like me in chairs actually are. We tend to make humor out of our situations and don't take shit personal. I make as many wheelchair jokes as anyone and enjoy hearing them myself.  I've been around some guys in chairs who are so cynical and pissed off about what happened to them and they are the most miserable people to be around. I found that just being a chill person about it and having fun with it not only makes me happier but makes people like being around me. Before I found my wife I had many girlfriends, I went on some dates and had the chick straight up tell me she didn't think she could handle being with someone in a chair which I respect them for being honest. Some people can, some can't, nothing wrong with that and we certainly don't need anyone to stick up for us, we're a tough bunch of dudes that have been to Hell and back. I even have it tattooed on my arm.  The other arm is the old Fox saying "Attitude is Everything". On my back is lyrics from a TOOL song "Pain is an Illusion".