Brief Introduction to Spinal Cord Injury part 1

Hey guys I am back with another blog.

Now after my last post, it got me thinking I want to make this blog informative as well rather then just sharing my experiences only. So then, I thought to myself when I got injured, I knew nothing about Spinal cord injury or SCI as we say is it in short.

So in this blog I would like to give you a brief introduction on this topic, also as this is a very vast topic and if I start going into the details of it the post will become very lengthy and technical which I don’t want this blog to become a very technical and in depth as it just to brief you what SCI is. I would like to cover the following topics:

1. What is a Spinal Cord?
2.  What is Spinal Cord Injury?
3.  Classification in Spinal Cord Injury?
4.  What are two main types of paralysis in SCI?
5.  What is the recovery time and cure for SCI?

I guess it’s a lot to discuss so let’s get started 😊

Well whenever I meet someone new, the main question everybody asks is if you are having problem in your spine or backbone as we say here shouldn’t you be on bed and take rest rather then moving here and there on a wheelchair, stressing you back and what is the problem with your legs, why cannot you move them?

These are a few of the question I get asked by people. Let’s start with a very basic concept and the answer to my first question that is:

1. What is Spinal Cord?

Well spinal cord in general is like an electrical wire which connect your whole of the body with your brain which in turn controls it. It runs from the top of your brain through the Spinal Column or we can say the backbone. So spinal cord is a communication highway between the brain and rest of our body consisting of bundles of nerve cells and fibers as its road.

The Human Spinal Cord can be divided into 4 parts namely:

• Cervical area
• Thoracic area
• Lumber area
• Sacrum area

2. What is a Spinal Cord Injury?

When due to certain injury your spinal cord is damaged rendering certain parts of your body in non-working condition. The Spinal Cord Injury is abbreviated as SCI. It is broadly classified into two types namely:

• Complete Injury
• Incomplete Injury

Now the complete injuries are those injuries in which the spinal cord is fully severed or simply cut into two pieces resulting in loss functions of the region below the injured area.

Incomplete injuries are those injuries in which the spinal cord is partially severed or simply partially cut, allowing the person to retain some of the functions below the injured area. These injuries are becoming increasingly more common than the former due to better personal protective gear used by paramedics, better treatment availability and increased knowledge of how to respond to a suspected SCI in emergency.

3. Classification in SCI:

When a person gets injured with a spinal cord injury, you are given the spinal cord injury level according to the bony fracture or the vertebral level as well as the severity of the injury to the spinal cord underneath indicated as complete or incomplete injury. In addition to this a person may also be given classification according to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA), as ASIA A, B, C, D or E.

Let’s start with the first type of classification i.e. according to the bony fracture/ vertebral level. According to this type of classification we have 29 levels of Vertebral Injuries, they can be described as follows:

1. 7 levels of Cervical or Neck area
2. 12 levels of Thoracic or Chest area
3. 5 levels of Lumbar or Back area
4. 5 levels of Sacrum or Tail area

The second type of classification would be as already covered in point number 2 Incomplete and Complete injuries. As this was a very broad classification to tell about this injury, this third type came to elaborate more in terms of what is being controlled by the persons brain and what is not.

So, now about this third type. Let’s start by giving a brief history about this classification.

Now, doctors have been using a clinical scale to grade the severity of neurological loss. Before world war 2, it was first devised by Stokes Manville and it was popularized by Frankel in 1970’s. The scoring is divided into 5 groups as follows:

Now the ASIA E segment is interesting because in this a person can have an SCI without having any neurological deficits, well at least not detectable. This type of classification has actually improved the reliability and classification of the injury. As the previous classification could only reflect the severity of the injury only. An incomplete injury can be easily further divided into ASIA A, B, C or D also.

So, if I talk about my injury it can be said as T10 ASIA A -Complete.

(To be continued)

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Thank you

So, finally a year has passed this day, and it has been a day of mixed emotions for me as I don’t know to be sad as what happened or to be happy for the new been granted to me on this day. Today I can either be sad for what I had lost or be happy for everything it has given me. This day to me signifies as I said in my last post how life can change in a split second and we should cherish every moment of it. We should not keep any grudges with anyone as you never know what will happen next. Even if a person who has planned every his/her move has to be prepared to what if something goes sideways.

Now, we are done with that. I think its time to let everyone know how thankful I am to all those who have supported me till now and appreciate them for all there hard work they have put into me, so that I could get back up, accept my status as specially challenged and enjoy my life as I used to do earlier to the best of my strengths.

There are a lot of things that tempt you to get negative and think why your life sucks now, as honestly because many things do suck now. But I rather try to think about certain things so that I stay positive and be thankful about, so of those can be listed as follows:

1. My brain activity has remained unaffected by the accident.
2. My hand functions have been totally unaffected.
3. I can still go outside and enjoy as I used to.
4. I have bad-ass battle scares.

But now I cannot thank enough to god for sparing my life, as anything could have happened. I thank him for letting me live and giving the strength to fight all the negativity that comes towards me. Also giving me a 2^nd chance towards life and making me more reformed in my re-birth.

I would also like to thank all the those who have stayed by my side from day one of my rebirth to this day. There are a few people worth mentioning here without whom this journey wouldn't be possible. As I wrote in my previous blog you all know about my pillars who have been with me in my thick and thin. We all have tried to become strength of each other.

I still remember when my sister first came up to me in the hospital emergency where I was given first aid and asked me what happened? How severe are your injuries?

My answer was “Nothing much just have a fractured collar bone, cracked ribs, broken spine and paralyzed waist down, nothing much” and she was like should I be sad or happy about this!!!

I still cannot forget what happened and how we all dealt with it. It was like we were all supporting each other so that nobody breaks down.

I remember trying to focus to cheer everybody rather then crying in pain as were everyone doing to each other.

I remember father being himself ill but trying to take care of me, and I told him, dad you should go back home and take rest as there were a lot of others here to care for me.

Then there was this girl who was sitting besides me trying to comfort me, but I knew that from inside she was totally shattered, and I was just consoling her that I am fine.

These are just a few of my memories from that day.

But now when I look back to that day on the positive side, I see all those who have supported me to come out of this.

Today I want to thank first to God for blessing me with another chance at life so I could fulfill all the things I dreamt of doing.

My parents for supporting and encouraging me to face life courageously and positively.

My sister, jiju (brother in law) and their family, I cannot thank them enough. They have stayed by my side at every turn. From being the first respondents from my side at the hospital to this day, they have taken care of me as if I am their child.

My niece, well what can I say for this pure soul. Being not even 5 years of age but still understanding what has happened and how she can mend her way so to help me as well enjoy fun with me. She understands my needs and what needs to be done at that moment. I am truly blessed to have her.

The girl who is a perfect example of what life partner means as a lot of people leave you when such a thing happens but not her. She has stayed by my side from the day she came into my life to this day and forever.

My friends who have stayed besides me all the time. I remember at my friend’s wedding, he was also looking after me despite being busy in his marriage function, he tried to keep all his functions accessible, so that I could be part of all his marriage function which really felt very special. Then there is one for whom I don’t know what to say about, he has stayed beside and tried to help me any way possible just like a little brother.

I know I have just listed a few in this post but the list of  people to thank is just to long.  But I cannot thank enough to all as I rarely show emotions that much. I hope everybody gets to know how thankful I am to each and every person known and unknown, close and distant one to me crisscrossing my life for achieving the best in me.

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