Thread: Husbands life changeing ordeal

My Husband and I were off to a great start we had formed a buisiness and enoyed success with it and bought a nice home in the burbs complete with a shop for him to store and restore cars in as that was his main hobby he and I enjoyed traveling around to car shows and we rode bikes and jogged and many other things together. Then one morning in october 2004 we were headed out for a bike ride. As we were exiting our driveway he somehow lost control of his bycycle on some rocks and he fell into the ditch landing on his head sideways. He was concious but could not move at all I raced to call the paramedics I didnt have time to think that his neck had been broken. Not too long later the dr told me his neck had been comepletly severed at C4 his neck was pinned together in surgery and they told me that his break was severe and that he was paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life I was in tears. They informed us then that he would be liveing a much different life. He would never again drive a car or even feed himself. He was in halo traction and was weened off the ventilator and then out of halo traction. Then he went to a rehab clinic 2 hours away so he could be trained to use a wheelchair and I could get some care training as well as other issues. He was wearing a soft cervial collar now They told me most C4 quadriplegics could use their chin and head movements to maneuver a chair but his neck would never be quite strong enough or enough muscle movement so they set him up with a sipp puff operated chair. The ultimate outcome is he has no movement below the lower neck and lost all sensation and movement of his arms and hands with no chance of regaining any movement. Several weeks later I got him back home A nurse come by twice a day to help with his care. For 3 months he didnt want to leave the house and was uncompfortable to be seen by any friends or family and the fact that he could never again do the things he enjoyed so much. He said he looked so helpless by being in a wheelchair that he can only control by blowing into a tube. I finally told him that we couln't keep liveing like this and that he would have to face the world sooner or later. It made it hard on me as I had to have someone come in to stay with him whenever I wanted to go anywhere. We got him on some depression and anxiety medication and things begain to turn around. We went out several times a week and his spirits picked up alot. A few months later we had an auction to sell our home and his car collection it was hard for him but we both new we couldnt do anything with them anymore and we needed to put the money into a better equiped home. We moved back to the city to an easier location to get to and from the office. He has learned to use a voice activated computer and is now back at work in our office. We have our good and bad days and always will. Life goes on.