Spinal Cord Injury

Descrição

This book is about the story of the author who, at the age of 39, suffers a traffic accident and suddenly finds himself quadriplegic, detailing his visions and challenges of his new condition.
Many people, like the author before his injury, tend to think that a wheelchair user’s main challenge is the inability to move their legs. However, this view ignores a number of other complications, such as neurogenic bladder, neurogenic bowel, bouts of postural hypotension, or even the inability to regulate body temperature, sometimes not feeling hot or cold. It is important to understand that each injury is unique. Two individuals with injuries at the same height of the cervical spine may have completely different responses and bodily functions, especially in the case of incomplete injuries.
Therefore, when you see a wheelchair user using their priority right in a queue, it is essential not to judge or look away. The time that a wheelchair user has before suffering the consequences of a urinary system dysfunction, for example, can be much more critical than for a person without this condition.
Human empathy is essential, but it only occurs with a minimum of knowledge about the implications of a spinal cord injury. This was one of the reasons that led me to write this book: to share my journey and present the daily challenges of quadriplegia. Another important point I hope to convey is that, for both the newly injured person and their family, life does not end with the injury. It all depends on how you choose to see your own half-filled glass, whether as almost full or as almost empty.
This is a book that I wish I had had on hand when I suffered my injury, because I would have understood sooner the challenges that awaited me and realized that there is, indeed, a light at the end of the tunnel. It is a work to be read calmly and reflectively, as in addition to narrating the events he experienced, he also shares the thoughts and feelings that each challenge has raised over the years. The book ends with a practical guide on the effects of spinal cord injury on the body.
Summary
The beginning
A Transforming Day
In Emergency
The Surgery
In ICU
Back to ICU
Then I Die
And the Family falls together
In Semi intensive
Psychologists
Never Give Up
The Speech Therapist
Floor Change: Wheelchair
Finally at Home
Coming to Yourself
The Trade of Hopes
46 Network
Fighting for Independence 54
Barriers Beyond the Physical 55
Return to Work 56
Becoming an Activist 58
Looking to the Future 58
A Changing World 59
Beyond Limits 59
What the Future 60 Holds
A New World 66
Spinal Cord Injury 68
Possible Complications arising from Spinal Cord Injury 70
Paralysis 71
Body Temperature Problems 71
Loss of sensitivity 72
Spasticity 72
Blad