Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve. A Health Update

I probably should have and wanted to make these health updates WAY more frequent. Heck, I probably should have and wanted to chronicle my recovery on TikTok; I probably could have been a disabled dad influencer for the central spinal cord syndrome community. But here we are, I’m just a guy living with central spinal cord syndrome.

If you’re new here, you can get caught up on The Fall, a six-month update, and a one-year update. TL;DR, I fell in my backyard and was temporarily paralyzed; I underwent surgery, headed to physical therapy, developed a hematoma, was paralyzed again, had another surgery, and then had lots of recovery, PT, and OT.

We’re now a little over a year since my second surgery.

Yesterday, I saw my surgeon, Dr. Michael Kachmann, for what will likely be the last time. He said the installed hardware looked good, and given my situation, my progress is far beyond what he could have hoped. He also said that at this point, any future gains and improvements will be slower and less prominent. With that, I am winding down physical therapy after a year.

So where am I? Well, I’m not paralyzed, which is fantastic, and I’m not in a wheelchair, which is equally fabulous. So what can’t I do?

• I can’t move my neck/head very far in any direction.

• I have limited strength in my right and left arms and hands.

• I have limited dexterity in my right and left hands.

• I have limited mobility in my left shoulder.

• I have severe atrophy in my shoulder and hand muscles.

As you can probably imagine, this makes a lot of things, especially things I need and love to do, difficult. BUT not impossible. Of course, most of my hobbies (gaming, vinyl records) require my hands.

The general prognosis is that this may be as good as it gets. And If so, that’s OK.

Truth is, things could definitely be much, much worse. But I’m positive I have an excellent support system and desire to improve, so we’ll get there.

Thanks to everyone who followed along on my journey, and thanks to everyone who helped along the way.