Boating cancelled this year - fractured Lumbar Vertebrae

Status
Not open for further replies.
Refueler

Refueler

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 Sep 2008
Messages
24,125
Location
Far away from hooray henrys
Visit site
Got into silly argument with crazy guy ... later when outside on tiled entrance veranda to the restaurant - he hit me and my feet just went from under me and BHAM I was down.
Couldn't stand .. nothing ... most excruciating pain ever ...total screaming pain.

Carried yo car and home ... thinking all will be ok.

2 days of excruciating pain and then cannot move ...

Ambulance ... Hospital ... Xrays / CT Scan ...

Compressed fracture of 3rd Lumbar Vertebrae.

So I'm carted off to spinal injury dept.

I have choice :

1. Strapped up and no g'tee of mobility or success
or
2. Plaster cast and again no g'tee
or
3. 3000 Euros operation where they insert needle tube and glue the vertebrae closed (not available via Govt Health).

The problem is that 1 and 2 are extreme long term and any complication could lead to spinal cord or nerve damage.

So empty 'piggy bank' ... next day into op.

When I came round ... amazing ... spine was just dull ache but ok. But left hip and Knee still terrible pain due bruised bones.

The evening - they force me to try the walking frame .... OWWWWWWWWW !!! But I have to get things moving.

Next day I'm home ... but its very painful, hard to move around my house ...

Its going to be a slow process - but at least I have no paralysis or other complications.

I am considering looking at compensation against Restaurant for their unsafe tiled entrance ... have to talk to someone - get advice.
 
wishing you a speedy recovery. recently discovered i have a compressed disc in my lower spine and when my back goes into spasmn, its some of the worst pain ever.
 
Hate to be the bearer of bad tiding, but I crushed my 2nd & 3rd lumbar vertebrae 45 years ago. The bones fused by themselves and I've lived with sciatica and back pain ever since. Hopefully with only one vertebra affected you'll make a good recovery, but it won't be quick. The best advice I can give you is to ensure other people lift anything and everything for you ( other than a drink ). In particular avoid any lifting that involves twisting; like lifting shopping out of the boot of your car and rotating at the hips to put it down.
And, if the medics offer you any pain relief in the form of opioids think long and hard about accepting.
 
Refueler said:
Got into silly argument with crazy guy ... later when outside on tiled entrance veranda to the restaurant - he hit me and my feet just went from under me and BHAM I was down.
Couldn't stand .. nothing ... most excruciating pain ever ...total screaming pain.

Carried yo car and home ... thinking all will be ok.

2 days of excruciating pain and then cannot move ...

Ambulance ... Hospital ... Xrays / CT Scan ...

Compressed fracture of 3rd Lumbar Vertebrae.

So I'm carted off to spinal injury dept.

I have choice :

1. Strapped up and no g'tee of mobility or success
or
2. Plaster cast and again no g'tee
or
3. 3000 Euros operation where they insert needle tube and glue the vertebrae closed (not available via Govt Health).

The problem is that 1 and 2 are extreme long term and any complication could lead to spinal cord or nerve damage.

So empty 'piggy bank' ... next day into op.

When I came round ... amazing ... spine was just dull ache but ok. But left hip and Knee still terrible pain due bruised bones.

The evening - they force me to try the walking frame .... OWWWWWWWWW !!! But I have to get things moving.

Next day I'm home ... but its very painful, hard to move around my house ...

Its going to be a slow process - but at least I have no paralysis or other complications.

I am considering looking at compensation against Restaurant for their unsafe tiled entrance ... have to talk to someone - get advice.
Click to expand...
Well done on getting it seen to quickly - I "manned-up" after a snowboard crash and ended up with two wedge fractures that healed as wedges - a near constant source of pain that could have been prevented with the op you've had.
 
Porthandbuoy said:
And, if the medics offer you any pain relief in the form of opioids think long and hard about accepting.
Click to expand...

My experience would be different - take the opioids and the pain will melt away - with blessed relief. You will only be offered opioids if the knowledgeable feel you will benefit - in my case they knew what they were doing. Intense and continuous pain might be for real men - but it will do nothing for recovery - and some pain will be incapacitating (as you have found already). For instant relief - morphine works wonders.

I have not touched them since - they have other side effects (and are almost impossible to source - except under professional guidance (at least here in Oz).

Jonathan.
 
Porthandbuoy said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad tiding, but I crushed my 2nd & 3rd lumbar vertebrae 45 years ago. The bones fused by themselves and I've lived with sciatica and back pain ever since. Hopefully with only one vertebra affected you'll make a good recovery, but it won't be quick. The best advice I can give you is to ensure other people lift anything and everything for you ( other than a drink ). In particular avoid any lifting that involves twisting; like lifting shopping out of the boot of your car and rotating at the hips to put it down.
And, if the medics offer you any pain relief in the form of opioids think long and hard about accepting.
Click to expand...
Not in the same league injury-wise, but for many years I suffered from congenital narrowing of the spinal canal at the L3/L4 level. It meant that I had to avoid lifting (and still do), and even silly things like walking our tiny (6kg) dog could be painful if he decided to pull so my back was twisted. I then had an operation called "Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression", which has almost entirely relieved the problem.

Opioids are not for everyone; I for one tend to suffer severe vomiting if on morphine, and when I was on it (not for this operation), they had to get me off it ASAP because I couldn't even retain water! But there are opioids and opioids. The down-side is that they are addictive, and the doctors should always be planning how to get you off them as quickly as possible, and some people (like me) can't take the heavier types. But they are the only answer for really severe pain, and of course are essential in the control of pain for people like cancer sufferers.
 
I don’t think it necessary to assume that there will be long-term effects, although this will clearly occur to some people. I would try to mobilise as instructed and aim for a steady improvement. The longest I’ve taken opiates for (morphine) was one month, for which I was very grateful at the time, but equally grateful for my recovery and a chance to stop them. My condition was an ideal one for their use, since it was limited in duration as the result of an epidural, but I think that something around a month or six weeks is probably about as long as desirable. Even paracetamol, despite being often effective at first, is useless in chronic pain, for which a return to normal life is often the best answer. Maybe an anger management course could be useful too.
 
I had a problem with L3 to 5 with a narrowing of the spinal canal it had been a problem for most of my life and I had tried everything form physiotherapy too various forms of manipulation. In the end it had gotten so bad I was having difficulty walking. The operation was a canalisation to open up the passage to stop it impinging and trapping the spinal cord and nerves, it worked perfectly. I was doing limited walking in the hospital corridor after 2 days home in 4, confined to barracks for 6 weeks and told not to drive for 6 weeks. Since then I have not had a problem.
 
Boater Sam said:
Why compensation when its your silly fault for getting into an argument with someone better skilled than you? You are the silly sod, I hate the compensation culture. Serves you right.
Man up and learn how to fight.
Click to expand...

I am actually a hater of todays grab anything compensation etc.

But the argument is actually not the issue .... the issue is the smooth tiled area outside the entrance that is like ice when any moisture gets on ... I am concerned that another could slip on it and also have injury. The only way to get them to correct is to sue. Forgive me for thinking of others ... not just myself.

Better skilled ? Maybe - but considering I was talking with another - the argument had actually been over as far as anyone was concerned .. he decided to take a surprise swing.

I hope it never happens to you ....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Top