A Day In The Life

A day in the life of an SCI. It will depend greatly on how far into their injury they are. Between me and my new friends in chairs they say it takes from 1 to 3 years to get through the depression and to start a new life. I have come a long way and am ready to now start my new life. I am only just more than a year into my injury, but I will give you two different examples of my days; one example when I was really down, and one example of my more recent days.

1st off, here is my story in short. I married my highschool sweetheart and had two beautiful girls with her. I was a contractor for 10 years until my back broke at T4 (4th thoracic just below the nipple line) while riding motocross. My wife left me 5 months later. So you can imagine how down I was for a time. The depression lasted almost 6 months. The 1st 5 months with my wife were not too hard, because I had her support.

While I was down, my days went like this. I would lay in bed and sleep and cry on and off until 12 or 1pm because I hated the thought of going through my bowel program (I will explain this more thoroughly). Then when hunger finally got me ready to get out of bed, I put in a rectal suppository that makes me poop after 10 to 15 minutes. Then I would fight my stiff legs into my chair and roll into the bathroom. 1st I would self-cath to pee and then rush onto the toilet and pull down my underwear hopefully before the poop falls out everywhere else but in the toilet. Once on the toilet, I put on a latex glove and lube up my 1st two fingers. Then I go ass spelunking and dig out the poop. Once my rectum is empty, I do a digital stimulation (Do three circles rubbing the inside wall of my rectum with my fingers. This stimulates the muscles to bring down any more poop.) I then wait for 10 minutes for any poop to come down and repeat. This whole process takes up to an hour. Then I would get up and make and eat breakfast. Once I overate, I would go back and lay in bed until 6 or 7pm sleeping, crying and watching TV until hunger got me out of bed again. I would then make and eat some dinner. Once I overate again, I would sit in my electric recliner and watch TV until midnight or so. Then I would go self-cath to pee and go to bed.

During this time in my life, I did not believe that I would live out another year. I did not care if I would live or die. I thought of suicide at least three times a day, but thoughts of missing my girls growing up gave me just enough will to go on and repeat the process over and over. You noticed that I did not shower or brush my teeth or cut my hair or shave. I would neglect myself like that for up to 6 weeks at a time.

While I sleep, I have to sleep on my side and pull up my bottom leg so that my balls get air and don't grow a fungus on them. I will usually switch sides 2 or 3 times a night.

Now that I have the will to live and start a new, I get up when I wake up and go through my bowel program and then into the shower. I brush my teeth now too. Yeah. I eat at least three meals a day and don't overeat anymore. Rather than go lay down in bed, I spend my time rolling around outside or reading or playing video games.

I will be going back to school to become an architect very soon now so my life will be changing again drastically. The state will pay me to do so. Yeah! Keep in mind that I received no insurance settlement for my injury unlike most SCI do. I sold everything I had to pay bills and I now live in a handicap accessible apartment with only $860 SSI per month to survive on. I don't even have a car yet, so my Dad takes me to the store once a week and that's about all I get out for now anyways.

Now, to talk about my medications. I have severe nerve pain in my entire body below my injury level. I describe it as if you were standing in snow and then got into a hot tub. That 1st burning sensation you get when you enter the hot tub multiplied by 100 and it is constant! I have found that it is pretty common to have this pain. I have been taking 3200 MG of gabapentin or neurontin per day and CYMBALTA 60 MG per day. I also have hydrocodones that I take when it gets bad. The hydrocodones take the edge off.

I also take 30mg of baclofen 4 times per day to help with my tone and spasticity.  The tone and spasticity are a struggle on their own.  Tone is when my muscles get stiff and don't allow my body to move.  This is especially hard to deal with when I transfer from one seat to another.  My entire body below my injury level stays stuck in sitting position.  So when I lift up my body, my legs stay locked and I have to lift them as well as my upper body rather than my legs staying loose and the weight of them pivoting on the floor.  Spasticity is when my legs or lower back suddenly flex or spasm.  I can be sitting in my wheelchair and out or nowhere have my lower back throw my body back and I'll tip over onto the floor.  Or, my legs will just start bouncing up and down.  That can become distracting.  Also my legs sometimes kick while I'm sleeping and wake me up.  Thanks to baclofen, I can keep this under control.  Too bad it costs $100 per month.

Every day is a struggle. Some days really suck and some days are okay. I hope this helps. If you would like to comment, please do so. Don't be afraid of offending me.

Have a great day!