I have a c5 fracture on my neck, and I have halo on, need INFO!

[HELLO BOYS]

Hello everyone, well first off I am 17 year's old and this is what happened. I was wrestling a friend and I came down on my head. I heard a "LOUD" crack and the guy I was wrestling heard it to and stopped. I laid their for about thirty seconds, the first thing I thought was "am I paralyzed?" but I felt everything. I got up and walked it off, but had some neck pain. I drove to the hospital and got x-rays and what not. Anyways long story short, they say I have a c5 fracture.

But the weird thing is, I have never had any of the symptoms I don't feel any tingling or numbness and I haven't lost feeling not ever.


Anyways, they told me when I was their that it would be on up to three months? what im wondering is this just what they tell you that it could take up to three months or in most cases do you get it off any earlier, specially seeing that I have had no symptoms and I feel just fine. After I got out of the hospital a day or two later my neck didn't have any pain and the most unconfortable part is just the pin sights.


It will be a month on tuesday of wearing this, and I go back to my neurosurgeon, so is there a good chance that I will get it off early? and maybe get just a plastic neck brace???


ANY INFO WILL REALLY help because I am a very very very active person and this is driving me crazy. I mean I got out of the hospital and literally two days later I was going about my daily routine, I go to school I hang out with friends I just wanna get this off my head its really driving me crazy!


But I know I should just be thankful, that my I am not paralyzed like some unfortunate people.

 

[asimenia]

wow,that must have been quite scarey to say the least. i thought for sure when i had my spinal cord surgery that i was going to have to wear that halo too,but luckily i didn;t have to. when i was in the rehab hospital tho i did see many people with them,god what a pain to have to deal with. but the important thing here is you heard what you did and had it checked out very soon,if you didn;t you seriously could have been paralyzed by any number of issues that could have affected your cord with that type of fracture.

i would think in order for the doc to okay taking off that halo,he would do some x rays first and just see how you are healing. removing it before certain areas become stable would be much worse than just having to wear it for a little while longer,you know what i mean? the next time you see your surgeon just simply ask him what criteria have to be met in order to get this thing taken off and moved to a hard collar? he should be able to give you a much better idea of a time frame. like i said,alot depends upon your overall healing/fusing and stability.

you said the pin holes are bothering you? i would ask your doc to Rx some lidocaine ointment,5%. this just helps to relieve pain with its numbing ability. i have to use this and the lido patches too for pain. you could just rub in the ointment right at the pin sites around them? when i had my spinal cord surgery they placed my head into a headframe which is kind of like the halo thing? i woke up with blood all over my face and my mom almost freaked. didn;t have a clue as to why my face was bleeding til the nurse told me that in orde rto keep everything stable during that very dangerous(if i would have moved) type of surgery the actually screwed that frame into my skull. you may get some headaches once that halo is removed just becasue your skull has been compressed for so long? just letting you know that. i got them for about three weeks post op then they went away. strange.

your surgeon is really the only one who can tell you for certain just how well you are doing enough to get that thing off. just ask him directly when you see him when that will be. he should be able to give you some idea. sorry i couldn't be of more direct help. just really be grateful that this was not worse hon,things can always be much worse ya know? things will eventually get back to normal for you. this is just a little blip in the road for you,and a good learning experience too i'll bet? let me know how you are doing,K? good luck and i hope you can lose that halo soon too. FB

 

[[email protected]]

Thank you for the reply, yeah I'm a pretty strong kid, I mean mental wise. I am just thankful that I am not paralyzed. I mean I went from being at a party, wrestling, hearing a crack, going to hospital, getting flown to another hospital, falling asleep and waking up to them screwing into my skull. I didn't really freak out at all until I felt it going into my skull. And the surgeon was asking me how I was doing during surgery, and I'm like just hurry up, I wanna get outta here so I can get some Mcdonald's lol. I like to be funny I had every nurse their laughing. Like I didn't use the bathroom right away, and the nurse came in and told me if I didn't go soon, they would have to put some cathider up me an I was like I don't care if I am in a halo first person to come near me is gettin punched


But yeah, I go into the hospital on Tuesday, which is 26 hours away, im counting down because I wanna get back to work and go back to school so I can piss off some teachers, hehe......


I'm amazingly starting to get used to wearing the halo, and I hear most people don't like going into public, lol that don't bother me nothing, as a matter of fact, if they don't take it off, im gonna get like some fake cob webs and hang on this thing and do some trick or treating wit some bros



So what exactly happened to you? how did it happen?


{REMOVED}


Lemme know

 

[outburst95]

that sense of humor is what will get you going again and keep you from getting down too. don;t lose it. my son got thru liver failure and a transplant using his sense of humor too at only age 12-13 a few years back. it helps to laugh,that much i do know. its gotten me thru the worst of the worst anyways.

ya know,i really am amazed at the fact that ou appear to not have any real symptoms or pain from the inury at all? believe me,you were VERY lucky there stum. like i know you already know,things really could be sooo much worse if you did have them. i see you live in MN,just where did they fly you to? i live here too. got some really fantastic level one trauma centers scattered about in this state,we really are lucky there,trust me.

i had a long interesting stay at bethesda rehab hosp by the capital in st paul. they took great care of me here and got me back on my feet,which i could NOT do before going there. i was transferred fromthe U of MN where my surgery took place. i was simply born with what amounted to a glob of blood vessels in the middle of my spinal cord(between the c7 and T1 level in the cord) that kept bleeding off and on so i needed to come out becasue leaving it in,the next bleed would have most cetainly paralyzed me. my third opinion at the U was the only one with enough experience to really know what this ment for me risk wise both leaving it in and removing it(he was the head of neurosurgery for many years there). i thank god he was there when he was cuz he retired on me two years later. i WAS very lucky to have that level of experience.

once that halo does come off you are going to really have to take it easy for a while ya know? what you had happen could very easily have paralyzed you.it sounds like no part of the fracture actually impacted either spinal nerves or the cord itself,and thats huge(and really amazing actually) for you and your future,believe me. hopefully when you see your doc next they will make a decision so at least you have some sort of idea where you are at here with it. luckily,you have that young age thing going for you,you simply DO heal much faster the younger you are so thats a huge plus for you ya know? i do wish you luck with this and hope it can come off soon for you. just take er easy hon. and please keep me posted. FB