Complete Transection Of The Spinal Cord At T5-T6

Being confined to a wheelchair is a difficult proposition for even the most self-reliant and strong-willed people.

Here is a list of issues that I culled from the internet. They don't seem very pleasant, and leading any semblance of a full life with an injury such as this requires a fair amount of assistance, regular medical care, physical therapy, and undoubtedly psychological support, whether from formal providers or close friends and family.

• Complete paralysis of both legs
• Loss of sensation below approximately the mid-chest
• Normal arm and hand function
• Loss of voluntary bladder and bowel control
• Sexual dysfunction
• Initially flaccid, areflexic legs (spinal shock)
• Later development of spasticity and increased reflexes
• Loss of normal sweating and temperature regulation below the injury
• Impaired trunk and postural control
• Autonomic dysfunction, including abnormal blood-pressure and heart-rate responses
• Risk of autonomic dysreflexia with injuries at or above T6

In college I roomed with several students in wheelchairs, and their injuries ranged from very low on the spine, to so high up that one required assistance breathing. They dealt with their injuries and their lives just like everyone else. It was a continuum, with a few who were amazingly independent and charged through the days, to one who was a passive slug who demanded that others do everything for him. So...pretty much like all of humanity!

Why do I mention this? Well, there is a woman in the news with a total transection at T5-T6, and I wonder whether there might be some justice in her future, even if it might not come from our legal system.

posted by CBD at 12:00 PM

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