Recovery from Incomplete Spinal Cord Injuries

Recovery from incomplete spinal cord injuries can be very difficult, the first couple years are the hardest.  In the beginning it’s overwhelming and it is hard to accept.

My name is Michael Cooley and I suffer from an incomplete spinal cord injury.  I was injured almost 8 years ago in an automobile accident.  I suffered a C5-6 spinal cord injury, which resulted in paralysis from the chest down.

After my neck surgery, where they fused my fifth and sixth vertebrae together, I was transferred a physical rehab for physical and occupational therapy. I was evaluated by a team of doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists who determined my recovery program.  I was assigned a physical therapist, occupational therapist, and a psychologist.

My physical rehab recovery plan was given to me at the beginning of each week.  I received a weekly calendar that outlined my daily activities.  Which usually started out with rehab specialists showing up to my bedside bright and early around 6 a.m. to help me get dressed.  Unfortunately I did not get a lot of encouragement to do it myself (at least try or just do the things I was able to do) so I just let the techs dress me.  Breakfast usually arrived between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. which the rehab tech that was assigned to me that day would assist me in eating my breakfast (most of the daytime techs were good at encouraging and making you do things for yourself).  Following breakfast a physical therapy aide would stretch out my muscles to prevent atrophy, this was usually done in the physical therapy gym (which they encouraged) or if you just couldn’t make it (like me a lot of the time) to the gym they would come pay you a visit in your room.

I met with a physical therapist on a daily basis, usually for about an hour.  In the beginning the focus was on conditioning my muscles, trunk support, and learning to use different muscles to compensate for muscles affected by my spinal cord injury.  For strength and conditioning there were various exercise and weight machines designed for wheelchairs.  In the beginning it was a chore for me to reach up to scratch my nose, and I tired out very easily.  I spent a lot of my free time working out on the weight machines building up my strength and endurance.  This was a difficult time for me, because I was getting to know my body again, finding out what I could and could do, and what needed work.  When I was able to sit for 10 minutes on the exercise matt being able to support myself, I began working on transfers.  The first transfer I did was from my wheelchair to the exercise mat (which was elevated).  Most of my physical therapy consisted of strength, conditioning, and transferring.

I also got a daily dose of occupational therapy, which I found to be quite tedious and not very helpful.  I didn’t have the same occupational therapist every day and some were better than others.  Sometimes my therapy consisted of playing cards and other times some more important things like going to the bathroom.  Overall I think they’re occupational program needed work.

A couple times a week we had what was called Spinal Cord Group.  People from different organizations (such as independent living, vocational rehab etc. etc.) would come and present products or services related to spinal cord injury/disability.  Former spinal cord injured patients would show up from time to time and give their testimony (which I found most helpful).

About halfway into my stay they began to address my placement after rehab.  Unfortunately my options were very slim, to be honest there was only one option for me due to not having any family close by.  So unfortunately I was forced to live in a nursing home.  How insurance works is that they will cover usually about a month or a little more of physical rehab, then after a month of being out of physical rehab you could go back for what they called a tuneup.  This was a really bad time for me I became very depressed and lost all my motivation.

Like I mentioned earlier the first couple years are the hardest.  My emotions were up-and-down, one minute I was ready to take on the world and the next I was ready to pack it in.  One of the hardest things for me to deal with was having to live in a nursing home (the first thing that came to my mind was suicide, but I’ve never had the guts to do something like that) the fact that I couldn’t take care of myself was hard enough to deal with.  So here I was in a place that I had first-hand knowledge of being bad (in my younger years I was an EMT and did a lot of transfers to nursing homes in the Detroit area) so I was very scared.  I lashed out at every one, I was very mean to the people that were trying to help me.  I ended up being kicked out of a couple nursing homes because of my attitude and the harsh way I expressed myself.  I even lived with a couple I met from rehab that didn’t work out all.

Fortunately the last nursing home I was in, a young nursing aide took to me and within two months we were married.  This I thought was the answer, she took care of my every need and was at my beck and call.  She was awesome, however I took advantage of it and became very dependent on her.  It wasn’t for another year that I decided to take my life back, and reclaim my independence.

I got involved in wheelchair sports (quad rugby to be exact) where I met a lot of people with similar injuries and similar situations.  I saw these people doing things I wanted to do (dress myself, transfer in and out of my wheelchair, drive again etc. etc.) this gave me the inspiration and drive that I needed to overcome the obstacles preventing me from living my life (key word here is living).

The first thing I did on my own was transfer from my bed to my wheelchair.  This took me probably 20 minutes and I was ready to go back to bed! lol  I then began dressing myself which I think took about 45 minutes to an hour in the beginning, but with practice I narrowed it down considerably.  From there I was determined to do everything on my own, and soon I was transferring in an out of my vehicle and even driving.  I started to do all the things I used to do like cleaning the house (vacuuming, dusting etc. etc.), which by the way was excellent exercise and conditioning.  I also went back to school to further my education.  It wasn’t long before my spinal cord injury became almost second nature.  There are still things I cannot do and that’s just a fact of life for me, and I except that!

I live my life pretty much the same way I did before my spinal cord injury the only difference is the methods in which I do things.  I’ve had to adapt to a lot of different situations (but that’s life even for the able-bodied community).  Most if not all of my rehabilitation came from doing daily living activities and doing things over and over.  I have reclaimed my independence, and live life once again.  I am going on eight years of marriage and I maintain a household with two daughters and three dogs.  I have just started building an online business that will be successful with hard work and determination.  Recovery from an Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury can be difficult, but it is a fact of life and is possible.

Keep Those Wheels Rollin!

Michael C.