Technical Info.

Here is a nice picture of the spinal cord that Ive pinched from another site. See, Im shameless? Now there are several technical terms for spinal cord injury, read and digest I shall test you all later!!! First there are complete and incomplete injuries. Complete injuries are when for all purposes the cord is cut (not exactly, but think of it like that), and thats it then, nothing below the level of injury, ever ever ever. Then there are the incomplete injuries. These occur when there is partial damage to the spinal cord but not complete. So some bits still work below the level of injury, it may get better, may get worse. With me so far? Next there is the level of injury, ie. where it happens in your back. The spine is made up of cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral regions. The higher the injury the worse it is. Mine is occurring at between T11 and 12. You can see on the diagram. So its not that bad in the scale of things, Im pretty much intact and bits still work to a greater or lesser extent, or so Ive thought.... I had a letter from my consultant a couple of weeks ago which was a copy of the one he sent my GP. I always ask for a copy because when they talk to you, I find all I hear is 'blah blah blah', Im too busy chewing it all over in my head to digest it really. Anyway seems Im not actually as good as I thought and his prognosis is that Im going to get worse and lose some of the function that I have at the moment. Thats a real shit to be honest, just when you think it wont get ny worse it will. So Id better make the most of what I have while I still have it I guess.