Emergency Spinal Cord Surgery

Hi,  I'm Dean and this is Badgett my service dog in the photo with me .  I became quadriplegic from a spinal cord injury when I was 17 years old . I've lived a really independent  and self-sustaining life  for most of this time  with my disability.  Approximately  6 years ago  I started losing function  in my upper body .  The surgery was performed in December of 2014  that unfortunately  went sideways  and did not achieve the goal .  As I continued to lose  function  I have been ran through a battery of tests and imaging , all of which  the  so-called experts  could not identify the issue. On Wednesday September 9th in a consult with a spinal cord neurosurgeon specialist ( Dr. Scott FalciI) informed me that I have built-up scar tissue from my C5 vertebrae  in my neck (the  area where my initial spinal cord injury  occurred  in 1981) up to my medulla or brain stem. As a result, the spinal fluid is not circulating down and around the spinal cord as it should be. All the spinal fluid is trapped above the scar tissue and has grown immense enough that it has penetrated the spinal cord and is now pushing on my brain stem. The surgery is scheduled for  October 1st at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood Colorado. We are scheduled to leave on the 27th  of  September  so that  they can do pre admitting testing  on the 28th, 29th  and then admit me on the 30th. The Neurosurgery is to remove the scar tissue and hopefully allow the spinal fluid to circulate normally taking the pressure off my brain stem. If the spinal fluid does not then circulate freely a shunt will be placed in. The emergency nature of the surgery comes from the pressure on the brain stem. The neurosurgeon is concerned that further pressure on the brain stem will paralyze me above the level where breathing is activated and regulated by the brain. This means instantly being on a ventilator, if I can get to one soon enough.