One fall changed my life..
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Hello I'm John and one fall changed my life. Last October I fainted and fell face first on a tile floor, the series if events following have been devastating..
October 2017 I woke up and got out of bed, after a dozen or so steps I felt faint, next thing I know I'm surrounded by paramedics. They took me to the ER where I was x-rated, treated for some facial cuts and released. A few weeks later my right hand started to go numb, followed by the left. I was told by the doctor it was a pinched nerve, given some stretching excercices and sent home.. By early December my arms were numb from the elbows down and I was suffering from severe leg spasms. I checked into an ER in Scottsdale on my lunch break and was given an MRI where they found severe stenosis in my neck. I was admitted to the ICU for a week where they elevated my blood pressure to counteract they swelling around my spinal cord. I was released and unable to work, fortunately some friends took me in for which I am eternally grateful as I was a fall risk and shouldn't live alone. On February 22nd I had surgery to fuse C3-C6 vertebrae. It went well and thought with therapy and time I would be ok even though I could not feel my arms or hands I could use them clumsily if I could see them.
I was rerefused for disability in July and filed an appeal. I needed to do something so I got a part time job and apartment late August 2018. I has feeling great but after work a couple of weeks later someone found me collapsed in a Target parking lot. I woke up in the hospital where a new MRI found a lesion on my spinal cord. I was treated with heavy steroids to relieve swelling swelling on the spine for 8 days and sent home while the doctors figured out what caused the lesion. I went back to work feeling ok but about 10 days later I woke up and was numb from the neck down, back in the hospital for the next 5 weeks..
I was informed by my boss I was fired for missing too much work add lost my apartment because I couldn't pay.
Another MRI showed the lesion had grown and was possibly cancerous so a biopsy was ordered. After a five hour surgery and a 5 inch incision from the base of my skull down the biopsy was performed however I awoke with NO feeling in my left leg and buttock or my right foot. After a nether 10 days I was released and sent to a skilled nursing facility as fortuneatly they had ruled out cancer and MS.
After a week of therapy I had graduated from a wheel chair to a walker and experimenting with a cane I was told last Thursday that I was being discharged Saturday October 13th (I think thats the date) 2018 even though I had nowhere to go. Fortunately a very sweet out of town friend got me a couple of nights in a motel 6 and another friend stepped in and got a couple more but as of thurs October 18th I don't know what will happen..
I am 53 years old and have worked all my life. I guess I found out the hard way your life can change in a heartbeat. My heal here may seem lofty but I don't know when or if I can work again.. Thank you for your time..
One fall changed my life..
John
October 2017 I woke up and got out of bed, after a dozen or so steps I felt faint, next thing I know I'm surrounded by paramedics. They took me to the ER where I was x-rated, treated for some facial cuts and released. A few weeks later my right hand started to go numb, followed by the left. I was told by the doctor it was a pinched nerve, given some stretching excercices and sent home.. By early December my arms were numb from the elbows down and I was suffering from severe leg spasms. I checked into an ER in Scottsdale on my lunch break and was given an MRI where they found severe stenosis in my neck. I was admitted to the ICU for a week where they elevated my blood pressure to counteract they swelling around my spinal cord. I was released and unable to work, fortunately some friends took me in for which I am eternally grateful as I was a fall risk and shouldn't live alone. On February 22nd I had surgery to fuse C3-C6 vertebrae. It went well and thought with therapy and time I would be ok even though I could not feel my arms or hands I could use them clumsily if I could see them.
I was rerefused for disability in July and filed an appeal. I needed to do something so I got a part time job and apartment late August 2018. I has feeling great but after work a couple of weeks later someone found me collapsed in a Target parking lot. I woke up in the hospital where a new MRI found a lesion on my spinal cord. I was treated with heavy steroids to relieve swelling swelling on the spine for 8 days and sent home while the doctors figured out what caused the lesion. I went back to work feeling ok but about 10 days later I woke up and was numb from the neck down, back in the hospital for the next 5 weeks..
I was informed by my boss I was fired for missing too much work add lost my apartment because I couldn't pay.
Another MRI showed the lesion had grown and was possibly cancerous so a biopsy was ordered. After a five hour surgery and a 5 inch incision from the base of my skull down the biopsy was performed however I awoke with NO feeling in my left leg and buttock or my right foot. After a nether 10 days I was released and sent to a skilled nursing facility as fortuneatly they had ruled out cancer and MS.
After a week of therapy I had graduated from a wheel chair to a walker and experimenting with a cane I was told last Thursday that I was being discharged Saturday October 13th (I think thats the date) 2018 even though I had nowhere to go. Fortunately a very sweet out of town friend got me a couple of nights in a motel 6 and another friend stepped in and got a couple more but as of thurs October 18th I don't know what will happen..
I am 53 years old and have worked all my life. I guess I found out the hard way your life can change in a heartbeat. My heal here may seem lofty but I don't know when or if I can work again.. Thank you for your time..
One fall changed my life..
John
Organizer and beneficiary
John Pribyl
Organizer
Sun City West, AZ
Charlene Lane
Beneficiary