Today I succeeded in scaring myself half to death (bad paraplegic joke). Really, seriously scared.
I was rushing around the flat, wrapping presents for Penny's birthday and trying to tidy up at the same time. As I approached the desk to reach for the roll of paper underneath, I reached out to grab the edge in order to help me to bend forward in a controlled way. Unfortuntaely, my hand slipped off the desk, and I fell forward, hitting my face on the edge of the desk (no major damage).
The blow to the face wasn't scary. However, the jarring whiplash effect on my neck and the subsequent pins and needles in my right hand? That was terrifying.
I'm sure that most people may have found the experience a little unnerving, but with my knowledge of spinal cord injury, I found myself reeling and more than a little panicked.
Suffice to say, the pins and needles abated, and I am left with a sore spot between my shoulder blades which worsens if I tilt my head backwards. I'm sure that too will pass with time.
But the whole experience has made me appreciate even more just how random a spinal cord injury can be. I have met several people who have high level SCI as the result of a fall which resulted ion their chin hitting an obstacle and snapping their neck backwards. But surely no-one has suffered two, completely unrelated spinal cord injuries have they?
The other anxiety rekindled by this experience is that of a concerned parent, struggling not to view every single physical activity undertaken by his beloved daughter as fraught with peril and almost certain death.
If I can't even look after myself during a routine stationary handling incident in the home, what hope do I have of protecting her when she inevitably decides that she wants to join the circus?
I was rushing around the flat, wrapping presents for Penny's birthday and trying to tidy up at the same time. As I approached the desk to reach for the roll of paper underneath, I reached out to grab the edge in order to help me to bend forward in a controlled way. Unfortuntaely, my hand slipped off the desk, and I fell forward, hitting my face on the edge of the desk (no major damage).
The blow to the face wasn't scary. However, the jarring whiplash effect on my neck and the subsequent pins and needles in my right hand? That was terrifying.
I'm sure that most people may have found the experience a little unnerving, but with my knowledge of spinal cord injury, I found myself reeling and more than a little panicked.
Suffice to say, the pins and needles abated, and I am left with a sore spot between my shoulder blades which worsens if I tilt my head backwards. I'm sure that too will pass with time.
But the whole experience has made me appreciate even more just how random a spinal cord injury can be. I have met several people who have high level SCI as the result of a fall which resulted ion their chin hitting an obstacle and snapping their neck backwards. But surely no-one has suffered two, completely unrelated spinal cord injuries have they?
The other anxiety rekindled by this experience is that of a concerned parent, struggling not to view every single physical activity undertaken by his beloved daughter as fraught with peril and almost certain death.
If I can't even look after myself during a routine stationary handling incident in the home, what hope do I have of protecting her when she inevitably decides that she wants to join the circus?
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/passengers-with-disability-still-missing-the-plane-20100716-10dx0.html?comments=16#comments
Thought you might be interested in this.