Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
Hi Everyone! Thanks for stopping! So this is the part were I fill you all in on what happened to get me to this life "detour" but we really don't know. So I will tell you what I DO know.
After years of off again, on again lower back pain, I was feeling older and slower and frustrated. A quick visit to my regular physician and 1 MRI later, I had an appointment to see a Neurosurgeon. That was Monday, December 3rd. My appointment was actually with a PA and half way thru the visit, she call in the surgeon (probably not the best sign). I met with Dr. Drofa and he concluded that I had a herniated disk between vertebrae L1/L2. The tricky part about my issue was that when disks herniate, they usually do so outward and mine decided to herniate inward towards my spinal cord, which was causing the pain and numbness in my legs. He wanted to schedule surgery for Wednesday. So I took a deep breath and agreed. I have never been much for doctors etc, so for me to agree to back surgery is utter desperation for relief from the discomfort. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't work as fast as my Doctor did and took their time to approve the surgery. So I sat and waited for 2 weeks for the call, already unable to work because of swelling.
The call came (finally) and I was scheduled for surgery on January 2nd. This part gets a little fuzzy for me but I can give you the jest. During the first surgery, the doctor "nicked" my durra which is the protective casing around the spinal cord. It was repaired. At the end of procedures like this, it is routine to do an electro shock wave down your body to make sure everything reacts the way it should. I had nothing react from my waist down. I was woken up long enough to be told I was going back into surgery. The 2nd surgery was to make sure the durra patch was holding and relieve any left over pressure around those 2 disk to make sure that wasn't causing the paralysis. They did this by removing fragments of bone from the disks. However, after another electrode test, I still had no reactions in my legs. So on to the 3rd surgery which you will have to talk to Travis about for details, but I can tell you that it was considered exploratory just to make sure all the nerve endings were working and looking good. And they were (we saw video's of my nerves actually working....it was cool!). The best guess is that my nerves were compressed for so long (because of years of back pain) they learned to function in that state. So when they were released to normal, they didn't know what to do. They need to "wake up".
So I spent 9 days in the hospital until getting transferred to a rehab facility. I will be here for a least 1 month. My days are now full of intense physical and occupational therapy. I do have sensations in my legs but no movement. I can only explain it to you like....If you sat on your legs too long, when you got up they were all numb and tingly or "asleep" as most people call it, that sensation to me never goes away.
I know that the biggest question is 'will I ever walk again'? No one knows....but what I DO know is that my spinal cord is in tacked, there is nothing severed. Due to the strides that I have already taken, it does make my doctors, nurses, therapists and us believe that I am gonna do pretty good. So the answer to that question today is......maybe, hopefully, not today but one day maybe and always just one day at a time!
I wanna say thank you so much for everyone that is praying, please continue. I believe in the power of prayer, I have seen it work! I love getting texts/calls.....they truly keep me motivated to get back to "normal"! Also, my biggest concern since this has happened is my family. I am still a mother and wife :) Not only did my life become a bit more complicated overnight but my kids and Husbands life did too. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. I worry about them and I know none of them would ask for help because they are stubborn like their Wife & Mama!!!
My address here is:
Kami Lindsey
c/o Sanford Health Room 565C
1720 University Drive South
Fargo, ND 58103
We will be posting pictures and updates often so keep checking back with us for updates on this adventure!
