>In message <3506AC62.403D(AT)hsutx.edu>, Steve Nickell
><snickell.dev(AT)hsutx.edu> writes
>>My name is Steven Nickell. I am a 27 year old white male, and a
>>>graduate fellow of the school of English at Hardon-Simmons University.
>>>2 years ago, I had surgery on my left ankle to correct a rather serious
>>>injury to the exterior ligaments of that joint. One month later, I
>>>began experiencing vague "back pain"; within one 24 hour period, on
>>>February 10, 1997, I went from unbelievable spasticity of the legs and
>>>abdomen to total paralysis from the Pectoralis minor region down to my
>>>feet. Included in this were numbness, vibration sense, temperature
>>>discernment, and positional acknowledgement loss. It was like a
>>>complete lesion, involving bowel and bladder control as well.
>>> At first, (within 3 months) I experienced an almost complete
recovery:
>>>I could walk with a cane or cuff-crutch, but was easily fatigued, often
>>>encountering numbness in the lower extremities. I assumed this would
>>>pass if I merely "worked through it." How wrong I was! Gradually, I
>>>began to get weaker and weaker again, with less sensation and less
>>>bowel/bladder control. I am now confined to a wheelchair. The
>>>diagnosis is acute, chronic transverse myelitis with lesions apparent.
>>>The origin has been determined as spinal arterial thrombosis. So it is
>>>now acute myelitis compounded by the "stroke." When I (timidly) asked
>>>my neourologist about my recovery outlook, he merely told me to get used
>>>to the 'chair.
>>> I am trying to get used to it...and the many other things that
come
>>>with it. The current theory is that years of chronic steroid usage (for
>>>asthma), and the accompanying side effects, combined with a very active
>>>lifestyle (I was a professional martial artist instructor and tournament
>>>fighter) somehow created a weakness of the entire vertebral column. I
>>>also have complete compression of all lumbar vertebrae, and a variety of
>>>disc intrusions into the canal.
>>> The worst part of all this is the horrible, desolate feeling that
>>>somehow takes me over. It somehow comforts me to know it is chronic. I
>>>now have somnething to build on, a reference point to proceed from. And
>>>best of all, I find this group and learn that I am not alone.
>>> I am grateful to you all for your service to the TM community, and
to
>>>myself. If there is any way in which I may assist you please let me
>>>know. We do, after all, seem to have a mutual enemy.
>>>
>>>Steven Nickell
>>>Hardin -Simmons University
>>
>>P.S. Has anyone heard of other steroid-dependency related cases of TM?
>>If so, I would like to hear about it.
>>
>>God Bless,
>>Steve
>>
>Hello Steven,
>
>sorry i cannot help with any steroid-dependency cases,but the steroids i
>was given to treat my ATM have distroyed my left knee,so if i ever get
>to the stage where i can try to walk (still in wheelchair) then i will
>need a new plastic replacment.
>As to those desolate feelings, i think we all have those,it helps being
>able to write to this list because only other ATM sufferers know what it
>is really like!!
>As to the comments from that doctor about the wheelchair "get used to
>it" yes for know, but who knows how you will be in one year or five
>years, so dont take that to heart!!!
>
>
> Regards Robert......
>--
>Robert e Parker
>
>