Initial symptom was a feeling of pressure in the right kidney
after dinner [500 miles from home.] Ten minutes later my legs
were "on fire"; another fifteen minutes and I was paraplegic
with severe back pain.
Three months in acute physical therapy [St Joseph's in Nashua,
New Hampshire --- God bless them!] My memory is vague, but I
think I was barely able to wiggle my left foot when I came home.
Three to four months of physical therapy at home and now on
outpatient PT. At the end of February (seven months) I was in
a wheelchair, using a slide board for transfers. The right leg
was moving but without utility. I could use a walker to go about
eight feet, twice a day.
At nine months I could walk slowly for fifteen minutes with both
legs with arm support, two steps without. I couldn’t manage stairs.
Now at over ten months I have started to use forearm crutches and
to do stairs.
I think I will be able to safely drive a stick shift car soon.
Not as safely as before, perhaps, but adequately. I would be
functionally descriptive if I were to carry a large yellow sign
saying, "Student Driver." The safety level is probably the same.
[I think I am writing this for an audience of fellow TM people.
If that is not the case, I'm going to be very embarrassed.]
It seems that most of the motor functions will recover, although
the right leg wants to be bow-legged, club footed, and hammer-toed.
It also wants to be to the left of my left leg. A real beauty, I am.
Sensory functions are really screwed up. For the first few months,
all contact was perceived as pain, “like stepping into a blackberry
patch.” Then slowly a return to normality in some areas, nada in
others. I have enough sense of pressure in my feet to maintain
balance, and I feel pain when the toes of my right foot get
crunched, as they often do.
Like many others with TM, my lower thighs often feel as if I had
tight tourniquets there. But only when I am sitting.
Basic bodily functions came back under control after about three
to five months.
Lessons learned:
1. My wonderful wife of 41 years is a stalwart supporter.
This has been harder on her than on me.
2. I live in a supportive community.
3. The able-bodied don't understand obstacles to handicap mobility.
4. By the time the control nerves heal, the muscles are gone.
Therapy now means working hard to rebuild muscles.