Your husband's problem sounds like it is related to the placement of
the epidural. Did they have an easy time or hard time placing it? Also,
was your husband on blood thinners before surgery? There has been cases of
people on these blood thinners bleeding after epidural placement causing
swelling and pressure in the spinal cord leading to paralysis. I am a nurse
in the recovery room and we just had a class on epidurals and this is what
we learned. You definitely need to go for a second opinion and make sure you
go to someone who has no connection to the place where your husband had the
surgery. Good luck and let us know what happens.
Susan
>Help, I'm not sure if I am writing to the correct place or sending this to the
>correct place. I joined the transverse myelitis association a couple of months
>ago. I have received 2 newsletters so far. I Thank God everyday for the
>association. My husband and I would have never made it through this difficult
>time without being able to read the stories we have read. I need some help. I
>will explain our story and please could anyone with help please contact us.
>On April 7, 1998 my husband went into the hospital for surgery for colon
>cancer. At the time of surgery he was given an epidural iv for postoperative
>pain management. The surgery was on Turesday and the epidural was left in
>until thursday morning. Immediately after the surgery, when my husband woke up
>he told our son and I that he was paralyzed and we both assured him that it
>was due to the epidural. After some time passed, the nurses and doctors kept
>asking my husband to move his feet or legs. It was not possible. He was
>correct. He was paralyzed from the waist down. The cancer surgery went fine,
>but we were now dealing with a new problem. He spent 7 days in ICU, where they
>called in a neurologist, whom asked for an MRI. The MRI showed what he called
>swelling of the spinal cord at the vertebral Level T10 to L1, affecting the
>distal spine including the conus medullaris. They also said there is mildly
>increased T2 signal at the central aspect of the swollen dital spinal cord.
>CSF elevated, and normal cytology. (Whatever all that means). They then did a
>spinal tap on Saturday morning. I was the when the doctor did it and he
>explained to me that the spinal luid should be crystal clear. It was. Looked
>like mountain spring water to me. They sent the fluid off for further testing
>and we were then transferred to a rehab hospital. Les spent 37 days there
>learning how to live with paraplegia. They also had him doing two half hours
>of physical therapy a day. After his release from the rehab hospital, we
>continued with outpatient rehab 5 days a week for 1 hour per day. This lasted
>until the middle of August., when the insurance company would no longer
>provide for this. At first Les was getting small improvements sometimes daily
>or sometimes weekly. We now are doing stretching excersizes at home daily, but
>Les seems to think he is going backwards. Movement is slowing or disappearing.
>He has braces that he was fitted for in the Rehab hospital, which he uses as
>much as possible, but they are only excersize braces, not for walking. Anyway,
>what my question is, is there anyone out there that knows of a doctor or
>center that deals with transverse myelitis in the Garden Grove Ca. area? From
>what we have read, we are starting to doubt transverse myelitis. Les walked
>into the hospital and expected to walk out 4 days later. He had no symptoms
>prior to this and none of the discriptions I have read about this ilness fit
>his. He has feeling in most of this lower limbs, some is dulled. He has no
>back pain or leg pain or spasms. Just legs that no longer work. We are just
>now going for a second opinion. I am afraid that we are waisting precious time
>if this is really not what is wrong with Les. Please help. Anyone.
>
>
>
>Cheryl Stewart
>Seatz(AT)aol.com
>
>
>