Monday, December 15, 2008

Post Transverse Myelitis (about 15 yrs later)

As a result of the TM attack ...some nerves of mine were scarred (as the doctors put it). So..besides very very very mild weaknesses I have been living with minor imperfect sensory functions ever since. I'd like to classify it as minor becos..I can still FEEL. It's just that I won't be able to differentiate pain, hot or cold. What do I mean? Here are some real examples that happened recently..



Hot
Was happily having BBQ stuff at Daorae, seated right in front of the pit....after about 30 mins....I suddenly 'felt' a funny feeling on the front part of my leg. Upon investigation..I realised that my leg was pressing against a hot surface of the pit. Luckily I was wearing jeans. Saw a small red patch when I took off the jeans at home :p Come to think of it..they shouldn't have any hot surface exposed to where customers are seated isn't it?

Bite
Felt something not right on my foot...but couldn't quite detect where it came from. 1-2 days later..found an ant bite!

Bruise
On and off I get bruises all over...but most times couldn't remember when, where or how I got them. Could be from the dogs...or I might have bumped myself and didn't realise the impact.


Pain
I actually can't tell pain. Instead, I recognise pain..based on a similar sensation that I feel. For instance, when the doc checks me for possible sprains on my ankle / knee...most of the time..I was guessing :D Sometimes..the pain may be quite bad..and I just don't feel it.

Since this morning..I've been getting ocassional tiny sharp pains (I think) on my right hip/ waist. No idea what kind of pain it is or how serious it is. But it is bearable. I really don't wanna keep running to the doc clueless.

And I don't know why I am writing this. Just wanna share I guess..in case someone in cyber space with similar experiences comes across this blog.

Anyway...anyhow..I am still very much grateful that I am up and about physically doing all the things I like to do.
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3 comments:

  1. I guess you just don't recover fully when your nerve is damaged. I still have not even after my op in 2004. I still can feel very very minor pins & needles in my left foot. From time to time, I also have spasm, sometimes the spasm is quite bad too.

    Anyway I guess we just hv to live with it, luckily these incidences don't affect my life that much

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  2. I can relate to what you siad in that post a lot! I had TM on Oct 4, 2004 and I've been a C6 complete quad since. I have no feeling or movement from my chest down, but I can feel sections of my arms like you just described. I can tell something's touching me, but all I feel is pressure. If someone touched me with their finger, or stabbed me int he arm with a knife it would all feel the same to me.

    My arms and legs always have an assortment of bruises because I can't tell when I hit something or haw hard I hit things at all.

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  3. Thanks for dropping by Kimberley. It took me quite some years to get to active life. Hope you will be as good as new soon.

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