Seriously good night!

snommintj
snommintj Member Posts: 601
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I've had some unusual things happen to me since treatment began. After my 1st liver resection in July 08 I was kept in a drug induced coma for several days. The surgery lasted 13.5 hours and was very extensive. The anesthesiologist kept me sedated, even though the surgeon wanted to wake me. Well, I had the worst care known to man in surgical ICU. I was on a breathing machine and I'm told the nurses let my ileostomy bag burst several times, they also failed to give me my meds on schedule. So I kept partially waking up. Each time I did I would remove the breathing tube. Well, I guess the nurses got angry at me for them not doing their job and they restrained me. Well, they let me wake again and I broke the restraints and removed the breathing tube. Then they really tied me down. They tied me so tight that I've had compressional neuropathy ever since. I have not had any feeling other than an occasional intense shooting pain in my thumb, 1st, and middle finger, on both hands. The pain was severe at first but has lessened in the past few months. Theer has been some annoying aspects of this neglect. I haven't been able to feel my son's hair or skin since july. My ring and pinky fingers still have feeling but they don't seem to be as sensitive as I remember my other fingers to have been. Typing has been extremely difficult. Removing things from my pockets is a task. If there are two or more things in my pocket I have to remove everything in my pocket to retrieve what I'm looking for. My fingers can't distinguish different items. I could have a key and a cotton ball in there and I couldn't tell one from the other without looking at them. I like tinkering with things but that has become impossible. Anyway, to the point of this post. While in the hospital in feb I saw a special on one of the health channels about paralyzed patients and the things Drs were doing to help them. One treatment being tried to regrow nerves was fairly simple. They would decrease the temperature of the effected limb and then pass a current through the tissue. This technique has helped completely paralyzed limbs to function again. So for the last few days I have been treating myself in a similar manner. I have been soaking my left hand in ice water until I can't handle it any longer, then I have been passing a current through my middle finger with a TENS unit. With only four 20 minute sessions I have regained about 50% of the feeling in my left middle finger. I was feeling really good about myself so earlier tonight I soaked my left hand in ice water and then tasered my left wrist, thumb, and 1st finger. I felt an instant sensation in my fingers and thumb. I think my thumb and 1st finger are about 10-20%. I'm going to keep working on getting them better. If all goes well, I should be able to start on my right hand soon. I am right handed. Tonight, before I went out I put my wallet, money, keys, and placker in my front left pocket. When I got home, I was able to reach in and pull out my keys without having to remove everything. That felt pretty good. Maybe soon I'll be able to do that with both hands. Now I just have to figure out how to regrow the tip of my nose. The nurses ripped part of my nose off while they were "caring" for me. But that's another story.

Comments

  • 2bhealed
    2bhealed Member Posts: 2,064 Member
    TENS?
    What's a TENS unit?

    Fascinating story. My hubby has three fingers that are completely numb (like they've fallen asleep) on his left hand. He had carpal tunnel surgery on his right and it made all the difference but now his left is going....we can't afford the surgery right now.

    peace, emily
  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    Wow
    That's really awesome. Puts a whole new spin on self help. *grins* Seriously, I'm so happy for you, and I'm also going to mention this to my friend whose daughter was paralyzed. Don't know if she's heard of this treatment.

    *hugs*
    Gail
  • msccolon
    msccolon Member Posts: 1,917 Member
    GAAAAHHHHHH!
    The thought that you were being cared for so badly that in order to keep you from removing the tube when you woke they tied you tight enough to cut off circulation!!!! Did nobody notice that the reason you were pulling the tube out was because you were more conscious than you were supposed to be? And how horrible would it be for you to wake up and not be able to move! Is the ICU unit still in practice? It's not in NC is it? I'd hate to think I would find myself there! I had to laugh at the thought that you would take it upon yourself to treat yourself with a treatment you saw on health tv! :) I bet your doc would have a heart attack if he knew you were doing it! I would think there's a bit of a risk of heart damage from the electrical shock! I have one of those stun guns as well, and you know, if i was in the same situation, if i couldn't get a doc to do the treatments I would probably try them myself as well, but i sure wouldn't tell anybody I was doing it! ;) Good luck!
    mary
  • CherylHutch
    CherylHutch Member Posts: 1,375
    TENS machines
    I'm not sure if that's how you spell the word or not, but that's how it's pronounced ;) Physiotherapists and Chiropractors us them in their sessions all the time to stimulate muscles, and I guess nerves as well.

    I have a similar little gadget that most of you have probably seen advertised on TV... a Dr. Ho Dual Muscle Therapy System.

    That's interesting about the soaking in ice cold water and then using the machine. I wonder what the difference would be between chilling the area and not? I've been using the machine to work on getting circulation back in my shins. What I find absolutely fascinating is, if you put the gel pad on an undamaged limb, I can only turn the strength up to about a 2.5. But when I put the gel pads on my shins, I can turn it up to a 5.0 (the highest strength) and not feel even a tingle! I have a lot of work to do to get the feeling back!

    Now... as for the horror story of your time in ICU. Were your doctors/surgeons not aware of what was going on?? And were all the nurses involved with this abuse? The only experience I have had with ICU was when my brother was there for 2 months and he, too, was in a drug induced coma. I could only marvel at the ICU nursing staff, male and female. They were amazing and there was always someone with each patient 24/7. I don't know if all ICUs operate the same way but I can't imagine how anyone could get away with that kind of neglect unless all of them were in cahoots together. I don't think I'll ever get used to the stories I hear!

    Hugggggs,

    Cheryl