The Promise: A Tragic Accident, a Paralyzed Bride, and the Power of Love, Loyalty, and Friendship by Rachelle Friedman
Authors: Rachelle Friedman
Tags: skirt!
Ads: Link
out it was a really bad bladder infection. For an uninjured woman it would hurt like crap, and she would know something was wrong early on and of course go to the doctor, get some medication, and clear it up. But for me it was different because I couldn’t feel anything. An infection wouldn’t alert me with pain. My body had to react in a different way. I got clammy and sweaty, had goose bumps, and felt dizzy. They were all signs that something was wrong with my body.
These were symptoms of autonomic dysreflexia, which affects people with spinal cord injuries like mine. Because I was hurt at a higher level of injury, my autonomic nervous system was also affected. If I had been hurt below a T-7, which is someone paralyzed only from the rib-cage area down, then my autonomic nervous system would have been intact. My blood pressure would have been normal, I would have sweated regularly, and so on. But when there was pain in my body and something went wrong, my nervous system reacted and my blood pressure shot up. I got goose bumps, felt sort of clammy, and had the shakes. I could die if I didn’t figure out what was wrong quickly. I could wind up dying from a urinary tract infection because my blood pressure increased so dramatically.
I was lucky that I experienced it only twice. Some people get it all the time. If I was wearing pants with a zipper on them and they were poking into me, I’d become really dizzy and I’d have to look at my body and try to determine what was wrong. It was scary because I couldn’t feel anything from my chest down, so numerous things could be the cause—it was a large area!
One weekend, Lauren came to visit and stay with me. My mom was like a second mom to her, so we all hung out together all weekend. She caught a real glimpse into the reality of my injury. Chris was still carrying me up the stairs on his back at that point, as the house hadn’t been updated yet, and since I was cold all the time, I had to sit near the heater. She’d heard all about this from the other girls, but seeing it was different. We had a really fun Saturday, all of us, going out to eat and laughing, but on Sunday, before Lauren even woke up, my mother and I had to go to the hospital because I had another UTI. Lauren called us when she woke up, and it seemed like we were going to be at the emergency room for hours and hours, so she headed back to Charlotte.
I think it was an eye-opener for her, seeing the day-to-day. She did get to see me play quad rugby, which was cool, and we did hang out, but the reality of it all wasn’t lost on her. She even told me later that her life’s mindset was different after that, that her perspective on life and enjoying it was so altered—she appreciated everything she had so much more. And her love of our other friends was strong and genuine. She told me she was speaking to one of the other girls once, and that girl said she was going to run, to use her legs as much as possible, to honor me. I thought that was pretty cool. I know each of the girls handled and processed the accident differently.
CHAPTER 17
Adjusting at Home
The process of getting out of bed every morning took about an hour once I refined it. It took up to two hours when I first got home, but we managed to figure out how to make it quicker. The pain and dizziness slowed things down considerably, but on a good day, when my mom dressed me in the morning, we’d get that part down to ten minutes. Since I have some arm use, I could have slid a top on fairly quickly, but pants would have taken me about forty-five minutes to get into. My mother sped that up considerably, so it made sense for her to start helping me dress.
Sleeping was a big challenge, which I hadn’t expected. Like anyone, if I were up all night, which happened with great frequency, the morning would be rough. I couldn’t roll over or change positions. When I first returned home, my mother and Chris would turn me over in the middle of the night.
These were symptoms of autonomic dysreflexia, which affects people with spinal cord injuries like mine. Because I was hurt at a higher level of injury, my autonomic nervous system was also affected. If I had been hurt below a T-7, which is someone paralyzed only from the rib-cage area down, then my autonomic nervous system would have been intact. My blood pressure would have been normal, I would have sweated regularly, and so on. But when there was pain in my body and something went wrong, my nervous system reacted and my blood pressure shot up. I got goose bumps, felt sort of clammy, and had the shakes. I could die if I didn’t figure out what was wrong quickly. I could wind up dying from a urinary tract infection because my blood pressure increased so dramatically.
I was lucky that I experienced it only twice. Some people get it all the time. If I was wearing pants with a zipper on them and they were poking into me, I’d become really dizzy and I’d have to look at my body and try to determine what was wrong. It was scary because I couldn’t feel anything from my chest down, so numerous things could be the cause—it was a large area!
One weekend, Lauren came to visit and stay with me. My mom was like a second mom to her, so we all hung out together all weekend. She caught a real glimpse into the reality of my injury. Chris was still carrying me up the stairs on his back at that point, as the house hadn’t been updated yet, and since I was cold all the time, I had to sit near the heater. She’d heard all about this from the other girls, but seeing it was different. We had a really fun Saturday, all of us, going out to eat and laughing, but on Sunday, before Lauren even woke up, my mother and I had to go to the hospital because I had another UTI. Lauren called us when she woke up, and it seemed like we were going to be at the emergency room for hours and hours, so she headed back to Charlotte.
I think it was an eye-opener for her, seeing the day-to-day. She did get to see me play quad rugby, which was cool, and we did hang out, but the reality of it all wasn’t lost on her. She even told me later that her life’s mindset was different after that, that her perspective on life and enjoying it was so altered—she appreciated everything she had so much more. And her love of our other friends was strong and genuine. She told me she was speaking to one of the other girls once, and that girl said she was going to run, to use her legs as much as possible, to honor me. I thought that was pretty cool. I know each of the girls handled and processed the accident differently.
CHAPTER 17
Adjusting at Home
The process of getting out of bed every morning took about an hour once I refined it. It took up to two hours when I first got home, but we managed to figure out how to make it quicker. The pain and dizziness slowed things down considerably, but on a good day, when my mom dressed me in the morning, we’d get that part down to ten minutes. Since I have some arm use, I could have slid a top on fairly quickly, but pants would have taken me about forty-five minutes to get into. My mother sped that up considerably, so it made sense for her to start helping me dress.
Sleeping was a big challenge, which I hadn’t expected. Like anyone, if I were up all night, which happened with great frequency, the morning would be rough. I couldn’t roll over or change positions. When I first returned home, my mother and Chris would turn me over in the middle of the night.
Similar Books
