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I had two push bikes for racing, one for the road and another
track bike that was built especially for racing on the Velodrome in
Leederville. This was the bike I had my prang on sometime after my 16th birthday in 1964.
I think that you are
supposed to have these dates and days etched into your mind but I
don't have a clue what the date was. I remember it was a
sunny Sunday and a normal club road race day. I was riding my brand
new Track Bike and I remember the feeling of being alive and fit. I
was looking forward to another fun morning of cycle racing before
going down to City Beach to do a bit of surfing.
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I
was a Sub-Junior (Amateur) but the organisers decided to put me
and another Sub-Junior in with the Seniors which was OK by me. The circuit was
around Perry Lakes just down the road from our home in Brookdale Street, Floreat. I was
happily riding along at the back of the field with Bob
Busellato. Someone up ahead had made a break from the main
group of riders and for some stupid reason I thought I
would have a go at chasing him down.
I say stupid because there were some big
names in the bunch or riders that I had to pass and I had
buckley's chance of staying away from them in the long run.
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Anyway The idea was to come from the back of the bunch
hopefully surprising them and then get a bit of a break on them as
we swung into a left hand corner.
Bob was a professional cyclist so
wasn't officially in the race so I said see you later and put my
head down and bum up, passed the big bunch of riders, and the next
thing I remember was bang!!!
An idiot had stopped his station wagon in front of
us to stop his dog from jumping around in the back seat.
The car had a tailgate that opened from the top
and bottom and I hit the top open bit slicing my scalp off and
smashing my spine at t3 level. When I was on the road it felt like
my legs had ballooned up but I couldn't really feel them.
I could feel blood seeping into my eyes and I
remember asking the guys around me to sit me up. Bad move I hear you
say and you would certainly know better these days but it had no
bearing on the amount of damage that was done to my spinal cord as
the whole lot was smashed the instant I hit the car.
I have a vague memory of a lot of people being
around me but that is all at that time. There was a numbness but no
physical paint that I can recall.
The Ambulance ride to Royal Perth
Hospital was very slow and the next thing Dr George Bedbrook (later
to become Sir George Bedbrook) sticks his finger up my bum and
calmly tells me that I will never walk again. Bonus!! That ruined
what started out as a great day.
Surprisingly I can't remember being all that rocked by the news
at the time but that may have been due to the nice stuff they were
pumping into me and my age. Then again perhaps I already knew that
he was going to say that.
I can't begin to imagine how this impacted on my
parents or siblings.
It was a different story later on when they told
me that I was to lose my leg after I had another accident.
They had to put 50 stitches in my head to attach
my scalp again and I remember being coaxed to squash a tennis ball with
my hands as they were a bit weak. I was only three vertebrae away
from being a quadriplegic. But then I was only a quarter of an inch
away from being dead.
Eeeny meeny miny mo. Take your pick!
According to Wikepedia.
 Paraplegia
is an impairment in
motor and/or sensory function of the lower
extremities. It is usually the result of spinal cord
injury or a congenital condition such as spina
bifida which affects the neural elements of the
spinal canal. The area of the spinal canal which is
affected in paraplegia is either the thoracic,
lumbar, or sacral regions. If the arms are also
affected by paralysis, quadriplegia is the proper
terminology. If only one limb is affected the
correct term is monoplegia.
Causes.
P araplegia is most
often a result of a traumatic injury
to the spinal cord nervous tissue or
the resulting inflammation and
swelling that occurs around the
point of injury. Paraplegia can also
be caused by non-traumatic and
congenital factors such as spinal
tumors, scoliosis, or spina bifida.
Scoliosis is an abnormal curving of
the bones that make up the structure
surrounding the spinal cord. Spina
bifida is a birth defect in which
parts of bones that make up the
structure surrounding the spinal
cord do not come together properly.
Spinal cord injuries
resulting in paraplegia are known as
either "complete" or "incomplete".
For a "complete" injury, no level of
feeling or function exists for the
patient below the point of injury.
An "incomplete" injury results in
the patient retaining some level or
feeling and/or function below the
point of injury.
Disability.
While some people with paraplegia can
walk to a degree, many are dependent on wheelchairs
or other supportive measures. Impotence and various
degrees of urinary and
fecal incontinence are very common in those
affected. Many use catheters and/or a bowel
management program (often involving suppositories,
enemas, or digital stimulation of the bowels) to
address these problems. With successful bladder and
bowel management, paraplegics can prevent virtually
all accidental urinary or bowel discharges.
Complications.
Due to the decrease or loss of
feeling and/or function in the lower extremities,
paraplegia can contribute to a number of medical
complications to include pressure sores (decubitus),
thrombosis and pneumonia. Physiotherapy and various
assistive technology, such as a standing frame, as
well as vigilant self observation and care may aid
in helping to prevent future and mitigate existing
complications.As paraplegia
is most often the result of a traumatic injury to
the spinal cord tissue and the resulting
inflammation, other nerve related complications can
and do occur. Cases of chronic nerve pain in the
areas surrounding the point of injury are not
uncommon. There is speculation that the "phantom
pains" experienced by individuals suffering from
paralysis could be a direct result of these
collateral nerve injuries misinterpreted by the
brain.
continued Hospital
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What did being a complete t3 Paraplegic
mean for me?
First Dr
Bedbrook (later Sir George) stuck his finger up my arse and told me
that I was never going to walk again and will spend
the rest of my life in a wheelchair, and as a t3 complete Paraplegic
I will have no movement or feeling below the nipple line.
What they don't say is that you will be
permanently in some level of discomfort and pain and that your pain
threshold will have to go up.
Then they tell you that you won't have any bladder control and that
you will have to wear what is basically a a condom
with a hole in it and and piss into a leg bag for the rest of your life. Then they say that
you have to keep your fluids up so that you don't get a bladder
infection and if you don't piss you will have problems with your
kidneys.
What they don't say is that you then you
have to find somewhere to empty your bag when it's full. Not a good
thing if you go to a drive-in movie with someone you just met.
Then they tell you that you lose control of your
bowels and that you have to train yourself to have a shit at a given
time.
What they don't say is that sometimes you get
it wrong and shit anyway so you will spend the rest of your life worrying about
it. It might never happen but you will worry about it every day!
Then you will be told that you will never father
children because you can't reproduce sperm and that as a complete t3
paraplegic
the odds of being able to get an erection for so called normal sexual
intercourse (as in wham bam thank you maam) is going to be a problem.
To be fair this can differ
from person to person however I copped the bad bit and while I can
get an erection it is not automatic and most of the time not worth
the trouble because if you aren't careful you will piss yourself
unless you have organised everything beforehand.
What they also say is that you can work
around this and that foreplay becomes a greater part of love making.
What they don't say is that somehow it isn't the same mentally or physically
but as April would say '"That is sooo blokey!".
Then you will be told not to sit or lay on the
same spot for too long because you will get a pressure sore.
What they don't say is that this is yet another
thing to worry about every day. I had some problems when I was
younger but nothing major but I still have to be careful on a daily
basis.
Then they cut your fukn' right leg off at the
hip and call it a hindquarter amputation.
I had to have the hindquarter
amputation after I tipped my FJ/FX/EH Hybrid Holden upside down. I
broke my right leg but also got a small fracture in my left hip
which no one noticed until Osteomyelitis (bone infection) had set
in.
They had to cut me in half to
get rid of it. |
