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Ryan – What was the hardest part of the first days in the hospital?

Ryan – What was the hardest part of the first days in the hospital?

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Oh, by far, the hardest part of the first day in the hospital—they had me in traction to try to get my spine back into line. So, I was kind of this, and my spinal cord was pinched, and I had broken my vertebrae, so when I did, the impact just made ... Show More

Oh, by far, the hardest part of the first day in the hospital—they had me in traction to try to get my spine back into line. So, I was kind of this, and my spinal cord was pinched, and I had broken my vertebrae, so when I did, the impact just made it go like that. So, in order to get my vertebrae back lined up, they had like this bow, it actually like clamped on my head, and I was laying flat and it pulled with a rope. It was very medieval-looking, and it pulled with a rope while I was laying down to slowly pull, like stretch me out and I was not allowed to move. And I was getting, of course now only my arms work, but I was getting so anxious that I was wanting to move, and I was pulling on it. And I had like a rolled-up washcloth on the back of my head as kind of like a makeshift pillow, and that’s all they would give me and there was two problems. That was like was driving me nuts on the back of my head because it was a lot of weight concentrated on the same spot. So, it was like I actually do have a pressure sore on the back of my head from when that happened. And the other thing was is they were going to put me in an emergency surgery, and I think, I can’t remember if it happened on a Saturday or a Sunday but whatever. They were waiting to get me back into line, and everything and they were going to do emergency surgery like the following morning. I couldn’t eat or drink anything, I wasn’t too worried about eating but I was really, really thirsty. So, they wouldn’t let me drink anything. I was like, “what about ice chips?” and they were like, nope, the only thing you can have is a sponge, like put it in your mouth.” And they’ll kind of wet your mouth, and it was like “that’s it?” So that was not fun. And then they decided, we decided the weekend team of orthopedics, although they’re good, they’re not as good at the A team that comes during the week, so then I had to wait till like Monday or Tuesday. And if I recall right, I think they had me in the traction for that remainder, I don’t know remember exactly but it was very uncomfortable, not good. So, that was by far the worst thing that I remember about it.

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Ryan – What was the hardest part of the first days in the hospital?

Ryan

Injured in 2015 at age 25, quadriplegic
More Videos by Ryan
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Oh, by far, the hardest part of the first day in the hospital—they had me in traction to try to get my spine back into line. So, I was kind of this, and my spinal cord was pinched, and I had broken my vertebrae, so when I did, the impact just made it go like that. So, in order to get my vertebrae back lined up, they had like this bow, it actually like clamped on my head, and I was laying flat and it pulled with a rope. It was very medieval-looking, and it pulled with a rope while I was laying down to slowly pull, like stretch me out and I was not allowed to move. And I was getting, of course now only my arms work, but I was getting so anxious that I was wanting to move, and I was pulling on it. And I had like a rolled-up washcloth on the back of my head as kind of like a makeshift pillow, and that’s all they would give me and there was two problems. That was like was driving me nuts on the back of my head because it was a lot of weight concentrated on the same spot. So, it was like I actually do have a pressure sore on the back of my head from when that happened. And the other thing was is they were going to put me in an emergency surgery, and I think, I can’t remember if it happened on a Saturday or a Sunday but whatever. They were waiting to get me back into line, and everything and they were going to do emergency surgery like the following morning. I couldn’t eat or drink anything, I wasn’t too worried about eating but I was really, really thirsty. So, they wouldn’t let me drink anything. I was like, “what about ice chips?” and they were like, nope, the only thing you can have is a sponge, like put it in your mouth.” And they’ll kind of wet your mouth, and it was like “that’s it?” So that was not fun. And then they decided, we decided the weekend team of orthopedics, although they’re good, they’re not as good at the A team that comes during the week, so then I had to wait till like Monday or Tuesday. And if I recall right, I think they had me in the traction for that remainder, I don’t know remember exactly but it was very uncomfortable, not good. So, that was by far the worst thing that I remember about it.

Ryan – What was the hardest part of the first days in the hospital?
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