Once again, no pain no gain… and I have been in so much pain lately. I can tell that my body is starting to wake up because I have not felt like this since the accident.
In the past few months I have regained feeling in my neck, shoulders, back and upper arms. My blood pressure is now normal, and all my energy is back. Also, I can now easily move my head which I was not able to do before, and I can sneeze once again! In addition, my spasms have gotten so much stronger. It is definitely much more uncomfortable but I can tell that my muscles are coming back.
Last Monday, I got surgery for a diaphragmatic pacer and when the doctor tested my phrenic nerve (the nerve that controls my diaphragm and lungs) he was surprised with how strong it was. Before the surgery he told me that with my level of injury and because I have been dependent on the vent for 2 years, it is possible that the nerve might not respond at all. So, of course, I was super nervous going into the surgery. But I was so relieved when I heard the good news! In one week, once my surgery wounds heal, I will start using the pacer to get the vent off ASAP. The doctor said he thinks that I can get disconnected from the vent in one or two weeks, but I will let you all know how it goes once I start. I don’t want to get my hopes up!
Another good thing that I noticed yesterday is that I was triggering a lot more breaths while on the vent. This means that while the vent was providing me with air, I was also taking in my own breaths. Normally I would take 14 breaths per minute but now with the same vent settings I was taking about 25 breaths. Those extra 10 breaths were coming from my lungs! And I am not even using the pacer yet!
It has been almost six months since the exosome injections and I am not sure if all these changes are coming from that, but I think it is certainly helping to speed things up. I am very excited to see what will happen in the next few months!