3 Month update: C1-C2 Fusion Surgery скачать в хорошем качестве

3 Month update: C1-C2 Fusion Surgery

I’ve reached the 12-weeks in my recovery from C1 C2 stabilization, Atlantoaxial Dislocation (AAD) fixation surgery. It's still early days but I'm making it through the hurdles, and I haven't had any post-surgical complications. I am exceedingly lucky that despite experiencing consistent paralysis prior to surgery, I'm walking again and getting stronger. I’m still very early in my healing and it is a challenging process, but I have hope that through healing and rehabilitation I will gain more opportunities in my life and function. For those of you who have just found my channel, I’m Rachel. I experienced the past 14 years falling through the cracks of our medical system, unable to find a diagnosis and treatment. I spent years incapacitated, while suffering from a wide variety of significant neurological symptoms impacting multiple systems in my body. I had debilitating symptoms impacting my stamina, vision, balance, coordination, cognition, speech, heart rate, auditory processing, and eventually I lost control of both voluntary and involuntary muscles. My symptoms overlapped with illnesses like Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME CFS), and other autoimmune, neurological and brain disorders. In the end, after multiple specialized imaging, significant instability throughout my cervical spine was discovered, most significantly at my C1-C2 junction. I had been living with a condition that was causing compression on my nerves, brain stem, and spinal cord. This explained so much about my experiences and why, despite working each day to keep every aspect of my health as strong as possible, my baseline was progressively becoming more fragile and in those final months before surgery my condition became life-threatening. If you are like me, you might have spent years in a medical system that didn’t know how to help. You may have been minimized and criticized for the symptoms you were experiencing. You might have been told that your symptoms were in your head or an overreaction to something minor. You may have learned to stop seeking medical attention, even when your symptoms were acute or high risk. My CCI, AAI, and AAD required surgery but many people with CCI or AAI can manage their condition without surgery. There is power in getting an objective diagnosis and learning what specific needs your case requires. Getting a science-based diagnosis and the right resources, can make the difference in regaining aspects of our lives. We deserve the opportunity to understand the root of our condition and to learn how to take care of it. I don’t know why AAI isn’t being flagged more often. What I do know is that I spent years seeing specialists who were not aware of this condition or how to effectively image for it. I have spoken to many other patients who also spent years incapacitated, without a diagnosis who later found that AAI was at the root of their chronic condition. Their diagnosis enabled them to find the right treatment plan and regain missing parts of their lives and function. Let’s work together and help this condition gain more awareness. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out and leave your questions and comments. In this video I talk about: 0:00 What surgery I had and when? 0:22 What is Posterior C1-C2 Dislocation? 0:40 What some of my worst symptoms were. 0:55 What is being "Locked In” my body? 1:30 What has gone well in my recovery so far? 2:30 I’m walking again. 3:15 Home care plan. Remapping physical and neuro-connections. 4:00 Visual, balance, and brain. 4:18 What is sensory overload and how do I manage it? 4:27 Ten strategies for getting out to walk post brain injury/concussion. *Strategies help us do more and heal more efficiently. 5:50 Visual Vestibular Mismatch and walking. 8:06 Improvements in speech. 8:46 Brain stem compression and nervous system. 9:15 Less spine pressure and better blood flow. 10:23 What healing is remaining? 11:23 Hope and Awareness Vision symptoms I experience: • Vision constantly shaking (worse in L eye) • Blurring of vision • Vision rippling • Pain and tightening at back of head from visual output and focusing (some improvement) • Tracking and difficulty controlling eyes together and in sync focusing (some improvement) • Challenges processing sight and times where I can't make sense of data (improved) • Intermittent loss of visual field in left eye (some improvement) • Difficulty with depth perception (some improvement) • Objects are always moving • Moving and turning or visual noise causes loss of balance • White static-looking transparency, with faded silhouettes overlaying • Vision image flickers between white and 1-2 second white outs (some improvement) • Flashing in vision, bright white like lightning (eyes open or closed). (Notable improvements) • When reading, trying to track word to word, I immediately get lightheaded and feel seasick for hours after or days (some improvement) • Symptoms worse in my left eye. Filmed Feb 3rd, 2024