Question
My husband has been left in severe disabling pain since he was hit from behind by a car travelling around  45-50 mph while  cycling to work and was catapulted forward hitting the road.  He was taken in on a spinal board but despite the severe pain and inability to walk (although he could move his legs), he was sent home with a sprain.  We found out later that the xrays taken of the lumbar region had shown severe fractures of T11 and T12.  This was then reported as NAD, NBI on the day of the accident  It was   three days later recorded as a Chance's fracture (but they are not) but no-one was told about this finding.  He had had fractures before (collar bone and leg) and had made a good recovery.  This time he did not get better.  After ~ 4 months his legs swelled up and went bright red then bruised.  He hasn't eaten properly since the accident.  He feels sick all the time.  He sleeps excessively (now ~14 hours but it used to be 20 hours with an inability to wake him).  He has a numb buttock since the accident and associated neurological problems in that area.  He also has pain in the T6,T7 fracture area (30o sideways and 30o forward compression) and the T11,12 area (40o forward wedging) and tilting back into the spinal canal mildly.  There is also pain in his bottom and he can't sit straight.  He can't lie flat on his back.  He gets shooting pains up his back and down his legs.  He has ocasionally lost feeling in his foot and calf.  He stumbles and trips regularly and walks into things.  He is forgetful and confused a lot (but not excessively so and a little erratically).  He often feels extremely sick and is usually a little nausious.  He has bad gastric reflux and chokes on his bile - this often occurs at night as well as the day and he wakes up with acid in his lungs which is painful and frightening.  His neck is often a little stiff but mildly.  He gets more headaches than he used to. The following are some of the XRays and MRI's that have been recorded over the past 18 months:

[IMG]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/19.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/11-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/11.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/9.jpg[/IMG]




All the above has left my husband with a quality of life far below what he had prior to the accident.  He no longer interacts with his children (aged 6 and 8) has lost interest in most of his hobbies, finds it hard to concentrate on any thing for little more than a few minutes and now takes the following medications:

Ocycodone 20mg BD
Gabapentin 600mg TDS
Fluoxitine 20mg OD
Omeprazole 40mg OD
Oxycontin 5mg or 5ml PRN


Answer
Emma,
Your husband probably needs surgery. A lot of his excessive sleeping, lack of interest and memory impairment could be caused by the medicines he is on or it could be caused by the injury. I would suggest that you keep looking for a doctor that can help him. He should probably be seen by a neurosurgeon or a neurologist at the very least. Don't give up, keep going to doctors until you find one that can help. Don't depend on a doctor to tell you that he/she can't do anything and tell you of a doctor that can.
Ask around, get on the Internet and find all the information you can to get an idea about what kind of doctor might best be able to help. Remember, doctors work for you so if the one your husband is seeing currently isn't doing the job then 'fire' him/her and 'hire' another one.
I wish you and your husband the best
Tracy