Question
Good afternoon.  I am hoping you can give me some advice on dealing with an old injury that is causing pain.  I was 14 years old and dove into the water hitting the top of my head. I passed out and thank god someone pulled me out in time.  I don't really remember a lot after the fact but 3 people helped me home and being that age I did not tell my parents but went to bed instead.  All I remember is a lot of tingling and my back hurt when I breathed.  I slept quite a bit to relieve the headache.  Fast forward to age 50, 2 years ago I all of a sudden had bowel incontinence and suffered with neuropathic pain.  Sometimes when I would get up in the middle of the night I would have no feeling from the neck down and in the morning would have to drag myself to the bathroom as there was no feeling in my legs. It was like they were still asleep.  I just recently fell down the stairs and hit my head at the bottom.  They did x rays and found the c3 and c5 I have disc degeneration due to an old injury.  The next step was an mri which showed spinal stenosis? and I had a fracture of the t7 due to an old injury.  I do neck excercise but what do I do with the t7 old injury and this neuropathic pain as it gets worse when I stand for more than 20 min.  Any advice would be appreciated and please tell young readers to tell their parents when they are injured.

Answer
Hi Jane, sorry to hear about all you deal with, I am not a doctor but I do know one who might be able to help you with your T7 injury. His name is Dr. Cully White who works at St. Luke's hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a neurosurgeon and has operated on three of my family members back problems with great success,so I know he is very capable. But you can contact any one you want, please see or talk with someone, you may find the relief that you are looking for.