Question
My husband was in a motor vehicle accient in July 07, went to hospital numerous times, had xrays and ct-scans only to find out 12 days later he had a broken neck the whole time!Yes we know he is lucky to be alive and not paralized. My question, since we have no faith left in any doctors around here is... Halo verses surgery for a comminuted fracture through the base of the odontoid to vertabral body of C2 with small retropulus fragment right side. Anterior displacement of odontoid peg 6mm as well mild anterior angulation of of 10 degrees. He opted for the halo, mainly because we are leary of the doctors but with this type of fracture  the info I am finding states that this is highly unstable. The last thing we want is to find out it won't heal and end up with surgery and doing the halo all over. I wish we had a doctor voting poll to help, LOL.
The halo does't seem to be adjusted properly, the rods supporting the halo are all varing lengths up top. His nose is inline with this belly button if that helps explain.
He has had the halo on for 9 days so far and he has had me remove the sheep shin liner twice, very carefully so he can shower. I know you are not suppose to but sliding a towel underneath back and forth doesn't make any sence and causes a heck of alot more jarring than sliding out the sheep skin carefully to shower. He has alot of body hair and his skin is pealing from a suntan he had before the brace. I guess another question is which is more harmful? Also how stable does the halo make his injury for everyday moving around? I am worried we are not out of the woods yet and am so scared of injuring his spinal cord! Any help advise suggestions for him or myself would be appreciated

Answer
Hi Terri- I apologize for my slow reply, I have been trying to learn a bit more about your specifics- it is a complicated issue...

The comminuted fractures are very unstable.  And your husband's is at such a level that it could be ...

Let me re-order this.  As well as mention that I do not have enough medical expertise to state which decision is the correct one for him.  I will however tell you my inclination and it's basis- fair enough?

Due to the instability of his injury and the level of his injury- would be absolutey devastating if it should go wrong somehow- i'd lean towards whatever the most secure way of fastening his head onto his body might be.  I assume this is surgery, ie a fusion with rods to hold everything in place.    It is a difficult thing to recover from, but the possible bad alternatives (not healing, further injury) would make me want to err on the careful side.

That being said, I wouldn't let anyone I didn't trust Very Much touch him.  There are excellent doctors out there- i was in a little town in east texas, not a big city, and found a great neurosurgeon.  If you are unhappy with your docs, I advise you very much to get someone different.  Get several opinions.  If you have one doc you like, get a recommendation- if you don't have this resource, try looking for national spinal/neurosurgical groups and see if they have members in your area.  If you have no luck there, ask me a follow up question and I'll see what i can find for you.  

whether or not you are out of the woods i can't tell you for sure- injuries like this seem to be so variable with age, health, and pure stupid luck.  It sounds like you could use at least another opinion- relating to how to proceed, the possible risks, and of course if they've put the halo on correctly to begin with.  My best advice is to get to someone you feel is capable and who pays attention to your questions, concerns, etc.  This would be the person to ask about the showering situation, as they will know all the details and see the xrays, etc.  I can tell you that his skin peeling is not a problem as long as he doesn't develop any sore places, like where the skin becomes broken.

I am sorry I cannot tell you anything more specific- I am limited by my knowledge and by not knowing all the details, so I have spoken conservatively.  I am very glad he is not paralyzed, and i hope your good luck continues

let me know if i can help with getting you more info on any of this.  there is also a website- kasamba- where you can chat with or send email to doctors in various specialties.  They do charge a fee, but you can limit how much you wish to spend, etc.  I have only used it once (dr zia, an internist) but was pleased.  Just a suggestion

good luck
leslie