8
was filled with rocks and leaves. My horse walked into the hole and stumbled because the ground was unstable. My horse went down on his front knees projecting me over his head. As I was falling, I thought ‘No problem, I have fallen from horses before, although not many times.’ I had been riding horses for 40 years! Once I hit the ground, I realized I was in trouble. I could see my hand clenched in a fist with my thumb folded in and knew that was a sign of nerve damage. Help came immediately and the ambulance was there within 5 minutes. As the paramedics asked me questions about allergies, I lost consciousness.
I woke up in a hospital bed in Phoenix, Arizona with my family all around me; my husband, daughter and two sons. My son had arranged for me to be transported from Tucson to Phoenix within hours of my injury. He is a Neuroradiologist at the Barrow Institute at Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix and wanted to keep me close so he could help manage my care. I never thought I’d need his professional expertise in all things spinal cords. My son not only helped manage my care but visited me at least twice a day for over two months, the time I spent at St. Joseph’s hospital and rehab center.
When I woke up in the hospital, it was explained that I had just had surgery on my neck. I was woozy from the surgery, so I didn’t try to talk. I was also intubated which I don’t even recall and I don’t remember much about the next few days. Ten days after my surgery I was moved from the Barrow’s ICU to the rehab center at St. Joseph’s Hospital. At that point one of the nurses said, ‘She’s a quad’ to one of the other nurses...that was the first time I heard the word ‘quad’ and I was shocked! I knew what that meant but I didn’t fully understand the depth of the problem. I was to find out later.
I had a heavy brace around my neck that was very uncomfortable. They immediately started on rehab and had me try to sit up. Of course, I couldn’t sit up since I was completely flaccid and unable to move anything. I was told my spine at C4-C5 had stretched and the bones of my vertebrae had broken and been repaired.
My daughter took a leave of absence from work and spent every day from early morning until after dinner with me. It was lovely. My daughter was also scheduled to be married in less than two months in Phoenix and since I was slowly improving, I was allowed to stay in Phoenix at the rehab center until the wedding. I had planned to go to the wedding, I had a van rented and one of the nurses was going to go with me. As the evening of the wedding approached, I was distressed. I realized that I didn’t want to be seen in front of everyone. I felt I was so deformed I didn’t want to go to the wedding anymore. My lovely daughter showed up to the rehab center in her wedding gown before the ceremony to share the
Continued...