Not so nice complications have set in .....

We've had a bit of a setback. Well quiet a lot of a setback actually. Over the weekend Mark had three episodes of Autonomic Dysreflexia, that's a sudden and dangerous reaction to something going wrong in the body but because the body can't tell you exactly where the problem is, it just goes crazy trying to warn you that you better find out what it is and FAST. When the dysreflexia happens, it sends the blood pressure dangerously high and if left untreated can cause a stroke due to the pressure in the blood vessels in the brain or even death. Luckily Mark had some special spray that is sprayed under his tongue which brings his blood pressure down but we still had to work out what was causing it. We worked out quickly that it was bladder related because after the sudden dysreflexia came on he passed urine. We started to do intermittent catheters which open the bladder valve (sphincter) and allows urine to pass as soon as he had any sign that the dysreflexia was triggered. We then worked out that it was the sphincter that was the problem. The bladder is a big muscle, the sphincter is also a muscle, when the bladder wants to pass urine it squeezes, then the sphincter opens and urine passes. But not so with Mark now. When the bladder squeezes the sphincter won't co operate and that causes the dysreflexia.

After a doctors visit and another visit to Marks consultant at Pinderfields we thought we would have what we need to sort out the problem. Not so. We've been told it's much more serious than just a bladder problem, the bladder is a symptom of something bigger going wrong. According to the Consultant it all points to Post Traumatic Syringomelia. You may remember some time ago I wrote that they had found a Syrinx in Marks spinal cord, which is basically a cyst. It's common in spinally injured people and often they cause no problems. In some cases they can increase or enlongate within the spinal cord and put pressure on the cord, which then leads to loss of strength and/or sensation and/or motor function. It was scary and worrying at the time they told us but they decided that at that point it wasn't causing any problems so they wouldn't do anything about it. Seems they spoke too soon and that's exactly what's wrong. So where from here ......

First he has to see the urology consultant to test his bladder and decide whether they have to operate on the sphincter and open it so it stays open permanently, use Botox on the sphincter to open it (has to be done every 6-12 weeks), but Mark did wonder if it would take all the wrinkles out of his bladder, take drugs to keep it open or finally have a permanent super pubic catheter. That's a fixture put just above the pubic bone with a catheter directly into the bladder, not something Mark wanted.

Then, a CT scan and MRI which they'll compare with the last ones taken to see how the syrinx has changed. Only then will they decide whether the syrinx has to be drained. If it does, it's anoperation to put a drain into it which will drain the fluid into his abdomen continually.

He's not a well lad ... will it never end.