G'day

[Gymp]

Hello All...

I'm a 52 year old guy who was born with Spina Bifida (meningomyelocele).

I was hunting around the web looking for some answers to a few health issues and happened across this place,how cool is that!

A bit of history of myself...
I was born in 1956 and the doctors told my parents I'd not live past 2,well I'm still here.Along with being born with Spina Bifida I also had some heart deformations (3 holes in it) a nonfunctioning left kidney and club feet.They patched up the heart when I was 4 or 5 years old and removed the kidney around about the same time.As I grew older (teenage years) I developed scoliosis and started to list badly to the left.Before they could fix that (with Herrington rods) they deciced to stick the part of my spinal cord back into my back/spine and thus remove the big lump that was just above my butt.The 2 Herrington rods were then inserted and viola I walked straight.They had also done a few surgeries on my feet so I'd walk with less of a limp.I've never had full feeling in my legs and have never had control of my bowel or bladder and if I ever got whacked in the area of where that bump was by my butt I fall down and not feel my legs at all for a while but the feeling always came back...eventually.

I've had a reasonably normal life,lots of fun partying in my early adult years, plenty of booze,drugs,good friends and a good job.(I headed the offset department of a large printshop).

Well I still have my good friends,dabble alot less with the booze and given up the drugs. About 12 years ago the long Herrington rod in my back snapped and because of that I've now been rendered unemployable (employers now see me as a Workmans Compensation liability and don't want to hire me) which is somewhat understandable.I've still got a roof over my head and a full belly so there's no point in complaining about not being able to work anymore.

It's really nice to find a forum about Spina Bifida and to see some people in the same boat as I am in (I've been lurking here for a bit).I've never met anybody with this ailment in the real world.Sure I've met a few whilst spending time in hospital (Hospital for Slick Children inToronto Ont.) as a kid but that's like 35 years ago.

I've got a few questions about some health issues that have recently arisen but I'll leave that for another post.

Gypm

[joybell322]

Welcome! Glad to hear from someone with a good disposition!

[Dodger67]

Aaaaaarrrgh!!! Now I'm not the Old Guy anymore! :2aa:
Welcome!:Banane21:

My Harrington Rod was removed about a year after the fusion was done. It's function was just to hold everything still while the fusion "sets" - after that its just taking up space. That was in the early 80's when I was 13-14 years old.

[Gymp]

Thanks for the welcome joybell322 !

You can still be the old guy Dodger67,I may be older but I still think the same as I did when I was 16.This aging process physically sucks,new aches and pains every year that I get older.

When my Harrington rod broke not one orthopedic specialist in this area was willing to see me,I had to go to a different city to have it looked at (3 hour drive).The doctor that did see me said that it couldn't be taken out as the vertebrae had grown around the rods and removal would be extremely difficult with the possibility of me not being able to walk afterwords.He said that the most they could do for me was to cut a chunk of the rod out where it was broke but the nonwalking scenario was still there for when I woke up after surgery,sooo I opted to let sleeping dogs lie.When the two ends of the broken rod bang into each other it sorta sends a shock wave down the whole back where you think you're about to break in two but I've since gotten used it and no longer panic that I'm gonna fall apart LOL.You were lucky to only have your rod in for that year.I've done some reading and found that since Harrington surgery started in the 60's they are now seeing a failure rate of about 8000 per year starting some 20 years after the fact.Incidents of the rods rusting,loosening bolts and screws and some cases of infection.The rods have served their purpose for me though they did straighten me out and held me up for ~30 odd years,without them I may very well have become the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Gymp