Because it is my wont (and because I have more than a little extra free time on my hands these days) I may get rather granular at times with the details, or I may just provide semi-regular updates on how things are going - hard to say at this point. I don’t have a lot of planning going into this blog, I’m just here for the ride and to jot down a few thoughts and collect a few memories for the future. And if someone who I have never and may never meet finds this blog, years from now, and finds it in any way resourceful or helpful as they or someone they know gets outfitted with their very own Halo, well, then my time here will be very well spent indeed.
But for now, let’s have a recap of the first couple of weeks of Living With A Halo.
After consideration, I decided to peg the day the Halo was installed (not sure what other verb to use there, really), Wednesday September 9th, 2020 as Day 0. So Thursday 9/10/20 became Day 1, and so on from there. I came home from the hospital on Day 3. Dr. Lynne said that the “listed protocol time” for wearing a Halo brace is 6 months - however it seems that can vary somewhat based on the severity of the break, how quickly the bones heal, etc - many people report a Halo time of three to four months. So in my mind, I’m already “counting up” to Day 180 - and if I’m able to get released early for Good Behavior, well fantastic.
But that’s a long way off. For now, it’s just a matter of Getting Through Today.
As I recap the first two weeks, it might work best to break out some topics individually.
Mobility / Activity - For the first couple of days, every single movement was slow, difficult, and (often) painful. I was still weak and adjusting to my new center of gravity as provided by the Halo, and even simple movements like getting out of a chair or turning around while standing had to be done at about 10% speed. While nothing else on my body really hurt, everything in your upper body connects to your neck somehow - so using my arms to lift or brace myself and many minor upper body adjustments or movements if not done at the absolute easiest intensity and speed would cause bolts of pain to shoot through the neck. The Halo keeps your neck and spine immobilized, but I still had a lot of damaged nerves and muscles that would fire off warnings anytime they felt movement from elsewhere. On Day 5 I managed to get out of a chair by myself without any assistance, which felt like a huge win. Every day after that for the first two weeks seemed to bring a measurable increase in strength and ability. My lower body was more or less unscathed, so once I was standing I was able to do some knee raises and other light lower body activity and stretches just to try to keep the blood flowing and the body moving as much as possible.
The one lower body side effect I did experience was a good bit of swelling in my legs and feet - turns out sitting for 22 hours a day isn't the most conducive to good circulation. Propping my feet up seemed to help the most, so as much as possible especially while sleeping I continue to try to elevate my legs to keep the blood flowing.
I waited until Week Two at home (Day 11) to climb the stairs at home up to the second floor, but by then my stability and balance had progressed to the point where - as long as I moved slowly and deliberately - I felt like I could move in just about any way I needed to (within the locked in confines of the Halo, or course). As long as my torso and head stay locked in the same plane, I can get around pretty well. Easy, slow movement is the key, especially while everything that's damaged and inflamed in the neck heals here in the early stages.
Pain - Overall I feel remarkably fortunate to have as little ongoing, acute pain as I do. I think I expected more, honestly, but - as long as I’m remaining still, or moving at a glacial pace - it’s more levels of discomfort, if anything. I was prescribed oxycontin as needed coming out of the hospital, but by Day 6 or so was mostly just taking ibuprofen as they actually seemed to give better relief for what negative effects I was feeling. Week One at home was mostly dominated by head pain from getting used to the screws of the Halo brace in my skull. I don’t feel the individual “pin” sites, as they’re called - rather, the four of them surrounding my head result in more a feeling of a tight band encircling my head at that level. This ongoing tension headache would come and go throughout the day, but slowly lessened into Week Two, I think mostly as my body became accustomed to the sensation. Week Two actually started bringing more neck pain - likely because as I was able to move around more and more, the Halo has to prevent me from moving in any way I shouldn’t - and every time it limits me, it stops me right as my neck starts to protest whatever action I was about to try to do. This builds up through the day and tends to get worse in the evening as my fatigue also increases. Overall, very manageable though, and for that I am very grateful.
Sleeping - The most consistently painful action I felt the first few days having the Halo were trying to move from lying on my back and getting onto my feet, and vice versa. I never really slept very well in the hospital, and the first night at home, trying to get comfortable in any position was almost impossible at first. Eventually I decided to just try sleeping while in the most discomfort-less position possible, sitting straight up in a recliner. It actually worked pretty well. I would stay up as late as possible into the night to get as tired as possible, and then would be able to fall asleep for at least a few hours at a time. It’s an odd sensation - when you fall asleep while sitting, usually your head starts to fall to one side or in front (sometimes jerking you back away, right?) - but in a Halo, my head is perfectly suspended and locked in place. Waking up was a trip sometimes, trying to figure out why it felt like my head was floating in space before my senses caught up and remembered the contraption into which I was now built. I established a pretty good routine of sleeping in at least 2-3 decent chunks throughout the night - often I would wake up for a while and it would take me a while to get back to sleep, but I would keep my phone and books close at hand and just tried to embrace a multi-phasic sleep schedule for the time being.
Activity - So what AM I doing? Getting really good at sitting in a chair, that’s for sure. Thankfully I had plenty of accumulated vacation time at work, and Lindsay was doing almost all her adjunct teaching from home, so we were able to really just spend a lot of time sitting in the living room together, reading, watching movies and TV shows, gaming, etc. We have a phrase we use for those days that happen a couple of times per year, often a Saturday with no obligations, where we just make it a lazy day, forget about the concept of time and the calendar and adult responsibilities and do nothing but sit on the couch for the entirety of a day and and eat snacks and just hang out together - we call them “The Days That Don’t Exist”. Well - that first week from home was “The Week That Didn’t Exist” - and it was honestly pretty great just to focus on rest and recovery. While it feels really strange to be at home and not be able to be as active as I normally am, I also have no shortage of books to read, video games to play, and movies to watch, so I’m certainly not going to get bored anytime soon! I’m very fortunate in that I am able to work entirely remotely, so on Day 12 I went “back to work” from my home office. It was actually really nice to achieve another step in the feeling of a normal routine, and gave me another (seated) activity to pour my time and returning energy into.
Overall - life is good. Yes, the Halo is requiring some significant adjustments to life right now and forcing me to be a lot more deliberate than I usually am with every single action - but when I consider how much worse my accident could have been, I feel extraordinarily fortunate. When I consider just how much harder all this would be a broken leg, or wrist, or cracked ribs, etc - it makes me realize that my injury and limitations are not nearly as bad as many people who might be in a similar situation. All any of us can ever do is to respond in the most positive, beneficial way to the circumstances we find ourselves in - I remind myself constantly that mindset is half the battle on a journey such as this one.
Pain - Overall I feel remarkably fortunate to have as little ongoing, acute pain as I do. I think I expected more, honestly, but - as long as I’m remaining still, or moving at a glacial pace - it’s more levels of discomfort, if anything. I was prescribed oxycontin as needed coming out of the hospital, but by Day 6 or so was mostly just taking ibuprofen as they actually seemed to give better relief for what negative effects I was feeling. Week One at home was mostly dominated by head pain from getting used to the screws of the Halo brace in my skull. I don’t feel the individual “pin” sites, as they’re called - rather, the four of them surrounding my head result in more a feeling of a tight band encircling my head at that level. This ongoing tension headache would come and go throughout the day, but slowly lessened into Week Two, I think mostly as my body became accustomed to the sensation. Week Two actually started bringing more neck pain - likely because as I was able to move around more and more, the Halo has to prevent me from moving in any way I shouldn’t - and every time it limits me, it stops me right as my neck starts to protest whatever action I was about to try to do. This builds up through the day and tends to get worse in the evening as my fatigue also increases. Overall, very manageable though, and for that I am very grateful.
Sleeping - The most consistently painful action I felt the first few days having the Halo were trying to move from lying on my back and getting onto my feet, and vice versa. I never really slept very well in the hospital, and the first night at home, trying to get comfortable in any position was almost impossible at first. Eventually I decided to just try sleeping while in the most discomfort-less position possible, sitting straight up in a recliner. It actually worked pretty well. I would stay up as late as possible into the night to get as tired as possible, and then would be able to fall asleep for at least a few hours at a time. It’s an odd sensation - when you fall asleep while sitting, usually your head starts to fall to one side or in front (sometimes jerking you back away, right?) - but in a Halo, my head is perfectly suspended and locked in place. Waking up was a trip sometimes, trying to figure out why it felt like my head was floating in space before my senses caught up and remembered the contraption into which I was now built. I established a pretty good routine of sleeping in at least 2-3 decent chunks throughout the night - often I would wake up for a while and it would take me a while to get back to sleep, but I would keep my phone and books close at hand and just tried to embrace a multi-phasic sleep schedule for the time being.
Activity - So what AM I doing? Getting really good at sitting in a chair, that’s for sure. Thankfully I had plenty of accumulated vacation time at work, and Lindsay was doing almost all her adjunct teaching from home, so we were able to really just spend a lot of time sitting in the living room together, reading, watching movies and TV shows, gaming, etc. We have a phrase we use for those days that happen a couple of times per year, often a Saturday with no obligations, where we just make it a lazy day, forget about the concept of time and the calendar and adult responsibilities and do nothing but sit on the couch for the entirety of a day and and eat snacks and just hang out together - we call them “The Days That Don’t Exist”. Well - that first week from home was “The Week That Didn’t Exist” - and it was honestly pretty great just to focus on rest and recovery. While it feels really strange to be at home and not be able to be as active as I normally am, I also have no shortage of books to read, video games to play, and movies to watch, so I’m certainly not going to get bored anytime soon! I’m very fortunate in that I am able to work entirely remotely, so on Day 12 I went “back to work” from my home office. It was actually really nice to achieve another step in the feeling of a normal routine, and gave me another (seated) activity to pour my time and returning energy into.
Overall - life is good. Yes, the Halo is requiring some significant adjustments to life right now and forcing me to be a lot more deliberate than I usually am with every single action - but when I consider how much worse my accident could have been, I feel extraordinarily fortunate. When I consider just how much harder all this would be a broken leg, or wrist, or cracked ribs, etc - it makes me realize that my injury and limitations are not nearly as bad as many people who might be in a similar situation. All any of us can ever do is to respond in the most positive, beneficial way to the circumstances we find ourselves in - I remind myself constantly that mindset is half the battle on a journey such as this one.
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| Graham is a willing and attentive HHCP (Home Health Care Pupper) and mostly just demands payment in food |
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