SNN_Dec 2021 Issue_web low res

NEW ZEALAND SPINAL TRUST 16
“You might not make it”
Andrew was losing consciousness as he arrived at the
Naval Base and the news from the Naval Doctor only
made matters worse.
“He said to me ‘You are not looking good, and you might
not make it. The best case scenario is you are going to be
in a wheelchair for the rest of your life’.
“I was not happy to hear that. I felt like hitting him, but I
couldn’t move my arms.”
The decompression chamber coordinator noticed the
reaction from Andrew and said ‘let’s get you in the
chamber and see what happens’.
Andrew was in the chamber for eight hours and slept the
whole time. “I just thought it would fix everything and I
would walk out the next morning,” he says. “I had golf
booked for the next day that I was looking forward to. But
I still couldn’t move my body after the treatment.”
He was admitted to North Shore Hospital for two weeks.
Every day he went to the Naval Base for decompression
treatment. From there he was transferred to the Auckland
Spinal Unit for his rehabilitation.
Andrew was fortunate to have a patient who had suffered
a similar decompression sickness in the spinal cord come
and visit him. He was 65 years old, and he gave Andrew
great insight into what it would be like and what his life
would be like going forward.
“I asked him ‘what percentage are you normal’? He said
about 95 percent and was walking around. That gave me
hope. He saw me standing up and he said “mate you are
already way ahead of where I was at the same stage”. That
got me quite excited that I was going to make progress
and get back to normal. I asked him how long he stayed in
the Spinal Unit and he said ‘Six months’.
“In my head I calculated because he said I was ahead of
him, I thought I would be out in about a week.” But that
didn’t prove to be the case.
“I was in too much of a rush”
He met with the Auckland Spinal Unit staff who said he
would stay for six weeks which Andrew did not agree
with. “I thought I was going to be out in a week. We found
a compromise where I stayed for three weeks. In
hindsight, I shouldn’t have left the Spinal Unit. It was a
really supportive environment. I was in too much of a
rush.”
When he got home, he struggled with everyday living. He
wasn’t ready. “I shouldn’t have been driving my car. The
cramping and the spasms I had around my ankles and
legs were quite concerning. Being stubborn as I am, I just
pushed through.”
He fell over in the shower more times than he can
remember, or he’d be out grocery shopping and his legs
would just give way on him.
“Standing up for a long period was a real struggle for me.
It was agony.” His internal functions, the bladder and
bowel weren’t working. He was told that his first point of
A scary time. Andrew went to the Devonport Naval Base every
day for two weeks to have decompression treatment.
contact was his GP. He was frustrated that he wasn’t
getting specialist support that he needed.
“I know I should have stayed longer at the Spinal Unit, so I
would be more prepared for the outside world. I should
have been more receptive on the first day and not wanting
to be independent and leave after one week. I should have
stayed and got their support.”
While there was a tough physical recovery going on,
Andrew was also trying to win the mental battle.
He completed testing with a psychiatrist and the outcome
was he had PTSD. There were also signs that he was
manic depressive.
“That didn’t sound great,” he laughs. “Although it
explained why I could all of a sudden crash and go into a
negative head space and literally implode and explode at
the same time. All of these past traumas would flood back
into my mind and it took a while to get past them.”
Andrew is currently seeing a neuro physio and says he has
made huge progress with his physical wellbeing.
“The psych support has helped me massively. I can cope
with things much better now. It has been huge progress
from four or five years ago.”
Finding his new passion
His renewed positive mental state saw him look into new
opportunities and he found golf.
Andrew looked for community groups for disabled golf in
New Zealand and found nothing.