A Poem About Pin Cleaning from the Perth Halo Clinic Poet Laureate.

The twice-daily ritual of pin-cleaning must be,
The worst part of having a halo. You see,
There are four open holes circumferencing my head,
And they are all prone to getting wicked infected.

The little bacterial beasties always attempt to attack,
We must use cotton buds and blue liquid to fight them back.
And also make sure skin doesn't grow up on the pins,
Otherwise you can't tell where head stops and halo begins.

It's been the battleground for many a row,
As a duty my father would rather disavow.
But he keeps returning to the task, like a knight does to battle.
Which is even braver than someone whom the job doesn't rattle.

The task must be done twice daily, every day, every week
Over three long months, we refine the technique.
We have done it 134 times to date.
Only 34 to go.... we can't wait.

Other Halo Brace Blogs

I'm compiling a list of other blogs which talk about having a halo brace. Reading these other peoples' accounts has been helpful. It normalises what I've been going through, and shows the diversity of the experience. I have been upset, angry, frustrated and stinky, and that's fine because heaps of other people have been as well. The same people have also been stoic and philosophical as well, in the face of even greater challenges. That's a great example to follow.

It would have been nice to have found a site with people who are going through the halo experience right now (Feb 2015), but obsessively googling hasn't revealed much. This Facebook group about broken necks, and my halo clinic, is probably the closest I will get.

If I find any more useful blogs, I'll add them to the list below.

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Kate: Female, Motorbike accident, C2
Very honest and articulate. Doesn't sugarcoat the experience at all. Also a little bit about the aftermath, which is pretty hard to find.
 
the girl at the traffic light junction: Female, Trampoline accident, C1 & C2
Actually looks glamorous in the halo. Trampoline accident is pretty much on-par with waterslide accident in terms of "How in the world did you screw that up?".

Aden: Male, Cycling accident, C1 & C2
His list of Top 10 questions received mirrors my list almost exactly.

Bourney's Blog: Male, Swimming Pool accident, C7 & T1, with paralysis. Based in Perth, Australia.
Written by the wife of a man who had an accident in Bali. I love the photos down the right side showing Simon out and about in Perth.

Nadine (Spinejuice): Female. Home interior decorating accident. C5 & ligaments.
Very detailed about her experiences, and quite humorous.

Olivia Moon: Female, Car accident, C2 & T6. Ended up having surgery. Based in Australia.
Halo brace is a part of her regular blog. Some good photography.

Charlie: Female, Horse riding accident, C2 & C7.

Sue: Female, Car accident.



Single page stories

Katie Pie: Female, Motorbike accident, C2.
Less day to day, but some good info compiled in one place.

Clarisse. Acknowledges the existence of sex in a halo, and uh takes it to the next level. You go, girl.

Sakura: Shows her (lack of) scar.

H2G2: A couple of entries about halo braces. Some useful information about day to day activities.



There has been a dearth of halo experiences related to thoracic spine injuries. As a result I'm not sure what I can look forward to once the halo comes off. Will I have back pain? Will I need surgery? Will I have full movement in my shoulders? And will I ever be able to reach the high cups again??? Suspense to be resolved in 2.5 weeks (and counting).

Good Things About Being an Angel

Let's play the positivity game and list a couple of ways the vest has benefited me! 

• Bartenders and wait staff fall over themselves to help you.
• At High Tea the other day we waited for 15 minutes for a fresh batch of sandwiches. I stuck my hand up, and the waitress was right there.

• Strangers become very helpful
• A woman saw I was trying to blindly put my phone in my bag and kindly and unexpectedly lifted my bag for me, to my total confusion because I couldn't see what was happening.

• Weight loss
• The vest is a rigid shell fitting right over my stomach. There is a hard limit to how much I can fit in my belly at any one time. That, together with increased energy requirements, means that I have lost 5kg! Yippee! 
• (I hope that's not all muscle.)

• You don't have your head falling down awkwardly when you fall asleep watching TV.

• You never have to be designated driver. 
• You can drink your wine with a straw.
• Rock-hard abs.

So many wins! Looks like I might have to keep the vest around after it comes off.

Halo Clinic - Week Nine

Week nine, and we are limping towards the finish line!

This is the face I will make to whoever takes it off.

The posterior pins remain crusty with some "over-granulation". I googled that and saw the gross images so you don't have to. Normal granulation is when the wound heals properly and lovely pink tissue with new connective tissue and tiny capillaries grows over the wound. Overgrannulation is when the wound heals beyond the surface of the skin, which prevents capillaries from moving across the surface of the wound, delaying healing.

To fix it, they kill off some of the proud flesh using silver nitrate. Stings like a mofo, but only for a little while. Then it just continues to sting a moderate amount, all day long.

If the pins continue to cause trouble they ~might~ consider taking it off as of next week (10 weeks!) but I'm not going to hang my hat on it, when I can hang several hats off all these handy bars instead.

It has been quite a lovely week, with seeing a lot of friends, and I'm looking forward to a Hen's High Tea for the weekend. I feel better about attending Neil and Sarah's wedding in the halo, since I've learned the other young fellow in my halo clinic is also attending a wedding. But whereas my only responsibilities are draining the open bar dry ("Alcohol is the only thing that helps with the pain!" gets you served very quickly) and dancing the robot, he gets to fly to Tasmania and be the MC. Game, set, checkmate to Roshy.

The Aluminum Monster

I normally wear a shirt under the brace, and a loose one over the brace, so not many people in public have seen the full kit. Today I happened to be wearing my dress underneath, so here's what that looks like.

This is the height of fashion for me right now!

Hair update

Two months of hairgrowth has taken me from biker chic to little boy.

 

 

Halo Clinic - Week Eight

The left posterior pin has broken a perfect run and lost pressure for the first time, decreasing from 8 to 5. The tightening was unusually unpleasant and has left me with a bit of a headache. However, it has answered the question of, has the screw fused with my skull? Apparently not yet.

The nurse also confirmed what everyone was wondering and said that, "The infection was deep. We were basically down to the bone". Totally unlikely, but I just can't shake the paranoia that when I lie down, the pin will puncture through some rotten skull and pop my brain. That's what I get for scholar googling "halo brace complications" and learning the phrase, "cerebrospinal fluid leakage from a halo pinhole".

Don't never trust Dr Google!

Also, I hope I'm as classy a bobblehead as Clooney when the halo comes off. We have similar haircuts.

Stay gold, George.