Skip to main content

5 weeks, 3 days

I've decided to start a blog on my experiences with my halo cervical neck brace.

I've searched and searched for other peoples experiences and can't find much. There are a lot of questions being asked and not a lot of answers. I will attempt to be as honest as possible about my experience in the hopes that someone finds this and makes their stay in the brace a little bit easier.

I was fitted with a cervical neck brace, also known as a Halo, on October 18, 2009. One day after my very very bad motorcycle crash.

Comments

  1. This is so wierd...ok maybe not that wierd but still. My name is also Katie (yours is Kate, right) and I got a halo brace on October 17. Kinda a coincidence. I think this was a really great thing of you to do as, like you say, there aren't many 'answers' around about halo braces, something that at the time, I really struggled with. I had/ have never met anyone else with a halo and even though I was at an amazing hospital, even some of the doctors and most of the nurses were unfamiliar with such a contraption. Good on you and I hope you're all better now!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 weeks, 3 days

It's hard to believe that if I would have had to keep the Halo on for the full duration I would only have been free 3 days. I also can hardly fathom that its only been 3 weeks since the damn thing came off. I went in for xrays on the 4th and had my final doctor appointment. While I was waiting for the xrays to come back a girl walked in with a Halo on. She appeared to have no other injuries and was walking on her own and seemed almost comfortable looking but she made no eye contact with anyone but her family. I wanted to speak to her and see how she was doing, but was too shy to approach her and her large family. My recovery from the accident is ongoing. Now that the Halo is off I just want to feel normal again! Other parts of my body are taking there sweet time. I still have neck soarness and can't sleep normally. I've tried sleeping on my stomach, but the bend in my lower back is too much to bear. I can sleep on my sides, but stupidly got my tattoo touched up last S...

I slept through the night

Yes, that's right, I slept through the night! OMFG! I'll post a picture later of the sleep position. I took a muscle relaxer and a pain med and laid on my back with a pillow just above my shoulders and a rolled towel under my neck. I was on the couch rather than my bed. The couch supports my right side if I need to turn slightly on my side. well, whatever! I feel good and that's all that matters right now. In the last 6 weeks I have slept through the night maybe once or twice. I dread going to sleep - knowing I will wake up in excruciating pain 3-4 hours later. No pain medication or muscle relaxer has worked. Some people refer to it as a "stiff neck". It is a sharp pain on the left side of my neck just above my shoulder. The pain also radiates on the back of my skull below the left pin. All I can do is rub the area and wait as the pain subsides. I will typically wake up to pain and know that I have to get up and readjust my position. Getting up is what m...