Is there anyone else here who sustained their SCI due to tumors (or who knows someone who did)? If so how have you (they)been medically treated?
Also, is there anyone who has developed a syrinx and if so were they able to participate in contact sports (either in a wheelchair or not) after surgical intervention to alleviate that pressure on their spinal chord?
I was injured in 1970, C5-6-7. I competed i w/c sports from 1975 through thelate 80's. There was an interruption in that time line. I developed a syrnix. I think it started after another auto accident in 83. It took a long time to diagnose. MRI's were kind of new. I lost my right hand. They (docs) kept telling me I wasn't letting the "whiplash" heal. I couldn't even hold a javlin anymore. I went from local to USF to NYU (who wanted to do ab exploritory spinal operation and preformed my 1st anterior fusion in 1970) to Duke where a cousin was a neurologist. There they found the syrnix through a level by level cat scan using contrast dye. I was in surgery early the next am. That all took time and I had the surgery in Sept of 1985. The syrnix had grown by then from T-7 up to C-3. My cousin was in the operating room. He said it was about to burst my spinal cord. They did a lamenectomy, inserted a shunt to keep spinal fluid moving and closed the area. The shunt has since turned sideways causing pain.I never got my good hand function back but did get back some of what I lost. I won't have another spinal operation due to having tri-cepts. If I feel my tri-cepts getting weak , I would consider it. I continued participating in sports but changed to only track events. dash
Dash that sounds horrendous I had surgery to alleviate a syrinx in my chord (thoracic region) and am worried I wont be able to play wheelchair rugby, hence the question. Still waiting for my surgeons reply... it's taking forever... Gd I hope I can, its the only sport I enjoy now
I was advised not to sleep on my waterbed for at least 6mos. Rugby can be rough. I kind of lived a "risky" lifestyle (have fallen backwards, off curbs...). I eased back into it after I finally believed they could just lay the spinal bone back w/out any brace, nuts and/or bolts. I have been told the area fused w/ hip bone in 1970 is probably stronger then a "normal" spine. dash
Pauline, I have a syrinx that has been shunted twice, it occured following my SCI.
About playing contact sports, I can imagine there would be a risk if you were to come out a certain way or receive a really severe knock. But if its something that you love, why would you stop just because it 'could' happen...imo.
my mate i play rugby with had a shunt inserted. took him out of rugby for a season. he returned and is now playing. he takes the hits etc, still has the worrying in the back of his mind but has been fine the past 2 years and now is playing at international level.
however there have been times where he broke out in sweats on one side of his body for no reason which he attributed to being hit and moving the shunt. but he came right on his own. may have happended a few times from memory. had nrii's or whatever which showed it was still fine. so playing rugby is fine.. at your own risk
My husband had an ependomoma(sic?) at T2-3 ten years ago. He was losing mobility and the surgery finished off the walking he was still able to do. He also had radiation. We now say that if we had it to do over, we would maybe try radiation first. He is now incomplete from mid chest down. I think now it would have been treated differently. No syrinx.
I have had 2 spinal cord tumors and 2 syrnix with the 1st tumor. They were both removed surgically at Johns Hopkins by Dr. George Jallo. He'll look at MRI's for nothing if you're looking for another opinion. In my case, once the tumor was removed the syrnix went away on their own without a shunt. As for the sports question I can't answer that. But someone on the forum for spinalcordtumor.org may know.
