The cervical collar is toast. I hope. But the doctor says to keep it for now, in case my neck starts hurting. But for now I got to remove the accursed thing which rose up in the back to midway up my skull– a real challenge for my hair style. (Part of my hair in the back was in the collar and the rest was outside the collar.) And a challenge for normal movement ie turning and bending my head. Understandably my neck feels funny, like when a cast is removed from a previously broken limb. I’ve been used to all that support as well as used to it being hot and stuffy from my chin to my collar bone. The flexing x-rays showed normal neck movement so I even get to sleep with a pillow tonight, if I want one.
Now if I could just get rid of the TCO jacket, the clamshell, wouldn’t that be awesome. But for now, I’ll keep myself happy with being able to turn my head!
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Nadja Maril, Writer & Author 
I found this post by doing a Google search. I am currently sporting an Aspen neck brace myself, post mountain biking accident and am counting the seconds until my 6-week CT scan (also known as Groundhog Day). Just wanted to tell you I feel your pain, I’m crazy happy for you and just a teensy bit jealous. 🙂 Congratulations, just the same!
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Jason-
It’s less painful to count by the week. On Wednesday ie in two more days from now, I will be three weeks away from the elimination of my Total Contact Orthosis jacket which I have nicknamed “the clamshell”. Yes, it is all tough going, To add insult to injury, I lost my job last week. It is definitely a tough world out there. Chin up! And of of course in your situation, you have no choice but to keep your chin up.
Stay strong and one day you’ll be able to tell some good stories about your ordeal.
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Sorry to hear about the job situation…I actually went back and read that post. That stings that you went out of your way to get back to work so quickly and then were shown the door so soon thereafter. I really had a hard time being seen in public in mine at first. Maybe it’s a guy thing.
Thanks for the encouragement! I’m looking forward to reading your blog. To think I only had to break my spine in 3 places to find it! 🙂
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Did you break your spine in the Thoracic, Lumbar, and Cervical Portions as I did? I get this odd look when I tell people, like how did you manage to spread out those fractures so that they hit three different sections?
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Two cervical and one compression fracture on my thoracic. Fortunately, my lumbar were spared, though I broke my fifth lumbar playing sports back in high school, so maybe I got a freebie this time. LOL What a mess!
On the bright side, I was told one of the vertebrae I fractured at the base of my skull was the one associated with diving into shallow water and paralysis, so if your situation was like mine, we were both extremely lucky. Or unlucky, depending on your perspective…
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