Long Stem Transverse Myelitis

On May 22 my big brother, (who is two yrs older than me) went to the Lexington ER. He was having severe pains throughout his body and hadn't urinated in two days. They gave him a catheder to relieve his bladder, gave him some pain meds, and told him to come back if he didn't pee within 8 hrs. He went back to the ER that evening as instructed if he continued to have problems. The Dr was SO rude! To make a long story short and keep me from gossiping he sent Jesse home with a "take home" catheder and told him to see a Urologist within two days. I don't know about you, but I don't know of any Drs. offices that are open on the weekends other than Pediatrics and Urgent cares. Anway...Jesse ended up going back to the hospital on May 23, (Saturday) and was taken to Richland Hospital this time. They definitely knew something wasn't right so they did an MRI and noticed that he had abnormalities on his spine and that it was inflamed. They did more MRI's a couple Spinal Taps. On Monday afternoon he was finally diagnosed with Long Stem Transverse Myelitis. TM is a neurological disorder caused by inflamation across both sides of one level, or segment of the spinal cord. The segment of the spinal cord where the damage exsists determines which parts of the body are affected. Damage at one segment will affect function at that segment and segments below it. So his inflamed spinal cord is putting tons of pressure on the nerves around it causing them to mis-fire sending excrutiating pain throughout his body. The Drs. have been great and he's been put on steroids so the swelling will go down. There isn't a cure at the time for TM. From the research I've done I've learned that the most critical part of treatment for TM is keeping the patient's body functioning and hoping for a complete or partial spontaneous recovery of the nervous system. The article also said that recovery usually begins within 2-12wks of the onset of symptoms and can continue for up to 2yrs. It also says that about 1/3 of ppl with TM experience good or full recovery from their symptoms. TM is a cousin to MS. People with MS can get episodes of TM, but you can't get MS from TM, thankfully. We're just waiting to see if there's any nerve damage. We were told at one point that Jesse may have lost his ability to control his bowels and urinate on his own. We will see how things go today when they take the catheder out again to see if he can urinate on his own. We pray he'll be able to soon! Please pray for him and his family. His wife is also 17 wks pregnant and I know she could use our prayers too!