will my damaged nerves in bowel/ bladder area (sacrum) ever repair themselves?

hi, im 21 years old, and was in a severe car accident in mid-september. to sum up the story, i had 7 fractures in my pelvis and sacrum area (among other injuries). i had surgery a few days later and had very intricate hardware put in due to the trickiness of where to place it all because of my shattered pelvis. what concerned my doctors most was where my sacrum had broken and severed the nerves that controlled my bowel and bladder functions, and whether or not id be able to go to the bathroom normally. well, for the most part, i pulled through there, which im thankful for. but im still experiencing numbness in my butt, back of my legs, and alot of my genitals, which is a little troublesome when urinating, and very troublesome to think about in terms of never getting my sensation back for personal reasons. my boyfriend and i are very concerned with the possibility that i may never get back to normal and this breaks my heart. this is the only long lasting effect i have from my surgery, im wondering if its possible for these nerves to ever be repaired. i know if they are peripheral nerves, they usually eventually repair themselves, especially in young people, but i believe since they are stemming directly off the spinal cord, theyre in the central nervous system, and they wont repair. id think if they were able to repair, i wouldve noticed by now, its 2 1/2 months since my surgery. my mom says my bodys been working on healing so many other things, its just beginning to regenerate those nerves. i used to have numbness and tingling in my feet after the surgery & about a month and a half ago, i started getting severe pain in my feet, they were extremely sensitive, but the pain slowly subsided and i have no pain anymore, im assuming it was the nerves repairing themselves, but if my feet have gone through nerve repair, shouldnt my genitals too? ive had shooting pains every now and then in my vagina but i guess im not sure because i cant really compare it to the feeling i had in my feet. also, when i last visited my drs, i told them i still have numbness on the back of my legs and butt, i didnt say anything about my genitals, but he said that numbness may last forever :( ... this thought is plaguing me, please help!

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Well, nerves have a limited ability to regenerate and as you already know the ability is far less in CNS. Whether or not is the sensation likely to return is a question of debate and I would like to give it 6 months to 1 year for development of signs of improvement. Also to mention that the return of sensation is more likely to be partial than complete. Sensation from the genitals or precisely the orgasm is not completely nerve related and is more of a neuro-endocrine response. Well, instead of looking at the negatives I would suggest looking at the positive things of having survived a rough accident. God willing you may recover well.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!