What Can Happen When You Work with a Great Medical Team

This is a guest post on the EasyStand Blog, by Rhonda Clark.

Having Cerebral Palsy for almost 40 years now, working with many physical therapists (PT), occupational therapists (OT), and medical doctors (MD) has pretty much become the norm for me. Over the past 13 years I’ve had the privilege of working with some of what I consider the best PT’s, OT’s, and  MD’s. That is not to say that the PT’s and OT’s that I had prior to 1996 weren’t good ones, but for me it took moving to Nashville, TN to find what I believe is the medical team that really made the difference for me.

The Cost of Dependence
I have had my own place to live since December of 1987, but at that time I still needed someone to dress and bathe me because I couldn’t do it on my own.  Once I was put in my wheelchair I was pretty independent.  In the state of Tennessee if you are the least bit independent, home health care is not paid for unless it is for a medical reason.  So, due to the fact that I wasn’t able to dress or bathe myself I put an ad in the newspaper and hired someone to come in twice a day to get me up in the morning and assist with ADL’s and come back at night and put me to bed.  The person I hired was great, but I wanted to be more independent, get up when I wanted to and go to bed when I wanted to.  Not to mention the fact that it was very costly to pay someone twice a day to help me.

Independently Dressing & Bathing Myself … for the most part
In February of 1996 that I met Jennifer Etheridge (the first PT that I worked with when I moved to Nashville). So, one day while working with Jennifer in physical therapy I asked her, “Do you think I’ll ever be able to dress myself? She said, “I don’t know let’s try.”  The first thing I had to learn was to sit up by myself from a lying position.   I felt like a fish out of water trying to sit up.  After several attempts and me saying, “I can’t.”  Jennifer sat me up and said, “We don’t say I can’t in here, do you understand me?”  She laid me back down and I was so mad and frustrated at the fact that I couldn’t sit up that somehow I was finally able to sit up.  After months, many laughs and tears, I was finally able to bathe and dress myself except for socks, AFO’s (braces) and shoes.  When I first started dressing myself it would take me four hours to get ready and now I’ve got it down to an hour.

When I first started dressing myself it would take me four hours to get ready and now I’ve got it down to an hour.

A Second Opinion Changed My Life
I had pain  in both of shoulders since I used crutches to walk for so many years.  I never could walk that far, but I did walk.  One morning in February 2004 I woke up with my right shoulder hurting so bad that I couldn’t move, talk, or hardly breathe the pain was so great.  I was able to get the phone to call a friend to help me out of bed and get dressed.  Then I called Jennifer and told her what was going on.  She asked if I called my orthopedist, and I said yes and he couldn’t see me until the end of March.

Here I am with one of the great members of my medical team, Dr. J. Craig Morrison, Orthopedic Surgeon.

Jennifer said she would make a call to Dr. J. Craig Morrison to see if he would see me, if for nothing else a second opinion.  Well, that second opinion changed my life forever.  When I went to Dr. Morrison my right hand was tightly fisted shut and was stuck to my chest with my elbow pointing straight up in the air as it had been for 34 years.  I talked with Dr. Morrison at length and the only thing that he would guarantee me was that he would get me out of pain.  After a few MRI’s, surgery was scheduled for April 2004, I had what is called shoulder impingent, bone rubbing up against bone.

Socks, AFO’s, and Shoes No Longer Stop Me
Two days after the surgery I began outpatient physical therapy with Kim McPhail.  One of my goals was to be able to use my crutches enough to safely and independently transfer in the bathroom and get in and out of bed.  One day when Kim was working on my shoulder my hand opened for the first time in 34 years, and I started to cry.  It was a Whhooo Hooo moment for sure!  Dr. Morrison won’t take the credit for it and neither will Kim.  The new goal that I had was to take communion in my hand at church just like everyone else and I accomplished it.  It is so cool to be able to use my hand now.  In 2005, Dr. Morrison performed the same surgery on my left shoulder because I was having pain like I had with the right.  I went back to Kim for physical therapy, and after we finished I began occupational therapy because I wanted to be able to learn how to put my socks on.  With the help of my OT Dawn Brennan I was able to put my socks on in one week.  Then came the AFO’s and shoes.  The first time I put on my socks, AFO’s, and shoes it was the coolest thing because that was the one thing that was stopping me from being independent.

The first time I put on my socks, AFO’s, and shoes it was the coolest thing because that was the one thing that was stopping me from being independent.

The bottom line is this: Set realistic goals, make sure your goals are heard, and that whoever you’re working with also has those goals in mind.  My goal, way back when, was full independence.  I am very fortunate to achieve and maintain my goal, because I worked, and still work, with the team that made a difference for me!

Do you have someone in your life who has made “all the difference”? Has your medical team helped you express and achieve your goals?