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WHEEL WORLD NEWS
June 2018
Philadelphia. I sustained a C6-7 fracture. I was fortunate to be taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, considering it was a regional SCI hospital. After an initial blood clot, that formed quickly, finally healed, I had a successful cervical surgery and started my recovery. After two months, I went to Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital had a crossover program with Magee. The resident doctors would work at both during their education. After four months of therapy, I was discharged. I went to live with my parents just outside of Buffalo, NY. After four years of dealing with the cold and snow, I moved to Phoenix, AZ.
As with just about every SCI, the challenges were immense. I was only 24 years old and working my first job out of college. My life was just beginning to take shape and now I was back to square one. I was starting my life over from the beginning. Learning how to feed myself, dress, shower, brush my teeth etc. It was a struggle as I learned in therapy how to do all these activities as well as pushing myself around in a wheelchair. And now throw in all the emotional stuff to deal with as well and it can be overwhelming. When I heard the words "you will probably never walk again," I had two choices: accept it or deny it. I initially denied it and busted my tail in all my therapies to prove the doctors were wrong. Denial can be a great motivator, but there comes a time when I had to accept it and decide how I wanted to spend the remaining days of my life. That time for me was just before my discharge. With the help of the staff, I was moving forward with my life plans as I left Philadelphia. There is a great line in the movie "Forrest Gump" when Lt. Dan pulls Forrest out of the hospital bed. While they are laying on the floor, Lt. Dan asks, "What am I going to do now?" I spent a lot of time pondering that same question. I talked with both my physical and occupational therapists about this as well as the psychologist at great length. Luckily, back in 1985, I had 6 months to get your life in order before going back into society. The first few years after discharge were difficult. After several bouts of UTI's and a few hospital stays, I finally learned enough about my body to know when a UTI was coming
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