Classes in Austin on How to Learn to Walk Again

The get-go indication something was wrong with Mike Drumm was when he tried to unscrew a bottle of water that had already been opened. His hands were and so weak he could not do it. Unsure every bit to what was happening he decided to wait to see how he felt the next solar day. When he climbed out of bed the following morning he had problem walking. Mike's wife, Pam, had seen plenty. She quickly drove Mike the short few blocks from their Sandusky residence to the Emergency Room at Firelands Regional Medical Center.

"After the ER doctors had examined me and asked me several questions, one of them knew right abroad what I had – Guillain-Barré syndrome," remembers Mike.

What is Guillain-Barre Syndrome?

A relatively rare illness, Guillain-Barré syndrome occurs when the body'south allowed organization attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The start symptoms of this disorder include varying degrees of weakness or tingling sensations in the legs. In many instances, the weakness and abnormal sensations spread to the arms and upper trunk. These symptoms tin can increment in intensity until the muscles cannot be used at all and the patient is almost totally paralyzed.

Commonly Guillain-Barré syndrome occurs a few days or weeks subsequently the patient has had a respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infection. Occasionally, surgery will trigger the syndrome. The disorder can develop over the course of hours or days, or it may take up to three to four weeks. It is not known why Guillain-Barré strikes some people and not others or what sets the affliction in move. What is known is that the body's allowed organization begins to assault the trunk itself, causing an autoimmune disease.

Three days subsequently he was admitted to Firelands Regional Medical Center, Mike historic his 65th birthday. Mike was in the intensive intendance unit (ICU), paralyzed from the neck down, breathing with the help of a ventilator and receiving nourishment through a feeding tube inserted in his nose.

The standard handling for Guillain-Barré is to remove or block the proteins that assail the nerve cells, called antibodies, by using high-dose immunoglobulin therapy (IVIG). The immunoglobulins are added to the claret in large quantities through IVs, blocking the antibodies that crusade inflammation. Mike was given half-dozen treatments of IVIG. He gradually was able to move again, and after one and a half weeks in ICU, was transferred to the Inpatient Rehabilitation Programme at Firelands Regional Medical Center.

"I started rehab very strong, actually pushing myself, but instead of becoming stronger, I felt weaker," says Mike. "Afterwards a week in rehab I had a relapse and the paralysis happened again. This fourth dimension, the nerves affected were in my chest and diaphragm, causing me to slowly suffocate."

Mike was given 2 options - he could receive more IVIG therapy at Firelands, or he could be transferred to Cleveland, where he could undergo plasmapheresis, a procedure used to remove the antibodies from the blood. The process involves taking claret from the body, commonly from the arm, pumping information technology into a car that removes the antibodies, and then sending it back into the body. He chose the plasmapheresis.

Mike Returns to Inpatient Rehabilitation

Afterwards spending a week and a half in Cleveland, where he received seven plasmapheresis treatments, Mike returned to the Inpatient Rehabilitation Programme at Firelands Regional Medical Center. "When I left Firelands, I told the rehab nurses I would be back. Later on I learned that most of them were agape I wouldn't. The doctors in Cleveland thought the aforementioned thing a few times during my stay there," remembers Mike.

Mike did brand it back to rehab, and he surpassed all expectations. "For nearly of my stay I worked with pupil therapist Brian Sabo. We hit it off correct away. He would push me, I would push button dorsum, and he pushed me harder. I credit myself, Brian and my wife for my recovery. We are the ones who turned me around," says Mike. "When I left Cleveland, the doctors told my wife not to look me to walk for six months to a year and information technology might take two years for me to recover completely. When I was discharged afterward half-dozen weeks of inpatient rehab at Firelands I was able to walk with the aid of a walker."

Adds Pam, "Patty Gerber (Brian'due south supervisor) and Brian spent many hours and a lot of hard piece of work getting Mike to walk again. Everyone was auspicious and there weren't too many dry eyes when Mike walked less than six weeks after he began rehab. We take never experienced such dedication and delivery to helping someone. Plenty can't exist said well-nigh the back up and encouragement they gave Mike."

Pam and Mike's gratitude also extend to all the nurses, orderlies, and other rehab team members, including his example manager Donna Furrer. "She is one of the nigh helpful and kindest people I've ever met. Not only did she keep us informed and upwardly-to-engagement on all issues, but she was very helpful with all our insurance questions and problems," says Pam. "Dr. Christopher Parnell, Mike's rehab doctor, was very encouraging. Nosotros both admire and respect him."

After existence discharged from the inpatient rehabilitation facility at Firelands Regional Medical Centre, Mike continued his rehab in the outpatient programme at Firelands for another four weeks. Six months after his symptoms began, he returned to his job as a process application engineer at JBT Nutrient Tech (formerly Sam Stein Associates) in Sandusky. Mike has since retired. He has little residual effects from his illness. His legs aren't quite as strong and he cannot straighten the fingers on his left manus. "For some reason my left hand was so bloated I was unable to do therapy. Considering of that the tendons shrank, simply my fingers notwithstanding piece of work. I can practise about 95 pct of what I employ to do."

Today Mike spends his summers with Pam working seven acres of belongings they own near Ashland. Pam, a master gardener cultivates several flower gardens, and Mike enjoys mowing the grass and helping Pam however he can. This past wintertime he began volunteering at Firelands Regional Medical Center in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Program'south concrete therapy department, helping the staff as well equally offering encouragement to patients.

"Rehab can exist very tough," said Mike. "I know because I went through it myself. It's piece of cake to get depressed and discouraged. If I see a patient who is fix to give up I tell them my story and how difficult rehab was for me. Near of the time that makes them piece of work harder, and that makes me experience like I am really helping them. I also like to joke around and get the patients to express mirth. Seeing them grinning while they're straining and so hard to do an exercise is a dandy feeling."

What is Inpatient Rehabilitation?

Firelands Regional Medical Center provides the region's only Inpatient Rehabilitation Programme, which is a much more than intensive program than rehabilitation offered as outpatient or at skilled nursing facilities.
Firelands Regional Medical Center Inpatient Rehabilitation offers an intensive therapy program for patients transitioning from the hospital or post-surgery, for example. Patients benefit from their stay on the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit because:

• Therapy is provided a minimum of fifteen hours per week as compared to other facilities that may only provide three - 5 hours of therapy per week;
• Therapies are provided past a consistent staff of Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists;
• Physicians are specialized in Rehabilitation Medicine (Physiatry);
• Physicians are accessible daily and medically manage patients compared to other facilities in which physicians are only required to see patients monthly;
• Nurses are Certified and Registered in Rehabilitation Nursing (CRRN);
• RNs are on staff 24/7 compared to other programs where RNs may not be available on every shift;
• In that location is ane RN/LPN and 1 Rehab Technician for every ten patients - far above the state minimum of one State Tested Nurses Adjutant (STNA) for every 15 patients.

For more than information about Firelands Regional Medical Eye'due south Inpatient Rehabilitation Program, call 419-557-7836 or learn more here.

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Source: https://www.firelands.com/blog/how-inpatient-rehabilitation-helped-mike-learn-walk-again

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