Rehabilitation Awareness Celebration Week

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Nurse Diane

In July, my husband's cousin, a Navy Seal, was injured in an accident out of the country.  He had fallen into a ravine, and broke his leg which was bad enough, but then he became infected with the flesh eating bacteria.  Luckily for him, Aimee Copeland from Geogia had just acquired the disease, so a new drug had been designed to combat it.  Instead of losing his leg, they only had to remove parts of the flesh that was affected. Currently he is beginning the rehabilitation process. The surgeons had to install metal rods and screws to his bone for recovery.  Being a Navy SEAL he was in top physical condition, and has been working hard to return back to his career with the SEALS.  This will take a lot of professional rehabilitation, and a lot of hard work, however with his determination; I know he will be successful.  As for Aimee Copeland, she was recently invited to the Katie Couric show wearing prosthetics on her arms and her leg, and was able to get around painlessly, and has a great attitude on life.

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A few weeks ago a friend of my father's was on a ladder doing some work on his home.  Somehow, he fell off the ladder and landed on concrete.  He broke several bone and was flown to the state's capital for emergency surgery.  After the surgery, he had several close calls, mostly with his breathing and alot of confusion.  Luckily his medical conditions improved, and with his bones healing, he was just transferred to the Rehab hospital to begin working on his physical functions.

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This week is Rehabilitation Awareness Celebration.  The purpose of Rehab is to reeducate your body after a trauma.  After my husband's accident, he was sent to Rehab hospital, however, his spinal injury prevented any type of recovery, but he was able to assist with transferring himself from the bed to his wheelchair, or to the bathroom.  Results from Rehab do not happen quickly, it requires several repetitions of doing the same exercise.  Not only are you strengthening your body and muscles, but you are also retraining your brain to perform these functions.  Rehab doesn’t just happen after a physical injury, but takes place after medical traumas as well such as a stroke or surgery.  A very active friend of mine recently had a pacemaker installed.  After his surgery, he was unable to exercise for 4 weeks, including even lifting his arm over his head.  He will soon be able to return back to his routine of walking and bike riding with the assistance and observations of the Cardiac Rehab center.

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While we celebrate the work of the rehab therapists this week, be thankful for all the great work they do to help people return back to their normal, or close to normal way of life.  For more information visit this site:  http://www.rehabpub.com/