Figure 1 Newspaper article announcing my appointment to Wingert’s Pharmacy
I finally realized I may never be able to be the Department Head of “my pharmacy” again. (At 52, I was hired to start a pharmacy in a grocery store and it quickly became my dream job, working for some of the best people ever, in a small town that quickly befriended me and won my heart.)
When my husband asked me to marry him, we had a long talk about children, raising them, religion and our professions. I had PharmD. Degree, before they were common – only 300 in the Nation and only a few women, and he was in college to become a physician. We both wanted to be active in our professions, but we both wanted children and I agreed to not work full time until they were out of college. Jack, my husband worked full time, and I did work part time, two days a week, to keep up to date with pharmacy. I was active in my profession, though part time, I did end up getting awards for my work with public relations and poison prevention including listed in Pharmacy Hall of Fame and becoming a Fellow, the highest award professionals can give to another professional. This was my time to give back to my profession. I was very excited to be offered this position and loved working there.
Before I interviewed for the position, I went into the store and talked to several employees asking them how they liked working there. All said that Mr. Wingert was a great boss and they loved working there.
I took the position.
When my husband asked me to marry him, we had a long talk about children, raising them, religion and our professions. I had PharmD. Degree, before they were common – only 300 in the Nation and only a few women, and he was in college to become a physician. We both wanted to be active in our professions, but we both wanted children and I agreed to not work full time until they were out of college. Jack, my husband worked full time, and I did work part time, two days a week, to keep up to date with pharmacy. I was active in my profession, though part time, I did end up getting awards for my work with public relations and poison prevention including listed in Pharmacy Hall of Fame and becoming a Fellow, the highest award professionals can give to another professional. This was my time to give back to my profession. I was very excited to be offered this position and loved working there.
Before I interviewed for the position, I went into the store and talked to several employees asking them how they liked working there. All said that Mr. Wingert was a great boss and they loved working there.
I took the position.
Figure 2 Why I did not make it to work that day
My boss, Mr. Wingert, came to my home to see how I was doing, and to bring me a turkey for Christmas. He told me that he to hire a replacement pharmacist. As a result of my severe injuries and disability following my car accident on my way to work, my boss had He had been told that I would never be able to come back to work. (The doctors did not tell me that until much later, as they wanted my desire to work, to give me the best chance of being able to walk again, though they always added, you never know...)
My boss told me that he was worried that “if the store caught fire, I would not be able to get out of the store in time.”
I went from my job filling prescriptions and counseling people on medications - prescription and non and medical devices, to getting prescriptions filled for me, doing physical therapy, undergoing multiple surgeries, multiple physician office appointments, using many different medical devices and adapting to life in a wheelchair.
Not my favorite Christmas ever.
At my worst, I was still unable to walk, but I could transfer from wheelchair to commode, with difficulty, but I could, my hands and thumbs hurt whether I used them or not and I could not even make it upstairs to go to bed with my husband. If it were not for my fantastic loving and caring family, including our grown and married daughters, their husbands, and sometimes tough love, I would not have been happy to have survived.
Two years later the foot was “healed” and it only took - 3 surgeries including foot fusion using part of my hip bone, multiple orthotics and multiple physical therapy sessions. I was told that was “all that could be done for my foot”. I have constant pain, limited motion of my foot and am unable to move my ankle side to side so if I lose my balance, I fall. But I have a foot. It does not work well, but it is attached. I can put some pressure on my fused foot, so I had hope that someday I could walk. I was now strong enough to transfer from wheelchair to commode, but not to walk, for any distance, yet.
My boss told me that he was worried that “if the store caught fire, I would not be able to get out of the store in time.”
I went from my job filling prescriptions and counseling people on medications - prescription and non and medical devices, to getting prescriptions filled for me, doing physical therapy, undergoing multiple surgeries, multiple physician office appointments, using many different medical devices and adapting to life in a wheelchair.
Not my favorite Christmas ever.
At my worst, I was still unable to walk, but I could transfer from wheelchair to commode, with difficulty, but I could, my hands and thumbs hurt whether I used them or not and I could not even make it upstairs to go to bed with my husband. If it were not for my fantastic loving and caring family, including our grown and married daughters, their husbands, and sometimes tough love, I would not have been happy to have survived.
Two years later the foot was “healed” and it only took - 3 surgeries including foot fusion using part of my hip bone, multiple orthotics and multiple physical therapy sessions. I was told that was “all that could be done for my foot”. I have constant pain, limited motion of my foot and am unable to move my ankle side to side so if I lose my balance, I fall. But I have a foot. It does not work well, but it is attached. I can put some pressure on my fused foot, so I had hope that someday I could walk. I was now strong enough to transfer from wheelchair to commode, but not to walk, for any distance, yet.
My boss, Mr. Wingert, came to my home to see how I was doing, and to bring me a turkey for Christmas. He told me that he to hire a replacement pharmacist. As a result of my severe injuries and disability following my car accident on my way to work, my boss had He had been told that I would never be able to come back to work. (The doctors did not tell me that until much later, as they wanted my desire to work, to give me the best chance of being able to walk again, though they always added, you never know...)
My boss told me that he was worried that “if the store caught fire, I would not be able to get out of the store in time.”
I went from my job filling prescriptions and counseling people on medications - prescription and non and medical devices, to getting prescriptions filled for me, doing physical therapy, undergoing multiple surgeries, multiple physician office appointments, using many different medical devices and adapting to life in a wheelchair.
Not my favorite Christmas ever.
At my worst, I was still unable to walk, but I could transfer from wheelchair to commode, with difficulty, but I could, my hands and thumbs hurt whether I used them or not and I could not even make it upstairs to go to bed with my husband. If it were not for my fantastic loving and caring family, including our grown and married daughters, their husbands, and sometimes tough love, I would not have been happy to have survived.
Two years later the foot was “healed” and it only took - 3 surgeries including foot fusion using part of my hip bone, multiple orthotics and multiple physical therapy sessions. I was told that was “all that could be done for my foot”. I have constant pain, limited motion of my foot and am unable to move my ankle side to side so if I lose my balance, I fall. But I have a foot. It does not work well, but it is attached. I can put some pressure on my fused foot, so I had hope that someday I could walk. I was now strong enough to transfer from wheelchair to commode, but not to walk, for any distance, yet.
My boss told me that he was worried that “if the store caught fire, I would not be able to get out of the store in time.”
I went from my job filling prescriptions and counseling people on medications - prescription and non and medical devices, to getting prescriptions filled for me, doing physical therapy, undergoing multiple surgeries, multiple physician office appointments, using many different medical devices and adapting to life in a wheelchair.
Not my favorite Christmas ever.
At my worst, I was still unable to walk, but I could transfer from wheelchair to commode, with difficulty, but I could, my hands and thumbs hurt whether I used them or not and I could not even make it upstairs to go to bed with my husband. If it were not for my fantastic loving and caring family, including our grown and married daughters, their husbands, and sometimes tough love, I would not have been happy to have survived.
Two years later the foot was “healed” and it only took - 3 surgeries including foot fusion using part of my hip bone, multiple orthotics and multiple physical therapy sessions. I was told that was “all that could be done for my foot”. I have constant pain, limited motion of my foot and am unable to move my ankle side to side so if I lose my balance, I fall. But I have a foot. It does not work well, but it is attached. I can put some pressure on my fused foot, so I had hope that someday I could walk. I was now strong enough to transfer from wheelchair to commode, but not to walk, for any distance, yet.
Fig 3 my foot after casting both with and without anesthesia
fig 4 what it took to make my foot stable which included large bolts, biggest staples I ever saw and some of my hip bone.
With my foot as good as it was going to get, I worked on building up arm muscles to use wheelchair. Hubby even built a large deck with square walking or wheelchair path so I could get outside and increase my endurance. It took a while, but gradually I was able to get up the ramp and go around the path.
This meant I could take the next step, for real – to fix my knees. Knees are another story. Apparently I am not the only person with issues with them.
This meant I could take the next step, for real – to fix my knees. Knees are another story. Apparently I am not the only person with issues with them.
Fig 5 and 6 Cartoons showing that I am not the only person with knee issues.
Figure 7 My knees were crushed by firewall and pinned so bad I could not move them.
Just like pro athletes, I trained my muscles by doing, doing, doing and more doing. There is a quick short cut to muscle activity that by passes the brain, but it is only learned by constant repetition by triggering muscle memory. The closest example I can think of is when you put your hand on a hot burner, you instinctively remove it. This action is a reflex in the spinal cord and requires less time than if that same nerve “signal” had to go to the brain to indicate your hand is on a hot burner, think of how to react, and send the signal back to the hand muscles to remove your hand.
Pro athletes use repetition to trigger the shortest circuit, the one in the muscles themselves, for actions related to survival. This survival instinct includes the ability to walk or run and is only triggered by constant repetition. When you are trying to relearn to walk it is fun to think that you are just doing what pro athletes do. My payment though is mobility, not millions of dollars, but when you cannot walk, being able to walk is payment enough.
It took more than just reinstating muscle memory to walk. But training my muscles to walk was the first step. I needed, and still use braces, to support and hold my leg muscles in correct positions, though they gradually got smaller as I grew stronger and now only use them intermittently.
I do walk now, albeit short distances, with a cane and I wear orthotics, but I CAN WALK.
Then of course, I reinjured my knee when I fell in the basement of my home. I was continuing my PT at home to build up stamina to walk. Not only did I fall, but my brace got caught under my treadmill. Thoughts of that commercial, “Help I have fallen and can’t get up” kept ringing in my head. I could not get up and just started laughing, then praying, that my hubby came home soon. That basement floor is cold! Luckily hubby came home from work shortly afterwards and helped me to free my braced leg. We both laughed. It is more funny now than it was at the time.
I was back in the wheelchair after this re-injury – unable to walk again. I fell quite a lot in the beginning, but now I am more vigilant watching for stones, pencils or uneven ground when I walk so rarely fall anymore.
I asked to go to PT again and this time I was able to go to one in Saginaw. Mel Svorinik, my physical therapist, did a maneuver on me that allowed me to walk without knee pain for almost an hour!
I am a home sewer, pilot and farrier, so I cut up old braces, re-bent carpal tunnel stays and WALKED into my next PT session! Mel told me “I am good, but not that good. What did you do?” I showed him the retrainer I cobbled together. He told me to patent it. I did. Now if only I had kept my mouth shut…..
But that is step three…
Mobility is critical to quality of life in modern America. While I still had my knees, they were injured and did not work well. Without functioning legs, a wheelchair was my ticket to mobility and improved quality of life. In my efforts to walk again, I asked to go to PT and for an orthotic. I had no proprioception in the right foot. I could feel pin prick, but when I stood up, I had no idea where the foot was unless I looked at it.
I drove 1.5 hours each way to Lansing, MI where I used state of the art new un-weighted walking on a treadmill 2 – 3 times a week. There I learned to walk by training my brain to “see” where my foot was without looking at it and to re-train my knee muscles, restoring normal muscle memory. I remember asking the therapist if I could wear the vest and weigh myself suspended, she gave me a resounding “NO”… Too bad, it is the quickest way I know to lose weight without chopping off something. My leg and foot muscles were weak from being in wheelchair so long and the multiple procedures I endured. I wore orthotics, some from hip to foot, some built into my shoes but they all helped me to build strength and walk.
Before I got my first orthotic, the one on the left, I asked the orthotist what were my chances to walk again. He said very small. I asked him, but in your experience, how many have been able to walk – He said I would be the first.
Sometimes it is not bad to be the first.
Figure 8 The many braces that I used to be able to walk. As I got better, they got smaller.
st like pro athletes, I trained my muscles by doing, doing, doing and more doing. There is a quick short cut to muscle activity that by passes the brain, but it is only learned by constant repetition by triggering muscle memory. The closest example I can think of is when you put your hand on a hot burner, you instinctively remove it. This action is a reflex in the spinal cord and requires less time than if that same nerve “signal” had to go to the brain to indicate your hand is on a hot burner, think of how to react, and send the signal back to the hand muscles to remove your hand.
Pro athletes use repetition to trigger the shortest circuit, the one in the muscles themselves, for actions related to survival. This survival instinct includes the ability to walk or run and is only triggered by constant repetition. When you are trying to relearn to walk it is fun to think that you are just doing what pro athletes do. My payment though is mobility, not millions of dollars, but when you cannot walk, being able to walk is payment enough.
It took more than just reinstating muscle memory to walk. But training my muscles to walk was the first step. I needed, and still use braces, to support and hold my leg muscles in correct positions, though they gradually got smaller as I grew stronger and now only use them intermittently.
I do walk now, albeit short distances, with a cane and I wear orthotics, but I CAN WALK.
Then of course, I reinjured my knee when I fell in the basement of my home. I was continuing my PT at home to build up stamina to walk. Not only did I fall, but my brace got caught under my treadmill. Thoughts of that commercial, “Help I have fallen and can’t get up” kept ringing in my head. I could not get up and just started laughing, then praying, that my hubby came home soon. That basement floor is cold! Luckily hubby came home from work shortly afterwards and helped me to free my braced leg. We both laughed. It is more funny now than it was at the time.
I was back in the wheelchair after this re-injury – unable to walk again. I fell quite a lot in the beginning, but now I am more vigilant watching for stones, pencils or uneven ground when I walk so rarely fall anymore.
I asked to go to PT again and this time I was able to go to one in Saginaw. Mel Svorinik, my physical therapist, did a maneuver on me that allowed me to walk without knee pain for almost an hour!
I am a home sewer, pilot and farrier, so I cut up old braces, re-bent carpal tunnel stays and WALKED into my next PT session! Mel told me “I am good, but not that good. What did you do?” I showed him the retrainer I cobbled together. He told me to patent it.
Now if only I had kept my mouth shut…..
But that is step three…
Pro athletes use repetition to trigger the shortest circuit, the one in the muscles themselves, for actions related to survival. This survival instinct includes the ability to walk or run and is only triggered by constant repetition. When you are trying to relearn to walk it is fun to think that you are just doing what pro athletes do. My payment though is mobility, not millions of dollars, but when you cannot walk, being able to walk is payment enough.
It took more than just reinstating muscle memory to walk. But training my muscles to walk was the first step. I needed, and still use braces, to support and hold my leg muscles in correct positions, though they gradually got smaller as I grew stronger and now only use them intermittently.
I do walk now, albeit short distances, with a cane and I wear orthotics, but I CAN WALK.
Then of course, I reinjured my knee when I fell in the basement of my home. I was continuing my PT at home to build up stamina to walk. Not only did I fall, but my brace got caught under my treadmill. Thoughts of that commercial, “Help I have fallen and can’t get up” kept ringing in my head. I could not get up and just started laughing, then praying, that my hubby came home soon. That basement floor is cold! Luckily hubby came home from work shortly afterwards and helped me to free my braced leg. We both laughed. It is more funny now than it was at the time.
I was back in the wheelchair after this re-injury – unable to walk again. I fell quite a lot in the beginning, but now I am more vigilant watching for stones, pencils or uneven ground when I walk so rarely fall anymore.
I asked to go to PT again and this time I was able to go to one in Saginaw. Mel Svorinik, my physical therapist, did a maneuver on me that allowed me to walk without knee pain for almost an hour!
I am a home sewer, pilot and farrier, so I cut up old braces, re-bent carpal tunnel stays and WALKED into my next PT session! Mel told me “I am good, but not that good. What did you do?” I showed him the retrainer I cobbled together. He told me to patent it.
Now if only I had kept my mouth shut…..
But that is step three…
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