Between my June 3rd appointment and my next one on July 15th, many changes occurred. When I was released from the Apple Rehab facility, I was discharged with orders to receive home health care. It was decided that I would use the VNS of South County and that I would have the care of an RN, a CNA and a PT. The PT part I was a little confused with because generally PT isn't started until - at minimum - the 6 month mark. But, hey - what do I know??
I received the call from VNS and a nurse was to come out the next day. The CNA's started the following week to assist in my showering, changing my sheets, starting laundry, preparing lunch if I needed etc. The PT arrived the following week. The nursing care only lasted two weeks as they soon realized that I really didn't need any nursing care. My incision was almost healed and my health in general was very good. Phew - done with one. The CNA's I needed longer - I could not shower on my own. In fact, I couldn't even shower in my own bathroom, but had to use the kid's bathroom. Our tub has a jacuzzi bottom and it was too high for me to lift my legs up into. The kids bathroom has a standard tub which made it much easier. By the time I was able to progress to my own bathroom several weeks later, I realized that I could basically do it all myself - so I fired the CNA's! No, I'm only joking, but I did let the PT know that I felt very capable on my own, so we decided together that I was more than able and to tell yo the truth - I was sick and tired of being naked in front of strangers!!!! Ha! Ha! For God's sake, I've been naked in front of more people than the average person. Well, I suppose strippers feel that way too!!! Ha! Ha! But more than that, I was sick and tired of having to be at the mercy of someone else's schedule, you know? Now keep in mind that I had five or six different CNA's in just a few weeks time! One day they would want to be here at 8:30 AM, another time they couldn't get here til 3PM. Ugh. I was just done. Besides, it gave me back a little independence and I think the the fact that I recognized and wanted to reclaim my privacy and control was a good thing.
During this time, I also realized that the PT assigned to me really didn't have a clue about this type of surgery, recovery or what could or couldn't hurt me. It dawned on me several times that I wasn't even sure I should be having PT. I'll blame it on drugs - AGAIN! I would think of things of concern but hey would leave my brain as soon as they entered. One day I received a call from an acquaintance of mine, who is a PT with the same organization. She was filling in for my regular PT. I instantly loved her approach. Now, as it turns out, she actually is very good friends with my sister-in-law, but I don't know her well at all. However, my sister-in-law had kept her abreast of the surgical "journey" through the emails that Erica was regularly sending out. She also has some spinal issues herself and I found her clearly educated on the spine and she continually expressed correct body mechanics to me. After the next couple of sessions with the previous PT, I knew I needed to have a change. I expressed this to the PT I wanted and she put in the request for me but as it turned out, their territories were being changed or more strongly implemented as I really did fall under this new PT's territory anyway. She had a completely different approach, much more gentle whereby she incorporated gentle manipulation and stretching, including edema massage. She gave me isometric exercises to strengthen my core. She did comment to me that the previous PT had commented that I was "fearful and scared" to try anything new! I knew that the change had been right. Now I am NOT saying that the first PT was not good, she may in fact be a great PT, but unfortunately she was most likely well-versed in dealing with older people with different limitations than a 48 year old woman just having undergone 3 major, MAJOR spine surgeries of a nature that she was not familiar with - at all. She did not understand or comprehend exactly what I had been through or what the expectations are. For a couple of more weeks, I had PT with my new gal. That is until I saw Dr. Glazer on July 15. Oops.................guess I wasn't supposed to be having PT after all!! Yikes! Here we go again.............what if??
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