Glengoyne
01-13-2011, 05:00 PM
A former co-worker and close friend has found herself in a dramatically life changing situation. She is a health and fitness fiend. She runs marathons, and both her and her husband are triathletes. Iron man triathletes, to be specific.
A few months back she went on temporary disability because she was experiencing back pain. For her, it was debilitating back pain, which is saying something, because her tolerance for pain is extraordinary. She went through six weeks of Physical Therapy and treatment. In the end, they determined her condition had improved, and her pain had greatly diminished.
A week ago, her husband and her returned early from a vacation abroad primarily because of her discomfort. Upon return she visited her GP who scheduled an MRI and a chiropractor just to hopefully obtain some relief. The next morning she awoke, essentially paralyzed from her waist down. She had multiple ruptured discs and a compressed spinal cord. Two emergency surgeries later, she has improved dramatically, yet still has a complete lack of feeling and motor control below her ankles. I cannot fathom the shock of this experience for anyone, let alone someone who leads an incredibly active lifestyle.
She has been champing at the bit to get to physical therapy. The triathlete drive being held in check by required bed rest for recovery. Her attitude has been one of "When I'm better" or "I scheduled such and such for May, because I will be walking by then".
This morning when I brought her her morning coffee, she was ...changed. When attempting to get out of bed for her first Physical Therapy, she passed out. I guess this isn't an atypical post operative condition. I'm terrible at identifying others' feelings. I may cry like a thirteen year old girl when I read a sappy story, but I have little or no awareness of other people's feelings or motivations. At the time I guessed that she was experiencing disappointment or minor depression, but now I'm thinking it was a real fear that she may not ever improve. All right, now I've started typing my own sappy story with predictable effects, so I'll have to change the subject a bit.
I guess the point of this post, beyond sharing a troubling part of my life (while not actually my life), is to say that I have no real clue how to help her at this point. I'm just visiting her, listening and responding honestly to her while not avoiding the elephant in the room. All right too sappy again. enough is enough.
A few months back she went on temporary disability because she was experiencing back pain. For her, it was debilitating back pain, which is saying something, because her tolerance for pain is extraordinary. She went through six weeks of Physical Therapy and treatment. In the end, they determined her condition had improved, and her pain had greatly diminished.
A week ago, her husband and her returned early from a vacation abroad primarily because of her discomfort. Upon return she visited her GP who scheduled an MRI and a chiropractor just to hopefully obtain some relief. The next morning she awoke, essentially paralyzed from her waist down. She had multiple ruptured discs and a compressed spinal cord. Two emergency surgeries later, she has improved dramatically, yet still has a complete lack of feeling and motor control below her ankles. I cannot fathom the shock of this experience for anyone, let alone someone who leads an incredibly active lifestyle.
She has been champing at the bit to get to physical therapy. The triathlete drive being held in check by required bed rest for recovery. Her attitude has been one of "When I'm better" or "I scheduled such and such for May, because I will be walking by then".
This morning when I brought her her morning coffee, she was ...changed. When attempting to get out of bed for her first Physical Therapy, she passed out. I guess this isn't an atypical post operative condition. I'm terrible at identifying others' feelings. I may cry like a thirteen year old girl when I read a sappy story, but I have little or no awareness of other people's feelings or motivations. At the time I guessed that she was experiencing disappointment or minor depression, but now I'm thinking it was a real fear that she may not ever improve. All right, now I've started typing my own sappy story with predictable effects, so I'll have to change the subject a bit.
I guess the point of this post, beyond sharing a troubling part of my life (while not actually my life), is to say that I have no real clue how to help her at this point. I'm just visiting her, listening and responding honestly to her while not avoiding the elephant in the room. All right too sappy again. enough is enough.