Vim & Vigor - Summer 2010 - North Mississippi - (Page 5)

nerves,” explains Brian Condit, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who serves as medical director of the North Mississippi Medical Center Rehabilitation Institute. “The body’s immune system attacks the nerves, and then the nerves don’t conduct correctly. Reflexes like the knee jerk are usually lost.” Usually Guillain-Barré syndrome occurs about two weeks after a challenge to the immune system, such as a respiratory infection, stomach bug or, in Carver’s case, mastitis. Typically, Condit says, symptoms appear first in the extremities, then move inward— and could escalate until the muscles can’t be used at all and the person is almost totally paralyzed. Like some stricken by Guillain-Barré syndrome, Carver’s breathing and swallowing were impaired; she relied on a respirator to help her breathe and a feeding tube for nourishment. She remembers very little of the several days she spent in the Intensive Care Unit and subsequent weeks in nursing units, where doctors started high-dose immunoglobulin therapy to lessen the immune attack on her nervous system. DEEPLY THANKFUL FOR SUPPORT Through her ordeal, Carver says, the support from her family, friends and area churches kept her going. “I remember having a crying breakdown when they told me that Kye had rolled over, because I had missed it,” she says. “But my husband, Shaun, stayed with me almost every night and my parents brought my children to see me several times a week. I had lots of people praying for me.” Carver’s family also played a key role in her therapy. “Shaun bought me a coloring book so I could work on my fine motor skills,” she says. “The early pages I colored look more like a kindergartner did them, but now it looks more like how I used to color.” Recovery from Guillain-Barré syndrome can take from weeks to a few years, and about 30 percent of individuals have residual weakness even after three years. While Carver still suffers many of the ill effects of Guillain-Barré, she realizes just how far she’s come and how blessed she is. Because she had nursed Kye since birth, there was a chance the illness had been transferred through breast milk, but that was not the case. “I am thankful to be back with my husband and children, even if it’s with my parents and not in our own place,” Carver says. “I am thankful to have my mother to take care of my kids. I am really thankful to be walking again.” Recently she looked at photos taken shortly after she was hospitalized. “I can see how far God has brought me,” she says. Occupational therapist Kwadis Beard, left, recreation therapist Allie Pearson and physical therapist Jennifer Rodabough helped Carver regain the ability to hold her children and walk again. LEARNING HOW TO MOVE AGAIN Once Carver was more medically stable, therapists came to her hospital room to start on the long road back to independence. “I had lost all use of my muscles. I could turn my head and blink my eyes, but not much else,” she says. Her next stop was NMMC’s Skilled Nursing Facility, where “they taught me to sit up again and how to use my hands a little more,” she says. “I remember being so excited when I could lift my leg about two inches off the bed.” Once she could tolerate longer therapy sessions, she transferred to NMMC’s Rehabilitation Institute, a unit that specializes in rehabilitation for stroke, neurological and trauma patients. “I remember her first day at the Rehabilitation Institute asking Alisha what her goal was, and she said, ‘I want to be able to hold my baby,’ ” Condit says. Therapists there helped Carver relearn daily tasks, such as how to get in and out of bed and to dress herself. She graduated from wheelchair to walker and, now, a cane. She continues to visit NMMC’s Longtown Medical Park three days a week for outpatient physical therapy and aquatic therapy. ONLINE North Mississippi Medical Center offers acute, inpatient, outpatient and home health rehabilitation services throughout north Mississippi and northwest Alabama. For more information, visit www.nmhs.net/rehab_services.php or call 800-THE DESK (800-843-3375). Get Moving Again. Rehab Can Help Vim & Vigor · SUMM ER 2010 5 http://www.nmhs.net/rehab_services.php

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2010 - North Mississippi

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2010 - North Mississippi
Contents
Opening Thoughts
Baby Steps
Back Talk
It’s a ‘No Brainer’
Ready ... Set ... Get Motivated!
Having Reservations?
Stressing Stress
Second Act
Adults at Play
In Good Hands
Think Again
No Kidding
Giving Is Great Medicine
Recovering Lost Lives
Westward Expansion
Take a Deep Breath
Catch the Spirit

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2010 - North Mississippi

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