Janice: Determined to Recover
Janice, 73, suffers from a condition known as transverse myelitis. This incurable disease has no known cause. It is a progressive inflammation of the spinal cord, and in Janice’s case, it left her with bilateral paraplegia. After her diagnosis she continued to live independently in a senior apartment, using a wheelchair and a customized van to get around.
In February, Janice experienced a significant complication. Due to her confinement to a wheelchair, she had developed a decubitus ulcer that seemed to be merely an annoyance. By February, it had progressed to the point that her pelvic bone was almost visible. Worse, it had become severely infected, and caused her to become very sick, with bacteria in her bloodstream. She was admitted to the hospital, and the sepsis was treated.But the huge wound needed to be closed. So she came to Kindred Hospital Santa Ana.
The wound care team immediately went to work on Janice’s problem. The wound surgeon debrided the area. The wound care nurses applied topical treatments, cleaned the wound, and changed the dressings to keep it free of further infection as it healed.
Janice had a poor appetite due to the infection, so the registered dietitians formulated a nutrition program that not only included the supplements she would need to heal the wound, but also to stimulate her appetite and provide enough calories for her to get better.
All of these interventions were working beautifully. The wound was healing nicely, and Janice was feeling and looking much better. Although the wound had healed, it had left a large hole that needed closing. So the plastic surgeon closed the wound with a flap of skin.After 4-6 weeks of bed rest Janice was ready to begin working on an intensive physical therapy program that would allow her to regain the strength she had lost during her ordeal.
Janice undertook these challenges with a vengeance.She worked out in the gym almost every day, building her upper body strength.She learned how to use various devices that would make her day-to-day living much easier. She was an inspiration to the other patients, motivating them to succeed. On October 9, she was discharged back home. It had been a long and difficult battle, but with perseverance and the help of the staff at Kindred, Janice made it. Staff and physicians were proud to have been involved in her care, and will remember her with fondness and admiration.
“I will come back to visit,” said Janice, “because you are all like family to me. I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me.”
Kindred Hospital Santa Ana’s success is apparent in stories like this as well as in our quality scores – our patients and families rate our quality of care at 92.8 percent and 98 percent recommend Kindred. In 2010 our hospital also received the Quality Respiratory Care Recognition (QRCR) from the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC).