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Rehabilitation
After Jeff’s parents had visited eleven rehabilitation hospitals, the family decided on the Shepherd
Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Jeff flew there by air ambulance at the end of July,
1998. Unfortunately, the Shepherd program did not turn out to be a good
match for a “high quad” like Jeff. Jeff spent too few hours in direct services,
and too many hours sitting or lying in his room alone. And the physicians who
took over Jeff’s care in Georgia wanted to perform the spinal fusion surgery
which Jeff’s doctors in Rhode Island had cautioned against.
So, at the beginning of September,
Jeffrey was brought home again to the Hasbro
Children’s Hospital to reconsider his options. Jeff’s “hometown” medical team
took another look, and reaffirmed their faith that the neck bones could heal
normally, without surgery, if given enough time. Plans were made to send Jeff to
another rehab hospital nearby. In the meantime, while at Hasbro, Jeff had a
backup cardiac pacemaker installed, to act as a “fail safe” in case there might
be problems with the beating of his heart.
Rehabilitation - Part Two
Toward the end of September, Jeff was
admitted to the Boston Medical Center’s spinal injury program, where his
rehabilitation could continue while he remained locked in the halo vest.
For a high quadriplegic, early
rehabilitation is less physical than it is psychological.
Therapists spent some time manipulating Jeff’s limbs and joints, to keep him
limber. And some time was spent helping Jeff become acquainted with power
wheelchairs, computer aids, and the procedures that nurses or parents would use
to perform Jeff's routine bodily care. But -- frankly -- rehabilitation at the
beginning of this process is more about the mind than the muscles. Jeff had to
learn: how to think; how to plan; how to accept; how to cope. Nothing in his
first seventeen years had prepared him for this.
He left Boston and returned to Hasbro
Children’s Hospital in early November.
Release
During his third visit to Hasbro, Jeff’s halo
vest was finally removed – about four months after it had been bolted to his
skull. As his family and his hometown doctors had hoped, the neck bones had
managed to knit spontaneously, without surgery and without metal pins or bone
grafts. The decision to stay in the halo had proved to be correct. He had
strength in his neck bones and joints, and he had flexibility that would have
been lost if the bones had been mechanically fused, as the Atlanta staff had
recommended.
Later in these pages you will see the important
role this flexibility plays in enabling Jeff to maximize his potential. His head
had become his primary “switching mechanism” and it was about to be put to use.
Jeff returned home in November, 1999. A
new world awaited him. He would probably never see his bedroom again, because it
was up a flight of stairs. He took over the living room for his bed, TV and
medical equipment; and the former dining room became the base for his computer
system, his wheelchair garage, and a storeroom for his supplies.
At one point soon after his return, he
lamented: “my whole life is in these two rooms.” And he was essentially
correct... for a while.
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