Chris' Story
A security officer for the New Orleans Sewage and Water Board, Chris Richthofen always struggled with seizures, but he kept them under control with his medication.
On an otherwise typical day, the 68-year old was focused on yard work at his Slidell home. Suddenly a seizure came on and he fell. He was severely injured and unable to move.
Luckily, his neighbor witnessed the incident and immediately reached out to his son who contacted emergency personnel. Rushed to Slidell Memorial Hospital, Chris underwent tests including an X-ray and MRI scans.
Chris had fractured his neck.
A broken neck is a fracture or dislocation of one or more of the seven bones (vertebrae) of the neck, and Chris needed surgery immediately. Exasperating matters, he suffered another seizure at the hospital. It was found that his medication had not been updated recently and his levels were off, causing him to suffer from seizures once again. His doctors adjusted his anti-seizure medication to help prevent future attacks.
After Chris stabilized from reparative neck surgery, his medical team recommended an intensive inpatient rehabilitation program to help him regain mobility and independence. He chose Northshore Rehabilitation Hospital to help rebuild his life.
Upon arrival, Chris’s physician-led interdisciplinary team assessed his condition. Chris couldn’t walk and faced weakness in his left arm, leaving him unable to complete self-care tasks such as toileting, showering and dressing. The care team worked with Chris to put a treatment plan in place to meet his goal of returning to work.
His physical therapists got to work on restoring his leg strength and getting him walking again, starting with resistance band exercises and moving to the parallel bars for work on standing balance. After a few challenging days, Chris progressed to walking short distances with a walker and working with a stair stepper in the therapy gym. These advances encouraged him and bolstered his confidence –- every day he pushed himself to do a little more.
In occupational therapy, the team worked to strengthen Chris’ left arm and hand to help him regain independence with self-care tasks. His occupational therapists guided him through arm exercises using resistance bands and employed the arm bike – an upper extremity therapy machine that engages a patient in gripping and pedaling to work the arm and shoulder muscles -- to strengthen his left side.
Additionally, Chris was introduced to adaptive tools such as a “reacher,” sock aid and shoe aid to advance his self-care independence. These long-handed tools allowed him to extend his reach on his weaker left side, enabling him to more easily complete tasks.
After 10 days inpatient rehabilitation at the hospital, Chris was walking up to 550 feet with a rolling walker and independently managing his self-care needs.
Ready to return home, Chris planned to continue building strength through home health therapy and looked forward to returning to work as a security officer.
Reflecting on his rehabilitation experience, Chris shared, “It was fantastic, I am glad that I picked Northshore Rehabilitation Hospital.”
To anyone injured and seeking to resume life to its fullest, Chris offered this advice: “Listen to your therapists because they know what they are doing.”