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Adventures in Physical Therapy-Stories to Ease the Pain

Adventures in Physical Therapy Stories to Ease the Pain

Author	Fernando Figueroa
Published	Rainbow Books, Incorporated, 2015
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	120
ISBN	9781568251851

About the Book

The theme of perseverance is present throughout the book, the author explains how patients should not quit on themselves and how doctors should also support them in order to see progress. Distraction is said to make physical therapy less stressful and so there are twenty three stories about this theme. The book was written because patients started to recommend Dr. Figueroa to put his stories together into a book, it was published in 2015. The collection of stories recreate the experiences from which the therapist was able to learn and expand on his career.

About the Author

At the beginning of his life, he was sick with Pneumonia several times, his immune system was not in the best conditions. He remembers how his pediatrician gave him and his family hope by saying that everything was going to be better in a few years. At the age of ten, he started to see improvement and started to make up for the lost experiences. Dr Figueroa found love for science as he was growing, but he also liked sports such as tennis and so he decided to become a physical therapist. Fernando Figueroa started his career as a therapist working in a hospital and outpatient center specializing in sports medicine and also worked with the elderly. He was trained in the orthopedic field and there he developed his work and also studied at McKenzie Institute, University of Saint Augustine and Roy Matheson Institute. Received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy in 1987 at the University of Chile and obtained his Master of Science at Barry University.

Chapters Summary

Chapter One- The Lady and the Cat

Rebecca had a total knee replacement and had returned to her home, she had recently lost her husband. While receiving therapy, her cat kept interrupting and jumping back and forth so Dr. Fingueroa asked her to move him. She explained how she did not like cats and was allergic to them, but her husband used to love them. After his death, there was a cat outside the house and she tried to push it away, but it kept coming back. The next day, the cat came with a snake on his mouth from her garage as a symbol of loyalty and help so she decided to keep him.

Chapter Two- A Surgeon from the Vietnam War

When Doctor Figureroa was young Physical therapist he worked in Houston, Texas. A patient suffered from an infected abdominal wound and it was contagious. Dr. X was a famous surgeon but he was not taking universal infection precautions. During the Vietnam war there were not many resources and that’s where the doctor had previously learned. Dr. Figueroa observed that some of the best doctors do not follow certain rules.

Chapter Three- Mark, the Man Who was in a Coma for Six Years

Mark whas a successful businessman and an only child, on a rainy day he took the highway but lost control of the vehicle at a curve. The police thought that he was dead when they found him and they performed CPR and saw that he had brain injury. Mark remained in a coma after a year the family made the decision to move him to another facility. After six years, two weeks and three days he opened his eyes for the first time his vital signs improved and he was starting to breathe on his own.

Chapter Four- The Harley Guy

Scott rode motorcycles with his girlfriend on his way to Tampa, he had had a few beers and lost control during the accident, his girlfriend was fine but his right lower leg was caught underneath the motorcycle and the engine was burning. There were fractures and burns, he lost his leg and had an amputation. While he started rehab he was crying and angry about the pain, after he recovered, he bought a beautiful motorcycle with a sidecar because he could no longer drive himself but was hopeful and happy to see this new beginning.

Chapter Five- A New PT Treating the Wrong Patient

When Doctor Figueroa had completed his Masters degree he had to interview possible employees, Nicole was a new graduated PT with limited experiences but a great personality and so was hired. The senior staff was hard on new employees and started letting her complete rounds by herself, showing trust. She went to Treat Mr. Jones and he was not moving, but she continued with the therapy anyways, he ended up being a dead person and this showed lack of communication with the staff.

Chapter Six- Fire Ants!

The department received a unique and weighed piece of an equipment for the PT department and it was a Hydrosound, it worked with bubbles and the team was excited to use the machine. Mr. Sullivan lived alone and he was ninety-two years old, he tripped over long grass that was at his house and had various amount of injury and pain, he fell on a fire ant bed and had bites and stings all over his body and sprained his ankle. Neighbors saw that the newspaper was outside which was not usual of him and they found him dying in pain, he survived and received IV and antibiotics.

Chapter Seven- A-101-Year Old Man Gets a Traffic Ticket

The clinic started to offer transportation for patients who couldn’t go, a patient 101 years old Alfred, had a shoulder fracture, he had a car and drove from house to church, got on the highway one day, while parking he hit another car. Police officers wanted to take his license, his son took he car, one day he took a golf cart and drove all the way to the highway, police stopped him again and took away his right to drive.

Chapter Eight- Falls

Three stories related to falling and how therapist can help patients to prevent these incidents by talking to them. Consists of the High heels, The lady without a Real Family and A fall in the Shower. The author explains how by trusting therapists, patients start to follow procedures and advices given by them, while if there is not enough communication, they might refuse.

Chapter Nine- Hurricane Stories

During hurricane season, three stories took place: The hearing Aide, Mr. Smith was recovering from knee surgery and was using a walker, there was a hurricane and it started coming to his area, the town was ground zero, his daughter came over to stay, but he was not prepared for it, he was sleeping like a baby even though it seemed like the world was coming to an end, he couldn’t hear anything and after he woke up he just put his hearing aide back on without knowing what had happened. This showed that sometimes illnesses can also be beneficial.

Chapter Ten- The Easter Weekend of Tragedy and Hope

Miller family received visitors, a car ran into their van and there was an accident, but Mr. Miller flew through windshield and hit the other car, he fractured his skull, his wife hit the pavement and also had brain injury. Before Mr. miller died he asked if his kids were fine, Ms Miller had surgery but died after. The aunt stayed in charge of the kids and took care of them. In this chapter it was shown how unexpected situations lead to permanent changes.

Chapter Eleven- New PT in Trouble!

During Dr. Figueroa's last rotation for his professional practice, he was under supervision of a strict physiatrist. There was another student, Sophia and she was forgetful at times, when a new patient came she started to treat him. After hours when she went to treat other patients, she never came back for the other one. The next day when she arrived at the hospital, she remembered what had happened and took the blame for it. It is explained how professionals should be careful with their patiens and how sometimes the pressure of paperwork and school can intervene in doing the job well.

Chapter Twelve- Near Death Experiences

During a surgery, there was a patient under anesthesia who was close to a death experience was able to see everything that was going on during a procedure. When the doctors asked him about what he remembered, he explained every detail to the doctors and they were amazed. Then the second part of this chapter was when Ms. Parker, who had a car accident and was close to death had a similar experiences of being able to remember the situation, she also described how she is no longer afraid of dying.

Chapter Thirteen- Beyond Manipulation

While working at Houston Texas as a therapist, Dr. Figueroa worked with young man named Ricardo, he had injured his left shoulder at first he was having minimal progress through therapy. They took other measures and he had to have surgery in order to recover, the process of recovery took about a year and this was because of his unwillingness to follow directions. Sometimes surgeries can be prevented if patients are willing to cooperate and this point was made by the author in this chapter.

Chapter Fourteen- My Friend, Bill

Dr. Figueroa was twenty-seven yeard old and was accepted into a position to be in charge of starting an outpatient physical therapy business for the hospital. During his stay, he became friends with Bill who was very analytical and gave him good advice. Right after his son was born, he was sent to an emergency hospital and didn’t have any other family member. During this harsh time, Bill was there for him; after a few years he discovered that Bill was sick and had to be hospitalized, he died intubated because of respiratory failure. The loss of a loved one brings sorrow, but the untouchable memories remain.

Chapter Fifteen- Mr. Washington, An Example of the Perfect Patient

There was a time where Dr. Figueroa decided to do home health services, he described this as interesting since it allowed him to connect to the patients and to make a bit of extra money. Mr. Washington suffered from a vascular problem in his lower leg and he went to see him. He had to go to surgery for a few times and even lost one leg. He started getting worse and had to be put on a respirator and after a while, he passed away. It was hard saying goodbye because he was not only considered a patient, but also a friend.

Chapter Sixteen- Jimmy, My 6'8" Patient

Jimmy was retired and an engineer, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Him and his wife started to look at surgeries to stop tremors and so he had the surgery and was able to complete activities easily, but then one day, he started to feel bad and had to undergo another surgery. Dr. Figueroa talks about learning, love and support from this family and the importance of having someone when life twists because these changes can have an impact on the ricovery of the patient.

Chapter Seventeen- The Cheerleader

Dr. Figueroa worked at a hospital in Texas, it was a wound care program and he received a seventeen-year-old girl named Christine. The teenager had a car accident with her boyfriend, she had large pieces of glass embedded and also serious burns from the pavement. It was described how she cursed all the time through the procedure, but made excellent progress afterwards, this was her way of coping with the procedure. Dr. Figueroa explains the difficulties and challenge of treating teenagers since they do not want to feel pain most of the time, even if it means a slower recovery.

Chapter Eighteen- Driving Test

Physical Therapists almost all of the time had to test their patients driving skills. Mrs Rowell, who was a ninety years old women had a hip fracture and needed the implantation of hardware, the worst part is that she lived alone. The patient wanted to be close to her car and was asking the therapist when she could drive it. She started to walk by herself and was needing less help with time. When she went to see her other doctor and he allowed her to drive, but Dr Figueroa took her to the driving test. She passed the test, but when Dr Figueroa got in the car to return home, she was speeding up and driving like a maniac, but yet so perfectly.

Chapter Nineteen- The Difficult Patient

Every patient is different and it is difficult to adapt to them; Mr Weber, was one of the most difficult patients that Dr Fingueroa had faced, he made a phone call to make sure the patient was coming and he replied to call him later because he was having dinner. After, the patient was upset and was trying to choose the time for the therapist to go, he explained how there were other patients on the list as well and he started to yell and became irritated. The therapist realized when they met that Mr Weber was in pain and was not taking his medication properly, he offered different suggestions on the treatment and it showed that first impressions are not always reliable.

Chapter Twenty- Travel to Jordan

Mrs Quinn moved to Florida after marriage of more than thirty year had ended due to her husband’s lung cancer which caused his death. Everyday, she started to feel pain in her groin, the orthopedic determined that she needed a new hip, the surgery was successful and she started therapy. She learned to cope with his death and her family continued to help her so that she recovers. Quinn was a disciplined patient and very spiritual, she was saying that after her recovery, she would go to Jordan and she did. There she felt at ease and enjoyed the place, this helped her to recover from her loss as well.

Chapter Twenty-One- Mary, the PT Technician

While conducting a procedure with warm sterile water, the therapist found a piece of lettuce in it, it was difficult to approach the co-worker since they were friends and co-workers did not know exactly how Mary would react to the situation. Mary was not cautious for the patient’s safety and was asked to be careful the next time. After the experience, everyone in the facility started using paper plates instead of whirlpool to prevent contamination.

Chapter Twenty-Two- The Wild and Brilliant Idea

In this chapter, Dr. Figueroa talks about the difficulties of not having enough space for patients. There was a day when he was having patients share tables since there was not much space. Dr Fingueroa thought that he would be in trouble, but instead, it was an amazing outcome and they reached their goal of having a more decent and bigger place for patients. Some circumstances do not turn out to be how we expect them and so it is worth to try.

Chapter Twenty-Three- The 350-Pound Patient with Bilateral Knee Replacement

Just when Dr. Figueroa had graduated and was ready to learn and have new experiences, John who was a retired merchant marine came to the hospital and his knees were going to be replaced in one surgery, but he was very tall and heavy. A few days after the surgery, nurses heard a loud scream and ran into the room, but it was John who was starting to take steps on his own. With the help of hospital members, he started to use the walker and then was able to walk on his own. Empathy is a gift that individuals should use more often in order to help others.

Book Quotes

"It makes me happy remembering Mark's case, because when you have a busy practice, you don't always realize the wonderful relationships with which life provides you".

"It reminds me that life is so short-a day-by-day fight to choose the right path-and when the night comes it brings hope with the sunrise of a new day".

"Tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift!"

"Bill left me something that you expect from a best friend who has died: First, the emptiness of his absence, and second, the good memories that I was blessed to share with him".

Other Articles about Physical Therapy

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/160645.php

http://www.apta.org/PTcareers/benefits/