Angie Weaver
One step at a time. That has been Angie Weaver’s motto since the scary day last Fall when she lost all feeling from the chest down. The care team at Memorial Satilla Health Inpatient Rehabilitation has helped her achieve her recovery goals.
Angie slipped and fell out of her husband’s pickup truck. She felt a little bruised, but was thankful to have escaped relatively unscathed – or so she thought. While on an outing to the pumpkin patch the next day, Angie went numb.
The fall caused spinal contusions that resulted in severe nerve damage. Angie was flown to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah where she stayed a week. She then transferred to Memorial Satilla’s inpatient rehab facility and began an aggressive treatment protocol with the physical and occupational therapy team.
Angie’s muscle spasms were so severe her care team had to use a lift and then a tilt table to get her accustomed to an upright position. Then she progressed to a standing lift and assist process.
Next came walking. Angie moved to parallel bars and then to assisted walking with a rolling walker.
“I couldn’t sit up or move at all,” Angie says. “Being cared for in that way was so humbling, but they provided care with compassion. I couldn’t have had better care anywhere in the world.”
“She had some setbacks, due to infection and vertigo, but Ms. Angie was motivated despite setbacks,” recalls one of her therapists. “The day prior to discharge, she was able to walk 17 feet using the rolling walker with assistance and cueing. Everybody was ecstatic with the milestone she achieved.”
The therapists were her cheerleaders. “My therapists kept me one my toes,” she says. “But they celebrated when I reached a milestone.”
There are lots of ups and downs in the rehabilitation process. One particularly hard day, a hospital security officer stopped in to check on Angie. “I was having a breakdown and he prayed with me and my husband,” she says.
“The Lord put these people in my path when I needed them most and I’m so grateful,” Angie adds. “They treated me liked family.”
