Hospital: PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Tavares
Diagnosis: Bilateral transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion of L4-S1
For almost 12 months, Andrea Hardeman-Brown has been a part of the PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Tavares team as a weekend clinical navigator. In this role, she visits potential patients in the acute hospital and assists with the transition from the hospital to PAM Health for intensive rehabilitation. As she was working on Memorial Day, she was experiencing profound weakness on her left side and excruciating back pain, which made it difficult for her to walk. Although she was in significant pain, Andrea continued working her shift and even helped a new patient gain admission to PAM Health.
When she ended her shift and went home, she found it impossible to get up from bed at night. As a three-year cancer survivor, she immediately sought medical evaluation at the emergency department where they found a mass in her spine that was pushing on a nerve root in three separate places. To solve the problem, Andrea had a lumbar laminectomy with dissection. The neurosurgeon described her spine as the worst he had ever operated on. Her scheduled surgery was supposed to take 4 hours, but due to the severity of her case, it took 9 hours with surgeons working late through the night.
The neurosurgeon told her anxiously awaiting family the operation dulled three sets of mallets and chisels as he fought to break through the arthritic bone that had grown. To correct her condition, he placed two metal rods and six screws in her spine.
After Andrea woke up, two people needed to help her to her feet as her knees buckled immediately. She struggled to take two steps. After 17 days in the hospital, she was transferred to her workplace, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Tavares. At first, Andrea struggled with severe pain, dizziness, and could only take 5-6 steps with assistance. Throughout her stay, she worked hard with physical and occupational therapy and relied on the assistance of the on-staff dietitian to help with a protein deficiency that developed after blood loss from her surgery. In addition, the staff wound care nurse helped care for her surgical incision that included more than 30 staples.
After 10 days of intensive therapy under the direction of the hospital’s physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor, who also specialized in spine rehabilitation, she was discharged home to continue her road to recovery with outpatient therapy. She triumphantly walked out of the hospital with a walker to her care where her family was ecstatically waiting.
“As a young woman and cancer survivor, I never thought that I would need spine surgery. I have already been through so much,” Andrea said. “I am so passionate about the work we do here in the building, and I work tirelessly every weekend admitting patients into our care. However, finding myself on the receiving end was never something I thought could happen to me. The pain was out of this world, and I cried for the first few days. My left leg was so weak that I had to physically lift it up into the bed with my arms. I honestly thought that I’d never be able to walk again. I thought my life was over. I cried thinking I’d never be able to get my life back. I fought thoughts of never being able to work again, to go fishing, or swim, or enjoy my children. But after days of really intense therapy sessions, I found myself able to do more and more. I was shocked as I was able to lift my left leg into bed on its own. On my last day, I showered myself and dressed myself using the assistive devices and techniques I had learned. I cried again on my day of discharge, but this time I was crying tears of joy and of utter disbelief that I got my mobility and thus, my life back. I still have a long way to go, but I can’t wait to come back to work. I cannot wait to admit patients to the place that healed me and made me whole again.”
