- 1 year ago
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00It's taken.
00:30It's been a long time to realize that I'm the same person and people accept me exactly
00:35the way I am.
01:00I wake up in the morning, and mornings aren't usually my favorite time because I'm not going
01:19to sleep in a lot, and then I get in the chair, and I usually have all my stuff setting out.
01:40I'm pretty OCD about that kind of thing anyway.
01:44So then I go into my bathroom, and that's when I get ready.
01:50It usually takes kind of a long time.
01:53Um, like, just brushing my teeth and, you know, doing makeup and hair and stuff.
02:02I guess, um, I always, I feel like, not that it's just important just for show, but it
02:11makes me feel more confident even in spite of, um, like, everything, like, with the chair
02:20and stuff.
02:21I guess it gives me feel like I have an extra boost or something.
02:24And then I will sometimes get breakfast.
02:28Um, not usually, but if I have a little extra time, I might go in the kitchen and make, you know,
02:37like a bagel or on the very, uh, special occasions some cinnamon rolls or something like that.
02:46Usually in the mornings, I don't eat breakfast.
02:54Uh, sometimes I will try to make something.
02:58But my favorite thing, if I do, definitely has to be cinnamon rolls.
03:05It is my weakness.
03:11Yeah, it took me forever to actually get used to pulling things out of the oven
03:16because it is pretty, like, un-awkward.
03:21It's kind of awkward.
03:23But, I love to cook.
03:26So, I'm using it all the time, and bake mainly.
03:30So, I've learned to kind of maneuver around the kitchen pretty well.
03:38Maneuvering around the kitchen has been something I've definitely had to get used to
03:46because everything's higher and it's not always convenient to get.
03:53So, um, I've had to make my own little adaptions here and there.
03:59Some of them a little more different than others.
04:03But, one thing that I use, I'll go get it.
04:10This.
04:11I have a love-hate relationship with this guy.
04:15He can be pretty useful to get things, but when they start to plummet towards your head, it's not the best situation.
04:24Something, uh, like this little spray bottle up here, if you can see it.
04:30I can get that pretty easily.
04:32But, this Crisco, whenever I try to get that, I have to move everything out of the way because it'll just...
04:39This won't hold onto it so it'll just fall.
04:44When I'm just hanging out, sometimes for chores or stuff, I will, you know, do the dishes or just put them away or laundry or something like that.
04:58When I try to put stuff up into the cabinet, sometimes I will do things a little differently.
05:07But, I like to be kind of independent in that way.
05:12So, whatever I can do on my own.
05:15But, let's see.
05:19I will just kind of stand up like this.
05:24And then push.
05:30And get on the counter.
05:32And then, I can get whatever I need to and put it up.
05:40And the first time my mom saw me do this, she wasn't too crazy about it.
05:44But, on the regular mornings, just go to school and get there and then stay for a few hours.
05:54I try to do, you know, everything that I would normally do, even if a wheelchair wasn't a problem.
06:01The thing about that is it usually takes me far more steps to do that thing than it would somebody else because I have to think of so many more things and it takes even more energy to just do regular things sometimes.
06:18So, I think in a way that's made me more determined though because I wanted to overcome those things and do it in spite of and then that gives me extra to do other things I guess.
06:36Up until I graduated high school, I was, my mom drove me everywhere and I didn't have my license but a few months ago, or about six months ago, I actually got my license.
06:48Oh, I felt so good to get my license. I felt so free. Like, more, I guess, even than, you know, other people when they get their license because I had never just felt that feeling like I could go anywhere I wanted to, even just go take like a walk somewhere because it was, I really couldn't do that.
07:16So, this just opened up a whole new world, you could say.
07:21So, got the knob right here and that helps to get some traction or so I can turn the wheel with one hand and then the hand control is down here and I push down on it to brake and then I'll pull it for the gas.
07:45So, I, my mom leaves earlier in the morning and I do everything pretty much by myself like going to school and work and working out too and anything else I want to do.
08:01Madeline had such a unique determination and work ethic, those goals quickly expanded to begin walking again and she's worked very hard and achieved those goals.
08:19She was a spinal cord injury patient that was requiring some lower extremity bracing just to help her do some daily functions, very minimal at that point.
08:33She had very little control of her lower extremities and our goal at that point in time was just to help her basically transfer out of her wheelchair or out of her bed into her wheelchair and vice versa.
08:45So, spinal cord injury can be so overwhelming that patients can give in to the work that's required and it takes a strong mind and a strong work ethic to achieve these and Madeline has definitely been the exception to most rules.
09:03Madeline came into our office per an appointment that was made to have some adjustments and modifications made to the braces that she was wearing at the time.
09:15She was having some difficulty with them functioning correctly and her being able to walk correctly in them and I had not met with her before that and prior to that I was not aware of the type of braces that she was wearing.
09:32So, our first encounter and first appointment was a lot of history, getting to know Madeline, getting to know what type of braces she had used in the past and then trying to make the proper correction
09:45and adjustments and adjustments to the braces that she was wearing.
09:48I looked at the type of brace that she was wearing which was also a stance control brace, it was a different system.
09:56A stance control brace is essentially a knee, ankle, foot orthosis or a long leg brace that is capable of locking and unlocking during the gait cycle.
10:07In other words, instead of a brace that just locks into full extension and won't bend, this particular type of system automatically locks when it's supposed to if it works correctly and unlocks when it's supposed to so that the limb can move forward.
10:26The traditional type of brace is you only have two settings really.
10:32It's either locked or it's unlocked and most patients have to walk with that older style in a locked position which causes other gait deviations and problems with joints above where the bracing occurs.
10:48So a stance control type brace tries to support the joint while keeping good gait mechanics as well.
10:57And the type of braces that Madeline was wearing is a very good type system except for it relies on where her knee is in three dimensional space.
11:10Subsequently, because of that, they weren't unlocking for her.
11:14So basically, she was in a fully locked brace and it wouldn't articulate.
11:18So one of the things we first tried to do with that is because the braces she was using, the ankle joint was locked at 90 degrees and she had no range of motion.
11:28One of the things we tried to adjust is to adjust that ankle range of motion to try and make the braces a little more dynamic for her so that the knee joints would unlock when they needed to.
11:39We also did some adjustments on the knee joints themselves.
11:43There's a mechanism in there that's a pendulum that you can adjust where the timing is as well.
11:48And that was really my first encounter with Madeline.
11:51It was trying to help make those braces more functional for her and for her ambulation.
11:58When I was 10 years old, I was in a car accident with my mom and I had a spinal cord injury.
12:08One of the things they told me was that because of it, I would never be able to walk again and that I would have to use a wheelchair for the rest of my life.
12:20The only thing that I remember about the accident was getting into the car that day or that night.
12:29And when I was getting in the car, I normally sit on the far left side in the back.
12:38And when I was getting in, I thought, you know, I'm going to sit in the middle today, just mix it up a little bit.
12:45And that's the decision that probably saved my life because when we were hit, we were hit on the side, the left side, and I would have just been crushed.
12:55But I wasn't. And ironically enough, the lap belt in the middle was what caused the spinal cord injury because it threw me forward so much that the pressure went straight to my spine.
13:10And I had a contusion or like a bruise on my spine.
13:16After the wreck, I was very shy and I'd always been kind of a shy girl.
13:25But I think the accident really enhanced that, I guess, because I felt so different and I didn't know if people would accept me.
13:41But I think it's important to see, even in your situation, no matter what you're going through, because everyone has their problem or injury in an emotional way, they feel like they can't get over.
14:00But it's just overcoming that and seeing that, you know, I can move past this and I can still be open and friendly and, you know, still live.
14:18And I think that's important, no matter who you are, to understand that life is going to happen and sometimes life is going to just kick your butt.
14:31But you've got to keep going and you've got to keep moving through.
14:37Well, Madeline was in the intensive care unit for three days and then she, when she came out of the coma, her first words to me, the first words that she said were,
14:54Mom, Mommy, I'm not Madeline anymore. She just, she knew something was different, but she didn't know what it was. And I said, yes, you know, yes, you're, you're, you're Madeline.
15:07She said, no, Mommy, something's, something's wrong. And I said, well, sweetheart, right now, you can't, you're not going to be able to use your legs, but it's temporary. You're going to get through this.
15:20And that was our first conversation, my first conversation with my 10 year old daughter after she was injured.
15:28Well, we did conventional, she did conventional therapy for several years.
15:33And the thing with Madeline is she progresses so quickly that she meets all the goals the therapist has for her.
15:40So she kept getting discharged from physical therapy because they felt like she was so strong and so motivated and she met their checklist.
15:48And so they would say, well, we can't, we can't keep her anymore. So I began researching other therapies that were more progressive and more proactive.
16:00And I found a center in Detroit, Michigan, and decided to take her up there for the summer and just see what therapy was all about.
16:10It was just us, we, um, did it together. And I think that's a lot of why we are so close is we've had to go through some pretty hard and scary stuff sometimes, but we stuck together and, you know, we made it work.
16:31We were still speaking.
16:32Exactly.
16:33And nine months later, we were still up there and they, they had so many different kinds of therapies and biofeedback.
16:42And they taught her how to walk with braces that are not locked so that she could learn how to bend her knees.
16:49And it was, it was a wonderful experience. We would still be there if we could have made it work, but we had a home and family here. So we had to come back.
17:00I feel like most people when they see her, you know, they, they see a girl in a wheelchair and I mean, that's not what I see.
17:16I mean, I see the wheelchair, but that's not what I'm looking at. And I feel like, I feel like she has to go through a lot.
17:27She's been through a lot and she keeps, you know, such a positive attitude about everything. And, you know, that's what's inspiring.
17:33You know, it's like, you know, she's, she's going through what she's going through. You know, that just, it's, it's gotta be hard.
17:44I mean, she's, you know, she's just positive about everything and that's inspiring to me. You know, it's like, you know, I might have a little thing going on here or there, but, you know, when I look at her, it's like, that's nothing.
17:56We're actually starting to what we're doing with me assisting her with the lift with her foot. What we're actually doing is we're actually mimicking as if she was actually, say for instance, someone is walking upstairs.
18:16So what we're doing is we're actually starting to work with the actual, her hip flexors in here. So when you're walking up steps, one of the natural things that's going to happen is you're actually, you're going to put your hip in a flexion.
18:30And so this is what we're doing is we're starting to work with that to establish the nerve and the muscle starting to talk to each other again. And so what we're doing is we're actually establishing neuromuscular reconditioning.
18:48And that's actually where, since she's had the injury. So we're using this particular exercise to start to get the muscles and the nerves starting to communicate back and forth.
18:59And since we've been doing it, Madeline said that one of the things that she has noticed is that she's actually wanting to take a rest. She's actually wanting to use her legs more.
19:11She notices that her legs are wanting to get more involved in it. And you can actually, if you can kind of explain more what you've been seeing.
19:18Sometimes in like my day to day life, I feel these more involuntary responses, like when I'm lifting my legs with my hands, my leg will want to contribute to if I'm getting in the car or something.
19:35And one of the hard things when I'm exercising is wanting to move that muscle, but it's not responding.
19:44And with this, I can think it in my head and still feel that motion. So I feel like it's starting to connect things with my brain.
19:58One of the things that I can say about Madeline is her determination is absolutely amazing. And it shows.
20:06I mean, we can be training in here and people will come up and they will say to her, you know, you're such an inspiration when you're here. I just wanted you to know that.
20:19But it's funny because it's just not necessarily when she's with me. I can be here on off days when we're not together and I can be in the gym. And I've literally had people walk up to me and tell me that she inspires them.
20:36Hi, my name is Madeline Delp. I'm 18 years old and I'm going on a journey one step at a time to walking again. And my question is, will you come with me?
20:47Yeah.
20:48It's.
20:49Yeah.
20:50Yeah.
20:52Yeah.
20:53Yeah.