Superheroes of the Real World

Thomas and Natalie's follow-up appointment with the University of Maryland Shock Trauma team of neurosurgeons was postponed till tomorrow, so we don't have much to update you on. These days have been ones of steady work for Thomas, and, during the weekend, much needed rest and quiet.

In rehab, Thomas began working on transfers -- from his bed to the wheelchair and his wheelchair to an elevated mat in the gym. This is done using a transfer board and required maximum assistance from his therapist. The long-term goal is for Thomas to be able to do transfers with 25% assist (essentially just being spotted by another individual). It will take a long time to work up to that goal; transfers require an incredible amount of upper body strength and balance. But an exciting start!

He was fitted for a customized manual wheelchair (leather gloves and rubber tubing on the wheels help him grip the wheels)! He began using it and will be alternating between the power wheelchair and manual one as his strength increases. He is really excited about it!

His therapist added a weightlifting class to his routine. It was his first time using the outpatient gym -- a very large room with a wall of windows that let in lots of natural light and a view of the changing leaves outside. Not a bad work-out space! He was able to do 5 pounds, but he is just getting started!

Thomas said, "These three things are a reminder of how much more there is to learn, and how much stronger I will need to be before mastering these tasks, but this is an exciting start!"  

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We also want to share with you this incredible article about the Shock Trauma Center at UMMC, whom Natalie calls the "superheroes of the real world." From the Baltimore Sun.

Within minutes, the patients are wheeled into the Trauma Resuscitation Unit, rushed from the ambulance bay two floors below or the helipad on the roof six floors above. More than a dozen bodies in those pink scrubs surround each patient until they are stable or no longer have a pulse.

It’s a rush of what staff and veterans call “organized chaos” that was responsible for saving more than 8,000 lives last year. The routine at Shock Trauma, the nation’s oldest — and, they say, busiest — trauma center, meanwhile has informed trauma care around the country and world with its focus on the “Golden Hour” — the idea that rapid treatment of traumatic injuries prevents deaths.

It evokes a pride, if not an arrogance, in the health care workers there that has helped drive both high admissions and survival rates.

“I’m not allowed to say, ‘Oh my God, that’s awful,’ ” says Dr. Thomas Scalea, physician-in-chief. “I absolutely believe I am saving that person’s life, even right up until they die. We believe we can do the impossible, and sometimes we do.”

Read the whole article here.


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