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Patients Tell Their Stories of CDH |
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Events |
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Patients Tell Their Stories
George T. Lewis
George T. Lewis of Williamsburg has suffered with arthritis for 20 years, and so is all
too familiar with the joint replacement process. He’s had his right hip replaced three times, and on April 30, he
had his left hip replaced.
During this most recent procedure, he had the distinction of becoming one of the first
patients to be operated on in the hospital’s new Kittredge Surgery Center, and he was one of the first to recover in
the expanded Joint Replacement Center.
“I was totally impressed Ð not only with the facility but also with the entire
staff,” George says. Everybody was proud of what they were doing and of the new facility. I could tell
everyone enjoyed their work. I felt like every staff member was attentive to my progress and comfort.”
(continued)
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Owen A. McNiff Jr.
Just over a year ago, at the age of 80, the late Owen A. McNiff Jr. was still operating heavy equipment at a large nursery in Connecticut, but he hadn't been feeling well for some time. He was fatigued and felt a general malaise.
His daughter, Katherine "Kitty" McNiff James of South Deerfield, says his doctor gave her father routine blood tests and diagnosed liver damage. Further investigation revealed damage that looked as if it was caused by abuse of alcohol, but Kitty's father hadn't had a drop to drink in over 20 years, and that fact led his physicians to look to a diagnosis of hemachromotosis.
With hemachromotosis, a genetic disorder that originated in Europe, the body stores all the iron it ingests - rather than storing some and excreting the excess - and over time, the high iron levels damage the liver and other organs. The treatment for hemachromotosis is to draw blood from the patient - a pint once a week in the first year to dilute the iron levels, and then in intervals spaced further apart as the recovery begins.
(continued)
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Steve Feldman
When Steve Feldman was recovering from the triple bypass surgery he had in May 2006, he visited Cooley Dickinson's Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Department 10 to 15 times to learn how to safely use the treadmill and the stationary bicycle he had at home.
Using the equipment was recommended by his cardiologist, Dr. Mark Casey, and he'd promised his daughter Jessica that he'd make the effort to get instruction. So several times a week in September 2006, Steve made the commute from his home in Leverett to Cooley Dickinson to work out.
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Julie Sanderson
The job of seamstress doesn’t seem as if it would be a hazardous one, but it’s sure taken a toll on Julie Sanderson of Whately.
Lifting bolts of fabric for 52 years wore out the rotator cuff in Julie’s right shoulder, and kneeling in front of brides to measure and pin their gowns irrevocably damaged her left knee.
"I consider myself almost bionic," Julie says with tongue in cheek after having her left knee replaced in November and five years after rotator cuff surgery.
(continued)
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Joan Fortier
Joan Fortier has lived on Valley Street in Northampton for all 72 years of her life. She and her husband, Norman "Bizz" Fortier, once owned Jake's restaurant in downtown Northampton, so it's no wonder there was a time when she and Bizz knew every doctor, dentist and police officer in town.
"There weren't too many people I didn't know," she says.
Joan's community connections still serve her well, and there are times when they bring her a good deal of comfort.
(continued)
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Bonnie Page
As a nurse at Marks Meadow Elementary School in Amherst for the past eight years, Bonnie Page has a good sense of the kind of care and attention that people want when they aren’t feeling right. That’s why she so appreciated the care she received from Richard Hernandez, a Cooley Dickinson phlebotomist who drew her blood on many occasions in the Fall of 2005 and this spring.
"Working in an elementary school, I especially appreciate Richard’s skills and personality," Bonnie says. "Children have everlasting memories of a bad experience and often carry it throughout adulthood. I was one of those kids. From childhood on, I was always a very difficult blood draw, and there were attempts after attempts."
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Mary Parsons
Mary Parsons of Colrain discovered the rehabilitation services that Cooley Dickinson offers in South Deerfield 10 years ago by following one of its physical therapists, Nancy August, when she came to Cooley from another practice.
The care that Mary receives from Nancy - and Nina Sibley, the physical therapy assistant in the office, as well - is so exceptional, in fact, that Mary's even willing to spend the extra time and money it takes to drive from Colrain to South Deerfield instead of Greenfield.
Mary first met Nancy roughly 20 years ago when Mary went to a Greenfield PT group for help with her chronic back pain. Nancy was a physical therapist there at the time, and when Mary went for treatments, Nancy was the one who cared for her.
"The last time I went to the group, Nancy and most of the others were gone," Mary says. "Every time I had an appointment, I had a different therapist, and they each had different ideas.
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Beth Hewson
Beth's surgery was October 17, 2005, and in mid-November, she was walking about two miles a day with a cane, and a yoga teacher and practitioner, she was already experimenting with yoga poses.
For someone who was extremely reluctant and skeptical about surgery and had put it off for roughly eight years, Beth found she was quite pleased with the results. She was also very grateful for the care she received at Cooley Dickinson Hospital's Joint Replacement Center.
"I was really impressed with this place," says Beth, who provides daytime care for elders at Hawthorn Services in Chicopee and also teaches at Now and Zen Yoga in Chicopee. "It's really incredible. It's this comprehensive package. It looks at everything." (continued)
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Terry and Loyce Warner
There was a lot going on for Loyce Warner of Hadley in September 2005.
Her granddaughter Aina was being baptized on September 24. Her husband, Terry, was scheduled to take part in a sleep study at Lahey Clinic on September 29, and Loyce was to drive him there. And on September 30, Loyce was scheduled to have her left knee replaced at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, a procedure that was to be videotaped as a physician resource.
"Everything was happening at once," says Loyce. "I was staying up every night late, rushing around," she says. (continued)
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Karen Sise
On Monday, October 17, after laboring in the Childbirth Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital for almost 24 hours, Karen Sise of Easthampton was on the brink of exhaustion, yet she had an important decision to make. (continued)
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Florice Simeone
No one needed to tell Florice Simeone, retired RN, that she would one day grow up to be a nurse. She - and her mother - both saw it coming from the time she was a little girl. "My mother said I used to break my dolls so that I could patch them up," says Flo, who worked as a nurse at Cooley Dickinson for nearly 40 years. (continued)
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Michael Biegner
Cycling is Michael Biegner's passion. Annually, he participates in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, the nation's original fundraising bike-a-thon whose proceeds benefit the Jimmy Fund. Michael rides between 70-192 miles during two days through 46 Massachusetts towns. Without question, Michael possesses fortitude, endurance and a seemingly unlimited amount of energy.
Three years ago while riding, Michael was having difficulty breathing. Cognizant that this restricted ability was impacting his cycling, Michael consulted his primary care physician, who in turn sent him to Cooley Dickinson Hospital for a stress test. Truthfully, Michael assumed that the cause of his strained breathing was minor, so he rode the seven miles from his home to Cooley Dickinson. (continued)
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