One Person’s Determination Can Inspire Others – Unbroken Spirit
Posted on 7/3/2000
Joe Tezak is what determination is all about. He describes it as his wrestler’s attitude. The tenacity, commitment and unwillingness to settle for second best, is the type of wrestler’s mentality that brought Joe where he has come from a year ago. With a little help from some friends.
On New Year’s Day, 1999, 25-year-old Joe’s attitude could have easily been squelched by an event that changed the course of his life. He and his friends had rented a hotel room, where they could be away from the typical New Year’s hubbub. Tezak was lying on a Murphy bed (a bed that folds up into the wall) when it was bumped, causing it to fold. His neck was pushed forward into the space where the bed folded. Joe describes a popping or cracking sensation in his neck, similiar to the feeling of having your neck or back adjusted. He felt no rush of pain. Upon trying to move, Joe found he couldn’t. He doesn’t recall much of what happened after that. The ambulance ride and time spent in the St. Alexius Emergency & Trauma Center remain a blur. “I do recall the doctor telling me I was seriously injured and that my family should be contacted,” said Tezak. “I remember talking with Dr. Spagnolia, the neurosurgeon who was on call that evening. He explained my paralysis and performed surgery that morning.”
The three-hour surgery involved decompressing the spinal cord and a cervical fusion. “We determined Joe would have the best opportunity for recovery if we performed surgery in a relatively short amount of time,” says Dr. Spagnolia. The surgery went extremely well, resulting in a more positive prognosis. Joe was able to perform some bicep curl motions his first day in the Intensive Care Unit. While there was still paralysis from the chest down, the initial prognosis indicated paralysis from the shoulders down.
The challenge of coming in at 2:00 a.m. to perform such a critical surgery is nothing new to Dr. Spagnolia. “You don’t get a big adrenalin rush like you see in the show ‘ER,'” he explains. “If I can make an intervention to make a difference in somebody’s life, it’s very satisfying. It makes all the training I’ve had worthwhile.” Dr. Spagnolia credits Joe’s amazing recovery to a number of things. “I’m sure it’s a combination of a positive attitude, the physiologic reserves as a young athlete and the good Lord that has contributed to his success,” he says.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
“Obviously my family and friends were in shock, as I was,” says Tezak. “After the initial shock, I decided I better start moving forward. Rather than asking why this happened too me, I had to program myself to think about where I was going from here.” Where Joe was going was more challenging than any wrestling camp. Throughout Joe’s stay at St. Alexius, he met the numerous therapists that would be his rehabilitation coaches and cheerleaders.
One of Joe’s physical therapists, Barb Nash says, “Typically, a therapist works to motivate their patient to try new things. In this case, Joe also motivated us. He decided when he was ready to try something new and frequently succeeded. He wanted to push himself to the physicial limits and become more independent.”
BIOFEEDBACK
Biofeedback was introduced to Joe’s regimen after he moved to the Rehab unit. Biofeedback is an instrument used to determine whether muscle fibers are receiving messages to fire. While these muscle responses may not be visible, they are recordable through the biofeedback computer. The goal of biofeedback is to increase the amount of muscle fiber firing.
Gerry Meier, director of Occupational Therapy, states, “The patient’s attitude and determination has everything to do with the success of biofeedback. I am the coach, the cheerleader, and the strategist. But, full treatment is the responsibility of the patient.” Once Meier established that muscles were firing in Joe’s upper and lower extremities, Joe could begin to visualize the muscles working and focused on improving at each session. Both Meier and Tezak agree the biofeedback sessions were fatiguing mentally and physically. It requires a lot of concentration and focus to isolate and retrain certain muscles to create the desired movement. “Without the use of biofeedback, it would be easy to give up on the prospect of movement in some cases,” says Meier. “I’m never pessimistic when patients start biofeedback. Joe is an exceptional person. He appreciated each accomplishment in his progress, whether big or small, which is critical to continued success.”
POOL THERAPY
Tezak began pool therapy which offered him unique opportunity to take steps in water to retrain in ambulation. He and his therapist, Erin Sabe, MPT, Physical Therapy, practiced taking steps, floating, kicking and walking against current. The therapists worked together to assure coninuity of care for Joe by updating each other on his progress and discussing how to accomplish certain tasks. This type of collaboration promotes a high quality of care. Sabe says, “Joe is an amazing person, by himself – not as Joe, with a spinal cord injury. He has made all of these accomplishments by setting high goals. A big issue with so many people when they have any kind of injury is they feel so out of control. Joe hasn’t let this injury take control.” She adds with a smile, “He’s been the CEO of this whole therapy program, because he’s been in control the whole time!”
As part of Occupational Therapy’s Actual Community Training (ACT) program, Tezak would go out into the community with therapist Brad Sibla, COTA, to deal with accessibility and environmental issues, working on things like transfers and getting around in restaurants and stores.
Another major issue facing patients who will be discharged from Rehab is, how they will be able to function in the home. Joe talked with his therapists about his home and whether it could be modified to become accessible for him. After deciding it would not be a safe environment, Joe and one of his therapists found suitable housing and he relocated. Then, the therapists had the task of making his new home user-ready.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Pam Upgren, OTR/L, Occupational Therapy, recalls, “We made numerous adaptions to his new house before he was discharged. A lot of that involved setting up bathroom safety equipment, putting loop straps on drawers, setting up his bed for transferring and modifying the kitchen.” Upgren explained there are so many “basic” things that need to be considered – how to open packages, cans, cook, grasp heavy or hot items. Joe’s therapists agreed that they would take their work home with them because recovery took a lot of thought. Upgren recalls when she would go out running, different questions would go through her mind about how to help Joe accomplish a certain task. Tezak adds, “There are many different ways to do things. We’d just try each one until something would work. Just like life.”
INDEPENDENT LIVING
Carrie Wright, OTR/L, Home Health Care, assisted Joe with his daily activities in the home a few days each week. “I never thought when we started with the most basic living skills that we’d arrive at the point where Joe functions so independently,” she says. “There were days that I’d show up and suggest, ‘Joe, let’s try this,’ and he’d tell me he’d already accomplished what I was asking him to do. A lot of times he was trying things on his own.” Wright says, “You see people with wonderful potential but that attitude isn’t there. Joe has reached a higher power within himself to attain the goals he set for himself.” He admits to having down days but never let depression take over or affect his performance. Tezak is now able to dress, bathe, cook, and ambulate distances up to 300 feet.
Steve Tschider, ADA environmental services specialist at Great Plains Rehabilitation Services, was contacted to install special driving controls in Joe’s car. These controls allow him the independence he lost.
THE FUTURE
Like most people, Joe had a mental image of what his life would be like. A wrestling scholarship is what brought him to Bismarck, from his San Diego, California home. His plans included continuing his job as an assistant wrestling coach, finishing his master’s in business management, and the typical “American dream” – secure a job, have a family. Rather than dump those plans, Tezak is still on target. It’s just taking a little longer. He obtained his master’s degree in March, just in time to participate in the Miami Project.
Miami Project is a spinal cord injury research institute in Florida. Joe will spend a total of 13 weeks in Miami as part of the study. Participants are grouped into three clusters. Each cluster will be undergoing a different type of physical therapy. The goal of this research is to determine what type of therapy works best for each type of spinal injury. Tezak’s goals are realistic. He hopes to make some gains in ambulation and strength. In addition, he hopes to develop some ties in the spinal community – so the name Joe Tezak comes to mind if the institute is looking to test any significant breakthrough in drugs or therapies.
Joe is anxious to quit hitting the books and start pounding the pavement. His interest is in human resources. He’s already in big demand. Requests have been pouring in for him to tell his story at churches and schools. With his attitude, charm and drive, Joe has the potential to fulfill the goals he set for himself long ago.
Tezak compliments the care he’s received at St. Alexius. “I don’t regret a single day I spent at St. Alexius. I knew that my doctors and therapists truly cared about my progress and they were very creative in helping me reach my goals. I certainly won’t forget the team who cheered me on!”