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“I didn’t think I would walk
again. It’s unbelievable where
I am now.”
— Alonso Delfino
(above)
◂
REHABILITATION
Methodist Dallas Medical Center
•
❁
Summer 2015
7
A
year ago, Alonso Delfino never imagined where he would be today,
standing straight up and walking.
“I didn’t think I would walk again,” Alonso explains. “It’s
unbelievable where I am now.”
After years of intense headaches complicated by numbness that
extended along his right side, Alonso was at his wit’s end. He had
problems sitting up straight, grasping simple utensils, and even turning
a key in his truck’s ignition. Area doctors were unable to diagnose
the problem — until a fall brought him to Methodist Dallas Medical
Center.
There, doctors discovered a schwannoma, a tumor compressed
against the spinal cord. After surgery to remove a tumor, Benjamin
Newman, MD, neurosurgeon with the Methodist Moody Brain and
Spine Institute, referred Alonso to Methodist Rehabilitation Hospital,
located at 3020 W. Wheatland Road in Dallas.
“Rehabilitation is as important as competent surgery,” Dr. Newman
says. “At Methodist Rehabilitation Hospital, they take an integrative,
thorough approach to the patient to formulate and execute an
appropriate treatment plan. With good rehabilitation, patients like Alonso
definitely have the potential to make a dramatic recovery.”
The real power behind rehabilitation
Methodist Rehabilitation Hospital offers medical rehabilitation
to people with disabling conditions like stroke or brain trauma or
recovering from complex orthopedic surgeries.
“The real power in rehabilitation is our interdisciplinary approach
to patient care,” says Peter Rappa, MD, medical director at Methodist
Rehabilitation Hospital. “Each patient has a team of specialists working
together to ensure the best recovery possible.”
For Alonso, the rehabilitation team put together a program of care
that included education, life skills, rehabilitation care, and medical care.
Within two weeks, Alonso had gone from completely paralyzed to
moving his arms and walking with the parallel bars. Two weeks later,
when he was released as an outpatient, he could walk supported by only
a gait belt. By the end of two months as an outpatient, he could walk by
himself. In less than a year, he was back to life as he knew it.
“It was like being born again — every day I got better and better,”
Alonso says. “They called me the miracle patient.”
Most of all, Alonso is grateful for the compassionate care he
received from the doctors, nurses, therapists, and staff at Methodist
Rehabilitation Hospital.
“They went above and beyond to help,” he says. “Because of them,
the miracle did happen. They made the difference.”
‘The
miracle
patient’
THE SOONER THE BETTER
Rehabilitation should be as timely as possible, Dr. Rappa says. The
sooner rehabilitation begins, the better the recovery. For a referral to
Methodist Rehabilitation Hospital, call
214-947-0000
.
Alonso Delfino thought he’d never walk again,
but the rehab team had other plans in mind