Patient Gains Independence After Brain Tumor Surgery

I’ll give you a little of my history. I am 53 years old.  I was very active. I was a traveling sales representative, an equestrian, and a flutist. Then in December 2019, I had an operation for a brain tumor. My previous life came to a screeching halt. My right side was close to being paralyzed, I had balance problems and started to have seizures. I went to rehab and mostly recovered.  I ended up back in the hospital a year later due to an unrelated illness that left me in a wheelchair and back to ground zero.

I felt like I needed further therapy after my yearly OT and PT insurance coverage ended. Sharea was recommended to me by an OT at one of the facilities where I went.  I employed Sharea for a couple of years after my insurance coverage would max out.  She came to me once a week since 2022 because I felt that she was more beneficial to me than the outpatient therapy facilities. 

Sharea goes at a suitable pace, but then she would challenge me to do more.  During a typical session, sometimes I felt like she was making me perform “stupid human tricks”, but the tasks and exercises were effective.   With her help, I went from sitting in a wheelchair and hardly being able to lift my arm or move my shoulder to be able to stand, walking up/down stairs to walking with a cane around a mall!

Sharea also practices scenarios when she isn’t with me.  For example, I couldn’t get back up when I fell on the floor.  Paramedics had to be called to help me up. To remedy that, she first had to get me stronger.  She had me use two chairs, and eventually one, to get down and do floor exercises and then back up.   When she felt I was successful at those exercises, we did the actual scenarios. Sharea had me practice in the three places I had previously fallen: the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.  I had to figure out how to get up off the floor by using the furniture nearby and describe to Sharea how to assist me, as if she did not know me or how to get me up to a seated position. This just skims the surface of her process though.

To top it all off, she has become a great friend. I’m so thankful for and highly recommend Sharea Clark.