Tightest Human Being You Had Ever Met

You may remember me, you worked with me for several months concluding in June, at the time I bore the mantle of “tightest human being you had ever met”. I had back, hip, knee, and feet problems (you gave my feet the “scraping” treatment), old age maladies that I refuse to face. I was running mummy mountain on the weekends for a training run. Just wanted to give you an update, doesn’t look like I’ll be returning to you in the immediate future. I will be running the South Mountain 20k in two weekends, and hope to be doing the Fiesta 1/2 in December. My knee tends to express its displeasure at mileage north of 10 so I probably won’t be going beyond a half-marathon, but I have made tremendous progress with my running to-date, in particular my mummy runs, they’re almost enjoyable.

My primary intention is to offer my appreciation for your efforts. You were my third trip through therapy, and you provided by far the most thorough and effective treatment. Your hands-on attention to my situation has restored running as my “mental crutch” that it has been for so long. It’s a lot of fun to target a run to discipline and train for. Many, many thanks, best of luck to you and your young family, maybe we’ll cross paths on a run someday.

Rick Mitchell

Thanks, ER!

Not all good things come easy. In October of 2004, shortly after becoming a member of the Phoenix Triathlon Club’s Junior Elite team I was referred to Endurance Rehabilitation. Nathan (Nate) Koch took on the chore of analyzing, diagnosing, and putting a specific work-plan together in order to improve my sub par performance in running, and to prevent injury.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I had taken a short break from training to visit relatives in California. During our stay I decided to go rock climbing and bouldering in Joshua Tree National Recreation Area where I fell and broke my talus and tibia (foot and ankle). Within 6 hours after the accident, I had gone through emergency surgery, leaving two screws in my ankle, a plaster cast up to my knee, and a prognosis that I had a 50% chance of being able to walk normally without a limp, and most likely would never again be able to compete in the sport I love. Wow! Just as things were taking flight, a blow like this was mentally devastating.

The first thing I did after coming home from a 3 night hospital stay was meet with the local orthopedic surgeon followed by a trip to Endurance Rehab. I met with Nate and presented him with a formidable challenge of getting me back to where I was before the injury and then moving me past to improve my running. Due to the fact that I was not allowed any weight bearing exercise for 3 months this was not going to be easy, but he was optimistically helpful that he and his staff were up to it.

Not only did my now good friends help me through the physical aspect of recovery, but they also made it easier to keep a positive mental attitude. They share such a great bond with their patients, that going to Endurance Rehabilitation is never a task, or a chore, but always a reward. As a result, I have been able to test my physical and mental limits as well as to understand how to reach for greater levels of performance and satisfaction in my sports.

I would love to give a sincere “thank you” to all of those at Endurance Rehabilitation who have helped and continue to help me succeed: Nathan (Nate) and Ashley Koch, Matt (Whammo) Byers, Matt (Kraemer) Kraemer, Darlene McClellan, Melissa Spooner and Bill Tjaden.

Sincerely,

Claire Moty
Junior Elite Team Member, Phoenix Triathlon Club

Story of Successful Lung Transplant

It is amazing to be able to breathe without aid of oxygen and without cough or wheeze. I cannot even put into words how incredible it feels and how fortunate I am to have received this gift of donor lungs.

The Surgery was performed at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center by Dr’s. Bremner and Nigro also assisting post surgery was Dr. Smith. My post transplant care is overseen by the Heart and Lung Institute (St. Joes) Dr’s Walia and Hodges are taking great care of me.

Everyone at St. Joe’s Hospital was wonderful and it showed that they had my best interests at heart. Everyone was very excited to be part of the transplant process and eager to have me do as well as I possibly could with it.

Before the surgery even began Dr. Bremner did a bronchoscopy and removed a half cup of puss / mucous from my lungs. During the surgery he removed an additional 1.5 cups from one lung. He told my Husband that he has no idea how I was able to breathe at all.

The surgery took place on Saturday 10-20-07 at 06:30 am. They did not wake me up until sometime on Monday so that I could rest. When I woke up I had an oxygen mask on and Dr. Walia informed me that the surgery is over and all went well. At that point I had no idea it was Monday and thought it was Saturday afternoon… it was not until much later that I found out that I had been in a drug induced sleep. I am happy that they decided to do this and chose not to wake me up until I was extubated .

I only had one small bump while in the hospital with a small air leak in my upper left lobe. The lung had not fully expanded and was slightly leaking air which was corrected within two days by simply adding suction to the chest drain tube to allow the lung to expand and touch the chest cavity to seal the leak… I tell ya it is amazing what can be done with modern science and an incredible team of doctors and surgeons.

Michele Hutchinson