HERO Highlight: How One Fall Changed Jon’s Life
Jon, 70, was a practicing psychologist in Boston, MA for 42 years until last year, when one fall changed his life forever.
He woke up in the middle of the night to grab a glass of water. On the way to the kitchen, his foot slipped going down the stairs. He took a hard fall down the entire staircase and went unconscious.
“Other people perhaps break an arm or a leg falling down the stairs. I say… go big or go home… and I break my neck.”
Hours later, he woke up face down in the carpet, only to realize he couldn’t move his arms and legs. He lived alone, so he thought he might be stuck there for days. He started screaming for help, which luckily caught the neighbor’s attention. She called 911 and the paramedics broke down his door, which was when it got hazy. He woke up next in the MRI tube at a local hospital, and next again being airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was treated for spinal cord injury.
Jon was completely paralyzed from the neck down for the next 6 weeks. He began inpatient rehab to gradually get him back on his feet. One day, roughly 3 months into rehab, he began feeling a little off.
“I suddenly began going in and out of consciousness and was rushed to the emergency room. While there I flatlined… I in short, I died. I then required surgery for a pacemaker implant.”
He made it through, and 2 months later, he was out of rehab and back home. He could walk a little, but his arms and hands were still a work in progress. In total, Jon had spent 5 months inside the rehab facility.
Fast forward to today (1 year after the fall), he can use his arms and hands to some extent, but not without continuous neuropathic pain. Since his injury, he’s been diagnosed with Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease, Benign Prostatis Hyperplasia, and Hypothyroidism.
How many pills do you take?
I take 21 pills everyday.
How do you keep all your pills organized?
I keep my pills organized in two double strip weekly pill cases. Every Friday, I fill the double strip pill cases (that’s 28 little boxes); one of which goes upstairs in the bathroom and the other is downstairs in the kitchen. I manage this using the Reminders App on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac computer. It is, to say the least, a royal pain in my…
How often do you forget to take your pills?
I have missed medications on a number of occasions. One reason is that if I am occupied and the reminder pops up to take my medication, I might continue what I was doing with the intention of taking the medication in just a few minutes. The distraction is sufficient to cause me to miss a medication.
Does anyone help you manage your medications?
I have a personal aide who comes in for a couple of hours every morning to help me with tasks that I cannot do as a result of my spinal cord injury. He generally checks if I’ve taken my morning meds, as that is the time of day when he visits. Otherwise, I am on my own when it comes to taking medications.
Why did you order a HERO?
This whole process could be easier by having the meds organized, dispensed, and alerted as exemplified by the HERO pill dispenser. I don’t really intend this to be a commercial, but the HERO really covers all of the problems that I have, considering the number of meds I have to take. Filling 28 little cups with with my medications is really a pain, and just being able to dump each of my meds into a cup and put it in the machine makes that an easier process. Also knowing that once programmed the machine will, for the lack of a more descriptive phrase, just take care of me. The HERO will, to say the very least, dramatically simplify my pill taking regimen.
“I just woke up every day accepting my condition as ‘the new normal’. It has been an interesting experience. Clearly, an experience I could have lived without… but it is what it is.”
Thanks for sharing your story, Jon. We hope HERO will help you on your journey through recovery.
Learn more about the HERO, the smart appliance for managing medicine.
By Ali Zaman, Growth at HERO
