Talk about your life-changing experiences! A rooftop fall from 14 feet in May 2010 put a major crimp in Steve Jennings’ life. The on-the-job accident shattered his left scapula (shoulder blade) into several pieces and brought this on-the-go Madisonville dad’s life to a screeching halt, although it took him a few days to realize it.
Steve coaches his daughter’s soccer team, and they were due to play in Shreveport for the state championship the weekend after his accident. Surgeons in Baton Rouge spent hours reconstructing his scapula, holding all the pieces together with a plate and six screws. Despite the trauma, Steve says that post-op, “I was a horrible patient. I was complaining constantly because I wanted to get out of there. Finally, I talked to my doctor and asked if there was anything keeping me here. He said no and sent me home. On the way home, I’m loaded up on pain pills and babbling on and on about if we leave Saturday morning at 5 a.m. we can be in Shreveport for the game. My wife said, ‘Are you kidding me? You’ve got 25 staples in your back and you’ve just had a four-and-a-half-hour horrible surgery.’ I was dead-set on going, but the next morning the realization finally hit me that I had barely made it through the one-hour drive from Baton Rouge.”
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Steve Jennings works on his shoulder recovery at Rehab Dynamics.
Steve’s drive and determination remained unabated, though a bit tempered by the severity of his injury. He set about doing everything necessary to get back to where he was before the accident, which has included regular physical therapy at Rehab Dynamics in Covington. His therapy is aimed at regaining both his strength and his range of motion. “Anything,” he says, “to try to stimulate and at the same time break through some of the scar tissue and some of the impediments your body puts forward that slow down that process.”
Although it’s with great affection, he refers to therapists Susan Blanchard and Crystal Cook as “torture specialists.” Steve says, “They’re trying a new torture device on me that actually stretches and holds my arm in a stretching position. We’re hoping that through intensifying my rehab I can forgo a third surgery that’s slated to happen.”
Steve cites an example of the creative ways the Rehab Dynamics staff has come up with to “torture” him. “We have a thing we call the ‘dog sled’ where I have to put my stomach on a chair, they sit on my back and I have to drag them using nothing but arm strength. That was real interesting.”
Cook says Steve’s motivation and dedication make him the perfect patient. On his part, Steve appreciates the staff’s willingness to work with him. “If I come up with ideas, or if I see things that might work for me, they’ll look it over. If it’s something they like, we work it into my workout.” And, he adds, “I come up with things constantly.”
His employer, Southern Homes, has been accommodating and has trained Steve for an office job as an estimator. He’d rather be back out working in the field and would really like being back on the soccer field enjoying the sport he’s been active in since he was 6 years old. The therapists at Rehab Dynamics are providing the tools and techniques to meet his goals. “One of the things they teach you is that you have to be diligent. You have to know this might be something that you have to work on the rest of your life. It’s one of those things where, if you’re going to do something, you should go all-out. They’re not miracle workers, but what they try to ingrain into your mind is that this is a life change.
“I’m 45 now. I would very much like to be able to do the things I did when I was 21. I want to play soccer; I want to water ski; I want to be able to climb trees. They know that and have done everything in their power to get me back to that.”
- Stephen Faure
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