Overcoming an Obstacle

Overcoming an Obstacle

One evening in mid- July, as the summer's sun emerged into my car while driving on the downtown Atlanta connector, in route to Piedmont Hospital, an amazing facility, I enjoyed working at for twelve years as a licensed nurse. My shift started around 6:45pm, it was a typical day. I did not know the unthinkable was about to happen!

A very pleasant patient, Miss Carter, called for some assistance to get back into bed around 2am. Sitting in the chair for hours she became restless. Immediately, on my arrival to her room, Miss Carter starts a conversation about how her night was going. The night was off to a great start. I assisted Miss Carter, by lifting under her arms to pull her up from the chair. Next, as I was turning her around to recline onto the bed, she lost her balance and panicked. Then, Miss Carter reached out grabbing me around my waist; which caused both of us to slam- dunk very hard onto the bed. Getting up from the bed, I was overpowered by an explosive pop in my lower back, as if someone was pulling me apart, causing me to cry out in severe pain.

My co-workers entered the room and helped me to the emergency room. The physicians were very caring. They ordered x-rays of my lower back, which determined two disks were ruptured. The shock from this took a while to comprehend. Several procedures were performed to try and alleviate the pain: physical therapy, gel ultrasound, and injections. Realizing none of these procedures helped was very upsetting for me. The final outcome was to have back surgery. A variety of physicians fused the disks and placed steel rods into my lower back. Waking up from surgery the pain was unbearable. Returning home, after spending two weeks in the hospital was very depressing.

While at home I had to depend on others to care for me : getting dressed, taking showers, walking, sitting in the chair and repositioning in bed. This rekindled the memories of caring for my grand ma-ma. There were moments, I could feel her touching me on my shoulders. After a year of physical therapy, the vision of returning to work played over and over in my mind. Like a child in a toy store not knowing where to begin, I was ready to take off down the halls of the hospital. Eventually, my doctor informed me, I would never be able to perform my duties as a nurse again, causing me to relapse into depression. My life, seems as it was spinning out of control. Crying was the only thing I could do.

My son Darian at the age of eight was very enraged, because of what happened to me. He would ask me, why did this happen. Explaining to him, that some things in life we absolutely no control over, was very hard. Darian reminded me of all great times we had: camping, skating, playing video games, road trips, and playing basketball. A devoted therapist, prayer, and supportive family helped me to overcome my depression. The decision to return back to school