Navigating a Long Road to Recovery with his Physical Therapy Team: Rod’s Success Story

By, Allison R. Weder

Rod Bucks loved to hike, canoe, and watch his beloved Penn State Nittany Lions on the football field. He was active and had big plans for when he and his wife retired. Then, a spinal cord stroke threatened to take that all away. It happened during the height of the COVID epidemic and during a time when the Bucks were leisurely moving, as Rod calls it, from New York state to Center County, Pennsylvania. They took possession of the home they had built in December of 2019, but they did not become official Pennsylvania residents until October 9^th, 2020. Rod describes what happened on October 20^th. “I woke up and felt a strange sensation in by back. I went into the bathroom, and I felt my legs get weak. I made it to the toilet, and when I got up from the toilet, my legs collapsed. I was able to crawl to the bathroom entrance, then I could not move my legs at all. We had to call for an ambulance.”

After four hours in an MRI scanner and two days in the hospital, a Neurologist finally diagnosed a spinal cord stroke. Rod remembers what the doctor told him. “It was between the T12 and L1 (vertebrae). He described it as a section of my spinal cord that was three centimeters long and two millimeters wide that was without blood supply because of a blockage. I had limited sensation in my legs.” Shocked and trying to absorb what had happened, Rod was sent to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in a wheelchair, unable to walk. He was scheduled to spend two weeks recovering, doing physical therapy to see what function he still had. None of the experts would give Rod any solid answers about what his future looked like. Would he regain feeling in his legs? Would he walk again?

Rod contracted COVID during his time at the inpatient rehab facility. “That interrupted my physical therapy and extended my stay. I was in isolation for 16 days. This was early in the COVID cycle.” Rod thinks about his wife, Teri. “I don’t know what she went through when I was admitted to the hospital and then to the rehab hospital and then I had COVID. She couldn’t visit me! Luckily, I was on the ground floor, so she could see me through the window.” After a tough four weeks, Rod went home, where adapting to his new reality was even tougher. “We had to quickly sell the two cars we had and purchase one I could get in and out of. I had to have a hospital bed for months. I was just not able to sit up on my own. I had to use a bedside commode. It was incredibly life altering for both of us.”

It was the end of November now, and the next step was for Rod to find an outpatient physical therapy facility and begin sessions immediately to push for the best outcome. Just having moved to Center County, the Bucks did not have a healthcare team in place. The coordinator at the inpatient rehabilitation hospital recommended the Phoenix Physical Therapy, Bellefonte clinic. “I did not know what to expect. I did not know what kind of progress I would make. I had hope. I’m a reasonably positive person, but I had no idea.”

Rod began with an evaluation by the Clinic Director. She created a unique plan just for him that included the goals Rod wanted to meet. They started with core and leg strengthening exercises. “I would lie on a table and move my legs around. They were simple things I could even do at home in bed.” Then, as Rod rebuilt this strength, it was time to try standing with a walker device. “The first time they got me on my feet and tried to get me to walk, there was one therapist on each of my legs to make sure they didn’t buckle. They even enlisted the help of my wife. She was there with the wheelchair to scoop me up if I lost it.” Slowly Rod began to see progress. “There were little things but to me they were incredibly big steps. Then, the ability to get up with a walker instead of a wheelchair was huge. I no longer needed the hospital bed. I didn’t have to use the bedside commode. I could use the walker to get to the toilet.”

After five months of therapy, Rod was becoming proficient with his walker. His sessions included challenges, while working with Kristen Lehner, PTA, that mimicked things he would encounter during everyday life. “I remember going outside with the walker and first just walking on the sidewalk outside of Phoenix. We would walk the length of the sidewalk. Then we would walk in the grass and find terrain, and go up little hills and uneven spots. My stamina wasn’t great. Up through May, I was still just using the walker.”

Kristen was hopeful Rod could soon begin working toward using a cane. She felt confident it was another milestone he could reach. Marissa Hockenberry, PT, DPT agreed. Marissa joined the Bellefonte team as its new Clinic Director and began leading Rod’s care. “Marissa wanted to assess me. So, she told me we were going to try something. She brought me to a room with a table where I could stabilize myself if I started to fall. She handed me a cane and I walked with the cane! I was shocked. This was something that happened many times with Marissa. She would tell me I was capable of doing something before I was convinced, and she was always right.”

The hard work continued. In fact, Rod completed a total of 266 therapy sessions over two years and three months at the Bellefonte clinic. He is quick to say, he was never bored. “Marissa was really inventive. She was really creative with the exercises we would do. She would try to change things up to keep things interesting. There was a park, and she would take me out on uneven ground. We would go up hills, and we would do side hills. We would do different things that were really quite functional.” Marissa always had Rod’s goals in mind. “Rod had incredible drive and motivation with very specific goals of what he wanted to be able to accomplish and do again. He never backed away from a challenge even when my techniques may have seemed unconventional to him. He was very dedicated to his lengthy rehab and never lost his drive even if a complication arose. He would just analyze, smile and keep putting one foot in front of the other.” While the sessions were always interesting, Rod admits it was difficult, at times, to see he was continuing to show improvements. “We would have Penn State interns come in, and Marissa would describe to them where I started and the progress I had made. She would always describe it as incredible progress. When I heard Marissa describe me to someone else, it really helped me understand how much physical therapy helped. She was kind of like a cheerleader too.”

The progress continued for the Rod-Marissa team. “Marissa took me back into the same room and I took my first steps. Now, I’m able to walk around without the cane at home. When I go out in public, I still use the walker because I’m not sure what I’ll face.” Rod then set his sights on another goal. He wanted to be able to walk up his long, sloped driveway. “Being able to go up is a big deal. Around Thanksgiving, 2022 with my son here, I was able to go up the driveway.” And the goal setting continued. In the early 2023, Rod decided he would like to walk down his driveway. “It is much easier to go up the driveway than down. Marissa came to the house, and she spotted me, and I was able to go down the driveway. That was incredible. That was a really big milestone.”

Rod knew he chose the right place for physical therapy. “My interaction with Marissa was fantastic. I told her I felt like we were a team on my recovery. It wasn’t like I was a patient. I would listen to what she was telling me, but she would definitely listen to me too, and together we got to where I am now. And it wasn’t just Marissa it was the whole clinic. I felt like we were a team working on my recovery. I was a part of it, and they were a part of it.” Rod’s wife was also a part of it. “I don’t know where I’d be without Teri. The burden I put on her. The care she had to provide. She had to drive me; she had to deal with loading my wheelchair into and out of the car. She had to deal with all my needs. She was always running errands for me. I was finally able to run an errand for her! I picked up something for her at Kohls.”

Rod continues to recover and is hopeful his deficits will all slowly disappear. “One of my goals is to get back to our regular Penn State football season seats. Since I’ve had the stroke, I had to have an accessible seat. The first year I used my wheelchair. The second year, I used the walker. We are going to try our regular seats this coming season. I also want to get to the point where I don’t need to use the walker in public. I’d like to just use the cane. Marissa and I talk about the 3 canoes hanging in my garage. I’d love to canoe again. We have plans to travel and this has put a big interrupt in our travel plans. That’s a big deal for me and my wife.” Rod knows he can reach those goals if he keeps up the exercises he learned at physical therapy. “I have a recumbent bicycle and a weight machine. Marissa is happy with what I have, and she knows I will continue at home. I want to improve even more.”

Rod is grateful for the whole Bellefonte team. “I’ll miss them. I’ll go back and see them. I am so grateful. I cannot imagine better experience than I had. They really became like family. The progress I made is so related to the care I received at Phoenix.”

Rod’s first trip after discharge from Phoenix, was to the 2023 Masters Golf Tournament. He and Teri enjoyed every minute and shared this picture with us.