Sunday, September 7, 2008

gluteous cont.

I am going to try to tell you what a gluteous med. limp looks like. Mentally put a skeleton in front of you.You see a cranium balanced on the spinal column. Follow the spine down to the pelvic circle. The upper part of the lower limbs hold up the pelvic circle. Here is our problem. The gluteous med. is a small muscle that goes from the extension of the thigh bone to the very tip of the winglike part of the pelvis bone. When that muscle is rendered useless by polio, whenever the opposite leg is lifted up as it is when the next step is taken, the whole pelvic curcle falls down, or dips. I was told by Dr. Benet to find a couple of patients with this problem and work on substituting a muscle in the back to take over. I worked hard and when I had to demonstrate that there was a promise in teaching my system, there was much credit given me. There were wo people who thought I was too uppity, one was an older pt whose name was miss Swenson and Miss Partridge who was the ass. head of the pts. Remember those names. They will meet us again, later'

FDR returned again and this time he had Fala along. He never brought Eleonor which saddened me for she was a huge hero of mine.

We had an elderly pt who had given FDR all his muscle tests since Warm Springs opened. She asked me to help with the test that had to be given on this trip. She put on her bathing suit as did FDR. She handed me the record book which had to be fillled in with whatever changes showed up. I stood ashore and filled in the numbers she gave me. To my untrained eyes there was virtually no change from the previous test. When she was finished FDR asked the secret sevice person to go into his dressing room and get the hmmm he had left there. (I never heard what it was he wanted.) He came back and said; boss, I can't find it. FDR said: take Joe with you and find it. While both agents were gone FDR rolled off the treatment table he had been lying on, swam under water through a small opening into the outdoor pool and when the agents returned they became hysterical and screamed where is the boss? After a short play of hide and seek you could hear a booming hearty laugh form out doors.

Stephanie I wanted to get this off before I read the program about FDR and the pool. I am eager to read it. Thank you for telling me about it.

Next time I meet Sam.

5 comments:

Haphazardkat said...

What an amazing life you have!

Kat-vancouver, WA

hello haha narf said...

i absolutely *LOVE* knowing that fdr would joke and play like this.

thanks so much for sharing these stories. you are much better than any history book i have ever read!

becky

Anonymous said...

Svensto, I guess you noticed that the FDR/Warm Springs link I provided in a comment to your previous post is a ten-minute excerpt from a TV program (viewable with your choice of programs on the computer), not something to read.

Here's the main link where you can find text about FDR, or view the whole program:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/32_f_roosevelt/

By the way, do you know the physical therapist (Janice Howe Roper) who is briefly interviewed?

scargosun said...

Hide and seek with the Secret Service. That's funny and makes me see FDR in a different light.

Anonymous said...

Svensto,

I am having the best time reading about your life. It is especially fascinating to hear about Physical Therapy back then because I am an athletic trainer and we deal with a lot of similar things to PT's, just more on healthy, active people. Can't wait to read more!

Jessie

PS: We call the way a person with a weak gluteus medius walks a Trendellenberg Gait - did they call it that back then?