Molly's story
After serving in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Molly Edwards decided to pursue a law degree at Dickinson Law School. While riding her bike to meet a fellow student, she was hit by a car. Unresponsive at the scene, EMTs addressed her injuries and had her airlifted to Hershey Medical Center for more extensive care.
Doctors at Hershey Medical Center closely monitored her brain function and blood flow in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She was sedated and placed on a ventilator to support her breathing and help her recover. Molly’s mother, Diane, flew in immediately from St. Louis, MO as doctors were unsure if Molly would survive.
Slowly Molly began to battle back. After a few days, doctors lowered her sedatives and took her off the ventilator.
A week after the accident, she underwent a surgery for her significant facial fractures. During that operation, doctors also inserted a feeding tube for nutrition as Molly was initially unable to swallow. After working with speech therapy for several weeks, Molly was cleared for a pureed diet. Within a month, she was ready for more specialized care. For that, Molly and her mother chose Penn State Health Rehabilitation Hospital.
Upon admission, the physician-led interdisciplinary team evaluated Molly and developed a personalized care plan for her.
Molly’s brain and facial injuries impacted her vision and limited her awareness -- she needed someone to both guide her balance and choices on tasks she should not attempt on her own. Molly also needed reminders to take frequent breaks -- standing and being active for too long boosted her heart rate. Once this medical concern resolved, Molly’s PT sessions focused on increasing her hip and core strength.
Building her muscle strength was accomplished through kneeling and balance exercises on uneven surfaces. Molly also worked on her cognitive skills with path finding exercises through the hospital. This was not only mentally challenging but physically demanding too. Molly had to navigate obstacles while she walked and followed a map. In doing so, she successfully increased her decision making skills, strength, balance and coordination.
Meantime, occupational therapy (OT) focused on increasing Molly’s endurance. They knew she would need to stand for over 60 minutes behind a podium when she returned to law school. Each therapy session extended the amount of time Molly spent on her feet. Sessions also wove in visual and cognitive tasks. For instance, Molly used the Bioness Integrated Technology System [BITS] which had her visually search for, identify and interact with images and/or specific information on a large display screen while standing. Mom Diane was beside Molly every step of the way. She was learning how to help Molly through the Care Partner Program. The program teaches a patient’s loved one how to assist that patient once they return home.
Speech therapy focused on everyday cognitive tasks to improve Molly’s recall of daily activities. For instance, they practiced medication management, completing a mock schedule and keeping a journal to improve her memory of each day of therapy. Molly’s therapists ramped up the complexity of her activities as she improved using strategies such as repetition, grouping and association to sharpen Molly’s visual and auditory memory.
Along with the nursing staff, speech therapists also kept an eye on how Molly was healing from her facial surgery. Six weeks post surgery, they supervised her successful return to a regular diet.
After 23 days of intensive therapy, Molly was walking, managing steps independently and showing marked improvement in her ability to recall activities. In fact, she no longer required a journal to remember the prior day’s activities.
Ready to return to her mother’s home in St. Louis, Molly plans to continue with outpatient therapy to further refine her skills with the goal of returning to law school. She is also planning a trip to Las Vegas with her mom and best friend to celebrate her recovery.
Asked what she is looking forward to most, however, Molly’s answer reflects the comfort of the simple joys in life: “My mom’s home cooking.”