Latest / Numotion Ally Program Podcast / The CathCast With Leah: Full Circle, Patient to Physician With Dr. Morgan (Part 2)
Transcript
- Leah Holderbaum: I'm curious about this. Tell me a little bit more about some of the, you know, adaptations that you had to figure out along the way. You know, therapy can only prepare you for so much and then you're gonna learn the rest of it out in the community. So what was the journey with, you know, undergrad, med school residencies? I think some of that some of the therapy to begin with just prepares you for the basics of, you know, bathing, dressing, grooming, getting ready, getting out, maneuvering out in the world. how to get around, but then it also is somewhat of a mindset shift of like empowering people to be creative and if you see a like obstacle, like how think about ways to overcome that or ask questions or try to get in touch with people who've done it before. ⁓ just kind of setting up a network. And I think that was always a great thing, at least my experience in inpatient rehab, both going back for peer support but also getting connected through other people who've had done some similar things. ⁓ So that was, I mean, one of the ways applying to medical school. I was like, I don't know if anyone's ever done this before in a wheelchair. So Googling, a lot of Googling. There's not like you know, people don't put it on their C V typically. ⁓ and so a lot of Googling, and then once you find one person, then it's kind of word of mouth. They're like, ⁓ you should talk to so and so. Here's their email. And you talk to that person, they give you two more names. So it gets to be this kind of you know, ⁓ chain of connections via word of mouth and then you have this then you eventually have this network of people that have, you know, done something similar and experienced it before so you're not recreating the wheel. Mm-hmm. ⁓ so I think that was just the mindset and the kind of that creativity was helpful. ⁓ then as far as the actual accommodations in school, I think some of that was helpful again, like I said, going through undergrad and getting a little bit of a trial run there and having 'cause most undergraduate schools, colleges, universities should have I'm s assuming most medical schools because they're affiliated with these you know big institutions, should have a like disability ⁓ department. And so getting hooked up with I was able to get hooked up with them, then they allow you to you know help manage and schedule classes at the right time. So it allows you to have enough time in the morning and breaks in between for whatever during the day and getting out on time. So you have a little bit ⁓ first first crack at scheduling, which is nice and then planning for testing accommodations and extra time and so I got a little taste of what some of those accommodations could be just from undergrad and going through the disability department there. Mm-hmm. And then kinda taking that information to the medical school 'cause a lot of medical schools haven't had any experience with students with disabilities. And it was certainly new. Well, it I don't it was sort of new to Tulane. They they I'm sure they've had folks or students with disabilities before. I think I was the first one in a wheelchair. ⁓ certainly first student at Tulane with at least a cervical spinal cord injury, so tetraplesia. So trying to figure out what kind of accommodations would be, you know, needed and doable there. So I think it was a the first two years of medical school or just in the classroom pretty much. And and so again taking all those from undergrad and saying, ⁓ this will be the easy part, right? This will I'll have extra time. I'll work with one of the teaching assistants for the anatomy lab and they'll have, you know, just me going through the classroom for that part so we're not having a jockey and f fight around other classmates to try to see what I need to see. So that was the easier part. And then once you get into clinical rotation, that gets to be the the challenging part 'cause it's like I've never done this before. I'm not sure what to expect. So I can't tell ya what I'll need. And it was just more of a having an open conversation with the administration and some of like this the deans of what student affairs and deans of you know other other things in the in the leadership there. So just saying, all right, well we'll we'll plan for this and maybe I need ⁓ a f a friend be on the rotation with me to help out with some physical exam maneuver. So we kinda did that, planned some of the scheduling with with someone that had volunteered to help out if I needed it. ⁓ they made some accommodations for surgery, right? I think everybody knew that ⁓ at that point was not gonna be a surgeon. I was pretty realistic about that as well. So ⁓ going doing a rotations on kind of minimally invasive surgeries that were more laparoscopic, that would be everybody would be up on the video screen, so everybody would be able to watch it regardless if I had an injury or not. So still be able to partake in in at least being there and being attentive and the learning aspect of it. ⁓ those are some of the big things. And then trying to figure out if there's adaptive equipment or holders or things that would make it easier to hold the stethoscope or different ways to do physical exam where you're relying on the patient to do a little bit more if they're able. ⁓ so I worked with in residency I worked with Dr. Sherry Blowett who's phenomenal. She was ⁓ sports medicine physician and former a paralympian and she was ⁓ I was fortunate enough to work with her 'cause she's also had an injury when she was young and is a wheelchair user and so she was a huge mentor and again one of those people that you meet through word of mouth and become part of your your network ⁓ and support system then We brainstormed a lot of like how do you do some of these, you know, physical exam maneuvers that are you're lifting people's legs up and over your head and putting them in different positions, but how do you how can we adapt it where you're getting the patient to do majority of those maneuvers on their own and still get the information that you need to kind of make a diagnosis and ⁓ assess that. So I think that was that was very interesting and eye opening. I think both for her too, 'cause she has a little bit more ⁓ upper extremity function and strength than I do. But ⁓ just getting creative and trying to figure out how to do that. Mm-hmm. You yet again have mentioned the importance of network and peer support and just, you know, word of mouth in the community. And within the Ally program, we recently launched our community forum where individuals can log in and we have different groups that they can join. They can share tips and tricks, give advice, ask questions. And ⁓ it's it's a really great place to to get some of those questions answered and to build community. So can you tell us a little bit more about you know, what peer support means to you and just how much it's impacted your life overall? Yeah. I think I actually gave a talk at Tulane recently, I think a ⁓ almost a year ago, and it's just about resiliency and disability how that overlaps with resiliency and medicine and I had to do a lot of reading about you know, characteristics of resiliency and it's not always an a an innate characteristic or trait that people are are born with. There's actually a lot of things that people can learn to improve resiliency after, you know, something an obstacle or in in life. And so one of them was the community and peer support and networking. And I like, ⁓ I feel like I do a lot of these things kind of already and I didn't know that that was, you know, a proven or known benefit. But ⁓ a lot of smarter people ⁓ Smarter people than me before me figure that out and that's why we they created these peer support programs. So ⁓ I think that's been super important. I think even from day one, just a meeting people that have been through it, talking through it on a personal level, rather than, you know, having your doctor just tell you medical things or your therapist tell you some things. Like a lot of people do this, but it's helpful to hear it from, you know, someone who's ac like lived experiences. I think that's invaluable. ⁓ and then like I said, then you have those networks, even if you're not I'm not being totally ready to hear some that ⁓ early, early on in the hospital ⁓ from peer support folks, at least, you know, in the program. You kind of talk amongst yourselves with the fellow patients and I feel like that you resonated a little bit more, but you know, but then you know these people and years later you keep in touch and openly talk about things that you don't necessarily talk about with I don't know, ⁓ your doctor, I guess. So Yeah. Yeah. But I think I don't know, I've always pri I mean before the injury I think prided myself on staying connected with people and having I guess fostering relationships and with multiple different friend groups and kind of keeping people in touch and getting people together and doing things. So I think that kinda helped actually a lot after the injury of still having that kind of mindset. I was like, well, I mean I still wanna hang out with friends and get together with people and like how do I still get everyone together and and kind of be that mm yeah, that initiator of you know, social gatherings and things like that. So that's from just the personal standpoint and I think from peer support, like we talked about, I think that that mindset I think goes along with it. Yeah. Hey, I'm Dylan from Wheelin' with Dylan. And I'm Leah with the CAFCAST. If you're listening to this, you are already part of the conversation. But there's a lot more to explore inside New Motion Medical Supplies Ally program. And all our podcasts live there too. So if you want to catch past episodes or get the earliest access to new ones, that's where to go. And the podcast is really just one piece. Inside Ally, there's a full library of articles, webinars, and short videos focused on bladder health. Catheter use and building routines that work for you. It's also a great place to see how others are navigating things day to day. Real setups, real experiences, and things you might not always hear in a clinical setting. And a big part of that is the community forum. There are sub-forums for different experiences and stages of life. So whether you're just getting started or have been doing this for years, there's a space for you. You can ask questions, share what's worked for you. Or just read and see how others are handling similar situations. It's a really easy way to connect and not feel like you're figuring everything out all on your own. And it's simple to access. If you're a New Motion Medical Supplies customer, you can log in with your My New Motion account information and start exploring right away. It's completely free and everything's in one place at catheters.newMotion.com slash Ally. Head to the Ally program today and join the conversation. We'll see you there. That leads me to my next question as well. So again, this is you have this career, it's personal to you. What message would you like to give individuals who are newly living with an SCI? Mm. That is always tough because I feel like for me, I always your mindset is so different from whether it's immediately after the injury, from the day you get to rehab till when you're leaving rehab and trying to you have that ⁓ crap moment, I'm leaving the hospital, like how am I gonna figure this out? You know, then you go home and you're just trying to put the pieces together a little bit and then two years later, right? So ⁓ I think it's just always a different message, probably different stages in that recovery process. But I think the biggest thing that I've always talked about is that, you know, you're still the same person. I mean, I'm still the same person. You have this injury and things are gonna look different. There's gonna be a new normal, which I know everybody talks about, but just knowing that you can still do you know, there's a lot of stuff that you can do that you enjoy. There's a lot of stuff in life to enjoy. It's just about matter about trying to figure out how to do that and how to adapt and still enjoy those things and focus on some of the things that you can do and not harp and focus on the things that you cannot do or at least not can it do this exactly the same as it was before. So or differently. Yeah. I one of the docs that I've not I don't think I've met, but ⁓ he is a sports medicine physician at University of Michigan, Doctor O, and he's on the podcast circuit of like docs with disabilities and these things. But ⁓ he's a great speaker and he's I heard him say something. It's like if you focus on what somebody can't do, then you miss the things that they can do. And I think that's such an important thing. That's so true. But it's such a hard mindset for, you know, someone going through it personally to to have that. But I think that's a reminder of, you know, just trying to focus on what you can do and and work on ways that you can do the things that you enjoy. ⁓ that's what I would say. Yeah. So Circling back, you've completed med school residencies, you've, you know, graduated with honors, you worked at two top rehab facilities in the country, you've obtained three board certifications, recognized as teacher of the year, you're just all around great guy. What are you most proud of in your life? I was asked this question during a fellowship interview and I think I picked something off my resume and then I thought about it later and I was like, That was such a terrible answer. I'm not it was like a research project that I worked hard on and I thought about it later. I'm like, I'm not that proud of that. I think it but it the thing I am most proud about that I wanted to answer, ⁓ was I think what we just talked about, just friends and family and the community that I've been able to establish and keep together. and stay connected with throughout the years. I think that's one of the biggest things that I'm most proud of 'cause I have friends. Like I said, I still see friends from that I grew up with elementary school, middle school, high school. That's rare. I connect with people. Yeah, which I think we just take it for I take it for granted. And ⁓ I meet people later and they're like, I don't even talk to people I went to college with, which I think is just it was for me it just seemed normal and natural. But ⁓ yeah, very good friends that I grew up with and keep in touch with and see on a regular basis and know their families and now see their kids growing up and so that's that's fun to be a part of and ⁓ but you know, I like in the community both from family and friends, people that I'd known from Like I said, growing up to undergrad, I've the kind of the college friends that are a lot a lot of people here in Atlanta in the area, so I see them a lot and and then, you know, some I keep up with people I went to med school and training with, so we are still on group chats and don't see them as much in person, but yeah, keep together and chat often. So yeah, I think that's one of the things I'm most proud of. And then, you know, I think both friends and family and just trying to cultivate those relationships and you know that. I think is the thing I'm most proud of, but that also goes into the relationships with work and both patients and colleagues. And I think everywhere I've been I've I've still kept up with people I've worked with and ⁓ different patients. I don't necessarily keep up with them on a personal level, but certainly keep up I guess adjacent some of the the therapists, other people will message me and say, ⁓ you remember so and so? I'm like, ⁓ yeah, of course I remember. You know, they just like you they they s people some people just stick with you, so yeah. So again you've mentioned, you know, the importance of community and you know taking the initiative to stay connected. So as we're wrapping up, ⁓ you know, within the Allied community we have both clinicians and our new motion customers. And ⁓ you know, there's resources that are available available to them, but is there anything that you would like to, as we wrap up, any final words for individuals within the Allied community, either clinicians or customers? Final words. About anything? About anything. Anything? ⁓ no, I think just I'm trying to I guess final words maybe just would be, you know, just to be an advocate for yourself. You know, if things aren't going right or feeling right, you would just seek somebody out, whether it be a friend, a family member, a ⁓ a provider, right? Someone that you know, your physicians, someone, therapist, someone that you feel comfortable talking to and just say, Hey, this is going on and I need help figuring this out and you know More often than not someone else has been through that same exact thing and so it feels troublesome to go through it, but on your own, 'cause it's all new to you. But there I guarantee there's people I've been through it before. So I guess I think that's why the the pure support aspect of all this in we're talking about in disability and in ⁓ in general, but I think just that's such a wider theme that applies to so many different parts of life. Mm-hmm. No, I completely agree. Doctor Morgan, this past hour has been Absolutely fantastic. I couldn't be more excited to be here in Atlanta with you. I so appreciate your time and I am looking forward to hopefully coming back and doing round two with you. All right. So awesome. Thank you so much for your time. Of course, thank you.