Latest / Numotion Ally Program Podcast / The CathCast With Leah: Full Circle, Patient to Physician With Dr. Morgan (Part 1)
Transcript
- Leah Holderbaum: Hey friends, it's Leo with the Cathcast, part of the AllyPod. I'm joined today by the highly esteemed Dr. James Morgan, and his colleagues and friends know him as Woody. Dr. Morgan graduated from Tulane University in 2015, completed residency at Spaulding, and did his fellowship at Craig Hospital. He is triple board certified in PMNR, brain injury, and spinal cord injury. Dr. Morgan began his career at Vanderbilt and he is now treating folks at Shepherd Center. Dr. Morgan, thank you so much for joining me here today. I could not be more excited. Before we get into a few questions, do you mind just telling us a little bit about yourself? Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for the intro. Thanks for having me and inviting me to come talk. ⁓ yeah, my name is Woody Morgan, and I'm originally from Atlanta. I was actually a patient at the Shepherd Center. ⁓ had a spinal cord injury in 20 ⁓ 2008. So almost 18 years ago now, and was ⁓ sophomore and undergrad at the time and was pre med, thought I wanted to do go to med school, be an orthopedic surgeon, probably like most young athletic folks that are going into pre med think they're want to do sports medicine and so got kinda got got thrust into the rehab world and the spinal cord injury and neuro rehab as a patient nobody ever expects or wants to be introduced to you know that side of medicine, but kinda got a first hand experience from that and figured I was like, ⁓ I'll just go back to school and go to medical school and get a job at Shepherd and like it would be no big deal. But then you realize all the obstacles and hurdles you gotta jump through just to get through training and then how the job opportunities at Shepherd Center do not come around that often 'cause people tend to stay there for years and years and years, career long. How would you not? Yeah yeah. Career long stays. And so ⁓ yeah, I went ⁓ finished med school was fortunate enough or sorry finished undergrad and was fortunate enough to get into Tulane. So spent four years down in New Orleans at ⁓ Tulane University School of Medicine. Then did my intern year just in internal medicine down there in New Orleans at Oshner where you're in the hospital doing all the general internal medicine things ⁓ and then specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Spaulding at ⁓ which is a teaching hospital through Harvard. Up in Boston, so I spent three years there where it was great, right? A lot of great people, but it was a little too cold for too long for understandable my southern blood to handle for much more than three years. But I get it. I get it completely. So you mentioned you wanted to be an orthopedic doctor. Have you always wanted to be a doctor, or did this just kind of interest you later in life? I think that was always in the back of my head. My dad as a physician, he was an anesthesiologist, and I had neighbors and parents of friends who were physicians and so ⁓ one of the big things I played sports all growing up and I had numerous types of orthopedic injuries, rolled my ankle a million times, broken bones and so I would always go down the street to my neighbor who was the orthopedic surgeon after hours and be like, I twisted my ankle at practice or broke a bone in my you know, in my foot and I need you to tell me what to do. So he would either just splint or cast me up and say, Come to the office the next day. So that always kind of that those things kinda planted the seed for interest in medicine and I always had an interest in science ⁓ growing up and so I think those combination of those things if that it was kind of a felt drawn to medicine ⁓ and the sciences and so then I was ⁓ you know we I feel like you gotta start picking that early yeah and declare first thing in freshman year of college what you're gonna do, especially for medicine 'cause it takes a lot of you know, planning, you gotta start from like day one basically. Absolutely. Absolutely. I thought, yes, sports medicine to begin with and then, you know, life got turned upside down with the injury and you had a lot of people telling you from the background, some to your face, some some in the background, I'm like, ⁓ maybe we should reconsider medical school or medicine and being a doctor in general just after this injury 'cause it's difficult without an injury, let alone adding on a disability and all the things that come along with that. So but I was too stubborn one way or another to change my mind. So here we are. Strong willed, you know, you were you were motivated. so that kinda leads me to a few of my next points. ⁓ and you mentioned this a little bit, speaking about, you know, you you do have a spinal cord injury. Would you say that your own personal experience is what led to your passion for your extensive knowledge and experience within that neurological population? ⁓ absolutely. I I think I you know, going through it as a patient, you Meet people going through it, they have been through you know, that are at rehab with you. so those kind of bonds are long lasting and strong and I still keep up with people that was at were at Shepherd when I was there. ⁓ and then I s being from Atlanta, I grew up ten minutes from Shepherd Center, if that. And so I would whenever I'd come back and visit, I'd go and say hey to everybody, say hey to the therapist, say hey to you know, people that I remember there and then they would always want me to come meet patients that were there just to kind of again do a little peer support. Yeah. So I think that kinda naturally progressed into it. But then you know, stabbing my own injury, the experience in the rehab hospital from the patient side, doing all the peer support stuff, so ⁓ kinda all tied together. So I felt like I tried a l ⁓ I thought about doing lots of other types of medicine. So like internal medicine, ⁓ radiology, neurology, even psychiatry, people threw that out, but I didn't I didn't have a strong I know, personal attachment to those. They didn't, you know, necessarily sp I guess speak to me, if you will, when I did the rotations, it didn't kinda grab me or have that interest that ⁓ PM and R did and working with folks with neurologic injury just 'cause I kinda I live that life and I've been through it and I can relate a lot. So I think having that opportunity to kinda be the physician and treat all the medical side, but also be there and say, you know, I've gone through this, I'm going through this, I live through this, I've been in this exact bed that you've been at Shepherd, you know, so I think that that ⁓ I don't know, I It speaks volumes just from the experience, ⁓ personal experience, but I think I just can understand a lot of what people are going through both emotionally but physically and how to get back to living and troubleshoot and figure out how to c overcome a lot of the stuff. Yeah. I always say, ⁓ you know, I was an occupational therapist at a model rehab in Texas for years years. And I always said that I learned more from my friends than I ever did from any textbook. You know, it's it's the peer support, it's the community. Like they taught me everything that I know and like the skill set to be, you know, a clinician. So ⁓ peer support is is truly is truly key. what does it feel like to be working back at the hospital where you did your own rehab with, you know, one of the doctors who actually cared for you during your rehab stay? Yeah, it was pretty surreal. when I first came back it just felt 'cause it was always the the dream job when ⁓ ever since being a patient there. Mm-hmm. And so I again it was always this kind of something on a pedestal that felt far out of reach and unknown if it was gonna be a possibility at some point. And it kinda came along out of the blue way earlier than in my career and life I think than I thought it would, just 'cause like I said, people stay there for such a long time and I just kinda kept in touch and would visit and kept in touch professionally with some of the other docs that were there. And so, you know, they would have people from Tennessee area, Nashville area that would come back and get in touch with me, either for me to see them or refer to other specialists to kind of follow up with. And I would send people from Nashville to Shepherd occasionally. So we kept up with, you know, s a couple of docks and so that was always helpful. ⁓ Yeah, and then this I don't know, felt I always thought I'd leave at the drop of a hat and things in my life were changed a little bit and evolved when this job came available. So it was a little bit harder decision than I thought it would be. But ⁓ ultimately just so glad that I was able to have that opportunity to come back and work there. And it it did feel surreal. It was like a big homecoming party the first couple days ⁓ I was there just seeing a bunch of the even some of the techs that helped me out when I was on the floor and the a lot of the nurses some of the nurses were still there. But yeah, Doctor Murray was there. He was my inpatient doctor, so he's still still working. ⁓ into his eighties there as consults. Dr. Lynn was one of my outpatient doctors. So now we're we're colleagues and I'm consulting them for various things. So that's wild. How like not only is it surreal for you, but I'm sure it's super surreal for them too. And just how rewarding to know that they played, you know, a part in your life and ultimately were such a huge significant impact in your career and now you're working alongside them as colleagues. Absolutely incredible. As a therapist, I would be remiss if I didn't ask if there's anything that you remember about any of your therapies while as Shepherd, whether it's PT, O T, aquatics, the good, the bad, the ugly. Anything you remember? ⁓ man, so many things. I think just remember, well, I don't know, even just getting out of bed for the first time, just it's a lot of work. And I think that's what I tell people. And you know, when we get ⁓ up for the first time, it's like, you know, even being in your chair for As long as you can tolerate it is therapy because it's just you you're using all kinds of muscles and posture and positioning that you're not used to using. And even the ones that are working ⁓ are working double time to to kind of sit s even sit upright and be up in the chair for any length of time. So I think I I remember that was exhausting just sitting up and getting out of bed. Yes. ⁓ I remember specifically I a couple times. The first time being on the mat, I just my shoulders just incredibly tight. So again, just being on the mat and trying to move around, move your shoulders around, just not working the way you wanted them to work, and working through some muscle pains, ⁓ trying to drive the power wheelchair, and having like one of my pec muscles just incredibly tight, had this big trigger point there that could not get relaxed, and so that impaired it. And so one of the therapists who's been there now. For many, many years too, who I see she comes every once in a while, but she would ⁓ her name's Patty and so she just was like a master at manual muscle release, so she'd get her hands on you and dig into those dig into those muscles. Yeah, exactly. So that's why I tell people and I see Patty working on people now. I'm like, ⁓ yeah, I I am familiar with ⁓ Patty's work. So yeah. It's gonna hurt now, but hopefully it feels better later. It's worth it. ⁓ those things stick out, but then also some of the a lot of the rec therapy. So, like you mentioned, getting in the pool was pretty ⁓ exciting just to be able to do that and know that. that is possible. ⁓ Shepard does something called Adventure Skills Workshop in the spring, which I was able to go to as an inpatient. I'd tell some of the rec therapists now and it kind of blows their minds. I don't know if things have changed, rules have changed. So if we were to go in a little cowboy off the you know back then or not. But so yeah, that you get to go and you know, it's at a camp in, I believe, Alabama, and it's they set up a weekend of all accessible activity so with a bunch of therapists, inpatient, outpatient folks and so ⁓ caregivers and your ⁓ yeah. Do all kinds of stuff they do. Wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball, adaptive you know, shooting, archery. There's like a ropes course that you could get they get you up on. There's water activity. So both in the pool but also on the lake. So jet skiing and ⁓ water like water tubing, right? So behind the boats, those are fun. Yeah tubing tubing tubing. Yeah. I'm from Ohio and now I live in Texas so water sports aren't really common to me. Yeah. So those things all s stuck out at least from the initial hospital stay for sure. Hey, I'm Dylan from Wheelin' with Dylan. And I'm Leah with the Castcast. 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. Would you say the most meaningful part of your career is for you? My career? Mm-hmm. Because it's not just a job. When you really love it and it's something that's as personal as yours is, it's it's more of a career. Yeah. I think some of the more meaningful things, I guess it's twofold because I work with trainees, I work with residents and fellows, so I enjoy teaching them and trying to. explain these complex diagnoses and ⁓ treatment plans and physical exam maneuvers and things like that. That's just so foreign to so many people and then it's you know, how does that all one, just figure out how the body works in general is hard enough. And then when you have an injury that affects that and things work differently, then it's very difficult to try to figure out, you know, what is going on. And so trying to explain these complex topics to residents and fellows and how to kind of distill that into something that makes sense. ⁓ I think it's something I'm proud of. And I I don't I think I I've won a couple teaching awards, which I'm a I think proud of that as well. So there that's like voted on by the residents. That means a lot. So I guess I'm doing an okay job. But I was gonna say correct me if I'm wrong, but you were recognized as Teacher of the Year in twenty twenty three. Yeah. True or false? True. I think also incredible. Yes. A couple different years. But yes. Yeah. That's amazing. So how many years did you get it? ⁓ one at Vanderbilt, my last year at Vanderbilt and then the last two years here at Shepherd via the Emory residency. Of course. That's amazing. That's so powerful. You're giving back in so many different ways. So I think that's one of the ⁓ one of the meaningful sides of at least from the the teaching portion of it and why I just wanna be I don't know, I think remembered from the residents. One that I taught them something, that they remember things that stuck and that they kinda carry on in their career that they can look back and say, ⁓ I remember this one time, you know, with Doctor Morgan that this happened, we saw this or he taught me this. So hopefully that sticks. But then I think the other aspect that's either equally if not more rewarding is just the patient interaction. Like I think the again the peer support aspect of what I do is incredibly important to me and just being able to relate with what people are going through. And so I do a lot of patient education as well. So we kinda talk about honestly a lot of the same things I teach the residents, but we teach patients but just in a slightly different way. So they kinda understand what's You know, what's the new normal, what's going on with their body, what to expect, how to manage some of this on their own and what questions to ask once they're out of the hospital. So Yeah. How do you stay balanced separating your work and personal life, especially because the career that you've chosen is so incredibly personal to you? So how do you stay balanced? I think there's a natural overlap a little bit, but then as you progress in your career, or at least I have, you kind of figure out how to draw that line be like, all right, well I'm gonna turn the phone off at this point 'cause somebody else is in the hospital and taking those should be the primary person. I don't need to worry about this. ⁓ also I think it's just trust with other colleagues and parts of the rehab team as well. So learning how to not micromanage all of that as much. I mean you gotta kinda have take a bird's eye view on some of those things and again trust your colleagues and but also verify things are getting done correctly. So ⁓ I think stepping back and again not not worrying about all the micro details a little bit, ⁓ If that makes sense. ⁓ but then I don't know, ha leaving work at work sometimes. I mean, it's sometimes hard to do that with any part of medicine. ⁓ yeah, you but leaving work there but and try to just enjoy being not Dr. Morgan outside the hospital. I actually get over the residents that I work with 'cause I see them sometimes out and about in Atlanta and they're like yell at me ⁓ across the street or something like Doctor Morgan. I like, do not call me that outside of the hospital. ⁓ I know. I get it. So I think trying to yeah, again just trying to draw that line of like, ⁓ you I'm in the hospital, it's Doctor Morgan, but outside you can call me Woody, like just to be very approachable when I'm just, you know, not thinking about work when I'm, you know, out about with friends or out to dinner and things like that. But so when you aren't working, what occupies your time? What do you like to do for fun? I like to stay busy, I think. Yeah. I that was one of the things up in Boston where it was so cold s for so long, being from the south, I was used to weather like we have today where it's February and it's sunny and sixty degrees and everybody's out and about. And so ⁓ being cooped up for too too long kinda in the north was not great. So I like to be busy and go out get out and hang out with friends. So whether it'd be trying new restaurants, ⁓ just being outside. I love live music. So I just went to a concert on Friday actually by myself just 'cause I couldn't find anyone to go with. So I was just like, I'm gonna go. I don't want to miss this. What concert did you go to? It's a band called Clay Street unit. They're from actually from Colorado. But ⁓ very nice. I'll have to check ⁓ out. I'm always looking for new music. So I have a I feel like a pretty wide range of musical interests. But yeah, I w I'll see there's I'm still learning the venues in Atlanta. I think I got a big taste for ⁓ live music when I was living in New Orleans. It's a lot lesser known bands, but just people playing, you know, in re ⁓ on the corners or in in some of the bars and restaurants there. So there's just always good live music there and then They have large festivals like Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest and things like that. And then moving to Nashville, ⁓ so music city. ⁓ yeah, was like that's a city of music, you know. So then I really like fine tuned my interest and stuff. And so I was just g I was starting to go there again to things just solo because if I if people were busy or couldn't find people to go with, I like, I don't want to miss this. I was just buying going and trying to find tickets to like almost every weekend just 'cause it was so easily accessible and there's so much there to take in. And so coming back to Atlanta, that was a I'm trying to marry that love with how that fits in Atlanta and you just gotta you gotta try a little harder, but there's all to find it and kinda plan, but there's tons of tons of places to to see music. So still exploring and trying to fine tune some of those places. But so you mentioned, you know, you'll sometimes see your residents out and about in the community. What message would you like to share with clinicians, whether it's PT O T speech therapists, doctors, residents Anyone working with the neurological population, what message would you offer? I'm sorry, I spaced out. Say that again. You're good. my answer to the last question. I was like, you know, I talked about going to concerts by myself, but I was like, I also the other thing is like I like to spend time with friends. I have lots of friends here in Atlanta. ⁓ well, for sure. I feel like growing up, I don't want to be like, ⁓ a loner that goes to all these things by myself. Yes, yes. even if you did judgment free, judgment free. I love doing stuff by myself. But ⁓ I guess yeah, just going back to I think the other thing is spending time with friends and that was one of the other big things that ⁓ moving back to Atlanta was such a unique opportunity 'cause growing up here, ⁓ I just have a large social circle of friends I've grown up with since elementary school, high school, ⁓ college friends and ⁓ some now what I call kind of like adult Atlanta friends, people that I've met since moving back. So I have these like large groups of friends and kind of combining all those. So it's it's been nice to to have that kind of social support. So mm. I love it. Circling back. Yeah. What message would you like to share with clinicians, whether it's P T O T, speech therapists, P ⁓ and R, med students, residents, anyone working with the neurological population, what message would you offer? 'Cause you do have a very unique perspective based on personal experience and your your skill set. I guess it's you know, I think most people in the rehab setting understand this, but a lot of people that that don't ⁓ understand our patient population or or work with people with disabilities, it's a lot of people make a lot of assumptions ⁓ about the injury and, you know, were you know, assume people were born with this injury and don't ask questions about, you know, what happened or or about their abilities and so I think that's one of the biggest things is like try not to make assumptions, you know, everyone's got a story. I think that's one thing that you know, P ⁓ N R disability or rehab medicine teaches you that everyone's got a story. And I think I've experienced that. And you know, I think that's with a disability or not, everyone's got a story. So I think that's a a broader theme to take into to medicine in general and people that treat patients regardless if it's neurologic rehab or not, is that everyone's got some s sort of story, social story or reason they got to the hospital or things that they like to do for fun. Things we're talking about now, right? So try to unearth a lot of those things, things that motivate people and the reasons that they are there and the circumstances that kinda brought the, you know, provider and patient together, I think are important. And then so trying to understand that, understand people as people, not necessarily as patients in a diagnosis. Yeah. But also trying to understand what people can do and not assume like, ⁓ you have this injury, then I'm gonna like I'm gonna go ahead and rush in and do all this stuff for you. You know, sometimes it should be You know, how can I help you or how would you like me to do this? Or do you need help setting this up? Like, you know, offering or asking how to help, I think is more important than just trying to rush it and do things for people. I completely agree. I completely agree. I remember, you know, as an OT, I would be working with patients and there were so many times I would be in their room, we're doing our, you know, morning ADL routine and I would have to stand there like with my hands like tucked in because I I part of me wanted to help. I'm in a helping profession, but it's you know, ultimately it's going to be beneficial to them by, you know, giving them the opportunity to try and succeed and you know, it just it takes time. Yeah, that's the hardest part. I think, you know, like you said, try not to rush in and help. I mean that happens from whether it be therapy or from my side, teaching the residents to sometimes you gotta even teaching the residents to I gotta bite my tongue and be quiet and let them do their thing and learn how to do some of this stuff. But yeah And especially in like the neuro world, you know Everything is so different. It's not black and white. There's no recipe book for it. You never know what you're gonna get. So you really have to have an understanding that everything could just be, you know, very, very ⁓ versatile. So and that's one of the things I think in PM and R and rehab, medicine, neurologic injuries, right? There, you said there's no no recipe book. There's a lot of there's multiple ways to do things correctly or multiple right ways. There's some wrong ways, right? But there's a lot of other avenues that you can get to the same endpoint the the correct or a quote unquote right way. And then there's also the th thinking outside the box. I think that's one of the biggest things is the creativity of like how do we adapt this or how do we make this work? Or no one's ever asked this or wanted to do this before. And how do we, you know, come up with adaptations to make it work. Like going to medical school. So yeah. You know, so I worked with the therapist and we kind of recreated, tried to do some things and get ready to figure out what was gonna be upcoming and how to adapt that and get around it. And I kind of had a little bit of Mm. I guess practice going back to undergrad and going just going to classes and just figuring out how to manage my books, manage my computer, getting to and from class, managing the doors, you know, getting in and out of the class.