Patient testimonial: Denise C.

The staff is great here.  I’ve learned a lot about myself, in terms of dealing with other people’s personalities.  We’re all here for the same reasons, and we all come in with attitudes.  It was scary coming in here.  But I’ve learned a lot.  You guys do a great job.  You guys try to accommodate to the best of your ability all the different pain levels, skill levels, personalities, and physical goals of all the many clients.

It has been a tough road.  My on-the-job injury was 1/25/99.  Then I had surgery 2-3 years later.  The surgeon fused my C5 and C6, and now I’m having problems with C4 and C7.  I haven’t worked in four years, and that has not been fun.

I’ve benefited from being at UBC.  I especially loved going to the pool!  I learned a lot about body mechanics.  “Don’t put your whole body into it,” Lara would say when I’d work out on the Eagle machine.  Both Summer and Lara had a big influence on my progress.  I hope to come back to use the gym, but it’s a 56-mile round-trip from my house.

I hope to continue to use what I’ve learned here.  Not only the gym exercises, but all that I learned from the many classes.  Even today it’s difficult to ride my Harley Davidson motorcycle for more than 30 minutes at a time.  However, I can ride it, and that’s a huge improvement.

My new goal is to go snowboarding, which I’m hoping to do it this winter.  Drs. Welch and Harris seem to think that I can do this.  We’ll see.  There’s more to life than pain.  UBC teaches you how to refocus your life and how to manage life with pain.  I have good days and I have bad days.

I’m going in a whole new direction.  My vocational rehab counselor and I are working on my options.  I had been a laborer my whole life.  Perhaps a job in property management?  School is also an option.  I’m scared about going back to school, but I might pursue classes at Bellevue Community College.  I wish I could work for UBC as a physical therapist.

Tomorrow is my graduation day, and to future UBC clients I have this say:  Take a deep breath and go with it.  It’s hard but it’s for your own benefit.  UBC’s constructive criticism might be difficult to take, but it’s not a personal attack.  UBC’s here to help you.  People here do care.  It’s hell dealing with pain, but it’s your choice to just live in that hell or to use the tools UBC gives you.  It can only benefit you by coming to UBC.  If it helped me, it can help anyone.