Governor Corzine faces painful, intensive therapy to re-learn the basics

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: Corzine Faces Tough Therapy
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 21, 2007

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- It will be agonizing, emotional and draining. Most of all, it will be painful.

New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine faces months of intensive therapy to recover from serious injuries suffered in an April 12 crash on the Garden State Parkway....

Corzine has been in intensive care since breaking 11 ribs, his sternum, a leg, his collarbone and a vertebra in the crash....

***

Physical therapists said Corzine may face his toughest tests after he leaves the hospital. The 60-year-old man faces excruciating daily exercises designed to rebuild his strength, but they'll also make it difficult for him to initially devote much time to being governor.

''He's got to really work on getting himself stable and up to par,'' O'Donnell said.

Elton Strauss, senior faculty member at Mount Sinai Medical School, said patients who suffered injuries as severe as Corzine's often need to first receive psychological support.

''Most of these patients undergo stress, anxiety, sometimes anger towards what took place,'' Strauss said.

O'Donnell said Corzine will likely be sent to a rehabilitation center where he will have access to a psychologist and anti-anxiety medication.

His physical therapy, however, will likely start out being basic.

''Helping him to learn to bathe and dress again independently, getting in and out of the shower, donning and doffing clothes and shoes -- things that we take for granted but are extremely difficult when you have these types of injuries,'' O'Donnell said.

With his chest and shoulder injuries making it difficult to use crutches, therapists said Corzine will likely use a walker and wheelchair at first.

Vincent Perez, a director at Columbia University Medical Center Eastside in New York, said Corzine's early therapy will be comparable to ''learning to walk again.''...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Corzine-Crash-Therapy.html

[draft_mario_cuomo]

1. That is sad

I hope things go as well as possible for him and that he recovers fully. I have met him and he is a good person and a good progressive.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I second that!