Our Rehab Patients Say It Best

Jan 22, 2015 Reporting from Niles, MI

Care You Can Trust - Sandy Reed

https://www.spectrumhealthlakeland.org/medical-services/rehabilitation/our-rehab-patients-say-it-best/Detail/care-you-can-trust/?utm_source=Care_You_Can_Trust&utm_medium=PatientStory_Landing&utm_campaign=InternalPages

Jan 22, 2015

Jan 22, 2015

SpectrumHealth Lakeland

Sandy Reed, MD, could feel her world closing in around her. Osteoporosis and a pair of hip replacements had taken its toll. Still full of life at age 63, her body struggled to keep up. It all started about 12 years ago. Sandy was working on her

Care You Can Trust - Sandy Reed

SpectrumHealth Lakeland

https://www.spectrumhealthlakeland.org/ResourcePackages/SpectrumHealth/assets/img/sh_white_logo.png

Care You Can Trust - Sandy Reed

Jan, 2015

Physicians: Kenneth Edwards, MD; Sigita Alimenti, MD 

Sandy Reed, MD, could feel her world closing in around her. Osteoporosis and a pair of hip replacements had taken its toll. Still full of life at age 63, her body struggled to keep up.

It all started about 12 years ago. Sandy was working on her second master’s degree, this one in National Security Strategy, and she began noticing signs of osteoporosis. Then, in 2001, she had hip replacement surgery. Three years later, the other hip needed to be replaced.

“Weight-bearing exercise is very important for people with osteoporosis,” Sandy said. “After my hip replacements, that became much more difficult. You begin to feel even more fragile.”

Still, Sandy continued to work, serving as Director for Expeditionary Medicine at the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Falls Church, Virginia. It was a perfect fit for her skills. She had lived and breathed the military for most of her life – first through her father’s service and later herself as an officer in the Marine Corps. Sandy had also served as a pulmonary and critical-care physician in the Navy.

She used those experiences to find ways of improving access to care for soldiers serving at the front-lines of conflicts overseas, including developing the forward resuscitative surgery system. This is a highly mobile, lightweight unit which deploys to the farthest edges of the battlefield to provide immediate life- and limb-saving surgeries on wounded Marines.

In 2006, Sandy retired to Berrien Springs, the place where she was born.

“I have many fond memories of this place from my childhood,” Sandy said. “My grandparents lived here, and I loved coming to visit and being close to the lake. When I retired, I wanted small-town living and access to healthcare I could Trust. I did my research and was very impressed with the quality offered at Lakeland. That was one of the deciding factors in final my decision to come to this area.”

As it turned out, Sandy would soon put that Trust to the test. In 2009, she had a hip replacement revision done by Kenneth Edwards, MD. This is a common procedure that replaces worn out hip-replacement implants, but it proved to be yet another hurdle with her osteoporosis.

“I felt like my life was getting smaller and smaller,” Sandy said.

The Sandy heard about Bones in Balance through her primary care provider, Sigita Alimenti, MD. This is a four-week program offered by Lakeland Orthopedic Physical Therapy that teaches those diagnosed with osteoporosis and osteopenia how to successfully live with these conditions through self-management.

“It’s helped me increase my flexibility and strength through the different balance exercises, and I have a lot less pain,” said Sandy, who also has osteoarthritis. “That was a springboard. I’m doing other exercises now, and I feel like I have my life back. I can’t speak highly enough of this program and of my experiences and care providers at Lakeland. I would Trust them with my life.”

Hear more of Sandy's story in the video below: