After breaking hip, Walter Hood can now walk

Dr. Walter Hood and his cat, Risa. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Walter makes his way up the steps. Submitted photo.

Liz Hood and her husband Walter at their home, with cat Risa, discussing how far they came since Walter broke his hip in 2008. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Liz Hood stands on the wheel chair ramp to the front of her home. Lita's husband, Walter fell off the steps and broke his hip in 2008. The ramp was built at a later date. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

Walter Hood has no memory of the day more than two years ago that changed his life. It was February 2008 and he was helping wife Liz take groceries into the house.

He fell off the front steps backward and would later discover he’d broken his hip.

That broken hip would spiral him into a period of hospitalization, rehabilitation, a stroke, memory loss and finally the road to recovery.

“It’s been two and a half years of hell, but it’s also been two and a half years of heaven,” Liz said.

Hood, a retired Catawba College art professor, is best known as a muralist whose works are featured at the Salisbury Mall, the library at Catawba College and abroad.

“We didn’t think it was broken at the time,” Liz said.

When Walter fell, Liz had plans later that night and he insisted she attend. The pain became unbearable and Walter was later taken to the hospital. Two days after falling, he was in surgery having a total hip replacement.

He spent a couple of weeks in the hospital and, while there, doctors discovered Walter had suffered a small stroke. The stroke was probably the reason for his being off balance.

Doctors placed Walter on multiple medications, which Liz said she believes caused him to have hallucinations and dementia.

Liz recalled a day in August 2008 when Walter called out to her to inform her he was hallucinating. He said he was seeing the wall covered with pre-Columbian art.

“I said, ‘At least you know you’re having one,’ ” she joked.

Walter admits he wasn’t aware that what he was seeing wasn’t actually there.

“It didn’t cross my mind,” he said.

He doesn’t remember much about it and Liz considers that a blessing.

Walter’s condition became worse. He was placed in a local assisted living facility and began losing weight. He arrived at the facility weighing 125 pounds but left at 89 pounds. He eventually had to have a feeding tube to receive nutrients.

“I thought he was dying. He had started to look gaunt,” Liz said.

His doctors thought he wouldn’t make it and later told Liz they figured Walter would be dead by September.

He’d spent a month at the facility and “didn’t know where he was,” Liz said. Walter’s cat, Risa — which means “laughter” in Spanish — never left his bedside.

When allowed to return home, he had to take 20 medications but eventually went off all of them.

Liz learned how to care for her husband, including giving him meal supplements in his feeding tube.

“It was trial and error. I learned as I went,” she said.

Liz had worked for 14 years taking care of elderly patients. She had some experience managing medications and handling basic needs, but she learned even more taking care of her husband.

She even poured cool coffee into his feeding tube, but first learned that it helped if he could smell it first.

“It stimulated his senses,” she said.

It also made the act of drinking coffee seem just as it had when he was able to drink it by mouth.

When Walter needed a physical therapist to help him walk again, the couple turned to Gentiva Home Health in Salisbury.

He’d lost muscle tone because he was not getting enough food. When he left the first assisted living facility, the amount of food supplement was increased.

Soon, a speech therapist started working with Walter to help him swallow food again. Along with exercises to get him moving, there were exercises for his mouth to get his throat moving. Liz even had Walter speaking German because of the throaty mechanism used to pronounce the words.

Walter eventually had the feeding tube removed. Liz said it was her Christmas present.

Liz doesn’t deny she was pushy. She was persistent and not willing to give up on her husband, even when others advised her to put Walter in a nursing home.

“I’ve been on duty 24-7 since Feb. 9, 2008,” she said.

She credits her husband’s improved health to the staff at Gentiva.

“They saved my husband’s life. They sent him a phenomenal therapist,” Liz said.

Nell Weddington, a Gentiva physical therapist, began working with Walter, who complained of dizziness while walking.

She’s been a therapist for 38 years and with Gentiva for a year this November. She’s worked with athletes and NASCAR as well as nursing home patients.

At first, Walter walked on his tiptoes because he could not straighten his leg. His joint was not moving beyond it’s range, meaning his muscle tissue was shortened.

Weddington used therapeutic ultrasound to lengthen his muscle tissues. Therapy began with Walter walking on a foam pad until he could place his feet flat on the floor.

He eventually was able to walk around the house assisted and then on his own, she said.

When Walter was near the storm door at his house, he’d insist on opening and closing it unassisted.

“That’s something we all do, go in and out of the door and don’t realize it. It was important for him to be able to do that for people who came into the house,” Weddington said.

Weddington finished her regular physical therapy sessions with Walter about six weeks ago, but she may return for some fine tuning.

Walter has progressed from being bedridden to being pushed in a wheelchair to pushing himself in the wheelchair and then to a walker.

“He is more functional to get out of the house and on different surfaces,” Weddington said.

He’s able to get in the yard and enjoy the trees and things he planted when he was younger.

“That was huge,” she said.

The goal is to get Walter around with minimal assistance.

“He can go down any steps and into his studio. He can walk and stand for some period of time,” Weddington said.

Small things brought joy to the therapist, such as when Walter was able to walk to his studio for the first time in two years.

“One of my favorite days was when he was in his studio,” she said.

Weddington said it was a team effort getting Walter back to full strength. He kept his spirits up and never got down, she said.

“His wife was key in keeping up with that in following a routine,” Weddington said.

Liz taught Spanish at North Hills Christian School but had to resign to take care of her husband. Her students came up with the idea to hold a softball tournament that raised more than $2,100 to help with Walter’s medical expenses. A friend of the couple wrote them a $5,000 check to help with doctor bills.

Others brought the couple food and restaurant gift cards so Liz wouldn’t have to cook. The kind acts they were shown came at a time when they needed it most and all in one week. It was a “Jehovah-jireh” (God will provide) week, she said.

“The Lord has let there be some really incredible things,” Liz said.

Walter’s balance is better and he’s even returned to painting. His studio behind the couple’s home is no longer a mountain he must trek, but a mere pathway to what he loves.

The journey has been long, Liz said, “but the Lord has been gracious.”

“I just turned 82,” Walter said.

Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.