“I have improved 85 per cent since I’ve been at Amana Healthcare,” says Darwish. Amana Healthcare specializes in long-term acute care, post-acute rehabilitation and home healthcare services.
“I’ve fallen twice and both times, I couldn’t lift myself because I was always dependent on my right leg as it was stronger than my left leg,” Darwish adds, relaying that the solution was having the occupational therapist hoist him in standing position and strengthening his muscles through physiotherapy until he was able to support himself on both legs. “I was successful,” he recounts. In developing Darwish’s post-acute rehabilitation programme, specialist physicians used a multidisciplinary approach involving three to five hours daily of customized physiotherapy alongside occupational therapy, speech therapy and a special nutrition plan. The combined programme was developed with the aim of helping Darwish recover function in independence, from getting out of bed to exercising and developing his core. Darwish has one occupational therapist, Beth, who works with him all the time. He believes that it’s important to work with the same person consistently because he receives seamless care and she develops an understanding for his medical needs and, importantly, provides emotional support as well.
“I don’t call it a hospital, I call it a home,” says Darwish on the significance of being in a happy and emotionally supportive environment. Beyond the care of staff, Darwish’s family can visit him any time they please, with the room adaptable for them to stay with him. Recalling his first experience with the condition, Darwish discovered something was wrong in 1988. “It started with numbness in one of my legs and then it moved to both of them:’ he says.”It was weird. It would happen once a year and then disappear.” Initially, doctors were unable to diagnose Darwish’s problem. Although he had issues, he was able to continue leading an active lifestyle.
Eventually, in 1994, the Emirati’s condition worsened, so he travelled to Germany for tests. Since at the time there was no MRI scanner available in the UAE. “There was a professor there who took some fluid from my back. After the MRI and the blood test, it was confirmed that I have multiple sclerosis!” MS is a chronic condition where the central nervous system is attacked by the body’s own immune cells, affecting the spine and the brain. It can cause difficulty with mobility, balance and result in fatigue. It can also affect the bladder and cause issues with sufferers’ cognitive abilities. Of the two broad forms of the condition, Darwish has the secondary progressive form of MS, meaning he has severe episodes separated by long periods of remission from symptoms. Primary progressive MS is a rarer form of the condition where sufferers’ symptoms steadily worsen with no periods of remission. There are times when symptoms stabilize, but they never disappear.
After a recent serious relapse, Darwish was unable to walk properly and his legs were becoming weak, which led him to Amana Healthcare’s rehabilitation hospital in Abu Dhabi. Having improved significantly during his inpatient stay, Darwish’s next step is a period of transitional care in which therapy staff from Amana will support him in the transition from hospital to home and provide him with a specialised home-based rehabilitation programme or nursing support as needed. A team of physical and occupational therapists have visited his home, looking at various ways they can improve his environment and enable him to overcome potential difficulties. “I’m going to put a moveable ramp at the back of my house,” he says, in preparation for situations where he needs to use his wheelchair. Darwish is due to be discharged after just over one month of intensive treatment. Witnessing the accomplishments that Darwish has made over a short span of time, he has inspired himself, his family and staff that truer words could not apply when it comes to any hardship in life — if at first you don’t succeed, try again.
