RESEARCH FEATURE Dr. Constance Visovsky first to research exercise program to help cancer patients suffering from CIPN
Dr. Constance Visovsky remembers the time when she was a young instructor and doctoral student teaching at Case Western Reserve University and an undergraduate student of hers conducting physical assessments at the VA hospital came to her with a problem. The student was embarrassed, explaining that he realized he should know how to obtain a patient’s reflexes, but he was having trouble getting a response from one man in particular. Could she help? Visovsky readily agreed, but when she arrived at the VA to observe the patient she was stunned. Just the semester before, the man—a cancer patient in his sixties—had been walking independently around the unit. After undergoing chemotherapy treatments for lymphoma, he was experiencing horrible neuropathy. Now he could barely walk. (continued next page)
28 | UNIVERSITY of SOUTH FLORIDA COLLEGE of NURSING
