Patient Testimonial – Ziggy

My name is Sigmund Robinson otherwise best know as Ziggy and I am here to tell you my story. I am a diabetic and in the early stages of this disease during my 50’s it didn’t seem serious.  Later on in my 70’s I needed more medical attention including surgery which caused me to loose parts of my legs.

In 2016, it was then my daughters insisted that I move closer to them for medical attention. I then came to Regency Jewish Heritage Rehabilitation and skilled nursing facility for further treatment.  All the doctors and nurses agreed with the staff in Florida that I didn’t have long to live and gave me until the end of the year.

Through the efforts of my daughter, Cori, she found for me an internationally famous vascular surgeon, Dr. Lamparella, at NYU who fortunately insisted he proceed with the removal of my infected legs that allowed me to be here today.

After my operation, when I lost my legs, I had further medical care of two additional operations and a lot of rehabilitation.  First it took 3 more months of exercise to learn to balance myself and rebuild my strength. I then was supplied with my prosthesis that would lead me to relearning how to walk… Although most of the therapy staff felt this was an impossible feat!

For the first 3 months, I went though excruciating pain and various weeks of ups and downs in my progression. However, I was determined to do the best I could, and even beyond that.

This whole experience has opened my eyes. Looking back to early 2015, when I began feeling these symptoms of pain in my legs, through September 2017, when I began taking better steps to help me build my confidence to walk again.

All this was done, when almost everyone was skeptical that it could be accomplished.  All this time I was going through this journey, I increased my will to reach the point of walking towards what I expected of myself. I learned a lot about myself and built upon additional inspiration from my daughters, surgeons and my wonderful therapist, Christina, that understood my determination.

What others need to understand is the importance of this full team approach to develop trust and remain dedicated.

I would like to thank my angel-like daughters, my surgeon and all the wonderful people at Regency Heritage, for supporting me all this time. I have my G-d who is responsible for giving me insight and for the survival of a car wreck that nobody thought I would survive either. Through all of this I know that someone was watching over me.

I’m now 80 years old… What? Yea…G-d is with me!