On the book front...Don't get Your Panties in a Wad is officially at 16,000 words. Still disjointed in parts and in serious need of editing. But the words are flowing from my mind to the keyboard...not to mention the zillion back spaces and spell checks. It it easier to write real life than fiction for me. Not because I lack the imagination, but it is concrete and I started off as a nonfiction writer. I guess I'm a nonfiction writer that dabbles in fiction especially of late.
I'm actually farther along than what I expected to be. I feel I'm accomplishing something I did in my pre-stroke life which is satisfying although a s l o w process. Frustration has it's moments on the pity pot session, but that aside, it is a work in progress. Ready for another exceprt?
Don't get Your Panties in a Wad by J. L. Mefford (c) 2012 all rights reserved
"Realities and the Oops Factor"
Excerpt begins
While I call my physical therapists
terrorists even to their faces, I know they are only pushing me for my own
good. Yes, I asked for this. I wanted to recover what I had lost with the
stroke. In my previous experiences with therapy, I coined the phrase physical
terrorists because of the torture they can put unyielding joints and muscles
through. They work hard for you and often do not get much gratitude for the
work they do. They are miracle workers. If I had any chance to return to a life
I once knew these people would be responsible for it. Not to mention my
positive attitude and hard work beside of them. Every day they taught me new
exercises that I could do on my own and I could repeat in my room. My hamstring
and peroneal nerve were where most the deficits were centered. This was
compounded by previous back, knee and hip surgeries on the same side which the
stroke affected. I hear many stroke survivors say they don't want to have joint
replacement because of putting undue stress on their knee and hip.
I did this
in reverse. I empathized and encouraged every joint replacement in the place,
I'd been there and done that twenty plus years earlier. By the way my
replacements are old and worn out. Average life of replacement joints is
fifteen years before it needs to be done again and I'm way overdue. I have put
up with the joints slipping and sliding in and out of place for the last ten
years because I was basically able to function still with minor modifications.
During the physical therapy part of this
intensive rehab, I learned to walk using an AFO and walker. Although in the
hospital for liability reasons I was not allowed mobility with these items
unsupervised, I made good use of my wheelchair and foot power doing laps around
the nurse's stations. I even went down to floor's dining room for most of my
meals after the first week. Sadly, it wasn't until my last few days there was
another stroke patient other than me...mostly joint replacement. I take that
back. There was elderly woman who was noncompliant with the program and went to
a nursing home. I had the therapists at the TCU unit wishing all their patients
were as gung-ho as I was. But all this bravado came at a price of sheer and
total exhaustion, and increased tone issues. I only missed one session of PT
and speech therapy in the three weeks I was there. The spirit was willing but
the body shut down with the increased dose of muscle tone relieving meds. It totally threw me
for a loop and in bed.
I've been through physical therapy with
some of the best in the business. I learned what not to do and what works.
Times have changed. Technological advances with all their bells and whistles
have been added, but the basics are still the basics. But each new therapist
brings in new ideas even students teaching old timers of new techniques. What
may not work for someone else may just work for you. If you have a problem with
a therapist talk to them. Make your point of view count. You are paying their
salary. Would you have an employee tell you its their way or the highway? Of
course not. You are the boss. It is your body. It is your choice. If you don't
understand make them explain it to you in a way you understand. If you have a
conflict with one therapist, use your voice and demand another one. I
personally interview mine like I would do with any employee. What are they
doing and why? How will this help? What will be the outcome or hopefully be the
outcome? What are their beliefs about alternative forms of therapy? E-stem,
computer generated responses, experimental treatments such as massage or herbs,
or acupuncture? At least get a basic idea of their experience level. Ask
questions and demand answers. Yes you might have a damaged brain because of
your stroke, but your recovery depends on it. I believe in informed consent. I
had one therapist ask me once if they were hired. Yes, they were and they were
paid.
Did I mention I was an overachiever and
stubborn? This bump in the road in my life wasn't going to beat me. I had
survived cancer not once but three times. I had survived vehicle crashes where
the doctors professed I'd never walk again. I survived the "oops
factors" during surgery. Don't know what the "oops factor" is?
It happens when the surgeon says "oops" during surgery when he cuts a
nerve or artery he wasn't supposed to. Or in my mother's case...the surgeon who
had been treating her for a thyroid goiter for six month operated and found a
spreading cancer. She wasn't as lucky as I was. I survived my "oops
factors." Doctors and surgeons, although they think they're God, are just
human beings. For me this time was a doctor which pulled me off of Plavix to
prescribe a medicine for an upper G.I. problem. My stent formed and released a
clot into my brain, but I survived. Isn't it funny when you have multiple
specialists treating various health conditions...there always a possibility of
an "oops." The more that are in the mix the more complicated it gets
and the more possible of the "oops factor."
End of excerpt
While Don't Get Your Panties in a Wad is supposed be be a humorous look at stroke recovery there are certain passages like the above that must be stressed. So many people don't use their God given voice or feel the person working on them knows it all...they don't!
Keep writing and loving the Lord.
Go, Jo, Go! The therapist are our employees and so are the doctors. I like you attitude.
ReplyDeleteThx Zan Marie
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