"If you want then start to laugh. If you must then start to cry. Be yourself. Don't hide. Just believe in destiny." -Enigma, The Return to Innocence
I would have never believed it was possible- to see her pick up that quote and read it aloud. For weeks these quotes have been sitting in a basket at the nurse's station. And for weeks Mrs. F has been lying in bed, showing little signs of progress since her massive stroke which initially paralyzed and made her completely unaware of her left side. Every day we've been working on facilitating attention to and movement on that left side. Gains seemed minimal, halted by her disoriented, disinhibited, and fluctuating cognitive state. The first time I saw her move her left hand I felt as if I was witnessing a miracle. ("You wiggled your finger, that's wonderful."- Princess Bride Reference, anybody). Anyway, blood rushed through me and I was hooked, determined to bear witness to more miracles by this cackling toothless 83 year old woman.
Today many of my therapeutic dreams for Mrs. F came true. She remembered my name. She remembered her birthday. She told me her favorite TV shows- Texas Walker Ranger and Law and Order. She was able to stabilize a piece of paper and write with her right hand. She put a top on a marker using both hands. She picked out that quote from the basket and read it aloud! That was of course followed by, "I don't understand it." Well I don't either Mrs. F, but let's just keep trying and return to life.
2 comments:
I'm starting to believe in parallels in life. Just today, my "Mr. C." had the same breakthrough. Just two weeks ago, I caught that he was not respirating properly which was the beginning of a downward turn. Two weeks later, Mr. C (who is congenitally deaf, that's opened up a whole new world of cultural diversity) sat up in bed for me, bathed himself, assisted in dressing himself and tied a knot to put his Johnny on. His 4th stroke, this one was a Right CVA, and he raised his hand in triumph today not even realizing what he was capable of doing. Today, I was an F'in OT baby! Yeah. Now, "if only I had a whellbarrow & a holocaust cloak, that would be something."
Hey Amanda - I just finished with my first week of fieldwork working on the stroke unit of a rehab. hospital. Thank god for your blog because right now I feel so overwhelmed and like I'm never going to learn all this. It's nice seeing a few weeks into my future through your experiences. This is hard work! Anyway, it was great seeing you at conference. After we are done with all this we will have to get together again.
Post a Comment