rehab for the body, not the mind

Marie now faced the month of December in rehab. Speech, physical, and occupational. The physical work was hard for her. She needed to get her balance back while strengthening her right side. Because of the surgery, it created some weakness on her right side.

The occupational helped her to use utensils and daily care.

The most difficult for her was the speech therapy. This is where she would exercise the thinking part of her brain. She needed help in reasoning, word finding. and planning. She didn't recognize that she had any problems with any of these things. The therapist would become upset that Marie was not cooperating, and would expect her family to tell her that, she better get with the program. This is the second health care professional that complained Marie was being naughty, and they wanted us to come and fix it. First, it was the nurse complaining that Marie wanted to smoke, and now it was a speech therapist. I wish I would have fired both of them and asked for someone new. If they find their job difficult, they should talk to their boss, not me. The way it came across to me was, the nurse and the speech therapist, that did the complaining, did so because they wanted Marie's behavior to change. they didn't like it and they were not going to put up with it. They didn't explain how they wanted to help Marie. Or seeking our help, so we could all work together, to help a patient in need. these professionals wanted change and they wanted it now. It was going to be there way or the highway. I listened to them and tried to help. I was wrong. It didn't help, it made things worse for Marie. It's not about making it better for the professional, it's about making it right for the patient. If it was now, I would refuse to let them work with my wife, and I would be the one complaining.

Marie also began to see a neuro physcologist at the rehab center. They would talk alone together, a few times a week. The doctor would talk frankly with Marie and tell her, the therapy could help her live with her deficits. I respected this doctor because she talked openly about Marie's status and future. It was a refreshing change to have a doctor tell it like it is. For Marie this was not good. There was nothing wrong with her. We were all crazy. Her surgeon said she would have an operation and then a short recovery. She believed that, and no one else was going to change her mind.

She did well in the physical and occupational stuff but she never did get it with the speech therapy. I didn't agree with the position that the speech therapist took. Being hard nosed and demanding cooperation. That seemed to Marie, to be supported by the neuro physcologist. I wish they would have found a way to connect with Marie on a more personal level and get her to understand, and accept her deficits. Of course she was still on the phenobarbital, and I believe that played a part in the way she was reacting in speech therapy. We'll never know for sure.