~ Just a word about Rehab. ~

Posted by Barb @amberpep, Jan 8, 2018

Hi all .... please don't take this as "telling you what to do" .... it's just my experience when I was in the Rehab. Facility. I was there for 1 week, getting therapy daily, and improving to the point where I no longer needed either a walker or cane. I was ready to head home, but my doctor in his wisdom, wanted me to stay to take advantage of the full week of P.T. Well, after I was improving, I could have stayed in my room and read, watched TV, or slept, but I decided to get out into the hall and sort of "tour around." What I found was there were so many elderly folks in far worse condition than I was. Some were funny .... there was a dear couple next door to me who were "always going to Alaska" and always trying to figure out the elevator code. But most were pretty lucid. I made friends with many of the women and it was delightful. I'd push them in their wheelchairs outside into the garden, we'd sit and chat, she'd tell me about her life, and I would share mine. I grew to really enjoy those women. I have (I know for a 73 year old, this sounds nuts) blondish hair with a purple and blue stripe on the right side, and they loved it. They all wanted their hairdresser there to do that to them, which of course she was not prepared for.
The point of this for me was, after I got a wee bit passed my own inner focus and pain, I thoroughy enjoyed being with the other folks who were in far worse shape than I. If I had not moved, I probably would still visit some of them, as they had no one else who visited.
For me, it really helped my healing to get my mind off my own pain, which I figured (and hoped!) was temporary and onto the others.
Just a thought .....
abby

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Thank you for sharing this....I understand the wisdom of moving (both literally and figuratively) beyond your own pain to engage with others.

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@amberpep Abby,

What a great story - thanks for sharing that experience. I'm sure that you were helped and they were helped even more!
Teresa

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