I hope they let Giffords fully experience Rehab. They can’t hide her in a room with guards and therapists. I would hope the Rehab director would never allow that.
I bet a lot of Dopers have spent time in Rehab. It’s hard getting through life without a physical injury. Car wrecks, sports, military service. Eventually you’re going to reach a point where an injury seems permanent. You’ll never be the same again. They send you to Rehab. Put you through the hardest work of your life. A lot of people return to full and active lives. Rehab teaches you how to deal with disabilities and adapt.
So what’s your story?
Here’s mine…
I had spent years dealing with a bad knee. Sometimes it would buckle and throw me to the ground. I eventually got a cane and then a hand crutch. I was stubborn and didn’t want surgery. Eventually, I relented. But, I had wasted two years using the hand crutch. A few days after my surgery they transferred me to Rehab. I couldn’t even get up and piss without help.
I became a Rehab patient myself and know how important the interaction with other patients is. When you’re dealing with a physical injury it’s easy to get down and discouraged. In Rehab you can talk with other people going through the same thing. There’s a lot of good-natured ribbing. We were always encouraged to eat lunch & dinner together. They didn’t want patients hiding in their room. Social interaction is too important.
I know Giffords is a Congresswoman. But for the next few months she’s a Rehab patient. Who you were before didn’t matter in Rehab. We all went through the same tough structured program. Every morning at 5:30 we were woke up. By 7 we had bathed, eaten and dressed. The aides came to get you for therapy by 8. If you were in a bad mood or didn’t want to go… they still dragged your lazy ass down to the gym. It was tough. But that’s what it takes. There were times my knee hurt so bad I thought that therapist was killing me. I cursed that poor lady a few times until I ran out of words. We had a mix of physical and occupational therapy. They kept us busy six to seven hours a day. I’d flop into bed every night exhausted.
Rehab works. There was a time I never thought I’d walk again without a hand crutch. But, years later I have no limp, I bicycle, hike, do whatever I want thanks to those people in Rehab. I still do the stretches and exercises on my knee every day. I have too. Otherwise that rehab therapist will hunt me down and kick my ass. I owe that lady a lot.
The alcoholics & druggies were in a different building at my rehab center. We never saw them.
What we did see was an incredible mix of patients. People on gurneys, wheelchairs, and some walking. Infectious patients (usually CDIFF) were in yellow gowns with gloves. There were elderly recovering from strokes, car wreck victims, gun shot.
You couldn’t feel sorry for yourself for long. There was always someone worse off a few feet away.
They’ll have Giffords in the gym on a gurney within the first days. Then a wheelchair. Doesn’t matter if she’s fully awake or not. I’ve seen stroke patients get the same therapy.
LOL! Reading the thread title gave me a picture of Cathy-Lee Giffords with running mascara and messy hair being dragged through the doors of Betty Ford in her pink fuzzy slippers.
Funny… I keep hearing people say things like “in a month or two they’ll have her try to sit up” and now you’re talking about a gurney for her.
She has already sat up. She’s spent part of the day sitting up on her own. She has already stood up. I suspect she’s in better shape than a LOT of folks think she is. Yes, absolutely she still has a lot of work cut out for her, and she may still have cognitive impairments to work around, and so forth, but she’s not flat on her back. Which is good. Yes, she’ll probably be in a wheelchair at first for transport, but I expect once they get her to the gym they’ll have her out of it and working that way.
If you’re that guy in neuro rehab, then you probably aren’t aware enough to know it.
I wasn’t in rehab myself, but my kid brother spent 8 months in neurological rehabilitation after his spinal injury. Amazing place - he couldn’t even sit up when he got there, and by the time he left, he was pushing his own wheelchair, using the bathroom by himself, getting in and out of the car independently and feeding himself so well you almost forgot he couldn’t really move his hands. They had physical therapy, hydrotherapy, crafts and God knows what else.
Of course, it helps that my brother is the most motivated, optimistic kid I’ve ever heard of. He’s a supremely nice guy, which helped - they gave him a private room solely becuase they liked him that much. That was useful when his friends came over, which was just about every day for eight months.
Getting people into wheelchairs was a big priority. If they got dizzy sitting up, they’d recline the back of the chair and strap them in. A lot of the elderly fell asleep in the gym. The therapist would wake them up and continue therapy.
Some people gave up. Refused to cooperate or do anything. They eventually got transferred to nursing homes. That was heartbreaking to see.
I’m a big supporter of rehab. I know without rehab I would have continued with a hand crutch. The years of using a hand crutch had alreaady caused shoulder problems. I would be in a wheelchair by now. I owe those people everything. They gave me my active life back.
Eleven years ago my cousin fell off a cliff, and broke his neck and his back in two places. Amazingly, the neck injury didn’t harm his spine; he wound up a para- rather than a quad-.
He spent six or seven months in a spinal injury rehab unit, and during that time I visited at least a couple of times a week. I got to know many of the other patients as well. I’ve never seen a group as positive and optimistic as these - but I guess you’d have to be in that situation. Unfortunately, my cousin wasn’t one of them; he never really came to terms with his injury.
But anyway, I was running a pizza restaurant at the time, so once a week I’d take six or eight pizzas over to the unit and save the patients from that horrible hospital food. Needless to say, they thought I was a god.
One time, when I was planning to go over that night, I’d been out shopping for the restaurant and had parked my truck on the street outside the store. I climbed into the bed to grab something, and when I jumped out my foot hit the curb wrong, and I twisted my ankle. It hurt, and I was walking with a limp, but I knew I couldn’t let on to my injury while at the hospital, as I knew those people weren’t going to give me any sympathy; in fact, they could be ruthless. “Oh, poor baby! Having a hard time walking, are you?” At the hospital I managed to walk normally, without grimacing, the entire night. Luckily I had the next day off from work…
I imagine Giffords will be frustrated too. A lot happens in the House every day. I’m sure she’ll want to rush back before she’s ready. Her husband and doctors will have to try and prevent that. Right now full time therapy is her only chance of recovery.
A little over 10 years ago I had a demyleination that was most likely caused by a virus, leaving me completely paralyzed on the right side. My speech was dispraxic - I knew the words, but the muscles on the right side of my face and tongue didn’t respond.
I spent two weeks in an acute care hospital before being transferred to a rehab hospital. I was on a stroke floor that was almost exclusively populated with seniors, while I was only 30!
My weekdays consisted of an hour each of speech, physical, and occupational therapy. Additional time was spent on exercises on my own or with nurses, etc. After a few weeks I checked out on the weekends and my wife brought me home as there was no therapy program Saturday or Sunday.
I came in to rehab in a wheelchair and left using a quad cane.
After release, I attend a day program four days a week which gradually tapered off over 3 months.
Rehab was the HARDEST thing I have ever done - physically and mentally.
Today I sit on the board of the foundation supporting the rehab hospital. Rehabe gave my life back and I work to support the hospital anyway I can.
Just stopped rehab after having total knee replacement surgery in late October. Almost everyone at the facility was great. Both workers and patients. After having severe knee pain for the last three years (bone on bone, no miniscus) it is great to walk without pain and no limp. Not in the same league with Ms Giffords needs but still a testament to the value of rehab.
One lesson learned. Never say ‘easy’ to a physicial therapist with regard to any exercise. Those folks are never satisfied. I did that once and she upped my reps and added heavier weight straps on my ankles for those ‘easy’ excercises. Not so easy after that.
Man, they sure seemed to overdo the security. Bomb sniffing dogs, two car escort. It looked like the cops had totally cleared the route. No pedestrians, no parked cars etc.
What the heck? She was shot by one sick, crazy dude that is in a federal lockup.
There’s no huge conspiracy to harm this lady.
<shrug> Whatever floats their boat. I don’t see a need for it myself.
I hope they let her interact with the other rehab patients. That’s a critical part of the rehab process. That’s not going to happen if they got guards at the door of her room. Without the support and camarade from other patients, Giffords will be isolated and miserable.
Every once in a while, a post like this makes me wish VB had a “like” button. Your heart, mind, and body are clearly all in the right place at the right time.
It’s hard getting through life without a physical injury. Car wrecks, sports, military service. Eventually you’re going to reach a point where an injury seems permanent. You’ll never be the same again. They send you to Rehab. Put you through the hardest work of your life. A lot of people return to full and active lives. Rehab teaches you how to deal with disabilities and adapt.
I owe that lady a lot.