Surgery
can change your life. Even a minor procedure
can leave you feeling like you’ve been run over by a truck. Going home alone is not always a good plan.
Being ill clouds your judgment. Dwelling
on how miserable you feel will not help you get well. Nurturing
is wonderful, but older people do not do well on bed rest. Nutritious meals, good spirits and an
exercise program are all needed for recovery. Surgery, whether elective or not, includes a
period of adjustment. Giving some thought to convalescence and/or rehabilitation
is important. How are you going to
manage when you get home from the hospital?
Rehabilitation can take place in a number of
settings but your circumstances will have to dictate which one you choose. If going home and attending an out-patient
program is out of the question, you might need to consider a short term stay at
a rehabilitation center.
I found several articles in
back issues of Northwest Prime Time (www.NorthwestPrimeTime.com)
newsletters. Several readers wrote to
share their experiences in short term rehabilitation programs. The reviews were positive and their
experiences rewarding. They had to work
hard and the expectations were high, but the results were good. It is not the place to be if you plan to mope
around feeling sorry for yourself. A positive
mindset is the key. If the
idea of a nursing home scares you to death, you may be reluctant take this step,
but rehabilitation is different. Focus
on the words “short term”. Hospitals
cannot afford to keep people in acute care beds for as long as it takes to make
a complete recovery. Hospitals also do
not have time to pay attention to the activity needs of older people. Inactivity is not good for them. Older
people are prime candidates for intermediate care. Intermediate care or rehab was developed to
help patients regain strength and mobility. Many nursing homes have been upgraded to include
rehabilitation units, where the emphasis is on promoting independence.
Rehabilitation is an active process; being waited on is not. It is easy to become accustomed to having
people wait on you. Time spent in the
hospital feeds into that sense of guilty pleasure. If you arrive at a rehab center expecting
more of the same you will be in for a rude awakening. You
will be tired, but you need to arrive dressed in street clothes and ready to go
to work. In rehab, a patient works with
specialists every day (physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses,
restorative aides or perhaps a speech therapist). Their goal is to teach you
how to be independent again.
Make arrangements before
entering the hospital if possible. Tour
the facility of your choice and make sure that it is not just another nursing
home. You do not want to be with the
general population. Staff is not there
to wait on you. They are there to
motivate you, provide information, teach skills, listen to you and evaluate
your progress. The reward, of course, is
that you will be able to return home and you just might be better than you were
before.
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