Friday afternoon I went in for a last
appointment with her before I was officially discharging from their program.
She assured me that she still wants emails letting her know how my life is
going.
I have spent a lot of the time in Occupational
Therapy learning to set realistic goals and hopefully these skills are
now part of my everyday life!
Two years ago I wrote out a list of what I
thought I needed to do before being discharged. My three daughters were all in
university at the time and all taking about what courses need to be completed
and what last assignments needed to be accomplished before they would graduate.
I felt a need to make a "grad" list too. I planned to buy myself
a particular piece of jewelry from a hospital fundraiser when I finished
rehab, just like university graduates buy a Grad ring.
I may not have completed all my self-appointed assignments before I was discharged, but I have confidence that I will eventually
compete most of my self appointed tasks in some fashion or another. They won't
be the first "late" assignments in my life. (grin)
Some of these items may sound a bit silly, but for
me they are all meaningful.
•
Shop independently (done)
•
Cook independently (done)
•
Bake pretty cakes again (done)
•
Read for fun and have it feel
like fun (done)
•
Get my driver's license back
(done)
•
Make a photo book of the hospital garden
•
Play a nice song on the guitar
•
Take part in some kind of sport or athletic
challenge
•
Get the hang of Photoshop
•
Finish an afghan I started just before I got really
sick
•
Get a job
It is really kind of scary and exciting all at the same time to be
officially out of the rehabilitation phase of recovery. I know that this
really is a new chapter for me.
I still have a lot to work on ... but I am
ready to be stepping out on my own.
7 comments:
Congratulations!!
Your program has sounded fantastic. I wish I had a team to guide me and keep me on track--and to celebrate the phases of recovery.
Thank-you Grace! It is an amazing system of support that is rare in Canada too. This group only takes in under two hundred a year so I was very lucky to get in.
Grace, we are not quite a rehab team... but there are sure lots of us out here cheering you on!
Congratulations!! It was a bittersweet time for me. My program was much shorter and I was so afraid my progress would stop without my team. It didn't...I do keep improving, thank god! I'm glad you feel ready. You have accomplished so much and I'm sure the rest of your list will get checked off in time. Cheering you on!!!
You list is halfway complete and you are definitely on your way to completing everything. Congrats! :)
Sounds like you're going to be rather busy, Linda. Do you have a completion date for any of those you have left to do? Just wondering.
Congratulations!
Hey Elizabeth! Thank-you! I am glad you keep on improving on your own! I was really not being aware of a lot of my problems at the time. Not denial.. full out cognitive problem being able to recognize there was anything wrong. I hate to think what would have happened without continuing pushing by professionals in the right direction. I would have been working hard going round and round in circles!
Glynis good question about the completion dates! All the different items have different time-lines that are in my mind anyway. Shocking how much stuff winds up out of my control though.
The job thing is the most frustrating. I still have lots to do before that with the help of the vocational rehab program, maybe even go back to school. My personal goal is to be working at a paying job by September 2014.
Post a Comment