Safety Precautions Rocket Me to Independence

I am divorced, was not able to have children, and have one brother who lives 800 miles away so I am more likely to end up in a nursing home than some stroke survivors.  Fortunately, precautions that facilities use to keep people safe propelled me to independence.  In the rehab hospital I made the mistake of wheeling myself out to the patio when I was done with therapy for the day. The aide who was sent to find me said I could not sit outside alone.  When I pointed to people who were sitting alone she whirled my wheelchair around and took me back to my room.  The last time I was dragged inside I was probably three years old.  A psychologist said the staff were afraid I would wander off if they let me go outside, but he brokered a compromise.  I could sit outside if I came back upstairs and wrote down where I was going on a clipboard. 

Safety precautions are good.  The problem is staff who rigidly apply precautions to everyone. 
Did anyone read my chart to learn I had a stroke in the back of my brain (brainstem) instead of the cortex where cognitive functions are located?  I was treated like my roommate who was so confused she tried to use the TV remote as a telephone.  The staff attached a sensor to me at night to keep me from getting out of bed.  Every time I rolled onto my side I triggered a very loud alarm and had to wait for an aide to come shut it off.  When I finally complained, a nurse said they would stop using the sensor if I signed a release form saying they were not liable if I fell out of bed.  How long they would have used it if I had not objected? 

When I toured an assisted living facility I was upset again by procedures designed to keep people safe.  The director who gave me a tour said "elderly people prefer to have a nurse give them their medication."   If a nurse dispensed my pills, my day would revolve around visits to the nurse because I take pills three times a day.  I am not living in an apartment if the nurse can open my door with a master key to give me my pills if I sleep in.  homeafterstroke.blogspot.com