Toilet Training is a Disaster

OTs evaluate how clients get on and off the toilet.  However, aides are the ones who deal with dressing and undressing during toileting.  Aides have large caseloads so they speed up toilet time by doing everything for their clients.  This assistance masks safety issues.  

Small weight shifts while pulling my pants up threw me off balance.  I had to repeatedly twist my trunk so my sound could reach across the front of my body to get my underpants over the paralyzed hip and reach behind me to get my underpants over the paralyzed hip in back.  Continue to twist when I pull my pants up over my affected hip.  It took 2 weeks for my standing balance to improve enough for me to feel safe when I pulled my pants up without an aide in the bathroom. 

Toileting also requires repeated turning.  After I walk into the bathroom I have to turn 180 degrees to close the door at home or a doctor's office.  I am facing the door I just closed so I have to turn 180 degrees to walk to the toilet.  When I get to the toilet I have to turn 180 degrees so I can sit down.  I have to turn 180 degrees after I stand up so I can flush the toilet.  

OTs do not evaluate gait in the bathroom because ambulation is PT's domain.  PTs do not evaluate standing balance while twisting the trunk and repeatedly turning 180 degrees because toileting is OT's domain.  Yet needing 24 hour assistance for toileting can lead to a nursing home.  This is a severe consequence so OTs and PTs need to stop worrying about stepping on each others toes.  homeafterstroke.blogspot.com

Rehearsal Saves Me Again

My moving company will keep my belongings in storage containers for 2 to 3 weeks until there is a truck heading to west to Michigan.  The facility I am moving into will put a few pieces of furniture in my apartment so I will have a place to stay while I am waiting.  However, my car must be filled to the max because I need supplies to take a shower, do laundry, and make breakfast until the moving truck arrives.  I turned to rehearsal to make sure I can pack what I need in my car.  

The purpose of rehearsal is to make me feel awesome when I tackle a new task.  My 1st attempt shows me what I have to change.  My 2nd attempt lets me test new ideas to fix problems I discovered in step 1.  My 3rd attempt gives me an opportunity to combine and test the steps from attempts 1 and 2.  My 4th attempt gives me an opportunity to get faster.  Here are two examples of learning how to pack stuff in my car so I can stay calm on the day I leave for Michigan.

I need a rolling cart to take my clothes to the laundry room.  I need to know: 1) if I can lift the rolling cart into my car with one hand and 2) if it will fit in my back seat. I could not lift it straight upwards to put it in the car because it is too heavy.  However, when I leaned down and moved my hand close to the wheels, the weight of the long handle swung the cart horizonal. That made it easy to place the wheels on the floor of the car and then tilt the cart upright.  I was surprised to learn the small front wheels nested nicely under the driver's seat.

I also need to know if 2 clothes baskets packed with bed linens and nested waste baskets will fit on my back seat.  I slid the 2 empty clothes baskets down my front steps and transported them to my cart using a small cart I keep on my patio.  I put them on my back seat and learned I could close the car door with room to spare.  The height of the basket raised the handle of the cart, but not enough to obstruct my vision in the rear view mirror.

There were so many constraints to take into consideration!                I would be a nervous wreck if I had not rehearsed these tasks. homeafterstroke.blogspot.com

I Never Thought I Would Say This

I thought the hardest thing I have ever done was to recover from a stroke.  A very close 2nd source of stress is moving to Michigan.  My single spaced To-Do List shows what I have to do in the next 4 weeks.    I have a 2nd To-Do List for selling my house.  😢    

In the 1st year after my stroke a gratitude list helped me deal with stress.  Each day I wrote 3 to 4 word phrases describing events that gave me 5 seconds of happiness.  Reading that list at the end of the day changed the way I felt about how my day had gone.  I hope writing a gratitude list now will help me cope too.  When I feel sorry for myself I also say "I am moving towards a time when I am happy and safe."

Thank God I started working on my move two months ago.  For example, I struggled to find ways to get rid of monstrously big furniture.  I am also glad I paid a woman to come one hour every week to do tasks that require two good hands.  Taking a table to the curb for my township to pick up is too much for me.  homeafterstroke.blogspot.com

My Dreams Have Changed

My dreams have changed over the years.  As a young woman my 1st dream was to get married and have a family.  But I was not able to have children and my husband did not want to adopt.  Thank God I got a scholarship to a master's program in occupational therapy. That degree allowed me to support myself without needing to work two jobs after I got divorced.  This helped me achieve my 2nd dream of financial security as a single woman.

My 2nd husband liked to travel so my 3rd dream was to see the world.  I have precious memories of Paris, London, New Orleans, Prince Edward Island, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and Alaska.  An actor in a commercial asked "When we are on our deathbed will we regret what we didn't buy or the experiences we missed?"  I have thrown away many of the items I bought but my memories of traveling still make me happy.

Moving into an independent living community has given me a 4th dream.  Except for short visits with family and friends, I have not been around people every day since a stroke forced me to retire 18 years ago.  After retiring I had intermittent social contact at my breakfast club, church, and dinners and day trips with friends.  However, after spending 2 years in isolation because of covid I crave human contact.  I do not expect to form deep friendships, but covid taught me how comforting it is to have someone say "hello."  I might even learn what I am thinking when I hear what I say to other people.  homeafterastroke.blogspot.com