Where there is a will there is a way: You are your rehab!!! Rehab needs to change so that it meets the demands of the younger age group.

With having more than a years’ experience in rehab where every day I battle to try to get my life back on track be it in my PT(physiotherapy sessions) or my OT (occupational Therapy) and my SLP (speech and Language Pathologist. The one thing I have learned for sure is that you are now dealing with therapists and doctors that only know you because of your stroke, therefore the advice that they might likely be giving you is the same advice that they have given other patients. Therefore it is really important to trust your own instincts after all you have known yourself longer. If a particular therapists or specialists doesn’t share the same goal and approach to the goal as you. He/She will have to leave your team! I had to make this awkward decision when dealing with a Psychometrist who would be running tests on me to check my readiness for work. Every single session with this person was a shock to my system due to the things she would say to me; “I don’t think you really know/understand what has happened to you!?”and when we were discussing my goal for return to work she said, “you need to consider what are your students going to think?” because you still have mobility issues. To which I said my students would be supportive of me.

This was not the answer she wanted to hear since she then said “What will the parents’ think?” At this point I realized this lady was a lost cause and was not here to truly assist me to get back to work. I was in absolute shock! How could somebody in this profession only be seeing my limitations? In my head I was thinking of every curse word imaginable, but trying for my face not to show it. The reason why she thought maybe I didn’t fully understand what had happened to me, an extremely inappropriate comment was because I was not crying in our sessions or showing the other side effects that many stroke patients experience, such as depression and a sense of immense loss. Once I left that meeting. I basically was emotionally exhausted I got home and passed out for a few hours that afternoon. Once I woke-up. I came to the conclusion that this lady was by far the worse effect of my stroke, I could deal with my physical limitations, however ,a therapists not believing in me was soul crushing. I had a conversation with my Mom, aunt and sister and we all agreed that this person was doing more damage than good. Therefore we would have to figure out how to find a new Psychmetrist one that would embrace my outlook on my stroke and furthermore would be supportive of me returning to work.

So we immediately started to brainstorm an alternate to me getting my testing done in this one site with that particular lady, I started by emailing a few therapists that I had in that hospital who were fantastic and I knew would get back to me. Sure enough, there was another place I could get my testing done!!! Contacted the place and arranged for my testing to be completed, so relieved. Where there is a will there is a way!