Hospital stays and subsequent rehab stays can be very traumatic. “I am sick” or ” I am hurt”. Often that idea gets stuck in their heads and they don’t really realize how much they are capable of.
But I can’t walk yet
This is frequently heard from those that did not need an assitive device before. They have this idea that walking laps around the gym using a rolling walker or a 4 wheel walker is not “walking”.
Sometimes you need to point out to them that just like when they came in for therapy that it is just a phase that they are in of recovery. If they continue to progress then they can work towards not having a device.
I can’t get out of bed. The CNA’s take too long.
This frequently happens as we start getting closer to discharge date. It happens all to often that you spend time teaching them how to set up the wheelchair safely and perform a transfer from the bed to the chair. It even happens when they no longer even need any physical assistance. Sometimes you need to flat out tell them that this is their “dress rehearsal”. Time to do it on their own.
I can’t use the bathroom by myself, I can’t pull my pants up
This is yet another misconception in the brain of ” I am sick”. They have a tendency to think they don’t have the balance to be able to let go of a walker with 1 or even both hands to manipulate their clothes. They believe they can’t until you have to flat out show them that the balance tasks that we have been doing for weeks shows they can. They have been standing with no assistance and tapping balloons or throwing bean bags while at times not holding on at all. They have even been reaching down the the floor to get a bean bag without assistance or loss of balance. Often the concept of what we are doing does not cross over to functional movements like reaching down for their pants and pulling them up! They never catch onto it until we explain.
Sometimes you just need to make it obvious
Sometimes it takes that obvious pointing out of what they are capable of to break the “I am sick” cycle and truely cross over to the dress rehearsal stage. Hopefully they catch on and gain some confidence. You need to push them to the “I am ready” and prepare to go home recovered.
