Advice Needed About My Stroke Progression Rehabilitation

[Darksky40]

I am writing this as I am needing advice and I will explain about my situation. I had a stroke and I am recovering stroke victim and so far, my progress is I am nearly there nearly walking and out of the wheelchair. I am using a wheelchair my aim is to walk without it and I have just started with quad stick just getting used to it and as for right arm is getting stronger but help from various People has been poor and my aim is to get it stronger. I am currently staying at disabled care home and I am achieving most of my progress walk’s and getting back on my feet and new aspects to my progress keep developing every day and as far the staff at the care home where I am staying they have been great and are great but there is so much bull/rubbish and they have no clue about me because I have been out of doing things for a while like cooking and other things I use to doing as I use to live on my own. I am had communication with Social Workers who hardly know me properly and have been non-existent to me as they change and are going by what has been written or typed on computer. I am getting fed up with it and I feel as if I am being spoken to like as if I am thick and being spoken to in a namby-pamby way and they don’t know type mind I have and don’t know me properly and if I went back to my flat and went back into my kitchen I would get in there straight away and my mind does not forget straight away. I am stuck to know who I can turn too and I am also considering as a last resort legal advice or a court order or some way to stop the rubbish talk about me. My aim is to leave here without the wheel chair and I have come so far and I am wanting move out of here without the wheel chair and as for my right arm I am wanting to get that stronger again but the help has been poor and I have had to do things for myself and I have had Physiotherapist’s who got me started and knowing what to do and getting things started but they have been very negative and I did end up complaining. I am at the stage I am wanting to protest and seek legal advice the last resort. What can I do and who can I turn to? I know myself better than the Staff do where I am staying and it seems they are want me to become depended on the wheel chair and the aim is to leave and walk without the chair and it is what they want and being depended on the chair isn’t helping. I am prepared to protest if necessary.

[bednobs]

i think it's a very usual situation for people to believe they can do more than they actually can, or minimise the problems they encounter.. I'm not sure what your actual problem is. Are you in the UK? if you genuinely being deprived of your liberty, that is illegal. I think your first step is to talk to the clinician in charge of your care

[TWR]

The Care home you are in have many residents I would think, the way staff levels are within these homes the cares are doing their best, do you think you are the only person in need of care within that home? how do you come to the conclusion they have no time for you? why don't you see things from their point of view, can you Toilet yourself? can you wash yourself? If you take the time of seeing what the staff do instead of trying to get them into trouble regards your comments RE/ Legal advice, try and see their job for what it is, do you get your food on time? ask the staff what time do they have to eat.

[woofgang]

Have you been seen by an Occupational Therapist? If not then ask to see one, they are usually in the Community Service or rehab teams. Sometimes having a stroke can make people have unrealistic expectations of what they can do...I am sorry but it has to be said. I am a retired Occupational Therapist and have come across this many times....not saying that you won’t manage or get home eventually but it may not be as quick or easy as you believe.

[woofgang]

You don’t say if you have any relatives and what they think?

[bednobs]

in my experience woofy people see the goal as independence and forget the little things, like how are they going to get in their front door, or lift their legs into bed, or how will they carry the kettle or a cup of tea to their chair

[woofgang]

absolutely bedknobs. It used to be a big part of my job to discuss what they meant by “independence” and out of that what would be doable. Its very hard for stroke victims and their families because its just not possible to predict both the rate or the extent of the recovery, also how much adaptation the person will be capable of....add to this the emotional, perceptual and cognitive effects of stroke and it can be very sad and difficult for all concerned. I am not saying this at all to “talk down” to Darksky40. It can be difficult though to understand that what the sufferer sees as real and possible may not be as easy as they think. I really think this person needs some help from an Occupational Therapist and maybe also a specialist counsellor.

[Eve]

I agree with bednobs and woofgang. Independence is great as a concept but the reality can be pretty tough going, especially if you aren't ready. If you would live on your own, especially if you don't have anyone around to help out, it can also be quite lonely and isolating so be careful of trying to move on before you are ready.

[woofgang]

Darksky, i case you think we are all against you...You can’t be kept in residential care against your will unless you have been assessed as not competent to make your own choices and decisions which is amazingly rare. If you truly want to leave then all you have to do is do it. No one can stop you.

[TWR]

What you think you can do in front of staff maybe a different issue when you go it alone, if they discharge you before they think you are fit enough to be on your own, the fault & responsibility goes back to the Caring home if something happens that's when the legal side comes into it, " Claims" I doubt they are going to go down that road.

[woofgang]

No it doesn’t TWR, if the OP is adjudged as competent, he/she can walk out of the door and no one can stop them and no one will be responsible except the OP. They do have a duty of care to make sure that the environment is safe and appropriate but it stops well short of stopping a person leaving whether or not they think they should. I was involved in discharge management and getting people home from hospitals and rehab facilities for many years. You can take it from me that if someone says they are leaving and are competent to decide then there is no way that they can legally be stopped.

[TWR]

Yes I agree Woof, but if the person decides they can walk out but if the home thinks that this person is incapable of managing on her own then it's their duty of care to advise otherwise, from what this person has said regards taking legal action & I think she /he would, this could have a knock on effect on the Care Homes reputation, I've heard of people leaving these homes only to be found on the floor of their homes with further injuries.

[woofgang]

The res care can of course advise the person not to do it, but you said this which is incorrect
"if they discharge you before they think you are fit enough to be on your own, the fault & responsibility goes back to the Caring home if something happens that's when the legal side comes into it, " Claims" I doubt they are going to go down that road’”
The care home has no responsibility if a resident, who has the capacity to decide, chooses to leave and no successful legal claim can be made.
Reputation is, of course not so tangible but I think that any care home who made any attempt to prevent a resident from leaving, which is against the law, would be in far greater danger of damaging their reputation. Given that it could amount to abuse, whatever their views on whether the person can manage or not, they would be well advised not to try it!

[woofgang]

I wonder what happened?