Just out of curiosity........

I don't know about anyone else; even though I was able to go home sooner than had my Mother not been an OT, I still had to "prove" I could go home. In order to "prove I could finish at home" I had to go through a small obstacle course, show I could transfer from chair to bed & chair to regular chair. When I 1st started doing it I had to use a transfer board (it was only temporary because the neck injuries made it harder.......no I don't have any neurological issues it was only for a few more weeks while the neck finished heeling), but that was gone probably 6wks after being allowed to come home. So here is what I am wondering.........did you get "taught" how to do "w/c stuff" or have you had to pick it up on your own. And for those who did have to pick it up on their own.......I'm curious as to "why not". Was it just an oversight, did you get fed up & AMA (Against Medical Advice) yourself out, or is there some other reason? I went through Children's Hospital which is affiliated with Sharp Hospitals/Health-Care, and so I only know what their standards are.......so what is it like elsewhere & for other people?

For about year I had to go about it with no 'tuition', but I guess that was because I didnt have an accident that caused me to suddenly become a w/c user. Because the disease I have is degenerative I was given a chair to use that I gradually used more often untill I became a full time user about 2 years ago. So a year 'in', as I used it more often and needed to learn 'how' to be independent I attended a weekend w/c skills course about wheelies, jumping curbs, falling out, hills etc,

sorry if that was a bit of an intro too, my 1st post

Still learning....

I had to prove i could do alot o stuf before I could go home, but it seems like i keep learning how to do stuff as time goes on. I didn't have to prove i could get in the chair from the floor on my own though, and I hope I never have tocause the one time i tried it it sucked.

The same as that FatDave, does the learning ever stop?

First time: I was let go without much help or education from the hospital; there certainly wasn't an exam. I remember the physiotherapy being focused on seeing if I could relearn movements and how much movement I could relearn, but there was no real discussion of the wheelchair and what it would be like dealing with everyday life.

I had a head injury, and that may have led to SCI protocols not being followed, or it may have been an oversight on the hospital's part, or it may have been an error on the part of the main neurologist on my case, who turned out not to be very good. I ended up at home with a wheelchair and instructions to find a physiotherapist to continue working. There was talk of going to a in-patient facility for wheelchair users, and I don't recall why that never happened. It may have been because I was an ex-pat or because my insurance didn't cover it.

Second time: I was offered some help in learning certain things, but as I'd been in the wheelchair for 10 years at that point, I didn't take them up on it. I just wanted out. It's a shame, really: maybe I could've learned to wheelie properly! I wasn't required to do this... possibly also because I can stand with crutches?

"Prove" you were ready to go home? Wow, my head is reeling from the very concept. Tom spent his whole time in rehab with a pressure sore so he was never taught to do anything. He was sent home last September because "there's nothing we can do." It was healed by January but then they realized that he had exhausted his benefits under Medicaid so no more rehab. He hasn't had a clue how to go about learning anything at home, so now, a full year after his accident, he still can't transfer himself and depends on a Hoyer lift.

He's hoping to get more rehab when he re-qualifies in July. He'll basically be starting all over. Gosh I sure hope this time they make him roll through an obstacle course before they let him out!!

It sounds like you were very fortunate. These day, people get the boot as soon as their coverage runs out. Many, without coverage, get no rehab in South Carolina, because the state's medicaid does not cover rehab. All you get is acute care until you are medically stable, and out you go to your family or whatever. That may be as little as 2 weeks. That is not enough time to realize what happened let alone be able to cope.

Yep, fatdave; none of us are ever too old to learn

Welcome back Scribbler

SCRIBBLER!!! You're back!


No I don't think we do "stop learning". I didn't have to do floor to chair transfers either. Well about the time that the discussion of where should I finish out the remainder of my rehabing & mending........I was kinda in a bit of a limbo; on one hand I was still a "child" & so Children's was appropriate yet because I was a teen the peds docs thought that I should go over to the adult rehab center. The adult rehab didn't think I should go to them because they dealt with adults & adult issues & I did not have those issues yet. I hated being in the hospital because it was hard to get away from sound (TBI gave me a migraine for months & was sound & light sensitive for a couple months) with intercom paging Dr.s & life flight landing........so I guess it was sort of Mom who came up with plan "C". But this was only after well over a month in the hospital. When I went home to finish up it wasn't certain as to how much function I'd have; went home with wheelchair, transfer board, shower chair, & walker. But they had to know that I could do those few things.....then from there I came in every day & kept on with the PT & OT pretty much all stinkin' day.

I don't know if it was because it was in 1990 or because of my age or because of my Mother's background. I just wondered because I'd just assumed (ass-u-me-d hey what a coinkydink) that everyone else had similar experiences with being discharged, & are surprised to hear such different experiences.

I guess this is where the good old NHS comes out a bit better, at least in my case.
After 1 month in hospital recovering from my operation I was sent to re-hab not even being able to stand. After 2 1/2 month there I had worked my way to walking with a frame, but also because I have stairs to get into my flat I had to practise on a set they had there to make sure I could cope. 3 weeks before discharge I went with my OT and my physio to my flat and they checked everything and had me do a few things to see how I would cope. After that I was allowed home for 2 weekends on my own, but I also learned to walk with crutches in the final weeks in re-hab.

Since then I have taught myself to do things. My wheelchair lives in the boot of my car and I had to teach myself to get it in and out. At home where I walk with crutches I use bags a lot to carry things or carry my dinner in a tea towel gathered up at the edges.

I am still learning all the time, pushing my boundaries to see how much more I can do.

They put me in the "Independent living center" which was basically a precursor to what my life was to be i guess.. a shitty little apartment... but I did makeout with a really hot nurse in there,, who knows that may have been part of the whole bit too now that i think about it... Hmmmm

Making out with a Hot Nurse.... WOW!!! We don't get that on the NHS...

Hang on a minute......... I married my nurse!! Does that count?...


(Thanks for the welcome back guys, but I thought I'd slipped in quietly... )

Well rehab was in 78 at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital here in Southern California...and it was pretty damn good.
- Both OT and PT were very helpful, taught me most things a c5 can do, basic bowel/bladder care, cooking, cleaning, assisted transfers and even driving skills...and gave me access after hours to hit the weight machines.
- Our recreational rehab counselor was nuts, but in a good way, played ping pong, tennis, some basketball, took a few of us to the LA County Fair were I got sick on Southern Comfort and saw my first beefalo and ate a few beefalo burgers...the herb was good also.
- Got to meet Bob Seagren, the 1968 Olympic Pole Vault Champion
- Didn't get laid by a nurse, but did get to participate in two movies being made; one for TV, the other theater.
- Vocational rehab got me hooked on computers.
- Fell out of my chair several times, learned that it hurts; especially if you fall on your face.

Did rehab prepare me for the real world of endless carer interviewing, the occasional bowel or bladder fiasco, the lovely looks from the ignorant in public places, the realities of finances required to maintain a quaddie existance or the challenges of dating, sex, intimacy...pain/spasms.

Nope, life, time, rolling on uneven surfaces teaches you that.

Thirty one yrs SCI so far, I'm still learning...I think

I didn't learn much in my 22 days of rehab, more here than anywhere.