Recovery Rehabilitation—So This Is What It Means

In my previous article, What Does Independence Mean?, I wrote about my uncertainty regarding recovery-phase rehabilitation.

After today's visit, a conversation with one of the nurses finally cleared things up for me.

After the visit, she told me:

“Mrs. F took her first bath today.”

“Really? That's wonderful!”

“Yes, but when we told her, ‘Please sit in the chair,’ she didn't understand what a chair was.”

“Well, that doesn't surprise me.”

“And when we said, ‘Let's wash your arms,’ she didn't understand that either.

But when we demonstrated washing an arm, she was able to imitate the action.”

“Do you think that's because of the dementia?”

“I think it's less the dementia and more the result of the damage to her brain.”

I suspect that words such as chair and arm are no longer connecting properly with the actual objects and body parts they represent.

Perhaps that is because the language centers of her brain have been affected.

Listening to this explanation, I finally began to understand the purpose of recovery rehabilitation.

On the transfer paperwork, I had written:

“Independent daily living.”

Lately I have been asking myself:

What does independence actually mean?

But now I think my mother's goal should not be independence.

Instead, it should be:

“Being able to enjoy life while accepting assistance from others.”

Imagine this:

“Please sit in the chair.”

“Okay.”

And she sits down.

Or:

“Let's wash your arms.”

“Okay.”

And she washes her arms.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

The person providing assistance would be smiling.

The person receiving assistance would be smiling.

Everyone wins.

Tomorrow, I plan to discuss this with the care manager.