Plastered!

Yesterday two different and unconnected pieces of news knocked my socks off! 


Firstly, Coorabel Adult Rehabilitation Service (a part of the Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney), which is where I was situated when I had my stroke, is wrapped up in wire and that red and white striped tape, to let people know that it's hazardous to roam around there. The whole team out at RRCS have been waiting for a couple of years in the hopes that the whole hospital would be re-built and now, they finally have the finance (after selling off  a certain amount of land that was left to the Board) to make that happen! 


It is a shock to us, who have called RRCS 'home' for a while, to know that the end is nigh, but this complex and the staff, are so fantastic that they HAVE to be able to build it into the world class Rehabilitation Hospital that they so richly deserve and we, the patients need to have a venue that will grow over time to become a state of the art facility.


Secondly, I said in my last post, that I was going to RRCS, to get my cast off - I did get it off but I was surprised to get another one back on! Serves me right for boasting about it!


The very talented and lovely Occupational Therapist, Lisa and a student named Michelle greeted me in the outpatients department and we went around to the plaster room and they started to remove the cast, while they did that, I was watching and was very excited to see that my long and index fingers started twitching! This was simply amazing for me, as those fingers had not moved since I had my stroke. They kept on moving and twitching, while we tried to see if they could be made to pick up and put down some balls, they did!! My whole hand and all of the fingers can move independently, for now.


Lisa and I agreed that the casting was going so well, that we really did need to do some more of it (although I am a woman and can't stand my grotty and disgusting hair, that I have not been able to wash for over a week and won't be able to until it's all over) and so Michelle who is a student OT and watched how Lisa wrapped and cast my arm the last time, was asked to cast it this time. She really did well, but when you are used to the best looking after you, a student is very funny to watch and my cast is huge and unwieldly! 


The wrapping is of a soft material that you wet before it goes on, but it 'goes off' very quickly and won't stick anymore and poor Michelle was struggling with the wrapping and trying to hurry but the more you hurry with this kind of material the more you make a mess, so, all in all we had a real laugh (I have had many people look at me very strangely with my humugous cast!) and I am going to get this cast off on Friday afternoon, so, fingers crossed that it has the same affect as the previous one.


I have become very adept at catching buses to North Ryde and to the RRCS, with me being fortunate enough to be able to catch the bus from my suburb to the city and from there, I just have to walk down a couple of streets to catch another bus, which I catch to a place called Putney, which is where Royal Rehab is located. In Putney, I walk across the main road and the RRCS is just a hop, step and a jump from the main street and the whole journey takes 1 & 1/2 to two hours there and the same for the return journey, which is nothing compared to the people who have to come from all over Australia.


The people of Putney are very kind, because they get a whole heap of people who come to them for coffee, cake, lollies and lunch etc and just want to talk about nothing in particular, as the reason that they are there in Putney, is because one of their loved ones is a patient of RRCS and they are going through a lot of emotional pain, they don't know if their loved one is going to be rehabilitated enough to go home and how they will be when they leave the RRCS.


They are also a special kind of person to be able to converse and not shudder or look away or show how they are really feeling, about how some of the 'broken people' look, as I have said, some of them are definitely not a pretty sight, but it is not our fault so why should we have to hide away? The poor folk who have been burnt or have some other catastrophic event happen to them, are the main people that need to 'normal people' to just accept them for what they are and stop looking at them sideways etc they have already had something terrible happen to them, and they need people to accept them for what they are, the last thing they need now, is for 'normal people' to turn away from them and hurt them some more!!!


Some of my friends are quite upset when people ask me what happened to my arm (always in a sling, except when I am at work or in my own home), and I say quite plainly that, 'I have had a stroke', but I don't mind people asking me because I think it is about time that we come out of our shells and stand and be counted!


I feel blessed, that I have come through the blackness and hopelessness of having had a stroke, I can't help it that I am different now, but I really feel that I am on the way to a different and more fulfilling journey, that also fills me with anticipation, because there is a whole world out there, just waiting for me!