Inspiring Newly Injured Quadriplegics! Well fortunately most newly injured people while in physical rehab are pretty inspired and motivated. Most of them cling to the hopes that they will walk again; unfortunately reality just hasn’t bitten them yet. It’s the ones that have been injured for a couple of months, they are the difficult ones at least I know I was.
I have to go to the doctors today, and my actor happens to work at the physical rehab I went to when I first became injured. So after my doctor’s appointment and going to pay a visit to the spinal cord injury unit I was on after my injury. My life recently started working there so I get the lowdown on how many spinal cord injuries and there are, their level of injury, and their age and so on.
Now I have quite a reputation at the rehab, because the last time I was in there I gave my doctors and the rest of the staff there probably the hardest time they ever had. I ended up being asked to leave after getting caught drinking. This was about three months after my injury in reality it was setting in and wasn’t being kind to me. So when I last Rusk rehab I left arm pretty bad terms.
Since my last time at rehab I had taken giant steps (okay pushes, since I can’t walk) in my recovery. I have rehabilitated myself to independence, and gone back to the rehab to make amends with my doctors and the staff I once terrorized. So I have gained some respect and am actually like either people at the rehab. I have even since been asked to come and speak at a spinal cord group.
From time to time I have talked about going up and offering peer support to the newly injured, however I am not actually follow through. So today will give me the perfect opportunity to go there and offer my support. I know it would have helped a lot if there had been somebody around like myself back when I was in rehab. Not very many spinal cord injury people came to visit and offer their support and wisdom. I feel like it would’ve made all the difference in the world, I feel I would have made different choices if I would have had a role model.
Inspiring Newly Injured Quadriplegics! It is important for newly injured people to see other people with similar injuries who have been successful in adapting to living with their injury. He gives them hope, and it shows them it can be conquered. At the same times it helps to go back and see where I once was. So it’s a win-win situation!
Keep on pushing on!
Michael C.
http://spinalcordinjuryliving.wordpress.com
