It was great to see the Director of Comms from The Stroke Assoc, Joe Kommer, on BBC Breakfast News today saying that they want to raise awareness of stroke in younger people, so lets hope they do do something about it! My emails to him and frequent posts on the Stroke Forum must have worked ! They are to run the F A S T advert again.
Also emailed Daily Mail about Kate Allatt and her new charity for Young and those who've had Locked in syndrome called Fighting Strokes.
Monday 28 February 2011
Saturday 26 February 2011
OCE Oxford Centre for Enablement - New Year, New Beginnings
So in I went on 10th Jan, Charles came with Nik and I, I was shown round by Hannah my lead nurse on the yellow team. I was in room B5 on the blue corridor. The OCE building is next to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and is a very unique rehab centre in fact there are not many or rather not enough centres like this in the UK, one inpatient ward with approx 35 rooms and you sometimes share bathroom with a neighbour, the first two weeks were spent meeting and getting to know my therapists, Jenny for physio, Corinna for OT, Ruth the psychologist, all assessing what I could do, where I was at and what I would like to achieve, and getting to know the ward and staff, Doctors, and my fellow inpatients a mix of ages, and there are a number of people younger than me, 33 yrs old Gaynor. 35 yrs old Emmanuel, 36 yrs old Anne Marie, and yet generally you never hear of younger people having strokes.
My first lunch was spent with two lovely ladies Annette and another Sue, Wendy the ward co ordinator told them not to lead me astray! I got to know them both a lot more during my stay and they are two amazing ladies, Annette has lost the use of both arms and legs in fact they have been amputated, and yet you never see her down she is always so upbeat. and when I left she was learning to walk on her new legs with pink trainers - great inspirational lady with a heart of gold.
And so my intense physio rehab started, usually you have 2 45 minute sessions doing physio,and a 45 minute OT session per day and there are a selection of groups you can join depending on your own choices and what you wish to achieve when I asked about the social group I said do we go to the pub! I opted for relaxation and some of the leisure groups - photography, mosaic, and watercolours. There is also sessions with the psychologists doing cognitive assessments and tests, making sure you are Ok mentally and how you've coped with having a stroke, Nik and Ed have the opportunity to see them too, should they so wish.
The Nuffield has a hydrotherapy pool so Ii asked as part of my goal planning if I could go swimming. and that I'd like to get backdriving again.
My first lunch was spent with two lovely ladies Annette and another Sue, Wendy the ward co ordinator told them not to lead me astray! I got to know them both a lot more during my stay and they are two amazing ladies, Annette has lost the use of both arms and legs in fact they have been amputated, and yet you never see her down she is always so upbeat. and when I left she was learning to walk on her new legs with pink trainers - great inspirational lady with a heart of gold.
And so my intense physio rehab started, usually you have 2 45 minute sessions doing physio,and a 45 minute OT session per day and there are a selection of groups you can join depending on your own choices and what you wish to achieve when I asked about the social group I said do we go to the pub! I opted for relaxation and some of the leisure groups - photography, mosaic, and watercolours. There is also sessions with the psychologists doing cognitive assessments and tests, making sure you are Ok mentally and how you've coped with having a stroke, Nik and Ed have the opportunity to see them too, should they so wish.
The Nuffield has a hydrotherapy pool so Ii asked as part of my goal planning if I could go swimming. and that I'd like to get backdriving again.
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Two months at home and OCE
It was lovely to be home and get used to being home and also finding my way round my own home again , Dad came down for a week to make sure I was ok when Nik started back to work.Quite a sleepy little Cotswold village is hard to walk round outside its so hilly so going out practicing walking wasnt a good option. We got an invitation from the consultant at OCE for me to have a look round the place, Nik had been but I hadnt so we went, it was ideal looked a great place where I knew I could improve my walking and arm usage with the facilities there. Dr HS suggested to me that to come there as an in patient would be of far more value and enable me more, so after much thought and discussion at home I called him and said I would like to go ahead, we may be looking at me going in in January for 6/7 weeks, what was 6 wks to a lifetime and better quality of life.
So bring on Christmas, Charles came down from Lancaster Uni on 19th Dec and was due to go home on the following Monday but due to a rather heavy fall of snow on the Saturday he stayed til Weds which was really nice, it was so awful being stuck inside in the snow for 5 days! and not bring able to go out and enjoy it picturesque maybe but you do get a bit fed up with it. Mark managed to help us get Charles out and back to Stratford station in his four wheel drive. Nik took the opportunity to go and get our shopping from Tesco, as they wouldn't do their home delivery!
I had been a tad concerned about what we might do for Christmas, Nik had helped me do the meal before but he'd never cooked one, however thankfully two lots of friends very kindly offered to have us over for Christmas Day. We went to the Western for lunchtime drinks then to Caroline and Austen's for dinner and they did us proud, we had an excellent meal with all the trimmings, well stuffed tummies and good snooze when we got home.
We didn't do a great deal over Christmas cos of the weather, drinkies at friends in the village, Nik and Ed dug the car out, Ed went sledging, Then sometime during the last week of 2010 I got a call from Julie at the OCE would I like to go in next week! Date being 6th Jan - eek! At this time Charles had come down - nice to see some family - to spend a week with us, so cos of Ed going back to school, Charles with us, Nik with work commitments, appointments already made, I asked if I could go in on 10th Jan and that was fine so next bit OCE.
So bring on Christmas, Charles came down from Lancaster Uni on 19th Dec and was due to go home on the following Monday but due to a rather heavy fall of snow on the Saturday he stayed til Weds which was really nice, it was so awful being stuck inside in the snow for 5 days! and not bring able to go out and enjoy it picturesque maybe but you do get a bit fed up with it. Mark managed to help us get Charles out and back to Stratford station in his four wheel drive. Nik took the opportunity to go and get our shopping from Tesco, as they wouldn't do their home delivery!
I had been a tad concerned about what we might do for Christmas, Nik had helped me do the meal before but he'd never cooked one, however thankfully two lots of friends very kindly offered to have us over for Christmas Day. We went to the Western for lunchtime drinks then to Caroline and Austen's for dinner and they did us proud, we had an excellent meal with all the trimmings, well stuffed tummies and good snooze when we got home.
We didn't do a great deal over Christmas cos of the weather, drinkies at friends in the village, Nik and Ed dug the car out, Ed went sledging, Then sometime during the last week of 2010 I got a call from Julie at the OCE would I like to go in next week! Date being 6th Jan - eek! At this time Charles had come down - nice to see some family - to spend a week with us, so cos of Ed going back to school, Charles with us, Nik with work commitments, appointments already made, I asked if I could go in on 10th Jan and that was fine so next bit OCE.
Sunday 13 February 2011
Cheltenham for 16 weeks
When I arrived at at Cheltenham Acute stroke unit Aspen on Woodmancote Ward it was after 5.30pm on a Friday night and it seemed like everybody had gone for the weekend. Nik would not leave me until I had seen a Doctor. The Doc arrived, I looked at her and thought is she old enough to be looking after me, she looked like a surf girl and she was, she'd just come back from her home town of Newquay! During that first night I was joined by three other ladies, one the same age as me on her second stroke, a Scottish lady and a lady from near Broadway.
The Aspen Unit was only built 18 months ago and is very nice, wards not too big and when I went into the rehab side I had my own room which was a bit like a Travelodge room. I made the room my own with all my lovely cards, flowers, and the anniversary balloons from the great nursing staff at Oxford JR. So I got to meet a whole new team of Doctors, nurses, catering and cleaning staff, OT was headed up by Juliette and PT headed up by Rachel.
The physio's wanted to see what I could do initially, assessed my progress, so we did some stretching to see how I was able to weight bear and feel the floor with my left foot. Rachel and her team including Becky, Leeann and Kirsty started trying to teach me to walk by walking between the the physio tables we progressed from there to walking with the use of a pole with Rachel helping to place my foot, I called it pole dancing therapy just like in Oxford JR!
My left leg was getting quite swollen so I was sent for an Ultrasound scan and a clot was discovered in my common femeral artery in my left leg so I had to start wearing the lovely TED's DVT stockings to prevent anymore occuring and was put onto fragmin, injections in tum, and then warfarin (rat poison!) for 6 mths.
Whilst I’m talking about food, the hospital food wasn’t bad, however after 10 wks of the same menu I complained – much applauded by staff, and the head catering lady came to see me. The ward has a marvellous volunteer helper in Jane who looks after the daily menu’s with the patients. Jane brought me the a la carte menu – not like a restaurant standard, the general ward, which was great and far more choice.
Next thing I know the quality man comes to see me from Gloucester so I made some suggestions using my CM/CSE background it wasn’t rocket science really, like let the staff try the food because most patients will ask the staff what’s this like, what’s that like, let the staff know what menu’s are available when Jane’s not there the staff deal with menu choices.
Nik went to have a look round and at first impression thought it was a bit like One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest as there are a number of people there with various types of head/brain injury, so I’ll fit in very well then! And the stroke consultant did almost put me off, yes Dr D said it was for long term head/brain injury, they'd never sent anybody there, only serious head injuries. He said he couldn't see any difference in the physio there from what I was getting at Cheltenham! How very wrong did he turn out to be!
Mid October I got permission for weekend home trips, but no sleepovers, Rachel and Becky showed me how to get in/out of car using banana board and it was great to have the freedom. We went to the Rugby Club for a much longed for bacon butty! Lesley asked us round for a Sunday roast and as Nik hadn't had one since I'd had my stroke or no other offers from anywhere/anybody else we 'bit' her hand off and looked forward to the lunch date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkWXqakM184&feature=related
Nik overcame a fear of his by doing an abseil with one of his customers, Jonathan and the gang from Autoshades, abseiling from part of Twickenham stadium, Rachel and Lee anne two of the physio's also did it, Nik managed to raise over £2000, and I had a lovely surprise to see my great colleagues from Educare turn up with Caroline to cheer him on, Charles came down too to add his support, and it was great to see him.
There’s lots more tales I could tell of my time in Cheltenham, the staff there were absolutely marvellous they have to put up with a lot of abuse one particular chap punched and pinched them his family were fully aware of what he was doing as he was, taking verbal and physical abuse is not part of the job description one chap used to shout help all the time when he didn’t really need any help!
After Cheltenham I then spent two months under the care of the local Intermediary care team helping with washing and dressing Ruth and Wendy led by a marvellous lady called Denny Beetson. I did some physio at Moreton hospital as well as going privately to a neuro rehab specialist physio Sarah Scott in Stratford on Avon called Therapy Fusion – very good http://www.therapyfusion.com/
The Aspen Unit was only built 18 months ago and is very nice, wards not too big and when I went into the rehab side I had my own room which was a bit like a Travelodge room. I made the room my own with all my lovely cards, flowers, and the anniversary balloons from the great nursing staff at Oxford JR. So I got to meet a whole new team of Doctors, nurses, catering and cleaning staff, OT was headed up by Juliette and PT headed up by Rachel.
The physio's wanted to see what I could do initially, assessed my progress, so we did some stretching to see how I was able to weight bear and feel the floor with my left foot. Rachel and her team including Becky, Leeann and Kirsty started trying to teach me to walk by walking between the the physio tables we progressed from there to walking with the use of a pole with Rachel helping to place my foot, I called it pole dancing therapy just like in Oxford JR!
My left leg was getting quite swollen so I was sent for an Ultrasound scan and a clot was discovered in my common femeral artery in my left leg so I had to start wearing the lovely TED's DVT stockings to prevent anymore occuring and was put onto fragmin, injections in tum, and then warfarin (rat poison!) for 6 mths.
The OT team did some work on my left arm, as and when they could a nice aussie girl being extremely helpful, however one O/T CS famously saying very nonchalantly you won't get much more movement out of this, which only incensed me to prove her wrong - It was like a red rag to a bull! They also got me to practice jobs in the kitchen, whilst standing up, weight bearing on left leg to do some cooking making tea, toast and bacon butties! I loved doing breakfast club!
Whilst I’m talking about food, the hospital food wasn’t bad, however after 10 wks of the same menu I complained – much applauded by staff, and the head catering lady came to see me. The ward has a marvellous volunteer helper in Jane who looks after the daily menu’s with the patients. Jane brought me the a la carte menu – not like a restaurant standard, the general ward, which was great and far more choice.
Next thing I know the quality man comes to see me from Gloucester so I made some suggestions using my CM/CSE background it wasn’t rocket science really, like let the staff try the food because most patients will ask the staff what’s this like, what’s that like, let the staff know what menu’s are available when Jane’s not there the staff deal with menu choices.
Whilst I was in Cheltenham Nik heard of a great rehab centre called Oxford Centre for Enablement http://www.noc.nhs.uk/oce/default.aspx via an old work colleague who had a stroke 3 years ago at the same age as me and he’d found it to be of immense help to his recovery. Nik completed a referral form and the Doctors at Cheltenham completed it and sent it off to the OCE.
Nik went to have a look round and at first impression thought it was a bit like One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest as there are a number of people there with various types of head/brain injury, so I’ll fit in very well then! And the stroke consultant did almost put me off, yes Dr D said it was for long term head/brain injury, they'd never sent anybody there, only serious head injuries. He said he couldn't see any difference in the physio there from what I was getting at Cheltenham! How very wrong did he turn out to be!
Mid October I got permission for weekend home trips, but no sleepovers, Rachel and Becky showed me how to get in/out of car using banana board and it was great to have the freedom. We went to the Rugby Club for a much longed for bacon butty! Lesley asked us round for a Sunday roast and as Nik hadn't had one since I'd had my stroke or no other offers from anywhere/anybody else we 'bit' her hand off and looked forward to the lunch date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkWXqakM184&feature=related
Nik overcame a fear of his by doing an abseil with one of his customers, Jonathan and the gang from Autoshades, abseiling from part of Twickenham stadium, Rachel and Lee anne two of the physio's also did it, Nik managed to raise over £2000, and I had a lovely surprise to see my great colleagues from Educare turn up with Caroline to cheer him on, Charles came down too to add his support, and it was great to see him.
There’s lots more tales I could tell of my time in Cheltenham, the staff there were absolutely marvellous they have to put up with a lot of abuse one particular chap punched and pinched them his family were fully aware of what he was doing as he was, taking verbal and physical abuse is not part of the job description one chap used to shout help all the time when he didn’t really need any help!
Whilst I was there Jen and Dad came to visit a couple of times, and it was great to see Cath and Dave too, a number of my old G4S and Educare colleagues came too, as did friends from the rugby club. One evening we had a junk food treat a Pizza Hut delivery, pizza and garlic bread never tasted soooo good!
So I went in there on a stretcher, and with much determination I walked out of there using a stick on 3rd November.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iPfXVAUPg0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iPfXVAUPg0
After Cheltenham I then spent two months under the care of the local Intermediary care team helping with washing and dressing Ruth and Wendy led by a marvellous lady called Denny Beetson. I did some physio at Moreton hospital as well as going privately to a neuro rehab specialist physio Sarah Scott in Stratford on Avon called Therapy Fusion – very good http://www.therapyfusion.com/
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